The driver slammed on the brakes, and we all were thrust forward with the abrupt cut to our momentum. Rolling with the halt, we didn’t delay. Not a second was lost as we forced our doors open and ran out toward the low-lying storage unit that stood next to the river. Near the docks, they clearly wanted to transport Maisie somewhere even further away, with a mode of travel that wouldn’t be tracked or easily recorded.
Fuck that.
You’re not taking her anywhere.
Roman and I led the charge. Soldiers and guards filed in after us, hurrying despite our injuries and the fatigue that threatened to drag us down with how long and hard we’d been fighting and searching overnight.
Details merged in a frenzy of too much speed, so many shots, and all the madness of a full sprint ahead.
Firing at all who stood in our way, we slaughtered the Popovs without checking which ones they were and if any were higher-ranking leaders. Every one of them deserved a merciless death full of suffering.
“This way,” one of the men said, picking up the pace to charge down another hallway that ran perpendicular to the one we were in. It was set up like a maze in here, too many lines and corridors of pods and storage containers preventing a clear line of sight deeper into the building.
I hurried on, trusting the direction.
On the next dash around a couple of storage containers stacked on top of each other, I skidded to a stop at the threat in my face.
Several men were blocking me from them.
Maisie was there, her mouth covered with a filthy gag. Dirt and grime covered her face as she stared at me. Streaks of tears cut a clean line down from where the moisture rinsed away the filth. But it was her eyes, so scared and vulnerable, red from crying and open so wide as she saw me.
George kept her on his lap, protecting her with his arms wrapped around her. But he sat to the side, as if favoring wounds that he’d received. While she looked unharmed at the first glance, my right-hand man looked like he’d volunteered to be a punching bag to protect her.
I’d found her.
But that meant these assholes had found me at too close of a range to escape. Multiple guns were aimed at my head, but I didn’t stop. Without lowering my gun, I stalked up to the meanest-looking of them all, a mid-level boss we’d had on our radar for a while.
“It was a mistake, Sergei,” he reasoned with a wry snarl. “Niko told me. We miscalculated?—”
I fired, shooting him in the chest just to make sure he’d live through every second of bleeding to death.
“It was a mistake!” he roared as all his men raised their guns and trained them on me again.
“Release her,” I roared.
“Not until we negotiate?—”
I shot him again, this time in the head.
Perhaps he had his orders to figure out some bullshit compromise with me to give up Maisie and George. I wasn’t hearing it. He admitted it was a mistake, so he could pay for it with his life.
By killing him, though, I flipped a switch for everyone to lose their sanity and patience. Everyone started firing at once. Roman shouted at the men to secure the room, but I only moved on the drive to protect that little girl.
Diving forward as Popovs filed into the space, I blocked two bullets from taking them out. They pierced my skin, cutting through me as I flew through the air. I gritted my teeth, bearing the twin hits of pain before more came. Landing against George and the floor, I grunted at the impact of my body smacking down hard, and on the spots where I’d been shot too.
Too practiced to not know what to do, George anticipated my maneuver. He rolled, almost cushioning half of my body as I slammed down over him and Maisie. But he also shifted to continue covering her, loyal to the end and using himself as a shield.
I did too, draping my arms out to cover them both.
Breathing through the agony of exhaustion and waiting out the radiating spikes of inflammation as my skin reacted to the shots, I stayed put while the gunfire continued. Then died out.
Smoke filled the air. Labored breaths sounded clearly in the deafening quiet after the shoot-out.
And then my brother spoke.
“Sergei. Sergei!” He grabbed at my back, in a haste to check me over.
I grunted, lifting up to check on those beneath me. Wincing at the trouble I faced to move at all, I leaned over them and urged them to respond.
