Page 71 of Prey of the Bratva

“Night vision,” I snapped, already reaching for mine, but it was too late.

A sharp hiss that sounded a lot like smoke cut through the air. Within seconds, thick smoke began to infiltrate the warehouse, causing immediate and extreme disorientation. Things were falling apart just as quickly as they had come together.

“What the hell is happening?” I shouted, my mind beginning to shut down.

“Everyone cover your noses and mouths,” Katya added from somewhere in the distance.

Just then, there was a slash. Blinding white light exploded across my vision as a grenade detonated somewhere to my left. My ears rang violently, sound collapsing into a high-pitched whine as my balance shifted for half a second. Whatever was happening was being done professionally by someone who knew exactly how to turn a situation around. This wasn’t a panicked, last-minute escape strategy. It almost seemed as if it had been thoroughly planned. I tried to order, but my voice came out distorted in my own ears.

I could see figures move through the smoke, but none of them belonged to any of us. They were too coordinated and precise. I fired blindly, catching one in the shoulder as he came too close, his body jerking back with a grunt. I pivoted, striking another with the butt of my weapon before he could reach me, my movements instinctive and reactive.

But there were too many.

And they weren’t trying to kill me. They were trying to take me. Cold realization cut through the haze. This wasn’t about stopping us. This was about me. I moved faster, sharper, forcing space between us, my breathing uneven now as the effects of the flash grenade lingered. My vision blurred at the edges, my hearing still not fully recovered.

“Kliment—” I started, but the comm crackled uselessly.

I immediately knew it was blocked. I drove my elbow into another man’s throat, dropping him hard before pivoting again, but pain exploded through my system. A sharp, violent jolt tore through me as something connected with my side. It was a taser. My body locked instantly, muscles seizing in a way I couldn’t control as electricity ripped through me, forcing a gasp from my throat as my knees buckled.

No.

No, no—

I fought it, forcing movement back into my limbs as the current cut off, but it was enough. Just enough to fill me with a deep sense of loss. Hands grabbed me rather roughly, and no matter how much I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. I twisted, striking one of them across the face hard enough to feel bone shift under my knuckles. He staggered back, but another took his place immediately, grip tightening around my arms.

I kicked out, catching someone in the knee, hearing it crack, but my balance was gone, and my strength was slipping. Smoke filled my lungs as I tried to pull free, my vision swimming just enough to slow me down at the worst possible moment.

“Let go of me right now!”

They didn’t respond and didn’t speak either. Everyone just moved rather efficiently as if their training had taught themimmense discipline. I caught a glimpse of the exit, which was an opening I hadn’t seen before. It was hidden just beneath the structure, leading downward. It looked like a tunnel. Of course. Everything clicked too late as I realized this had never been a defensive hold. It had been an extraction point. For me.

I fought harder, desperation sharpening every movement as I drove my head back into the man behind me and felt the impact connect, but another hit came. It was something hard and final, and my body faltered. And then, for just a second, I saw him.

Kliment was there.

Through the smoke. Through the chaos. He was moving toward me with a kind of violence I had never seen before, his expression carved from something far darker than rage. He saw me. I knew he did, and I tried to reach for him, but the world shifted. The ground disappeared beneath me as they dragged me into the tunnel, my vision fracturing at the edges as the last of the fight drained out of my system.

The final thing I saw before darkness swallowed everything was him.

But he was too far, and I was being pulled away, and by the time the smoke cleared, I was gone.

Chapter 20 - Kliment

Silence hit first.

Not the kind of silence that settles things down, but the kind that fractures things entirely. The kind that comes right before something irreversible breaks. And that was exactly what had happened. For a single, suspended moment after the smoke cleared, I did not move. I stood exactly where I was, my weapon still raised, my breathing steady in a way that had nothing to do with calm and everything to do with control stretched to its absolute limit. My ears were ringing, but my mind was sharp. Alert. And the only thing that was screaming at me was my heart. It knew something had happened.

“Misha,” I said, but there was no response. “MISHA!”

Everything and everyone stayed silent.

The warehouse echoed with the aftermath of what had just happened. The thing that had just taken all of us by surprise. No one could have expected. I could hear the spent shells rolling across concrete, the distant groans of the wounded, and the low crackle of something still burning beyond everything. My men were moving, and the Chernykhs were moving, and Misha’s team was moving as well.

Everyone was moving. Except me. Because I already knew she was gone. Her absence was written in the silence that surrounded us, and something inside my chest went very, very still. All I could think about was her and her absence and the fact that she could be anywhere, and I needed to look for her. But I couldn’t move.

And then, everything snapped.Misha.

“LOCK IT DOWN.”