“Your…your fiancee. And the other one.”
Svetlana, I realize, and curse aloud in a string of Russian. Sergei must not have known the engagement was broken. He has them both, and even though it complicates nothing in my mind—I’d do anything and sacrifice anyone to save Mara—it makes this messier.
I release his finger and step back, my mind already racing through logistics. I know the location—it's isolated and easy to defend. Sergei chose well.
But not well enough.
"Kazimir," I say, not taking my eyes off the weeping man in front of me. "Get everyone. Full gear, heavy weapons. I want our best men, no one we can't trust absolutely."
"Already done. They're waiting upstairs."
Of course they are. Kazimir knows me well enough to anticipate what I need before I ask for it.
I study the crying man’s broken face. He's told me what I need to know, but the rage inside me hasn't diminished. If anything, it's grown, fed by the image of Mara in that warehouse, scared and hurt and waiting for me to save her.
Waiting for me to fail her, like I failed Katya.
"What do you want me to do with him?" Alexei asks.
I don’t bother answering. I just pull my hunting knife from my holster and lean forward, dragging it across his throat as he begs me to stop, until his screams turn into the gurgling of death.
I’ll kill anyone who stands between me and her. Anyone who betrays me. Anyone who fails me.
I’ll get her back no matter the cost.
Even if I have to let her go again, afterwards.
—
The driveto the warehouse takes forty-five minutes, but it feels like hours. I'm in the lead vehicle with Kazimir, four more SUVs following behind us, each filled with armed men who've proven their loyalty a hundred times over.
We go over the plan one more time, even though everyone knows their role. We’ll take entry points—the main entrance, loading dock, and a side door that will likely be less heavily guarded. Kazimir will take the loading dock team, Alexei the side entrance. I'm going through the front with four men, drawing attention while the others flank.
"Sergei will be expecting us," Kazimir says, checking his weapon. "He'll have men positioned and waiting."
"I know."
“He’ll likely be waiting with the women, as well. He’ll make it difficult to get to them without them being hurt.”
"I know." My jaw clenches. "That's why we'll clear out his men and get to him wherever he’s holed up in there with him. We get in close, we overwhelm them with numbers and speed. No hesitation, no mercy."
"And if he's already hurt them?"
The question makes my vision blur red for a moment. I force myself to breathe, to think tactically instead of emotionally. "It doesn’t matter. He’s going to die one way or another. What condition Mara is in determines how slowly.”
Kazimir nods, satisfied with that answer.
The abandoned section of the neighborhood is dark and deserted when we arrive, exactly as I expected. We park a few blocks away and approach on foot, moving as silently as possible. The warehouse looms ahead, a massive structure of corrugated metal and broken windows, surrounded by a chain-link fence that's more rust than steel.
I can see movement around it. Sergei's not even trying to hide. He wants me to come. He's counting on it.
Fine.This ends the same, either way.I’m going to kill him, and take everything that’s his, after I get back what’s mine.
We split up at the fence, each team moving to their designated entry point. I watch Kazimir disappear around theeast side, Alexei heading west, and then I focus on the main entrance ahead.
Four men are guarding it. Two of my men sneak in and behind them, slitting the throats of the ones on the side as we take out the two in front with silenced shots. When we approach the steel door, it’s locked and reinforced, as I guessed it would be. But we came prepared. One of my men, a demolitions expert, sets charges while the rest of us take positions on either side.
"Thirty seconds," he murmurs into his comm.
