AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not only did he do that, but he also didn’t tell Alek about her being an FBI agent. He hated himself for it, but he was sure that the Bratva would come after her if he told them the truth. He was still just as angry as he was when he found out last night but despite that, he couldn’t stand the thought of her being hurt.
Apparently, he was a complete idiot.
“Our hacker sent us his picture,” Alek said, holding out his phone for Nickolay to see. “He lives alone.”
“Good. Less complications.”
“He’s the leader of the group. Sam’s hacker said that they are all single men that found each other online and got each other worked up over crime in the city and a need to ‘do something.’”
“Crazy bastards.”
Nickolay took his gun out of his ankle holster and tucked it into his jacket pocket as they got out of the car so that it would be easy to access. The neighborhood was quiet, but that just put him on edge as he and Alek approached the house. They were counting on the element of surprise to make this work, and no witnesses were probably a good thing. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong as they approached.
It was that feeling that made him even more alert than usual. When the curtain in the window fluttered just slightly, his sharp eyes caught sight of the barrel of a gun. Nickolay reacted on pure instinct, diving to the left, knocking Alek down with him just as the deafening blast of a gun going off broke the silence.
“Fuck,” Alek shouted, already on the move. He got to his feet, but stayed low as he moved close to the door. Nickolay went to the other side, pulling out his gun.
“Get the hell out of here,” a voice yelled through the broken window. “I know you’re the fucker that killed Mickey.”
It took a moment for Nickolay to figure out what he was talking about. Then, it occurred to him. That was the name of the man that he killed in the shootout on the street a few weeks ago. He’d read the police report.
“He recognized me,” he told Alek.
“Fuck this.”
Moving quickly, Alek pointed his gun at the window and fired three shots. Nickolay followed his lead, kicking in the front door and rushing into the house. He pivoted in the direction of the window with his gun raised, but no one was there.
The house was small, only one-story, so it only took a minute for him to clear it with Alek at his back. Reaching the kitchen, he saw that the back door was open.
“He’s running.”
Alek rushed out the backdoor while Nickolay doubled back, going out the front door. It turned out that his instinct was right. The man pictured on Alek’s phone was running toward a car parked at the curb. His handgun was still in his hand, but he was more focused on running than shooting. Nickolay stopped on the top step of the porch and fired, and the man fell as a slug landed in his leg.
But he rolled over and sat up, firing back. Nickolay ducked back into the house to avoid getting hit. When the firing stopped, he looked out to see the man getting into the car. He rushed forward, but the guy was already pulling away from the curb. Nickolay went for his car, but he couldn’t leave Alek behind. He came running around the side of the house, but by the time he reached the car, the man was gone. Nickolay tried to catch up with him anyway, but it was no use.
The bastard was long gone.
15
ALICE
Alice was tryingto figure out how to draft a resignation letter, and it was harder than expected. She’d never done this before, but she didn’t feel that there was any other choice. She was compromised as a federal agent. Even if Nickolay never talked to her again, she’d fallen for him, and it changed her. She couldn’t imagine going back to doing her job, to seeing the world in black and white.
It was time to move on, but she was struggling with how to word it in her letter. After erasing everything on her screen for the third time, she decided that it was time to take a break. Going into the kitchen of her FBI-provided apartment, she headed for the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
She had just taken the cap off when her phone rang. It was Chloe. Alice hesitated before answering. She didn’t want to hear the same hateful words that Nickolay slung at her last night coming for Chloe too, but she figured she probably deserved it.
“Hello?”
“Alice? Are you okay?”
The concern in her voice threw Alice for a moment, and she didn’t know how to answer. “W-what?
“Is something wrong? Why aren’t you here?”
“I…have you spoken to Nickolay today?”
“Nickolay? Yes, I saw him an hour ago. He and Alek are out on business together.”
