Page 71 of Kidnapped Bride

"Not if we hit them from three sides before they can figure out where we're coming from." I pointed to Yakov's crude map. "Gregg will take the north perimeter and come around behind the truck and cut off their exit. That box truck is the only vehicle big enough to haul the product, so if they can't get to it, they've got nowhere to go. Vlad, the south approach through the container stacks is yours. Get yourself clean sight lines between the rows. Yakov and I are going straight at them up the middle, through this gap here."

Vlad looked at me. "Straight up the middle?" It was like he thought I was incredibly stupid or very ballsy. Maybe I was a bit of both.

"They're all facing the storage unit. Nobody's watching the center because there's nothing out here but containers."

"But it's insane, Boss." Vlad's protest fell on deaf ears as I drew my weapon and rose, rolling my neck to loosen up for this.

We'd have a limited time to get this over with before someone called the cops and we'd have to scramble.

And we'd get one shot.

If Markin knew we were gunning for him this hard and ended up getting away, we'd never get a second chance.

"Yakov, you ready?"

"Always, Boss."

We fitted our radio earpieces and split.

Vlad went south, weaving between the stacked containers with his gun low, and Yakov fell into step behind me as we stalked toward the shadows that would mask us until it was too late for Markin's men to do anything.

I gave them ninety seconds to get into position and called, "Are we ready?"

"In position," Vlad grumbled. "I've got eyes on eight or nine of them from here. Markin hasn't moved. He's still standing around with his hands in his pockets."

"Gregg?" I chimed in, and he squawked his coms a few times before his voice came in clear.

"We'll cut off access to the truck, Boss, but they're heavy on this side." Glowering, I gestured with my gun to Yakov.

"Move that way, help them if they need it."

"Nik—" he started to protest, but I glared at him.

"Do it, and don't miss," I ordered. Yakov slunk off past the shadows but he wasn’t happy with my sending him away. And when Yakov called the all-clear, it was time to move.

I came through the gap between containers, staying low, using the nearest SUV as cover.

The gravel was loose under my boots but the sound of waves lapping at the shore on this side of the lot swallowed the crunch. I closed thirty yards before the first guard saw me.

He was leaning against the front quarter panel of the SUV with his rifle hanging loose at his side, half asleep on his feet, and by the time his brain registered what his eyes were seeing, I was already inside ten feet.

I put a double tap in his chest and he slammed backward against the vehicle and slid down the panel, his rifle clattering to the concrete.

But the sound carried across the distance and it woke up the rest of the yard. Everything around me exploded into chaos, shouting, and gunfire.

Yakov and Gregg hit them from the north before anyone could react. Yakov's AK tore through the night in controlled bursts and the two smokers behind the box truck went down before they could drop their cigarettes.

A third man came sprinting around the side of the truck trying to flank Yakov's position and caught a burst across his midsection that folded him over and put him face first on the ground while I stalked closer.

Vlad had a good position with a great view and his sniper rifle on aim.

He dropped a shooter behind the second SUV who'd been reaching for a shotgun in the back seat.

Then he put another one down near the storage unit door, a man who'd been crouching behind a stack of pallets thinking he was hidden.

Both shots were clean, and neither man got a chance to return fire.

I advanced up center toward the storage unit, keeping the containers to my right. Markin's new hires were panicking.