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“Do not go running blind while alarms are sounding.”

Every instinct I had screamed at me to fight him, but radios crackled from several guards at once. Doors opened further down the hall, men pouring into the corridor with weapons drawn, their movements terrifyingly organized.

Kirill pulled a small radio from his inner pocket. It hissed several seconds, then a rough voice broke through. “Pakhan, the woman at the gate was a distraction. Multiple assault teams are inside the estate.”

10

ROMAN

“Maksim, get Anika to Nora. Stay with them until I tell you otherwise.” He didn’t ask why I wanted him there instead of Kirill, and I didn’t waste time explaining. We’d been doing this together too long for that.

Maksim could hold a corridor by himself and make ten men look like confetti.

Kirill was better when the problem involved forty frightened civilians, multiple exits, and children asking ten million questions. I needed both of them where they were useful.

Maksim pulled a gun from beneath his jacket as we left the security room. “How many?”

“Unknown. Multiple teams. Assume the worst. Work backward from there.” The hall outside had turned red beneath the emergency lighting. Guards moved past us in controlled bursts while orders crackled over radios. Somewhere further inside the estate, a woman shouted for her child to stay close. That one twisted a hot knife in my gut. Those were the people we were protecting, had promised to protect, when they moved in.

Kirill stood midway down the corridor with Anika behind him, one arm still stretched across her stomach while she fought to see over his shoulder.

“Nora.” She snapped toward me the second she saw us. “I’m going to Nora.”

“Yes. Maksim’s taking you.” I pointed, and Maksim stepped forward, catching her elbow.

Anika went with him, hurrying but struggling to keep pace until Maksim adjusted his stride.

I waited until they cleared the next security door, then hooked two fingers in Kirill’s sleeve and pulled him toward me. “Families are yours.” He was already in guardian mode after caring for Anika, but he settled further into the role with a sharp nod, and I continued. “Residential shelter first. Then staff quarters. I don’t care if someone says their husband is fighting or they forgot something. They go underground and the doors close.”

“On it.” Kirill palmed his weapon, the look on his face telling me he’d already begun running scenarios and preparing.

He knew why I’d chosen him. He could walk into a room of terrified people and make them believe running toward gunfire would save them because that was Kirill. For all his bullshit, he inspired trust.

“Take six with you. Front, rear, two sweeping. If you find resistance, mark it and keep moving. I’ll take care of it.” A thrum of energy started in my toes and worked its way up, tightening my skin and making it prickle as adrenaline grabbed hold.

Kirill’s eyes sharpened. “Fuck. When the radio said they were inside the estate, I assumed they meant close. But you think they’re closer than that.”

“Prepare for the worst. Work backward from there.” I’d lived my entire life by that motto and was still alive. It wasn’t my favorite, but it worked. I didn’t have to like the truth, I had to trust it to keep me safe.

Kirill took his six guards and moved toward the stairs. Within seconds he was gone, yelling orders loud enough to be heard over the alarm.

That left me with the part I preferred. Solving the problem.

I keyed my radio. “Control, give me every internal alarm that triggered before the blackout.”

Static answered first, followed by a familiar tech. “Pakhan, main systems are still cycling. Hardwired doors are reporting. North maintenance access opened seven seconds before failure. Utility junction nine seconds later. A door linked to the boiler tunnel opened under authorized access.”

“Fuck.” I took off at a run with such abruptness that three guards coming my way flinched, turned, and fell in step behind me.

The boiler tunnel was a proxy for the hidden tunnels that ran beneath the oldest section of the estate. It had been built when the property still used steam heat and expanded into a service route that eventually connected to the garage and the main house. It wasn’t on any plan any person could find. Less than a dozen people knew about its existence, and I knew each and every one of their names.

“Lock the internal junctions. All of them. I’m on my way.” I took the east stairwell steps two at a time and met Lev at the bottom. Blood darkened one sleeve, but he was walking without favoring his arm, so I ignored it.

“Two came down near laundry services.” Lev fell in step beside me. “Three more came through the lower passages before we cut them off. One doubled back toward the tunnel.”

“Anyone alive?”

“Not yet.” Lev’s teeth flashed in a gruesome smile. “Sorry, Pakhan. The men have not had a good fight in a while. They’re…overzealous.”