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Dozens of men rush ahead of me, crossing the yard without issue and smashing through the windows along the ground floor of the house. A few of them are able to breach the front door, and I hear gunshots from inside.
Only a few, though. There can’t be many guards inside. Most of them were shot outside the house.
I look to Boris one last time and nod to him before yelling, “Second charge!”
We all move like a single unit toward the house, jumping over bodies and rushing into broken windows. I choose one on the side of the house, hopping into a hallway that already smells like gunpowder and blood.
There’s a guard slumped over against the wall, but it’s otherwise empty.
I jog down to the end of the hallway, searching for a staircase. It’s either going to be in the center of the house or the front, but with houses as big as this one, there is sometimes a secondary staircase near the back.
As I round a corner, I see one of Anatoly’s guard holding a pistol, backed up against the wall with a terrified expression on his face. When he sees me, he frantically tries to aim at me, but I have him beat by several seconds.
I squeeze the trigger a couple of times, blood splattered behind him as his midsection is torn to pieces from the impact. He collapses onto the floor, and I continue jogging past him like I’m out for an evening run.
I check my watch as I enter into another room. Two of my men have already cleared it, and now they’re standing guard.
“Is the first floor already done?” I ask.
They both nod.
“And do you know where the staircase is?”
One of them points toward the door on the opposite end of the room. “Out and to the left. It’s past the kitchen.”
I thank him and leave, heading toward the staircase as I hear more gunshots from upstairs. I really hope none of my men have accidentally killed Anatoly. I have every reason to believe that he’s in the house, especially since there are so many people here.
I want him to myself. I need to face him myself.
My suspicions are confirmed when I catch a whiff of his cologne on the second floor. He’s worn the same shitty scent since he turned eighteen, and I’m certain this smell belongs to him. It’s unmistakable, and far too strong to be worn by anyone with even the faintest ounce of common sense.
I skip the second floor and head straight up to the third, where the master bedroom should be. If Anatoly is anything like me – and he is – then he’ll have stockpiled weapons in his bedroom. He’s probably huddled in there now, shaking like a soggy rat in the rain.
I take the stairs by threes, leaping up to the top floor and gunning down a guard that’s crouching in a doorway. Another pokes his head out, and I blow it off. His brains fly down the hallway, and I run past them, heading for the red carpet that marks the path to the master bedroom.
Reckless but determined not to waste any more time, I charge into the bedroom, fully expecting to find the barrel of Anatoly’s gun in my face, but instead I find…
Nothing.
There’s nobody here, but I can smell Anatoly’s cologne like he was standing here just a minute ago. Fuck, he must’ve gone downstairs. Maybe there’s a secret staircase leading back down to the ground floor.
I comb the bedroom for a hidden door or latch, but find nothing.
Shit, I’m running out of time. If he really thinks he’s not getting out of here alive, he’ll have enough reason to kill Valerie as a final act of defiance.
I shudder at the thought as I dash out of the room, moving further down the hallway until I reach the end.
But the end is a little too sudden, and I realize there’s a hidden door here. The lever isn’t difficult to locate. It’s a lamp that is glowing with a suspicious red bulb in it.
“Could you make it any more obvious?” I mutter as I pull the lever.
The hidden door groans as it swings open to a narrow spiral staircase made of black steel. The only light illuminating the way down is from a skylight above, but it doesn’t provide much light. The moon is only half full tonight.
I switch the flashlight attached to my rifle on and make the plunge. It’s time to find Anatoly and put a stop to his madness.
43
Valerie
