Mikhail bent and held the t-shirt out to one of his dogs, muttering a command. The dog sniffed twice, then charged to the end of the hallway and sniffed at the wall, thumping its tail excitedly.
I took a closer look at the wall. Its paint wasn’t exactly the same color as the others, as if it had faded less. A big photocopier was pushed up against it. “Help me move this,” I said, and together we heaved it out of the way.
Behind the photocopier, a fake wall had been built. A section near the floor had been hinged, like a human-sized cat flap. I pushed it gently open...and looked right into the face of the boy I’d seen at the warehouse. I felt myself sag in relief. Then I looked behind him, and my stomach knotted. All of them were there, men and women packed together in a bare, windowless space only about ten feet square. There was bottled water and a bucket in the corner for a toilet.Jesus.“Come on!” I waved them over. “We’re getting you out of here!”
One by one, they crawled out through the hole. The little boystarted to cry, mumbling in Russian, and Mikhail, normally so happy, looked completely overcome. He scooped the boy into his arms and held him, shh-ing him and talking to him in Russian. “He wants his mother,” he said to me. “There, there, little one. It’s going to be okay.”
One of the women heard the gunfire from the garage area and nervously plucked at my sleeve. “You...from other gang?” she asked.
I looked down at myself. I guess I didn’t look much like an FBI agent anymore. In fact, maybeanother gangwas closer to the truth, now. “You’re safe now,” I told her.
But the gunfire from the garage area didn’t seem to be dying down, and that was the only way out. Something must have gone wrong, and that thought made me go cold inside.Gennadiy!
66
GENNADIY
Fuck.
It had all started well. We’d rushed in and taken care of two of Grushin’s men straightaway. But we’d pushed deeper into the garage too quickly, and when another four men popped up out of nowhere, I’d been cut off from the others. The gunfight had turned into a stalemate, and I was pinned down behind a rack of spare tires.
Footsteps. I froze, listening. One of them was creeping around the rack from the left. I whirled that way. Then I heard more footsteps, this time from the right. They were coming at me from two directions, knowing I couldn’t face both ways at once.
All I could do was keep stubbornly facing to the left, the patch between my shoulder blades itching, knowing I’d be shot in the back any second. I stood there motionless, gun raised, waiting…
Grushin’s man leaned around the rack, and I shot him in the chest. Then I dived for the floor and rolled over to look behind me, knowing I’d be too late. And I was. Another man was already standing there, aiming down at me, and I couldn’t get my gun on him in time. I winced?—
There was a gunshot, and the man crumpled to the floor.
Finn swaggered into view, smirked, and offered his hand. I sighed...and took it. “Thank you,” I told him.
From there, the fight started to go our way. A few minutes later, Valentin took down the final one of Grushin’s men...and he managed to take him alive.
I left them for a moment and ran to the hallway where I’d last seen Alison. She was crouched next to a photocopier, gun up, guarding the donors, and when I saw her safe, a huge swell of relief closed up my throat. I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms, then crushed her against my chest so hard sheoofed. Then I took her cheeks between my hands and kissed her.
I went back to check on Grushin’s man. The others had formed a circle around him, and Valentin was attempting to question him. “Where is Viktor Grushin?” he hissed, a knife to the man’s throat.
The man shook his head.
Finn picked up a tire iron and stepped forward. “Tell us where your boss is, or I'll start knocking out teeth.”
But the guy still wouldn’t break. It was just like the assassin I’d interrogated at the bar: Grushin had him so scared, he’d rather die than talk. Anger and violence weren’t going to get us anywhere.
I sucked in a long breath of calming, cool air, dug deep...and squatted down next to him, waving Valentin and Finn aside.
“I know that you’re scared,” I began. “Grushin’s probably threatened people you care about.”Blyat’,I’d sat in police interrogation rooms a thousand times, but I’d never realized how hard it was on this side of the table. I kept thinking about what this man had done, all the innocent lives he’d helped to snuff out, and it was like a sparking live cable dangling over a pool of gasoline. I had to workso hardto keep a grip on my anger.
I forced my voice to be calm...and continued. “But even if Grushin gets away, we’ve still destroyed his operation here in Chicago. He’s going to be pissed at the people who let it happen, and you’re the only one still alive. Do you think he’s going to care that you didn’t talk?”
The guy looked at me sullenly, saying nothing. Every instinctwanted me to grab his throat and crush the life out of him. But then we’d have nothing. I looked at Alison, and she nodded.
“We’re your best chance,” I told him. “If you tell us where he is, we’ll stop him. He won’t be able to hurt you or your family.”
Then I crouched there silently, waiting. I looked at Alison and she was staring at me, stunned. I was shocked, too. Just a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.
Grushin’s man took a long breath. “He’s at his townhouse,” he said. “403 West Brenton.”
I let out a long sigh of relief, nodded and rose.
