Blyat’!I’d had to put my gun away to work on the hole.I was soclose!I felt the anger rise, blossoming outward in a slow-motion explosion...and for once, I let it. I poured gasoline on it, thinking about Alison, alone downstairs, about Valentin and Mikhail…
Sometimes, you have to be calm and smart. Sometimes, you have to get angry.
I hurled the bed leg at the guy in the doorway, put my head down, and ran at the half-finished hole. A shot rang out, but missed. I was running full speed, now, too angry to worry about how much it would hurt. I hurled myself at the wall, a human wrecking ball…
I crashed through the drywall and went tumbling across the floor in Finn’s room, trailing a cloud of drywall dust. I lay on my back for a second, coughing, my head and shoulders throbbing from the impact. Then Finn reached down and offered me his hand, and I grabbed it and let him pull me to my feet. On the opposite side of the room, Mikhail and Valentin were climbing through their own hole. I nodded to them, relieved.Together again.
With four of us, we actually had a chance. When the machine gunner upstairs stopped to reload, we rushed out into the ruined hallway. Finn, Mikhail, and I dealt with Grushin’s other men while Valentin raced up to the next floor. There was a single shot and I heard a body fall. A moment later, Valentin came back downstairs. “It’s safe,” he told us. “But Grushin’s not up there.”
My chest tightened. That meant he was downstairs...with Alison. “Come on!”
I led the way back down to the first floor, only to find it swarming with Grushin’s men. And there, coming through the front door, was Grushin himself, Alison held in front of him as a shield. She was grimacing in pain and—Blyat’!—She’d been wounded. Blood was dripping from a wound on her back, a lot of it.
The fear clawed at me, and I rushed forward, but Grushin and his men opened fire, and Valentin had to pull me into the shelter of the kitchen. The bullets meant for me shattered a stack of plates by the sink, scattering porcelain shards.
We tried to force our way out of the kitchen door, but a barrage of gunfire drove us back. Even when Finn’s remaining men joined usfrom upstairs, it wasn’t enough. We were outnumbered and pinned down. My chest went tight.Alison!She was bleeding out; she’d die if I didn’t get to her!
Grushin’s voice came from the entrance hall, coldly mocking. “I told you this is how it would end, Gennadiy. Your whole empire destroyed and everyone you loved dead.”
I looked desperately at Finn, Valentin, and Mikhail, and they looked grimly back at me. There was no way to reach her, and we were probably dead ourselves in another few minutes. I took a deep breath and stuck my head out of the kitchen for a split second. Bullets shredded the doorframe, and I had to pull back, but for a brief instant, I locked eyes with Alison through the carnage. The fear I saw on her face made my heart go cold. She could feel it. She knew she was running out of time.
71
ALISON
It’sfunny how undramatic dying can be. I’d always thought I’d go quick: one misjudgment on my bike and a truck slamming into me, or some criminal emptying his gun into my chest. But this was like a heavy, warm blanket settling over me, coaxing me to sleep as the life drained out of me drop by drop. My ankle and the stab wound in my back still hurt, but it felt like the pain belonged to someone else, at the other end of a long tunnel.
My head lolled: if Grushin hadn’t been holding me upright, I’d have ragdolled to the floor. But through half-shut eyes, I saw Gennadiy being forced back into the kitchen, bullets plucking at his suit jacket. Grushin’s men pushed forward to finish him. This was the end.No. Please no…
There was a bang behind us, and everyone turned.
The front door was open and sagging on its hinges. And in the doorway was a familiar, disheveled figure, his tie askew under his FBI body armor.Calahan?!
“FBI!” he yelled. And started shooting. And right behind him, shooting over his shoulder, was a woman in her sixties, her silver hair pinned up tight and a savage expression on her face.Carrie?!
Three of Grushin’s men fell immediately, and, now that they werebeing attacked from two sides, the rest of them panicked as they tried to return fire. Gennadiy and the others began to push forward again, towards me. “What are you doing here?” I yelled to Calahan. “I told you not to come!”
“When did I ever do as I was told?” yelled Calahan.
As more and more of his men fell, I could feel Grushin’s mood shifting from confidence to panic. He put his gun to my head and backed away, pulling me in front of him. Gennadiy ran forward and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Calahan. “It’s over, Viktor! Let her go!”
But neither of them had a clear shot, not with me hanging limply in Grushin’s arms. I tried to struggle, but the wound in my back burned and spasmed, and I cried out in pain.
Grushin opened the side door and dragged me out into the garden, then started moving towards the front of the house.
I was going to live just long enough to be his hostage and help him get away with this whole thing.
72
GENNADIY
I hadhim right in my sights, but I didn’t dare shoot, not with Alison’s head lolling and swaying in front of his.Blyat’, she looked sopale!I glanced helplessly at the two FBI agents who’d shown up, but there was nothing they could do, either.
We advanced down the side of the house, following Grushin as he backed towards a car. With every step, I could feel the tension ratcheting higher in my chest. Sirens were wailing in the distance. Grushin was going to get away, and the cops would turn up just in time to arrest us and stop us from going after him. Grushin would go into hiding, his friend the DA would cover things up, and the clinic would be running again within a month. I growled and pushed forward, closing the distance to Grushin, but he pushed his gun warningly against Alison’s temple, and my steps faltered.
I just need one little break,I prayed.One chance. Just one.
And then, as Grushin reached for the handle of his car door, I got it.
