Chapter 14 Ruslan
RUSLAN
“Where is she?”
I’m out of the car before Valentina’s even brought the vehicle to a stop, and her yell of my name melts into the din of gunfire taking over the street and front garden of the house currently engulfed in violent orange flames.
Tracking Cassian’s card didn’t take long, but every second was a second too long and the carnage before us sets my heart racing like a power drill.
The house is ablaze, flowers and bushes are crushed under the bodies of masked men littering the garden, several black sedans and multiple cop cars scatter across the road, and Raven crouches by the remains of a small stone wall with a gun in hand and sweat beading her forehead.
“Joker!”
“Ace?” Her wide eyes land on mine and she puffs out her cheeks. “I called in backup. Cassian’s inside with backup and we’ve got—”
Two things happen in the same breath.
An explosion rips through part of the house and takes out the right-hand outer wall in a ball of vibrant flame and black smoke, and shattering glass on the left-hand side shows two figures flung right out the top floor window.
I recognize Ivy instantly and my racing heart catches in the back of my throat. A split second later, Cassian’s body follows and Raven’s hand darts out to my thigh.
“No!” I surge upward, but Raven’s sharp nails in my thigh bring me right back down to cover as a hail of gunfire ricochets off the wall we’re hiding behind.
“Are you insane?” she hisses through clenched teeth. “Trying to get yourself killed!”
“I’ve got to—”
“No! Stay your ass down!”
Everything inside me screams to get to Ivy and Cassian, but Raven’s right, so I stay beside her for the moment. “Fine. Fill me in.”
“Soon as I saw the cars, I put the call in. The entire place is surrounded so no one’s getting out. I didn’t have time to work out the specifics, so no matter what happens, the cops are making arrests regardless of who is here, you understand?”
“Sure, I don’t care.”
Another hail of gunfire and a scream rises up from the middle of the street where a cop on the move gets shot in the leg and hits the tarmac with a yell. He’s dragged out of the line of gunfire almost immediately.
“I don’t know how many are inside. They must have come in the back because the ones in the garden are from these cars.”
“Right.” Valentina, breathless from her sprint to meet us, skids to a stop on the grass and drops to her belly.
Relief floods Raven’s face. “How do you wanna play this?” she asks.
“I’ll take three of the officers right up the path. We’ll move fast. Raven, you need to take shots at whoever is shooting from that upstairs window. Don’t need to hit them, just keep them in cover. Ruslan, you need—”
“I’m going for Ivy and Cassian.”
Valentina shoots me a narrow look. “If you get shot, then I’m not helping you.”
“Love you too.”
She rolls her eyes and slowly lifts herself onto her haunches. “This is such a fucking mess,” she murmurs.
On her signal, I run. Leapfrogging over the wall, I sprint through the rose bed, across the cobblestone path and around several dead masked men lying across the lawn, racing toward the high wooden fence that blocks the view of where Ivy and Cassian landed.
We’ve taken too long.
I pray there’s not a pool on the other side.
The wooden gate splinters open at the crack of my shoulder and I stumble into a smooth pavestone patio. Cassian and Ivy are crumpled together on the ground with two masked men hovering over them, guns aimed at their temples.
“NO!”
Pushing off the ground, I lift my leg and slam my knee into the chest of the first man who collides with the second.
A gun goes off like the crack of a whip and my blood turns to ice, but there’s no time to check who got shot.
We land in a pile and I aim my handgun at the first man’s throat.
One pull of the trigger and he’s drowning in his own blood.
I roll to the side, avoiding the second man’s gun, and push up onto one knee, then I launch myself forward and slam my shoulder into his crotch. We fall back as he yells and crash into a patio table that crumbles under our combined weight.
His elbow cracks down between my shoulder blades, but pain doesn’t register.
I claw at his clothes, surging upward and punching him once, twice, three times across the face.
He twists underneath me, grabbing my collar with one hand and shoving his other hand under my chin to try and push me away. As we struggle, his nails claw at my cheek as I press the barrel of my gun.
Three quick shots and his arms fall limply to the side.
Dead.
There’s no time to think.
Back on my feet, panting heavily, I sprint back to Ivy and Cassian. They’re motionless.
Quiet.
I land on my knees next to them, skidding slightly along the pacing stones. Cupping Ivy’s face with both hands, I frantically check her over. Other than some cuts and bruises, I don’t see anything resembling a gunshot wound.
“Ivy? Ivy? Wake up, darlin’, wake up. Ivy? Ivy!”
No response.
“Shit. Cassian?”
Cassian isn’t so lucky. Blood spreads through his shirt from a stab wound on his shoulder and one of his thighs, but the rapid pooling of blood underneath him shows something much worse has happened.
“Help me!” I yell, moving over Ivy to Cassian. Rolling him over reveals a gunshot wound to his lower back that I immediately press both hands over. “Someone help me!”
Scorching fire warms my back as the house behind me is consumed with flames. Gunshots become indistinguishable from the crackle and pops of the flames, and sweat beads my temple as blood continues to pump sluggishly against my palm.
“Ivy? Ivy, please wake up. Ivy?”
She’s as silent as the grave and my only relief comes from the subtle rise and fall of her chest. At least she’s breathing.
“Cassian? Don’t you die on me, you son of a bitch. I’m not ready to put up with another Jack, you hear me?”
Cassian doesn’t say a word.
“Ace?” Footsteps thunder down the path, then Raven sprints into view, her curls matted to her face from sweat and smoke. “The ambulance is on its way! Oh, my…” Her expression falls at the sight of Cassian and her lips press into a trembling, thin line. “Is he…?”
“He’s alive,” I gasp. “He’s alive.”
The ambulance arrives four minutes after Raven and Valentina clear up the rest of the assailants.
Ivy and Cassian are swiftly loaded inside and swept away under a police patrol to the Empire State Building, where they’ll be set up and treated in the medical wing.
The only thing stopping me from following is that there isn’t enough space in the ambulance.
I’d drive to follow, but I need answers.
“What the fuck happened?” I demand, standing in front of Raven as she gulps down mouthfuls of water from a bottle. “Why were you even here?”
“Careful,” Valentina warns from nearby, her voice dangerously low. “Choose your next words carefully, Ace.”
“My words?” My furious gaze lands on her. Behind her, Ivy’s family home is now a smoldering, damp shell thanks to the fire department.
“I’m warning you to be careful where you place blame.”
“Me?” I cross my arms over my chest, gripping my elbows tightly. “I thought I was pretty fucking clear earlier.”
“Look.” Raven cuts in after her last gulp.
“Cassian said Ivy was struggling. She was asking about her father, wanted to get clothes and a memento to remember her family, and he took pity on her so we brought her. We took every single precaution. Multiple cars, duplicate signals, green lights all the way here.” She wipes sweat from her forehead and streaks some ash left over from the smoke.
“But they must have been watching the house.”
“You didn’t think of that?” I snap.
“Of course I did,” Raven snaps back. “Why do you think the cops got here so fast, hmm? You think I wasn’t prepared?”
“Cassian wasn’t.”
“He’s one man,” Valentina remarks coldly. “None of us are invincible.”
“I’m starting to think none of us are as protected as these fucking badges suggest,” I snarl bitterly. “Someone can get away with trying to kill me, I understand that. But the Jack? He’s been around for a while.”
Valentina sucks softly on her upper teeth, then she moves forward and leans against the car next to Raven. “We’re missing something.”
“Clearly.” But I can’t think. Every time I try to, all I can think about is Ivy lying on the paving stone, silent and motionless. What if I was too late? What if whoever wants her dead finally got their wish? “I have to go.”
“Ace—” Valentina starts to speak, but I cut her off.
“No. I can’t think here. Too much smoke.”
“Well, well,” comes an unknown voice. Over my shoulder, a police captain approaches with a tight, unamused smile. “The Ace, Queen, and Joker all in one place. Isn’t it dangerous for you all to be in the same place?”
Exchanging a curious glance with Valentina, I turn to face him. “Do you have something or are you just here to stare?”
The detective nods. “I’m just saying, I went my whole career without dealing with any of you and now, two weeks from retirement and I have three of you in one place. Maybe I was holding the city together better than my peers thought.”
“We don’t have time for stories,” Valentina replies tightly. “You have your arrests. I’m sure this will add a fat bonus check to your retirement package.”
“It will,” he says with some glee. “But before I let my team start recording everything, there’s something you need to see.”
Valentina leads the way in following the police captain through a trail of black body bags now lining the blood-soaked front lawn. We stop at the body at the end and, after a nod from the captain, one of the crime scene investigators drops to her knees and unzips the bag.
The body inside is naked from the waist up and blood stains his chest from several bullet holes.
That’s not what catches my eye.
It’s the tattoo on his neck.
Anger churns hot in my gut and the sting of nausea warms the base of my throat.
I meet Valentina’s gaze and her jaw tics. “He’s a Sidorov.”
“Those lying bastards.”