“Get out! Everyone, get out!” I screamed interrupting a call Artur was having with someone on his phone. His gun was drawn in his other hand. “It’s a fucking gas mask! They’re going to gas everyone!” I held up said mask. I had no clue who the hell was coming, but they weren’t coming in with guns. They were smarter than that.
The new guys, Vadim and Abram, stared at what I held for all of a beat before they lunged at the doors—just as a hissing echoed in the room above our heads.
“Put the mask on,” Artur demanded sharply, coming to stand in front of me. Vadim and Abram aimed at the door when it wouldn’t open—even though they had just come through it. He held the phone up to my ear. “It’s Papa.”
I stared into Artur’s calm but fierce eyes.
Over the line, Daniil said, “Beth, put the mask on. Put it on now. Stay alive for me, my sweet. Stay. Alive.”
I choked, and the world went a little blurry.
Artur stumbled but put his gun away, taking the mask out of the package. He placed it up to my face. I ripped it away long enough to say, “I love you, Daniil.”
He was so calm. “I love you, too. Now put on the mask.”
I did. Right before I started coughing.
Whatever the hissing sound was had to be gas filtering through the ventilation system.
Artur fell to his knees, putting the phone back up to his ear. He slurred, “I’ll leave the phone on.”
Katie and Mary both sagged against me, and Roman grabbed Mary as she began to fall.
I saw it all around me through the screen of the mask. I could hear Artur giving a description of what had happened. Ember was back on her phone, even as her head hit the tiles, talking drunkenly to Grigori. He was screaming loud enough to be heard over the line and the heckling of the gas. The bodyguards fell almost as one. Katie slid down my body too fast. I caught her, but just barely, lying her down gently.
All of this. It had happened in less than ten seconds.
My head was swimming. I puffed in air, the sound like Darth Vader, through the mask.
Nevertheless, I wasn’t stupid.
In times of crisis, you find out what you’re made of. I understood that now.
Sudden clarity hit like the ringing of bells.
I knew what I had to do as I stared down at everyone coughing and passing out.
Only slightly shaking, I ran across the room and started tugging the only cover I could find for them. The table with the long golden tablecloth on it for gifts barely even squeaked thanks to the rubber on the stands, but it was heavy, and I was grunting with each movement, wearing myself down quickly.
I couldn’t see around the mask all that well, and I almost tripped over Artur. No one was awake anymore, and I knew I didn’t have much time, so I quickly heaved the table over them, and then got down on my hands and knees and pushed Daniil’s kids and Ember under the table better. Whoever was after me would be after them, too. My cousins would even get a second glance.
I had barely finished stuffing Roman’s hand under the table when I heard a click at the door. The same doors that were so damn sturdy and old Vadim and Abram hadn’t been able to open again. And I jumped away from the table, seeing why when the doors opened all the way. They had barred the doors. The twenty masked men who entered the room had pulled the long donations table away from it to get inside. The table that sat just outside the cafeteria for those who forgot to donate during service.
I was panting, but I stood rigid. I wasn’t going to be taken. I had now heard so many stories of what happened to the people of this family when they were abducted. It was nothing I wished to go through. When I saw a small break in their masked group, I lunged.
I actually got pretty damn far before I was grabbed from behind. I fought. I fought so damn hard…but the man who held me wasn’t letting go. He took every elbow, punch, bite, kick, and headbutt I had to give without flinching.
Then I heard laughter.
It sounded like Darth Vader, so I knew it was a bad guy…er…woman. She had tits. I saw that when she stepped in front of me while I continued to struggle with my captor. I glared at whoever it was, staring at a face behind a mask, only catching a glimpse of brown or green eyes. I couldn’t decide which before she looked away still laughing.
Apparently, she and a man who walked up beside her were the ringleaders here.
“I thought you said Daniil’s kids were here,” said the masked man with a Russian accent.
“They were.” She glanced around the room, her voice also had a Russian accent, and she shook her masked head. “They must have left. We need to go. Now. Before they come back.”
I kept struggling, but I was getting weaker. I was tiring myself out. And I made sure not to look anywhere near my pathetic hiding place for Artur, Roman, and Ember. It was damn obvious in my opinion with the table in the middle of the room as it was, but luckily, the tablecloth had hidden them completely.
