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“Very pretty,” Silvia agrees.
Isla holds it up higher in offering to her mom.
“Do you want me to hold onto the rock for you?” Silvia asks, as my pakhan’s lips tug with amusement at the imperious gesture his daughter just gave.
“Yeah.”
“Then how do you ask nicely?” Silvia coaches.
“Mama, will you hold the rock, please?”
Pyotr’s lips pull into a full grin as he watches the exchange.
But Silvia keeps her face straight as she solemnly says, “I would be happy to,” before plucking the tiny sliver of quartz from her daughter’s palm.
“Thank you!” Isla beams for a moment before scampering ahead again.
She unconsciously seems to know to stay within the ring of men surrounding the family in a tight formation. And though she’s only three, I suppose that’s not too surprising since she’s grown up with bodyguards, but the number I’ve recruited for this little jaunt is considerably more than I might usually call upon.
“Efem, look,” Isla insists, shocking me as the little girl brings me into her inner circle. She points toward something on the ground, then turns her gaze up to me expectantly.
For a moment, I’m torn. Now is not the time to let down my guard. Then again, I don’t see how I can resist the little girl as she looks up at me with those big, innocent hazel eyes. Daring to take my eyes off my task for a moment, I crouch next to the girl.
Half-buried in the frozen ground are the remains of a blue-speckled egg. Unusual for it to have survived so long on the ground, this close to the main path.
“I believe that is a robin egg,” I say as she gently touches it with her finger.
“A robin?” she says in wonder, her sweet voice tugging at my heartstrings.
“A bird,” I explain, nodding to confirm she said the name right.
“Come on, Princess,” Pyotr says, stepping up beside us and offering his daughter his hand.
He gives me a nod, relinquishing me back to my duties as Isla rises to obey her father. Then she holds up her hands, silently asking him to carry her. Pyotr scoops her into his arms and presses a kiss to her temple before we carry on toward the playground.
And that’s when the trickle of unease settles in the pit of my stomach.
Pausing, I scan the park around us, searching for what it might be that’s setting off warning bells in my head. Val seems to pick up on it too—or at least my distress—as his gaze turns sharp, his eyes scanning the area.
Then comes the sharp rapport of a rifle
My instincts kick into gear before I even know which direction it’s coming from. And I close the distance between me and Pyotr in two long strides.
“Fall in!” I bark in Russian, the men closing the circle around the Veles family as Silvia joins her husband.
Isla shrieks in terror as more gunshots echo through the open space, sending parkgoers screaming and running in an instant. And as Silvia and Pyotr shield their daughter, using their own bodies to protect her, I scan our surroundings for a target.
There.
Just the hint of a shoulder poking out from a tree with the muzzle of a rifle above it. Wrenching my gun from beneath my shirt, I aim. And as soon as he turns to take another shot, I drop him.
Searing heat lances across my shoulder as another shot rings through the park, and I whirl in search of the source as several of the men let loose a round of fire. Finding my second target before he can regain cover behind his bush, I put a bullet right between his eyes. He vanishes from view a moment later.
More gunfire echoes over Isla’s terrified wails, and a man beside me grunts, collapsing heavily to the ground.
“Get the pakhan out of here!” I bellow in my native tongue, keeping my gun up and ready as I search for another gunman.
Someone collects our fallen comrade from the ground, supporting his weight as we attempt to retreat.
