The glass explodes inward in a spray of deadly shards. I’m already moving before the first bullet punches through, my hand dropping to my holster. The gun slides free, the weight familiar in my palm as shrieks erupt around me.
My training takes over.
Assess. Identify. Neutralize.
Three men in black tactical gear pour through the shattered storefront with covered faces and raised weapons.
More filter in behind them.
Where the fuck is Aurora?
She disappeared behind that partition wall on the far side of the gallery just minutes ago. I push through frantic bodies, gun poised.
People scatter like startled birds, knocking into displays and trampling broken glass. An elderly woman in pearls falls in front of me, but I don’t pause to help.
Aurora. She’s my priority.
Kolya materializes and crouches beside the woman, assuaging the niggling guilt in the back of my mind.
I continue moving.
“Down! Everyone down!” Bodies plummet to the floor as everyone scrambles to obey Kirill’s order.
The attackers fan out, firing controlled bursts into the walls and crowd. They’re hunting. One swings his weapon toward me. I drop to one knee and fire twice.
Center mass. He collapses to the floor.
My ears ring from the shots, but I don’t stop moving.
Aurora is somewhere in this mass of bodies, unprotected and vulnerable. Renewed urgency drives me forward.
Another attacker spots me. He pivots and aims. A bullet hits him from behind before he can pull the trigger. The man crumples, revealing Max’s emotionless face. He nods to me, then turns to engage another threat.
I reach the partition, heart hammering against my ribs as I search for Aurora.
She’s not here.
Panic claws at my throat as I scan the area. Overturned display pedestals, shattered artwork, a trail of blood droplets leading toward?—
There.
Behind the next wall.
I catch a flash of emerald fabric as she scrambles on hands and knees away from the main fighting.
Smart girl. Getting to cover.
I stay low, concealing myself behind the maze of partition walls. “Aurora!”
Another assailant appears at the end of the row. I fire without hesitation.
He jerks backward, gun clattering to the floor as he crumples.
Aurora’s head whips around, eyes wide with terror. Still, she’s conscious. She’s alive.
The instant surge of relief almost causes me to stumble.
“Alexei!” She scrambles toward me, dress hiked up around her knees and one heel missing.
