AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Without much choice, all I can do is trust him. He’s never proven disloyal to me before. Plus, Nik likes money. And I pay him well for every bit of good intel he provides.
Moving fast and low, keeping close to the wall, Nik and I stalk forward, turn a couple of corners, and find the stairwell that will take us directly down to the lab. Each time we see a camera, Nik shoots and covers the lens with the black substance from his gun. I know this’ll work for a while, but eventually whoever is watching the security footage is going to catch on. We just need to move our asses and stay under the radar.
Our boots echo dully as we hustle down the steps. At the bottom of the stairwell, I push the door open a crack and peer out. I clock a guard at the other end of the corridor and wait until he disappears around the corner. According to Nik’s source, the lab we want is the third door on the left.
Stepping forward, I’m motioning for Nik to follow when I feel that damn warning tingle.Shit.I immediately hesitate, but Nik keeps moving, straight to the door. He reaches for the handle, turns it and disappears inside.
Suppressing the sudden niggling anxiety, I follow him into the room. The lab is fairly big and eerily quiet. I glance around at the various equipment on tables and then immediately zero in on the Tantium Force. Walking over fast, I grab the bottle.
“Got it,” I whisper and Nik moves up beside me, unzipping his backpack. I put it inside and just as he’s closing it, the door bursts open and three guards rush toward us. They lift their pistols and start yelling in Russian.
We instinctively dive beneath the closest table, flipping it and using it for cover. Both of us fire our weapons and one guard drops. But the other two move fast, one ducking behind another table and the other racing around a metal cabinet. They fire from their hiding spots and I grit my jaw.
Fuck.So much for getting in and out of here as quickly and quietly as possible. Trapped in the basement in the middle of a shootout isn’t my idea of a good time. The yelling and gunfire is going to attract more guards fast so the sooner we escape this room, the better.
“We’re gonna have to blast our way out,” I tell Nik and fire off another couple of shots. I hear a yelp and know I hit one of the guards.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Go!” I yell and we both spring over the table at the same time, shooting at the lone guard left hiding behind the cabinet. Bullets spray, peppering the metal, and he’s smart enough to remain hidden and not attempt to fire back. Not yet, at least.
We race out into the hallway, heading back to the door where we broke in. After running around the first corner, we’re approaching the next turn when I skid to a halt.
The entire fucking hallway is lined with armed guards, lying in wait for us, and I curse under my breath. Nik spins around the corner, a second behind me, and nearly plows into me. The guards step aside and Anton Petrov walks forward.
“Aw, fuck,” Nik hisses.
Yeah, fuck is right,I think as they order us to drop our weapons. Without any other choice, we’re forced to comply. I still have my knife in my boot, but it’s not going to do me much good right now. At least Lake is safe. That thought comforts me because the last thing I want is for Petrov or his men to get their slimy hands on her.
“Nikolai Vasilevsky,” Petrov says, eyeing Nik. “You should know better than anyone what happens when someone tries to steal from me.”
Anton Petrov is about 5’6” and 250 pounds with a head of thinning hair. The ruthless leader, described as “the world’s most powerful gangster,” doesn’t impress me. Despite his horrific resume and legendary reputation for cruelty, he looks like a 55-year-old man on the verge of a heart attack.
Nik immediately responds in Russian and I catch a few phrases, but he’s talking fast, no doubt trying to bargain our way out of this. I suppose if anyone can bullshit his way out of a situation like this it’s Nik.
But it’s clear that Petrov isn’t buying whatever Nik is selling and when the Russian mobster turns his beady eyes to me, I return his stare unflinchingly.
“Who is your American friend?” Petrov demands.
“I’m no one,” I respond in Russian.
“You think you can steal from me?” he asks.
“We’re just taking back what you stole from Mila Ward,” I remind him.
Petrov gives an order in Russian and the next thing I know, two huge enforcers grab my arms and roughly drag me down the hallway.Fuck.My mind starts buzzing with possible ways to escape and I glance over my shoulder at Nik who’s still speaking rapid-fire Russian to Petrov.
But when Petrov starts screaming at him, I know we’re doomed. The last thing I see before the two burly guards haul me around the corner is a guard lifting a club and knocking Nik on the back of his head. He drops to the ground, out cold, and I know I’m going to have to figure a way to get out of this compound fast or the likelihood of me ever escaping is low.
In fact, it’s more like zero.
Eventually, the enforcers stop and I see a series of barred cells. One of the guards opens one and the other pats me down, taking my gadgets away including my torch and tactical knife. After tossing me inside, they quickly confer in Russian and I know it isn’t good. The lock clicks and after they walk away, I look around my tiny prison. Iron bars, a cement floor and a bucket to piss in. For a moment, it’s like I’m back in that Syrian hellhole and I touch my side where the scars begin to burn.
Suddenly, it’s hard to breathe and I stumble forward. My palms slap against the wall as memories of being a prisoner in Syria assault me with the force of a physical blow. The torture, both mental and physical that I endured, leaves me chilled and gasping for air.
I know it’s a panic attack coming on and I grit my teeth against it and dig deep. Reminding myself that I’ve been in worse situations, that I’ve been trained to survive scenarios like this, I regulate my breathing and force myself to think logically.
My fingers curl into the wall in front of me, digging into the ice-cold stone. When I notice the blood, I ease up and let my hands drop. At this point, there’s only one thing that can break me and these assholes have no idea what it is. As long as they don’t find out, I’m going to keep it together and survive.
