Page 88 of Bought By Sin

Lev was in full “boss” mode as we got into the vehicles and left. I was too, concentrating on pulling off another stealthy intrusion into enemy territory. The apprehension that filled me was a “good” energy, that nervousness that keyed me up to be alert and super aware of my surroundings. I’d felt it many times when I was a slave for the Cartels, but now, as I left with Lev and the other Bratva men, I didn’t feel the dread. The gut-churning anxiety. That soul-deep worry that I’d always have to be on and survive all of the most gruesome and worst odds.

But I didn’t.

I rode along as a passenger, calm and prepared.

Unlike those times with the Cartels, I knew exactly what I was getting into. There was no guesswork about what was expected of me with vague demands and flimsy instructions.

The Volkovs were the pros. Professionals with strategy and well-endowed with resources.

This wasn’t a rough, bumpy ride in a crappy truck with no suspension, bouncing along the terrain.

I was comfortable in an air-conditioned SUV, feeling more like an agent than a smuggler.

And I couldn’t lie and admit that I wasn’t looking forward to proving, again, that I was part of the team.

We reached the location where we’d leave the vehicles, and just like we’d rehearsed, we approached the buildings.

“Check.”

Lev’s voice came in clearly through the comms unit in my earpiece. Similar to the one we’d used before, I knew that I could be tracked through it. Instead of that being an oversight, it was a security, a tether that should anything go wrong, I would be able to be found and retrieved.

Another soldier stayed back near the vehicles, both to guard them and to operate as an alert for backup.

We all reported in with the numbers we were assigned.

In the shadows of the night, we acquainted ourselves with our positions. Because there were two other buildings adjacent to the one we hoped to find Yusef Antonov in, the other men would fan and spread out to search the area. Equipped with cameras on us, and the live recording inputting our feed to a database back at Adrik’s house, we were capturing all that we saw.

Lev dipped his chin at me, armed and ready with his gun in his hands.

Signaled to move forward, I crouched and ran up along the utility alley of the three-storied structure that was our target.

Together, almost in a game of tag with the darkness, we crept in and entered the building.

Once more, I paused. I was the scout for Lev, his eyes and ears to get in faster. But I was relatively unarmed, too. I would be trained later to use weapons, but for now, I was relying on Lev’s protection. A taser was strapped within the cuff of my sleeve, but against a gun or knife, I’d be screwed.

I lifted my hand to move my fingers at my side, indicating with a practiced gesture that I was heading toward the stairwell. He nodded and waited for me to proceed.

You can do this.

You will do this.

He’s right there.

We’re going to get in and get out⁠—

I stopped, freezing as I recognized the telltale light of a sensor down an intersecting hallway. It wasn’t the way we’d planned to get through the building, but now that I saw it…

I tilted my head toward it. It was the best I could do in terms of asking Lev if we should check it out without speaking, but he didn’t follow.

“Something’s down that way,” I mouthed.

He shook his head, still scoping out the place as we paused.

“If it’s protected, something is hidden that way,” I argued. My gut instinct was never wrong. I felt that I needed to check out what was kept and protected that way.

He shook his head again.

Another soldier was coming in the rear, backing us both up.