Page 47 of Kidnapped Bride

NIKOLAI

I held my hand up and everyone stopped. Yakov crouched beside me at the mouth of the alley and Vlad was right behind him. Across the street I could see Gregg's team pressed against the building on the opposite side, waiting for my signal.

After months of feeling the pressure of Markin's men encroaching, I had finally made the decision to push in and take back what was rightfully mine.

All of us were there, armed and ready to sweep through, killing any Markin soldiers that stood in our way, and I wasn't here to offer mercy. All of my men knew that.

"How many?" I whispered.

"Two outside the bodega," Yakov said, leaning past me to get a look. "I can see a third through the window. Maybe more in the back." He held binoculars to his face, which was scrunched up in concentration.

I pressed my back into the brick behind me and breathed deeply to keep my pulse as slow as possible in spite of the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"Vlad, what about the laundromat?"

"Two inside from what I could see earlier. And there's at least one posted at the pawn shop on the far end."

Six, maybe seven. We had twelve. Good odds if we hit them fast enough that nobody got on a phone. That would make everything more complicated, and that was the last thing we needed.

As it was, we were going to draw the authorities' attention, and in this neighborhood prone to violence, their response times were under ten minutes.

"Gregg takes the alley behind the laundromat," I said. "Vlad, you push from the north end. Yakov and I go straight up the sidewalk and take the bodega first."

"Your side," Yakov said, looking at me.

"What about it?"

"Keller said to rest, Boss… You should be staying back and running ops. We can handle this."

What was he, my goddamn mother? I scowled and snarled, "Keller isn't here and we're not having this conversation." I checked my weapon and looked at Vlad. "When you hear the first shot, move. Don't give them time to think or call for help."

Vlad nodded and peeled off with his team down the alley to circle around the block. I gave him sixty seconds and then nodded at Yakov.

"Ready?"

"Always, Boss," he said, but he still didn't seem pleased about me moving in. I knew the risks. With such a short healing time on a core injury like this, busting stitches was a real possibility, but so was losing my entire territory if I sat back and did nothing. And I wasn’t the sort of man to sit back and let other men fight my battles when I was well able.

We stalked up the sidewalk quickly, staying tight to the storefronts. The two men outside the bodega were leaning against the security gate sharing a cigarette.

They looked bored, like they’d given up thinking trouble would come weeks ago and had relaxed into some peaceful state of bliss.

One of them glanced our direction, though, and I saw the recognition smack him in the face about a half second before Yakov raised his weapon and put him down.

The second one grabbed for his waistband but I dropped him with two rounds before his fingers touched the grip.

He hit the sidewalk and the cigarette rolled into the gutter still burning.

"Move, move," I ordered, and Yakov was already pushing toward the bodega.

The security gate rattled from inside as someone tried to pull it down. Gregg's team had come through the back and I heard gunshots inside the building before I heard him call out: "One down in here. Bodega's clear."

My side was already screaming. I had barely done more than crouch and walk but I could feel the wound seeping. It'd beenseeping every day, which Keller said was normal as long as it was clear, but this didn’t feel like seeping.

"Boss, you're bleeding," Yakov said from somewhere behind me and I grumbled.

"I know. Keep going," I snarled, nodding at the pawnshop next door.

It wasn't enough that Markin had taken over my convenience stores. He had to go into other shops too and start instigating trouble with shop owners.