The gunfire came fast and furious. I threw myself on the other side just behind Alexsey. There were six men standing guard in front of a set of locked double doors.
With six of them and twelve of us, they didn’t last long.
After tossing their bodies out of the way and with a single shot to the steel mechanism, I ripped off the lock. We moved inside, staying close to the walls.
I was instantly unnerved because it was just too quiet.
We continued heading down what appeared to be a main hallway, constantly scanning the area and every room.
“I don’t like this,” Kazimir whispered.
“Yeah, me neither. This feels like a trap,”
The lights suddenly popped on and I glanced at the others, pressing my finger against my lips. We were headed for a crossroads. I could feel it.
I moved in front of the others, pressing the barrel of my rifle into the other rooms. Suddenly, there was a light just ahead coming from a set of double doors. These were different, thick wood and highly ornate.
A strange and very unsettling feeling washed through me, my blood pressure instantly sparking.
We moved in formation, flanking both sides of the door.
“Zakhodi, Sasha.Ty kak raz vovremya.” The man’s voice was raspy, strained as if from years of smoking cigarettes. Yet his words were clear. There was also labored breathing.
You might as well come in, Sasha. You’re right on time.
Mikhail gripped my arm, pulling me back and shaking his head. But I was having none of it. I could feel Lainey’s presence. She was in the room and she needed me. I would save both my girls, no matter what.
Both Bernie and Jaxon flanked the sides of the door, Jaxon giving me a look that I knew well. He’d have my back.
I pointed to myself then to the open doorway. I wanted to be the first heading inside. He hesitated but finally nodded. We needed to know if we were headed into a massacre.
So I moved inside to face a man who looked remarkably like my father, only he appeared much older, and frail, especially since he was hooked to a canister of oxygen.
“Yuri,” I hissed and he nodded, enjoying the moment.
Right beside him sitting in chairs with two guards flanking each were the woman I loved and my sweet baby girl.
“Sasha,” Lainey whispered, fighting to keep from racing toward me.
“Daddy!” Nina screamed and tried to jump from her chair, but the monster holding her down lifted his arm to backhand her.
My growl echoed in the room.
“I told you before,” Lainey screamed, getting in the man’s face. “If you try and touch her then you will die.”
The old man chuckled. “Do what the woman says. We can’t afford to have my great-niece injured. There’s too much at stake.”
“Too much, Uncle Yuri?” Mikhail asked as he and the others filled the room. There was no look of surprise in his eyes. He’d known we’d come in by force. He’d intended that we would. “Are you talking about an alliance using my niece as collateral? An eventual marriage when she’s of age?”
“Ah, you must be Mikhail, the great new Pakhan. You look exactly like your father.”
I inched closer, the barrel of the weapon pointed at his chest. My thoughts were vile, including cutting off his air supply.
“Cut the crap, Yuri,” Vissarian hissed. “The act of vengeance is finished.”
“Not yet,” Yuri said and smiled just as the door opened and the room was suddenly filled with several men, all with guns and outnumbering us.
“Hello, cousins,” the oldest of the men snarled, yet he carried a wide smile.
