Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Gennadiy shook his head and boxed me in with his arms. “You’re not going out there alone! Grushin could have men out there!”
“It’s the only way!” I told him and pointed towards the front of the house. “The street is right there! In two minutes, I can be back with the FBI tactical team!”
Gennadiy scowled and glowered at me, then sighed. “Be careful!”
I looked up at him and nodded, a sudden lump in my throat. If you’d told me a few months earlier that my mortal enemy would be making me feel so loved, so protected, I’d have said you were crazy. “Always,” I told him.
I had to wriggle out of the window feet-first. Gennadiy held my hands as I dangled, supporting me until the very last moment. When I was ready to drop, he squeezed my hands as if he didn’t want to let go.
“I got this,” I promised.
He frowned stubbornly...and then reluctantly let me go.
I dropped. Six feet, eight feet, oh shit, I’d underestimated how big the house was: the drop was more like ten feet—
I hit the concrete and heard something snap. OW. OW!
I fell sideways, picking up some bruises, and came within an inch of cracking my skull on an ornamental stone handrail. I lay there for a second, panting and shaken. That didn’t go great. But I was alive.
I gingerly stood up...and grating pain flashed up my left leg and made my stomach churn. Fuck. Okay, I’d deal with that later. I waved to Gennadiy that I was okay and then hobbled down the passageway at the side of the house, out of sight of the window.
I emerged at the front of the house, and there was Caroline, climbing out of her minivan. I stumbled the last few feet and almost fell into her, wrapping her up in a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I breathed. The others were probably right behind her. The tactical team might be another few minutes, I’d just have to hope Gennadiy could hang on for—
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I twisted around...and saw Viktor Grushin stepping out of the shadows just down the street, no more than twenty feet from me.
Shit! How did he get outside? He must have an escape tunnel, like Gennadiy. I stumbled in front of Caroline and raised my gun, the guilt clawing at my chest. She isn’t even a field agent: what have I gotten her into? “Stay behind me!” I told her frantically. Then to Grushin. “Stop right there! Let me see your hands!”
Grushin stopped and lifted his hands, grinning. My eyes searched the street behind him. He wouldn’t come out alone, he’d have a bodyguard or a—
A brutal, burning pain erupted in my lower back. I staggered forward, and the pain in my ankle made my legs fold, sending me to my knees. My head went light, and it was more than just the pain. I felt for the source of the pain, and my hand came away dripping blood. I’ve been shot! A sniper? But I hadn’t heard anything...
The gun dropped from my fingers and clattered to the sidewalk. My muscles didn’t have any strength anymore. Caroline? Is Caroline okay? She’d been standing right behind me…
I rolled over onto my back and found her looking down at me, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed.
And then I saw the knife in her hand and understood.
68
GENNADIY
Alison dropped from the window, and my stomach lurched when I saw her ankle give way. But then she was up and hobbling off towards the front of the house. Chyort! My woman was so brave. I lost sight of her as I hurried down the side of the house. But at least she was safe now, with her FBI friend.
Footsteps, climbing the stairs from the first floor. Were the FBI coming in already? I skirted the edge of the room, trying to make sure I stayed far enough back from the door that the machine gunner upstairs didn’t see me. But the instant my shadow fell across the floor, bullets tore into the carpet and splintered the floorboards. I flattened myself to the wall. Blyat’, that thing was lethal. There was no way I could leave the room or even get close to the door, but by hunkering down and leaning, I managed to peek out...and what I saw made my stomach drop. Men in black ski masks were coming up the stairs. Grushin’s men. They must have been hiding down the street, waiting until we were trapped inside. How did they know we were coming?
They had us split up and boxed in, rats in a trap. They could take each room in turn and wipe us out. Worst of all, they were down there on the first floor...with Alison.