The sound is deafening inside the stone walls. Muzzle flashes light up the darkness from at least four different positions. Just as Yuri predicted, they've been waiting and they are ready and armed to the teeth.
"Go!" I shout, breaking cover to shoot at the building. The spray of return fire stunts their assault as men run in all directions, charging toward the opening. But the stone pillar I'm using for cover starts chipping away under the barrage. I lean around and take aim at a shooter positioned behind the door and with two quick shots, he goes down hard.
Glass shatters on the opposite side of the building as Fyodor's team breaches through the windows. The Kozlovs are forced to split their attention and it gives us the opening we need.
"Push forward!" I'm moving before I finish shouting, racing into the building with men flanking me.
We advance through the main floor using the overturned pews as cover. One of my men goes down clutching his shoulder and another immediately drags him back behind the line. A soldier to my left catches a round in the vest and drops but scrambles back up cursing, and I'm starting to realize Malcom has put most of his strength in this location to try to kill me.
I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or insulted.
The balcony above us erupts with gunfire, and I see three shooters raining bullets down on our position. I signal to Lev who's coming through the side entrance with his team as I duck for cover and shout, "Balcony!" I point upward, and Lev nods.
His men focus fire on the upper level, and one of the shooters stumbles forward and falls over the railing to the floor below with a sickening thud. The other two retreat deeper into the shadows, but we can still see their muzzle flashes.
I reload and move to a better position as my soldiers lay down suppressing fire on the balcony while I advance toward the stairs leading up. Fyodor appears beside me with three of his men, and we take the stairs fast. The first shooter we encounter tries to swing his weapon around, but Fyodor puts two rounds in his chest before he can pull the trigger.
The second shooter comes out of a doorway firing wildly. Bullets tear through the wall beside my head, and I feel stone fragments cut into my cheek. I drop to one knee and return fire. He goes down but not before getting another burst off that catches one of Fyodor's men in the leg.
"Keep moving!" I'm already pushing past the bodies in my search to find her, desperate to know she's okay.
We clear the upper level room by room but find it mostly empty. The Kozlovs didn't have as many men as I expected. Maybe eight total, and most of them are already dead or wounded downstairs.
"Clear up here!" I call down to the main floor. "Finish sweeping the ground level!"
Lev's voice echoes back up. "Two more down by the side entrance! Building is secure!"
The amount of relief I feel knowing this place is cleaned up is dwarfed by my nagging feeling that Tatiana has been hurt. There is no sign that they even have her here, and if so, where is she?
I rush down the stairs and survey the damage. Five Kozlov bodies are scattered around the main floor and Gravitch casualties are better than expected. One man with a shoulder wound, another with a leg injury, and a third with some bruising from taking a round in his vest, but all of them will live.
"Find her," I growl, scanning the sanctuary, but there's no sign of Tatiana. "Every room, every closet, every corner. She has to be here somewhere."
My men spread through the church in teams. I head toward a staircase leading down with Fyodor right behind me. The basement door is open and I can see light spilling up from below.
"Careful." Fyodor has his weapon raised. "Could be one more waiting down there."
We descend the stairs slowly with our backs to the wall. The basement's smaller than I expected, with stone walls and a wet concrete floor. A man is slumped against the far wall with blood matting his hair. He's conscious but barely.
We can't pass this opportunity to get information on her, and though I haven't gotten my taste for revenge by killing Malcom myself, I won't mind doing it to this man instead. "Where is she?" I snarl.
"Where's who?" His words are slurred and his eyes can't quite focus.
"The girl." I slam him against the wall. "The one you brought here. Where is she?"
"Gone." He tries to laugh, but it comes out as a cough which has him doubled over, and I see the way his pupils are fixed and dilated. "She cracked my skull open with a brick and ran like hell."
"When?" I tighten my grip on his collar. "How long ago?"
"How the fuck should I know?" He's fading fast. "She fucking knocked me out, you cunt. Get the fuck off me!"
"Which way?" Fyodor moves closer. "Which direction did she go?"
"I said, how should I know?" The man's eyes are starting to glaze.
I release him and he slides back down the wall, leaving a blood smear on the stone. He's not going to give us anything useful and if he lives to tell about this, I haven't done right by Tatiana. So I pull my sidearm and put a bullet between his eyes before he can say anything else.
Fyodor's chest puffs out in a deep sigh and he looks away, letting me savor the moment of revenge for a second before I start talking again.
