Chapter 19
Enzo
I lift the binoculars to my eyes and focus on the prison beyond, my sight sweeping over the front gate and along the sides of the buildings and the guards patrolling the grounds.
Some stop to talk while others move along the perimeter, looking bored out of their minds, like they’re not standing between me and the only thing keeping me sane.
Rosie is inside that fucking place.
Rage burns through my veins, and my fingers tighten around the binoculars until the hard edges bite into my skin.
The fucking Bratva took her from me and made her sit inside that prison to work for them while we mourned her.
While I had to listen to everyone talk about her like she was dead.
I lower the binoculars and hand them to Ciro before the need to move makes me do something stupid.
My patience is hanging by a thread because it took four days to get everything ready and to move all the men into Russia.
Adriano stands a few feet away with Little Ricky, both of them checking their weapons.
Augusto is positioned to the far right with Lorenzo, their focus on the east side of the compound.
Georgi and Santino are half a mile away, his expression unreadable as his men crouch behind him, probably going over their plans.
Christiano, Ciro, and Nathan stay close to me with a team of our own, ready for my command to attack.
Today I’m getting Rosie back, and I will never let her go again.
Intense emotions surge in my chest when I picture her falling asleep in my arms tonight.
Devran has his soldiers spread along the lower wall near the entry point on the west side, and Ryo and the Yakuza are waiting on the other side of the prison.
Knowing Constantin and his group have the north side covered, while Atanas and his men have eyes on the only road in and out of this place, I have zero doubt today will be a success.
I check the time on my wristwatch and see it’s been over ten minutes since Atanas spotted Yegor’s convoy.
For once, the Bratva has nowhere to run, and I’ve ordered everyone to bring Yegor, Danil, and Kirill in alive, so the Cosa Nostra can take revenge for what they’ve done to one of our capos.
To the very heart and soul of the family.
Anyone else who fights for Yegor dies today.
I glance at the phone in my hand, and not seeing a message from Rodian, impatience rolls through me, tensing my shoulders.
The minutes drag by, each one scraping against what’s left of my patience. Waiting is pure fucking torture knowing Rosie is within those walls.
Ciro checks the magazine in his gun again, then slides it back into place with a soft click. Nathan adjusts the strap of his rifle, his attention fixed on the prison, while Christiano is busy on his phone.
No one speaks to me because they know I’m on edge.
Fucking finally, my phone vibrates, the soft sound cutting through the silence and straight to my heart, which instantly beats faster as Rodian’s name lights up the screen.
Rodian: Yegor is inside. Danil is with him. Kirill is with Rosie. Once I have her, I’ll move her through the counterfeit level on the east side. Breach west when the floodlights flash.
My jaw clenches so hard pain shoots through my teeth as I type back.
Enzo: Get that fucker away from my woman.
He replies instantly.
Rodian: Already in motion. Do NOT shoot my men. They’re all wearing blue bands around their arms for visibility, and Rosie has a teenage boy with her.
Christ, they have a fucking kid in there?
Talking into the earpiece, I say, “Rodian’s men are marked with blue bands around their arms. Try not to kill one of them.”
I receive confirmation that the other capos hear the order, while I slide the phone into my pocket and look at the prison again.
“Get ready,” I growl, my muscles tensing as I climb onto the Jeep. I grip hold of the frame while my submachine is pressed tightly to my chest.
Everyone moves fast to get into their respective vehicles, and a second later, the floodlights along the west gate flick on and off three times.
For a suspended moment, there’s nothing but the cold air and the brutal certainty that this place is about to become a graveyard.
“Attack!” I roar.
The west gate blows inward, one side tearing from its hinges while the other buckles enough to leave a gap wide enough for us to move through.
The drivers floor the gas, and the Jeeps and trucks race across the stretch of uneven ground, kicking up dust in their wake.
I see Devran and his team take out two guards who are situated near the gate, and another two are blasted off their feet by an incendiary grenade that Georgi launches.
As Nathan steers the Jeep through the blown gates, four Bratva soldiers come running in our direction, shooting at us.
The side entrance where Rodian said Rosie is being held is less than forty yards ahead. I jump out of the moving Jeep, tucking and rolling before lunging to my feet and running as fast as I can.
“Christ, Enzo!” Christiano shouts. “Stop the Jeep. I’m not doing that shit.”
Five guards stand between me and that door.
My arms swing up, and I open fire on the fuckers, mowing them down like they’re nothing but toy soldiers.
Adriano and Little Ricky catch up to me, and they force two soldiers coming from the left to dive behind a low concrete barrier, keeping them pinned there for several seconds before Georgi takes them out with another incendiary grenade.
Augusto and Lorenzo come from the right, shooting at whoever’s on the side of the building, while Georgi and Santino’s men drive toward the east side to blow the wall so we’ll have a quick escape.
I keep my focus on the door, and as I near it, it slams open, and a soldier steps out. He shouts something in Russian as he lifts his rifle, but I shoot him twice in the chest and keep moving, barely feeling the recoil of my weapon.
Jumping over the idiot, I rip the door open and enter the building.
Ciro and Nathan stay right behind me, and the prison erupts into panic and chaos when the guards notice us.
Rows of people scatter from where they’re sitting behind desks, chairs scraping over the floor. Some of them dive beneath the tables while others freeze with their hands raised, eyes wide as the guards start firing from between the rows.
I focus as I return fire, making sure not to hit an unarmed person. Unless they reach for a weapon, they’re not a target.
A man with a blue band turns on the other soldiers, while shouting something at them. Then I notice another, and another.
My gaze sweeps over everything, taking in the rows of tables, the bright industrial lights, the giant screen on the far wall, and the cells above.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
I take out another soldier as I run toward the door up ahead, and as soon as I push it open, I see Rosie.
My Rosie.
It feels as if my soul takes its first breath since the fortress fell.
She’s near the far side of the room, and Rodian has one hand clamped around her arm as he drags her through another doorway. A young guy is with them, looking terrified out of his mind, and when he falters, Rodian grabs the back of his shirt and shoves him forward hard enough to make him stumble.
For one brutal second, everything inside me stops.
Then someone opens fire on them from the room they’re running into, and one hits the ground near my woman, but Rodian forces her to run from my line of sight.
“Rosie!” I shout as I break out into a run. “ROSIE!!!”
Rosie
(A minute or three earlier…)
Suddenly, there’s a blast nearby, hard enough to rattle every monitor on my desk.
Holy shit!
My eyes widen as my heart lurches into a chaotic beat.
I shove away from the desk, then there’s another blast, and dust drifts from the ceiling and the screens flicker.
Gunfire erupts somewhere beyond the walls, followed by men shouting and the sharp blare of an alarm ringing through the prison.
I grab hold of Tim’s arm and look at Mikhail, who’s pulling a blue band up his arm.
The door flies open, and Rodian storms in with his gun in his hand.
It’s happening. They’re here!
The emotions pouring into me are so overwhelming that a lump forms in my throat, but I swallow it down.
My eyes snap to Tim, taking in his pale face. He looks like he’s one breath away from losing his shit. “Just stay calm,” I tell him. “We’re going to get you out of this hellhole.”
Tim nods, and when Rodian reaches me, he grabs my wrist and unlocks the cuffs quickly.
“Your people are here,” he says, and crouching, he removes the shackles from my ankles. “Yegor’s men are turning on mine, mine are turning on his, and everyone caught in the middle is about to die, so we need to move fast!”
Enzo.
Two guards rush into the room, their attention on something in the hackers’ hall, but Rodian and Mikhail shoot them before they even have a chance to notice us, then Mikhail shouts, “Run! I’ll cover your back, boss.”
We haul ass toward the other door, which Rodian shoves open, and we step onto a metal walkway stretching over what looks like a counterfeit operation center in what could’ve been a basement at some point in time.
Not weird at all.
It looks like the original floor has been demolished, leaving only sharp edges of thick concrete around the walls.
The whole space opens beneath us, the bottom filled with desks, counterfeit printers, cash counting machines, and wooden crates.
Tables are lined up on the left, bundles of fake money scattered everywhere as the workers abandon their stations and scramble between crates.
Some drop to the ground with their hands over their heads while others crawl behind stacks of loaded crates.
The guards shout from the walkways running across the large room, and on the other side are bays where trucks are parked.
It only takes a few seconds for it all to register.
Rodian goes first with his gun raised, keeping Tim right behind him, and when the guards open fire on us, a bullet hits near me, making me shriek.
“Rosie!”
Hearing Enzo’s voice, I turn to look, but Rodian yanks my arm and forces me to run, my bare feet slapping against the cold metal.