Silence. Just our breathing and the tick of cooling metal.
"Give it two minutes," I whisper. "Make sure they didn't follow us in."
We sit in the dark, weapons ready. My heart pounds against my ribs. My shoulder throbs where the stitches pulled during the chase.
Footsteps echo from somewhere above us. Multiple sets. Searching.
Semyon and I lock eyes. He nods. We ease the doors open as quietly as possible and slip out.
The parking garage is a concrete maze. We move through shadows, weapons up, checking corners. The footsteps are getting closer.
I spot an exit sign—stairs leading to street level. We move toward it.
"There!" A shout from behind us.
Gunfire erupts. Bullets spark off concrete pillars. Semyon and I return fire as we run for the stairs.
We hit the stairwell at full speed, taking steps three at a time despite my injuries screaming in protest. Behind us, our pursuers crash through the door.
Up. We need to go up, not down. Get to street level where there are witnesses, cameras, reasons for them not to shoot openly.
We burst through the door onto the street. Afternoon crowds. People shopping. Normal life.
Our pursuers can't risk a public shootout. Not with this many witnesses. The bratva doesn’t have that much power. The police would love a reason to take us all in.
"Walk," I tell Semyon quietly. "Don't run. Blend in."
We merge into foot traffic, moving at a normal pace despite every instinct screaming to sprint. I glance back once and see three of Roman's men at the garage entrance, scanning the crowd.
"This way." Semyon leads us through a maze of back streets he apparently knows better than I do.
I hate being on foot. I feel exposed.
We walk for an hour with no one trying to kill us. Along our walk, we’ve pulled on different coats, added sunglasses and hats.
“We need to get back,” I say.
We cut through another alley and make our way back to the building. A few of the men Semyon trusts are standing outside.
“Good?” Semyon asks.
“Where’s the car?” One asks as he looks around.
Idiot. It’s not like it’s hiding in my back pocket.
“Had some trouble,” Semyon replies. “How are things here?”
“Quiet.”
We head inside and up to the apartment.
Kira is waiting when we return. She's been pacing. Today was our first real venture out and she was not happy about it.
"Well?" she asks immediately. "What did you find?"
"Roman's planning a sweep. We've got maybe a week before he starts hitting every possible hiding place." I shrug off my jacket. "Which means we need to move first."
"Move how?"
