"You'll die!"
"Then I die!" I fire again, the recoil nearly dropping me. "But they live. Go!"
I pick up the gun from the man I dropped earlier.
For a second, I think he'll argue. Then he nods once and sprints toward the women.
I'm alone now, one man against Roman's entire security force. The math doesn't work in my favor.
But I don't need to win. Just need to buy time.
I retreat toward a stone planter, using it for cover. My left arm hangs useless, blood dripping steadily onto the ground. I brace my arm against the stone. The blood loss has left me weak.Pulling the trigger takes as much effort as rolling a boulder uphill.
A guard rounds the corner. I fire. He drops.
Another appears. Same result.
But there are too many. For every one I drop, two more take his place.
My magazine clicks empty. I fumble for the spare Viktor had, my fingers slippery with blood. My fingers don’t want to cooperate. I realize I'm losing too much blood. Shock is setting in.
I slam the magazine home and chamber a round. My hand shake so badly I can barely aim.
"Maksim!" Kira's scream cuts through everything.
I look up to see her at the wall. Semyon has Anya halfway over, but Kira is fighting to come back. For me.
"Go!" I roar at her. "Get out of here!"
"Not without you!"
Stubborn woman. Beautiful, infuriating, stubborn woman.
I force myself upright and start running toward them. Each step feels like dying, but I keep moving. Guards pursue, their shots kicking up dirt around my feet.
Semyon gets Anya over the wall and reaches for Kira. She resists, her eyes locked on me.
"Kira, climb!" I'm twenty feet away. Fifteen.
She finally turns and starts scaling the wall. Semyon helps pull her up.
Ten feet. Five.
A bullet slams into my side.
The impact drives me forward, momentum carrying me the last few steps. I hit the wall hard, my legs giving out.
Semyon grabs me. “Go!” He shouts in my face; his lips close enough we could kiss.
I’m so dizzy.
He’s behind me, his hands on my ass as he pushes me up. I managed to reach up with my good arm and it’s Kira hand on my wrist pulling me up.
“Don’t you die on me!”
I feel my stomach scrape across the stone as I make it over and then I’m falling. I hit the ground and decide now would be a good time to die.
But then Kira is there.
