Chapter Thirty-Two
In which, as any dour Russian will tell you, if it seemed too easy, it was.
Roman…
The mood is always good when we finish a successful mission, but this time felt… I'm not sure you can characterize any of these stoic Russian guards as giddy, but it's as close as you can get.
I placed a call to Dmitri before we left the mansion, a conflagration of oily smoke and vicious flame.
We're facetiming and he looked behind me. "You couldn't resist, could you?"
Glancing back as one of the walls collapses with a roar, I shrugged. "It was coming right at me. I had to protect myself."
"The mission is a success?" He took a deep breath, letting it out as his shoulders relax.
"We didn't lose a single person. Some injuries.
" I looked back as Alexsey's group hauls away another group of soot-stained, traumatized guests.
"I've got a few things to clean up here, but if you and Father want to have that meeting with the Canton group - that you have been working on for months - do it. We'll be on our way home soon."
"This was easy," Ivan said, appearing at my side.
Frowning, I try to push back the suspicion from my superstitious Russian roots. "We're just better."
***
The jet just landed on a small airstrip we keep out in Long Island; the team splits up into the eight waiting vans and SUVs, and we're heading home.
Violet's head is on my shoulder, Rose and Iris are sitting across from us, grinning. The ridiculous wedding gowns they were forced to wear are streaked with mud and someone else's blood.
"Are you two okay?" I ask. "You look a little rough."
"Please," Iris snorts. "We looked worse than this after Senior Prom."
Rose nudges her, "Remember when the car got pulled over and-"
"What happened at your prom?" Violet's tone has a dangerous edge.
The girls at each other. "Nothing," Rose says with a bright, insincere smile.
"Yeah, I trust the two of you like I trust gas station sushi," Violet says before putting her head back on my shoulder with a sigh. "I keep saying 'thank you' to you," she whispers. "But thank you. I'm so grateful that all your men are alive. I didn't want anyone to die for us."
"What's this men shit?" Melina calls from the front seat. She's checking her guns and putting in fresh ammo clips.
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Iris says.
"Melina saved the day," Rose adds. "The way she came in with those guns firing?"
"You really have to teach us how to shoot," Iris says, hanging over the front seat to plead with my amused Brigadier. "Then maybe you guys won't have to keep rescuing us."
"I'm hoping that will never be required again," Violet says. "But first, Melina, allow me to apologize. The girls are right and you are a goddess. The way you descended on those fragile little country club pricks? Like an avenging angel, you were!"
"You are welcome," Melina says graciously.
"And second, ladies," Violet continues, "at this point, who am I to say you shouldn't learn how to shoot? If Melina is willing, of course."
"Women are far more suited for skilled marksmanship," Melina says. "Our hand-eye coordination is much better than a man's."
My phone buzzes, Dmitri's name flashing across the screen. "Brother, what's up? We just landed."
"We're under attack," Dmitri shouts. "It's the Krasniqi Mob."
"The Albanians?" I'm gripping my phone tight enough to crack the screen.
"They teamed up with the Morales Cartel, they attacked when they knew you'd be taking most of our available soldiers up to Maine."
My heart gives one leaden thump, feeling like it stopped in my chest. "Where are you?"
"They tracked us to Bora's Restaurant," Dmitri is shouting over the gunfire. "We're holding up in the back. We're down to six men. Father's-" his voice is hoarse. "Father's been shot."
My lips move soundlessly, no words to say. I can hear the percussive thudding of gunfire in the background, shouts from one of his guards before clarity rushes back into my brain. "Violet, call Alexsey."
"On it," she says steadily, fingers already flying across her screen. "What am I telling him?"
"I'm texting him coordinates to Bora's place. My family's under attack. Tell him it's the Albanians."
She sucks in a horrified breath, rapidly relaying the information to Alexsey before she's cut off by his furious shouting.
Violet puts him on speaker. "Nikandr has another crew down at the docks. I'm calling them next," Alexsey says, voice tight. "Mobilizing them will take time."
"Do it, but we have to get there now," I say, before relaying the information to Dmitri.
Violet leans over to talk to Ivan and my head snaps back as he slams on the gas. "Boss, twenty minutes," he calls over his shoulder. "I'll make it in ten."
"Dmitri, we're close. You're going to hold on." The words spill out, urgent and desperate. "How many men do you think they have?"
"At least thirty. Thirty left," he amends. "We've killed at least ten. We've lost four guards."
"Is your position secure?" I ask, mentally willing this fucking SUV to move faster, to break the laws of physics and be there now.
"We've retreated to the walk-in freezer. It's acting as a barrier against the bullets. If they have explosives," he gives a humorless huff of a laugh, "it turns into shrapnel." He drops his phone. I can hear him shouting instructions to the guards before he fires.
Fucking Russian misfortune that my family decided to choose a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere for a business dinner! Why not downtown, where everyone would be calling 911? At this point, police intervention would be welcome.
The road flies by, the headlights piercing the darkness.
I can see Alexsey's SUV just ahead of us as Ivan barrels through an intersection, narrowly missing a truck.
I'm running through what I remember of the landscape around the restaurant and Violet pulls it up on her phone's map, holding it up for me.
"Good girl," I say, scanning it quickly. "Call Alexsey back."
He answers instantly. "Talk."
"Bora's has a little wooded area behind their greenhouses."
"I remember it," he says.
"Take the exit right before Bora's, go in from behind." We feel lifetimes away from saving our family. "Tell Vanya to follow me, we'll attack from the front, get these fuckers sandwiched between us."
"We're checking our ammo now," he says.
"I had four grenades…" I curse myself for my stupidity. We keep heavier firepower in a bunker at the airstrip. Getting pulled over by a bored highway patrolman when we have automatic weapons and explosives stacked in the back is an unnecessary risk. "We'll have enough," I say roughly.
"We will," Alexsey says. "We're going to going to cut these fuckers to ribbons."
"We're close," Ivan calls over his shoulder as Alexsey's SUV abruptly veers off the road, heading toward the back.
"Stop here," I tell him. "We've got to secure Violet and the girls away from the fight."
"I can help-" Violet starts, and I shake my head, pulling out my Glock.
"You're going to guard Rose and Iris." The SUV pulls off the road and I cup the back of her head, bringing her closer. "If you see anyone you don't recognize, you shoot them and you run. I'm sending Ivan with you."
"You are not," she says sharply. "You need everyone. These idiots aren't prancing through the fields, they'll never see us."
She checks the ammo clip, it's full.
"Good fucking girl," I whisper. "Now, get out."
She grips my shirt. "Ava and your mother are doctors. Your father is in good hands. You focus on mowing those fuckers down. Please," she kisses me once, fiercely, "be safe."
Rose and Iris have already scrambled out and Violet joins them, raising her hand as Ivan skids back onto the road.