Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

for guards on your side,' she hissed to Brian.
    Jonas let us out a few miles away from you. We're going to high ground so we can command the wind, Hannah informed Joley.
    They were coming up on a cabin. Steve parked the car and they sat for a few minutes. He slowly lowered the glass between them. 'Don't do anything stupid, Joley, and you might get out of this alive.'
    'Maybe I will,' she said, 'but you won't.'
    Brian kicked her ankle. 'Don't provoke him.'
    'You haven't seen provocation yet,' she answered, tossing her head in defiance, not bothering to lower her voice.
    Steve opened the door and reached in to pull Joley out.
    She slapped his hand away. 'Don't you touch me, you miserable slug, slimy, worthless, traitorous piece of shit.' She put all the contempt she could muster into her voice - the one weapon that none of them had even considered. She let him feel her disgust, allowed her voice to influence, not only him, but everyone within hearing distance to look at Steve the way she did. 'You have no honor. If you would turn on me after being my friend for years, you would turn on anyone. No one can trust you.'
    Steve reddened visibly, her voice leaving him exposed not only to the others, but to himself. He shifted his feet and stepped back.
    Joley shot him a look of utter disdain and climbed out on her own, carrying herself as regally as possible. She looked him up and down and stepped past him, going straight to the cabin and the men waiting on the porch. She flashed a cold smile at John Dylan, who half sat on the railing, swinging one leg, arms crossed over his chest.
    'If you'd wanted a meeting, John, you might have just said so at the hotel or the arena. It's a little on the chilly side here.'
    Brian trailed after her, and just as he reached the porch stairs, the man behind him shoved him. Brian stumbled and fell into her. Joley staggered, recovered her balance, turned and in one precise move, snapped out a front kick, catching the guard square in the chest. She wanted the attention centered solely on her, especially now that John Dylan was present. Nobody could guess at Brian's relationship with Nikitin.
    Dylan stepped up to her and slapped her hard, rocking her backward. She tasted blood in her mouth, but she refused to flinch. She just stood there, staring him down.
    What the hell just happened? The voice was utterly cold, white-hot but arctic-cold, the voice of death.
    Joley shivered. There was that underlying fury, the volcano beneath the ice cap. I kicked one of Dylan's guards, so Dylan slapped me. John Dylan is here and everyone is deferring to him. Looks to me like he's in charge.
    She could feel Ilya making an effort to tamp down his fury. Stay away from that son of a bitch. I'll be there in another couple of minutes. Aleksandr and Jonas will take out as many guards as possible to give us a clear escape route. Just don't provoke him.
    Brian took her arm, drawing her against him.
    'Now that I have your attention,' Dylan sneered, 'where's your friend, the bodyguard?'
    She smirked. 'You mean the one you're all so afraid of?' She embedded the suggestion in her voice, as well as amplifying their fears. 'What do you want, Dylan?'
    'In a few minutes you'll find out.' He pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offered Brian one, and when he declined, Dylan pulled one from the pack and lit it. 'Sorry you got mixed up in this, Brian, you weren't part of the deal. You just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You never should have gotten in the car with her.'
    The wind shifted slightly, coming in from the west. It tasted of salt water, as if blowing off the ocean that was behind several mountains. Joley lifted her face to the cool breeze and inhaled the scent of sea. Around them the branches of the trees rustled, murmuring softly, the leaves flashing silver in the night. She heard the faint sound of feminine voices rising in an age-old chant. Soft. Insistent. Musical. She recognized the surge in power surrounding her like a protective cloak.
    'Car coming,' Steve announced.
    'Shoot the bodyguard the moment he steps out of the car,' Dylan ordered. 'Grab them.'
    They're planning to shoot you on sight, Ilya , Joley warned, ignoring the man who grabbed her arms and yanked them behind her back. Turn around. Get out of here.
    Dylan caught at Brian as the car swept up to the house, using his body as a shield, and dragging him backward toward the door of the cabin. Joley was thrown facedown over the railing, a gun