Sighing, I refocus on my position. There are two blind spots where I’ll have to use the thermal imaging scope to track the guards and I check them again.
Ten minutes until all hell breaks loose.
When we’d landed, Lucca had helped me organize my gear and the ammunition when we transferred from the plane to the trucks. “What did you and Alexi talk about?”
“He wanted to know if I’d ever killed anyone before,” I focused on packing my rifle scopes in the duffel bag.
“What did you tell him?” Lucca asked, putting his hand on my chin, urging me to look at him.
“I told him the truth. That I watched you kill someone and helped dispose of the body,” I forced myself to sound unemotional.
He sucked in a deep breath.
“He asked me if I could really pull the trigger, knowing that the person in my sights would die,” I continued, zipping up the bag and putting it in the backseat.
“And your answer?” Lucca gently cups my cheek, and I lean into his warm hand, closing my eyes for a moment.
“I told him, absolutely,” I said coldly. “There’s no sitting on the sidelines. I am all in.”
Five minutes, now.
Lucca…
There’s no sign of Giovanni and Dario, and I’m angrier with myself for stupidly hoping to see them. Mariya’s brother Maksim had called in during the meeting and tried to assure me that they’d be here, some explanation of logistics that I tuned out after a minute or so. I didn’t expect anything from them, though I’m a little surprised they didn’t jump in on behalf of the Morozovs, given their alliance. Do they despise me that much?
It doesn’t matter. Everything comes back to protecting Tatiana. Until Leonid Rostova is dead, her family isn’t safe. The satisfaction of wiping out the Costafamigliaand Camilla’s shitty family of butchers is just a bonus.
A heavy hand lands on my shoulder as Alexi moves next to me. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, sir,” I said. Kon and Aleksandr are with us, his guidance is crucial in case something has changed in the chalet.
“Checking in,” Meiying’s voice comes in through my headset. “All set here. Your drone operator is a weirdo, but both ammo drones are ready to go.”
“Two minutes,” Alexi’s voice breaks in. “In position.”
I look over my shoulder one last time at Tatiana’s location behind the rock outcropping.
Keep her safe, Lev.
“On my mark,” Alexi speaks again. “Three. Two. One.”
The drones perform perfectly, the first one drops its payload on the south wall, exploding into a million pieces of rocks and concrete, and the second explodes on top of the huge garage and barracks used for the Rostova guards.
The first guard at the gate drops to his knees, and then face-down, and within seconds, two more guards are staring sightlessly at the sky with bullet holes in their foreheads.
“Good girl,” Alexi mutters, looking through his binoculars. “Ah. Look at the east wall.”
I check, squinting through mine and another fifteen men are rushing toward the gate.
“They’re supposed to be halfway to the back by now,” Aleks says, frowning.
Kon’s listening to the chatter through his con. “They’re taking heavier fire than expected. I think the Boucher troops got here before we did.”
There’s a steady, metronomic round of fire from behind the rocky outcropping, and another two soldiers drop, even while running and trying to dodge the bullets. I see three fist-sized holes appear in the concrete wall.
“She’s using her thermal imaging sight now,” Alexi says casually. “Sixty seconds. She needs to clear out the last three guarding the gate and we’ll blow the charge.”
Kon grabs his father’s arm, painting out where two guards are loading the wide barrel with an alarmingly large rocket. “Whoa, nope, nope nope! Blow itnow, sir! They’re setting up a rocket launcher on the catwalk!”
