Chapter 29 Fyodor
FYODOR
"We should hit the second house now," Lazar grumbles.
I know he's stressed like me, but he needs to get his head on straight.
"We've got momentum and the element of surprise.
If we wait around for backup, we give them time to move Marat to another location and we're back to square one.
They won't see us coming after that explosion. They'll think we're running scared."
"No. We go back to the motel first." His logic might line up but something in my gut isn’t sitting right. I have to make sure Noemi and Sasha are safe first.
"Are you serious right now? We're already halfway to the east side. Marat could be sitting in that house as we speak, and you want to turn around and drive in the opposite direction?"
"Something's not right." I can't explain it any better than that, but there's a crawling sensation at the back of my neck that's telling me I need to get back to my family right now.
Call it instinct, call it paranoia, but I've learned to trust that feeling over the years and it's never steered me wrong.
"We lost Vasili tonight. The first house was a trap.
Can't you see that?" It's like they've baited us away from the motel, but that doesn't feel right either.
How could Koslov's men know where we're staying?
We paid cash, parked far away from there.
We were careful to make sure no one followed us.
"That's paranoid thinking and you know it. Koslov's people don't even know where we're staying. We've been careful about that."
"You sure about that? Because they knew exactly where we'd be hitting tonight, down to the minute.
They had the whole place wired with explosives before we even got close.
Someone's been feeding them information this whole time.
" I'm not bending on this. I know what I have to do, and what Yuri expects of me, but I won't sacrifice my family for it.
Lazar wants to argue with me, but he's not stupid. He knows I have a point even if he doesn't want to admit it. And even if he completely disagrees with me, he won't keep fighting me. I'm his boss, and I know he'll fall in line.
"We'll call Rurik," I continue, trying to keep my voice calm even though my heart is racing.
"Get him to send backup. We'll hit the second house with a full team instead of just the two of us running on no sleep.
But first, we go back to the motel and make sure my family's safe. I need to see them with my own eyes."
"So we'll waste an hour driving back and forth across the city for nothing while Marat slips away?"
"Then we waste a fucking hour," I snarl, and I glare at him for a second as he scowls out at the road.
When I'm calmer, I continue. "But if something's wrong and I wasn't there because I was too busy chasing a target, I'll never forgive myself for it.
And neither will you, because you'll be the one who has to look me in the eye and explain why we didn't go back when we had the chance. "
Lazar lets out a long, frustrated sigh and takes the next turn, heading back toward the motel instead of continuing east. He's not happy about it, I can tell by the set of his jaw, but he's doing it anyway because deep down, he knows I might be right.
We've worked together long enough that he trusts my instincts even when they don't make logical sense.
The rest of the ride is quiet enough for me to get stuck in my head with worry. I'm not a man who worries about things. I calculate and plan. I don't get afraid. But I've never had anyone to risk losing. This is a whole different experience for me.
The car swings into the parking lot and Lazar slams it into park, still clearly upset with me.
We both climb out and move toward the motel doors, but I'm faster, taking the lead.
The unsettled feeling in my gut has turned to near panic I'll feel foolish for if I'm wrong, but I don't feel like I'm wrong.
"Something's wrong," Lazar says as we walk down the hallway toward the rooms, and his voice has changed completely. His cold anger has shifted to sharp alertness and my blood turns to ice the minute I see why.
The door to the room where Sasha was sleeping when we left is hanging open. The frame is splintered and broken like someone kicked it in. There's no light coming from in the room and when we approach, I don't hear anything either.
My gut was right. I knew something was wrong and now I'm terrified of what we're going to find inside.
I run down the hallway with my gun in my hand and one thing on my mind. I'm going to slaughter Marat Koslov and every fucking one of his men if he's laid a hand on my son.
I sweep into the room, checking corners on instinct even though my brain already knows what I'm going to find, but the room's empty.
Two chairs are knocked over and there's a lamp shattered on the floor, obvious signs of a struggle, but no bodies—no Sasha and no hotel staff who were supposed to be sitting with him.
"Lazar!" I shout. "He's gone. Fuck!"
Lazar appears in the doorway with his weapon drawn and a grim expression as he surveys the scene. "Christ," he breathes, "you were right. Fuck's sake… They drew us out just to take him?" Lazar stands in the doorway gawking as my mind flashes to Noemi.
I can barely breathe. If they took Sasha, they went for Noemi too. They were in separate rooms down the hall, but there's no way they came all this way just to leave her. Marat isn't a stupid man. He will use anything he can as leverage to keep me away from him.
I race down the hallway toward the room I shared with her last night, and now I am panicking.
Koslov has my son and who knows what he'll do to him?
That fucker has no regard for human life.
Knowing Sasha is related to me only makes him fair game in this war.
They won't spare him simply because he's a child.
But at my room, the door looks fine from the outside.
This one hasn't been busted in like the last one at all. I pause for a second and listen to the door, but I’m not stupid enough to press my ear to it.
That's asking for a bullet to the head. Still, with as quiet as the rest of this motel is, I can hear Sasha's crying and my heart eases slightly.
"He's in there," I tell Lazar, and I pull out my key card and swipe it, and the lock clicks open as the light turns green. There is no flurry of movement or sounds from the other side, so I push the door open and step inside and something cold presses against my temple.
"Close the door behind you," a voice says. "Slowly."
I freeze in place. My gun's still in my hand, but I can't see into the room far enough to know where Sasha and Noemi are. I won’t risk firing if I could hit them.
One wrong move and my brains are going to be all over the wall.
I know behind me in the hallway, Lazar is probably preparing himself for a blood bath, but he doesn't get a chance to take any action at all.
"Just you," the voice continues. "Tell your friend to stay outside or I'll put a bullet in your brain right now."
"Lazar," I call out without turning around. "Stay back. I've got this."
There's a long pause while I hold my breath, and I know Lazar is weighing his options, trying to figure out the best play that doesn't end with me dead on the floor. But he's not foolish either. He's going to find a different way of helping because I know he won’t give up.
After a few seconds, I hear his footsteps retreating away from the door and focus on the sight in front of me now, leaving him to his own devices. He's smart enough to wait for an opening instead of rushing in blind.
"Smart. Now close the door and come inside. Keep your hands where I can see them."
I close the door with my foot and step farther into the room, moving slowly so no one gets trigger happy. The man with the gun stays behind me and the barrel never leaves contact with my skull. And finally, I see the reason I'm here and what's really at stake.
Noemi is on her knees near the window with her head tucked down, and there's a man standing over her with a pistol aimed at the back of her skull.
Her face is bruised, one cheek swollen and red, and her eyes are wet with tears.
Sasha's in a chair by the wall, shaking so hard I can see it from across the room, and the man holding the gun on Noemi is none other than Marat Koslov.
"Hello, Fyodor," Marat says pleasantly. "So nice of you to join us. I was starting to think you'd never figure out where we were." He nods, and his buddy slides a hand down my arm and takes my weapon away.
"Let them go. This is between you and me." What the actual fuck is this man doing away from his protection detail? I get that he has his little gun-toting buddy with him, but is he a complete fuckwit?
My confidence surges when I realize it's just the two of them against me. Yeah, they're armed, but I've been in this situation before. The odds might be stacked against me, but they don't know me or what I’m capable of.
"No, I don't think it is." Marat moves around so he's facing me, keeping the gun trained on Noemi's head.
"Don't you realize your poor choices left them unguarded?
" He shakes his head and clicks his tongue like a disapproving parent, while I look down at Sasha and my chest tightens.
He's crying, tears streaming down his face, and he's trying so hard to be quiet about it that his whole body is trembling with the effort.
"Sasha," I say calmly, cautious not to make any sudden movements. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
He shakes his head, but I can see the terror in his eyes. He's been through so much already, and now this. I'm seriously going to slaughter these fuckers. They won't even know what hit them.