Chapter 24 Iris #2
“Drop your weapons!” The agent backs toward the entrance. Reinforcements are somewhere close. “Federal agents! Drop them now!”
Alexi’s finger doesn’t move from the trigger. “You’re not walking out of here with her.”
“Then she dies.”
The gun digs harder into my ribs. I gasp.
Alexi’s jaw tightens and his eyes meet mine.
Cold calculation.
He’s running numbers. Angles. Trajectories.
Figuring out if he can make the shot.
My heart pounds against the barrel pressed to my chest.
“Three seconds,” the agent says. “Weapons down or—”
I slam my head backward into his face.
Cartilage crunches. The agent’s grip loosens.
I drop.
Three guns fire simultaneously.
The agent hits the wall behind me. Slides down. Dead before he reaches the floor.
Alexi grabs me and hauls me upright. “Can you move?”
“Yes,” I lie, while my shoulder screams and my vision swims.
Even so, I force my legs to work, and we run.
Erik reaches the loading dock first and throws it open.
A black SUV idles outside with Nikolai behind the wheel.
Dmitri shoves Maya into the back seat. Erik dives in after her.
Alexi lifts me despite my weight and carries me the last ten feet before placing me in the vehicle beside Maya.
Sirens wail in the distance, closing in.
Maya’s expression is a storm of fear and anger as she stares at me, her bandaged face a painful reminder of the horror we just escaped. “What the hell were you thinking?” Her voice shakes, tight with emotion. “You could have gotten us killed! We were kidnapped by the government!”
“I know, I know.” I let out a shaky breath, guilt surging as I meet her gaze. “I thought—”
“Thought what?” she interrupts, her voice rising.
“That you could handle everything alone? You put us in danger, Iris! More danger than either of us expected. I was terrified! When those guys had us, my heart was racing, thinking I might die. I thought—what if I never made it out of there? What if you didn’t either? ”
“I didn’t want to drag you into this…” My voice trails off, the weight of reality hitting me like a wave.
“Drag me into this?” She shakes her head. “You did drag me into it when you went off on some reckless mission without a plan! I could have lost my life—we could have lost our lives!”
Her words strike me hard, and I glance down, struggling against the torrent of emotions welling up inside me. “I just wanted to protect you. I thought I had a handle on everything...”
Maya shakes her head, frustration pouring from her.
“You think I’m just going to forget how terrified I was?
I can’t keep living like this, wondering if every choice you make will put us at risk again.
This isn’t just some game, Iris. We have to think strategically, together.
I don’t want to feel that kind of fear in my bones ever again. ”
“I’m really sorry, Maya,” I say. “I never wanted to put you in danger, and I swear I’ll do better.”
Maya crosses her arms, her irritation still simmering but softened by a hint of understanding. “This is going to take more than just an apology. You need to realize how serious this is. I can’t keep feeling like I’m fighting for my life alongside you.”
“What are you saying?” I ask.
Maya’s jaw clenches. “I had a job offer in Seattle and I’m considering taking it.”
The words hit me like another bullet. “Seattle? You can’t—”
“I can’t what, Iris? Stay here and wait for the next government agency to kidnap me?” Maya’s voice cracks. “Look at my face. Look at what happened because I was your friend.”
Pain radiates from my shoulder, but it’s nothing compared to the guilt crushing my chest. Blood seeps through my shirt, warm and sticky between my fingers as I press against the wound.
“Maya, I—”
“We need to move,” Nikolai interrupts from the front seat. His voice carries the cold authority that seems genetic among the Ivanovs. “Federal response units are closing from three directions.”
The SUV accelerates, tires squealing as we swerve onto a side street. Alexi sits beside his brother, hands flying over a tablet. My laptop—the one with the backdoor to their systems—sits open on his lap.
“Did you transmit anything to external servers?” Alexi asks without looking up.
“No.” My voice sounds distant to my own ears. “Everything’s local. But Morrison might have had time to copy files.”
“I’m purging the backdoor now. Erik, the southwest perimeter is clear. Take it.”
The vehicle lurches again. I slide against Maya, who winces when my injured shoulder bumps hers.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, not just for the physical pain.
Maya stares out the window, jaw tight. “We’ll talk when we’re safe.”
If we’re safe. The thought chills me.
Dmitri’s phone chimes. “Police scanner reports federal roadblocks on Commonwealth and Storrow Drive.”
“Taking the tunnel,” Nikolai responds, executing a sharp turn that sends fresh agony through my shoulder.
I bite back a cry, vision swimming. The blood loss is making me lightheaded.
Alexi slams shut the laptop and moves to my side. “Stay with me,” he says, cupping my face tenderly.
I chose Maya over him, revealed his family’s secrets to save my friend. Yet here he is, risking everything to rescue us both.
“Why?” I manage to ask. “Why did you come for me?”
The corner of his mouth twitches. Not quite a smile.
“Because you’re mine, detka. And I don’t let anyone take what’s mine.”