Chapter 28
Maksim
Semyon’s men are ready and waiting. He gives the signal, and the entire industrial district is plunged into darkness. For a brief moment, there's silence. Like the world is holding its breath.
I silently count. This plan isn’t great, but it’s all we have.
I didn’t dare tell Anya and Kira, but their father is likely dead.
But as soon as Anya walked in on us looking at the new picture, there wasn’t an option.
Semyon and I had changed our plans. We weren’t going to attempt a rescue.
We were going to move to the new location and lay low.
But then Anya freaked, and I knew we had to try.
Semyon taps my forearm letting me know it’s time.
All hell breaks loose.
Explosions light up the opposite side of the building. It’s the diversionary charges. Orange and red blooms against the night sky, loud enough to wake half of Moscow.
"Go!" I shout.
We move through the loading docks in tactical formation. Me and Semyon leading, with two additional men behind, weapons ready. The darkness is our friend now.
At least, that's the theory.
The reality proves different the moment we breach the door.
Automatic gunfire erupts from concealed positions we didn't know existed. Muzzle flashes illuminate the factory interior like deadly lightning. Old machinery across the main floor provides the perfect cover for ambush.
I see the muzzle flash before I hear the rapid fire of the gun aimed in our direction.
I'm already diving for cover behind a massive steel support beam. Bullets slam into the concrete where I was standing, sending chips flying.
"They were waiting for us," Semyon shouts.
"Obviously!" I return fire, aiming at muzzle flashes. "Push forward! We can't stay pinned here!"
We advance through the factory floor. I realize with sinking dread that this isn't a defensive position. It's a killing field. Every piece of equipment and stacks of crates have been arranged to funnel attackers into crossfire zones.
They didn't just expect us. They designed this specifically to murder us. We knew it was a trap, but this was so much more than we prepared for.
"It's worse than we thought!" Semyon says. "They've got the whole place wired!"
I spot it then—red lights blinking in the darkness. Fuck. Explosive charges attached to support beams, walls, and machinery. Scattered throughout the structure like deadly Christmas decorations.
This isn't just a trap. It's a tomb.
"Everyone out!" I shout. "Building's rigged to blow!"
"Negative!" Semyon replies. "We're pinned down! Can't retreat without getting cut to pieces!"
A sniper's bullet shatters concrete inches from my head. I duck instinctively, scanning for the shooter. Third floor, northwest corner. I return fire, and the shooting stops—either I hit him, or he moved.
A wave of guilt washes over me. I brought these men to their deaths. All because I was trying to save the woman, I love from grieving for a man I doubted would ever grieve for her.
It was stupid. Reckless.
I was going to leave my baby without a father. Surviving this was next to impossible. We either died by their bullets or died when the walls caved in on us.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to kill as many as I can on my way out.
We push deeper into the factory, and bodies start dropping. Theirs and ours. The darkness that was supposed to advantage us works both ways—we can't see them clearly either.
"Where's the old man?" I demand, grabbing a wounded enemy soldier—one of ours put a bullet through his leg.
He laughs through bloody teeth. "Third floor. But you'll never make it. Boom!”
I shoot him. Fuck him.
I should have left him alive to suffocate under the rubble, but I can’t take the chance he won’t shoot on of my guys.
The odds are impossible. But I've faced impossible before.
"Semyon! Get everyone out! I'm going for the old man!"
"Maksim, don't—"
“Get our people clear! I'll find my own way out!"
I don't wait for his response. Don't have time for arguments.
I sprint through the chaos toward the stairwell. Bullets follow me, ricocheting off metal, punching holes in walls. I return fire blindly, not aiming, just creating covering fire.
A figure appears ahead—someone in tactical gear, running toward the exit. In the muzzle flashes and explosive light, I catch a glimpse of his face.
Roman.
He actually showed up. I thought he’d be holed up and waiting for the dust to settle.
Rage floods through me. I raise my weapon and fire. Once, twice, three times. But he's already moving, and the darkness makes accurate shooting nearly impossible.
Did I hit him? I can't tell. He disappears around a corner, and I have to make a choice: chase him or save Kira's father.
The father wins. Because if I let him die, Kira will never forgive me. It’s why we’re all here.
Even if the bastard doesn't deserve to be saved.
I reach the stairwell and run up the stairs. My shoulder screams in protest from the vibrations.
Ignore it. Keep moving.
Second floor. Still chaos below. Still gunfire. Still my men dying to create this opportunity.
Third floor. The hallway is dark. Quiet.
Wrong.
I advance carefully, weapon up, checking corners. The silence is worse than the gunfire. At least gunfire tells you where the enemy is.
A door at the end of the hall shows light beneath it. Flickering. Candle or lantern. It’s a beacon to draw me in. I know it but I still have to go.
I approach, every sense screaming this is a trap.
The door is unlocked. Also wrong.
I kick it open and go in low, weapon sweeping the room.
Kira's father sits tied to a chair in the center of the space. I pause and wait. When I hear him wheeze, I know I have to keep going.
He’s alive. And alone.
Too easy. This is too easy.
"Maksim?" His voice is slurred. "That you?"
"Yeah." I move closer, checking for tripwires, pressure plates, anything that would turn this rescue into another death trap. "We're getting you out."
"Trap," he mumbles.
"I know." I'm already working on his restraints. "But we're leaving anyway."
The knots are designed to take time to undo. Wasting precious minutes while the building counts down to explosion.
"Sorry... so sorry..."
"Save it." I cut through the last rope with my knife. "Can you walk?"
"Think so."
He tries to stand and immediately collapses. I catch him. His weight nearly takes us both down. He's deadweight.
This is going to be so much harder than I planned. I’m not exactly in the best shape myself.
"Come on." I get his arm over my shoulders, taking most of his weight. "We're moving."
We stagger into the hallway, and that's when I hear it.
Footsteps. Multiple people. Coming up the stairs.
Roman's men, cutting off our escape.
"Back room!" I pull Kira's father the opposite direction. "We find another way out!"
We stumble down a secondary corridor. I search for an escape. I know it’s unlikely, but I can’t stop trying. I can’t just roll over and die.
A window. Finally, a window.
I peer out. It’s too high to jump safely, especially carrying an injured man.
But our options are limited.
I ease Kira's father into the corner, propping him against the wall. "Stay here. Don't move."
"Not going anywhere," he wheezes.
I move back into the hallway, weapon raised, searching for another exit. There has to be a fire escape, a service elevator, something—
"Maksim Barinov." The voice freezes me in place. "I've been waiting for you."
I spin, weapon tracking to the source.
Roman stands at the end of the corridor. He looks calm. Composed. Like we're meeting for coffee instead of a firefight.
"You should have stayed dead," he says conversationally. "Would have been easier for everyone."
"Easier for you, you mean." I keep my weapon trained on him. "Harder to steal what's mine when I'm alive to stop you."
"Your father's empire was never yours. You were weak. Sentimental. He knew it too."
"My father loved me. Which is more than anyone ever felt for you."
His expression darkens. "Your father was a fool. Clinging to outdated ideals while the world moved on. I did what needed to be done."
"You murdered him." My finger tightens on the trigger. "Poisoned him like the coward you are."
"I freed the organization from his weakness." Roman takes a step closer. "Just like I'm about to free it from yours."
I'm about to pull the trigger when someone shouts from the stairwell. "Boss! Now!”
The first explosion cuts off his words.
The building shudders. The floor beneath my feet buckles. Somewhere below, support beams scream as they fail.
Another explosion. Closer this time. The walls crack, raining concrete dust.
Roman laughs as the building tears itself apart around us. "Perfect timing!"
He raises his weapon and fires.
The bullet slams into my thigh. White-hot agony explodes through my leg. I drop, my weapon clattering away across the tilting floor.
"This time you die," Roman says, standing over me. "No prison. No torture. Just death."
He turns and runs, disappearing into the smoke and chaos.
I grit my teeth against the pain. Blood pours from my thigh, hot and sticky. I pull off my belt and quickly wrap it around my upper thigh.
Another explosion rocks the building. The ceiling above me cracks, chunks of concrete raining down.
I have to move. Have to get back to Kira's father.
I drag myself across the floor, my leg screaming with every movement.
The building groans. Metal shrieks. The entire structure is coming down, and I'm crawling through it like a wounded animal.
I make it to where Kira's father stares at me with wide, terrified eyes.
"You're hit," he says unnecessarily.
"Noticed that." I pull myself into the room using my arms, my useless leg dragging behind.
Another explosion. This one feels like it's directly below us. The floor tilts at a sickening angle. Equipment slides across the room, crashing into walls.
"We're going to die here," Kira's father whispers.
"Not yet." I reach him, pulling myself up using the wall. "Not while I can still breathe."
The ceiling cracks. A massive support beam tears free, swinging down like a pendulum of death.
I don't think. Just react.
I throw myself over Kira's father, covering his body with mine as the world explodes around us. The beam crashes down. The ceiling follows. Tons of concrete and steel collapsing in a deafening roar.
My last thought before the darkness takes me is of Kira.
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
I tried.