Chapter 58 Dimitri
DIMITRI
Ilya, Lev, Anatoly, and I sprinted through the shipping yard, counting down each row as I grew closer to the Hedgehog.
I’d never heard of the hacker going out into the field, but maybe this was normal for him.
Still, anxiety strummed through my chest. I felt somewhat responsible for his safety since I’d hired him.
Atlas
Hedgehog
He’s close
Blyat. I pushed myself faster, each step bringing me closer to the monster who had haunted my nightmares for years.
A gunshot rent the air, and the four of us skidded to a stop, taking cover behind a container.
I glanced up. Row 93. Just six rows away from the Hedgehog.
I jerked my chin, signaling for my men to continue forward, but we’d only taken a few steps when a volley of gunshots rang out. This time, I didn’t stop.
The rows were a blur…96, 97, 98…someone sprinted out of row 99 and crashed into my chest. I grabbed the person with my left arm as my right lifted my gun to press against their head, but I froze when they looked up.
My wife’s warm brown eyes met mine.
“Sienna.” The world spun as I broke apart, flayed wide open and completely helpless to stop the bleeding.
“How are you here?”
“What are you doing?”
We spoke at the same time, our equally bewildered questions floating in the space between us.
“Oh my god. You’re Atlas?” Sienna asked, eyes wide.
“How is this—wait.” She shook her head, breathing heavily as she looked over her shoulder.
“He shot at me from the other end of the row and when I shot back, he ran that way.” She pointed towards the back of the shipping yard.
“I don’t know where he is now or if he’s coming back, but there’s a back exit. ”
Panic drenched her voice and spurred me into action. “Guard her,” I barked at Anatoly while I took off running in the direction she’d indicated.
A sound behind me made me whirl, gun raised, but it was Ilya and…
Vovk? This night was a fever dream. Nothing made sense, but I couldn’t stop.
Ilya and I scanned our surroundings as we jogged through the container maze.
Vovk let out a low growl and ran ahead of us, skidding to a stop and sniffing something on the ground.
Ilya pulled out a flashlight. The beam of light fell on bright red dots of… blood. Fuck, had Sienna shot him?
“Where did he go, Vovk?” I whispered. “Show us.”
The wolf took off and we followed, a sick satisfaction rising within me as the trail of blood grew heavier until we reached a broken section of the chain-link fence. Deep tire tracks left in the sodden dirt replaced the blood. He was gone.
“Blyat!” Ilya scowled at the tire tracks. “We’ve never been that fucking close and then he just slips through our fingers?”
I slammed my fist into the fence, barely feeling the flash of pain. My nostrils flared with my rage and confusion, but my voice was like ice when I spoke. “Call Aleksei. Update him. See if he can get footage of the car.”
“Yes, Pakhan.”
We ran back to where we’d left the others. My wife looked so small standing between Anatoly and Lev. She was wearing all black, her hair was half-falling out of the bun on top of her head, and she clutched a bag and a gun in her arms.
I looked away. This wasn’t the time for questions. We were too exposed here, and I needed to regain control of my emotions.
“Let’s go.”
I resisted the intense urge to touch her as we retraced our path, but I hovered close in case she stumbled. My men flanked us, weapons at the ready. They were trusted soldiers and had done well these past weeks, but they were nowhere as skilled as Maxim and Sergey.
“Sienna and I can’t return to the house,” I said in Russian. “He’ll know the address.” Even if the Souleater was too injured to strike back immediately, who knew how large of an army he’d amassed?
“Aleksei’s searching through traffic cameras,” Ilya said.
“Anatoly, get to the house. Finnegan’s men should arrive soon. Make sure everyone is prepared for a potential attack. Ilya and Lev, follow the direction the Souleater went. If he’s hurt, he might have to pull over somewhere. And get in touch with Rossi’s team and update them.”
Of all the lessons Rustik had drilled into me, the one that had stuck the most was to never trust anyone.
I’d defied him in adulthood, opening my inner circle to Maxim, Polina, Sergey…
and few others. But on the flight back to Chicago, I’d been faced with two choices: trust in my alliance with Rossi and Finnegan and call on them for help, or risk the safety of my wife, my sister, and the rest of my family.
I was racing against the clock and without Rossi and Finnegan’s men, I wouldn’t have enough time or men to defend against whoever the Souleater targeted next.
“Should Rossi’s men still go to the safe house?” Ilya asked.
“Yes. Sienna and I will go to another. We’ll make contact when we arrive.”
The SUV we’d driven from the airport waited just outside the shipyard’s wide-open gates.
“I’m parked over there,” Sienna said quietly, gesturing to the other side of the lot.
“Keys,” I said, holding out my hand. She fished them out of her bag and I handed them to Anatoly. “Stay aware.”
My men headed to their cars while I turned to Sienna. Her arms were wrapped tight around her belly as she shivered from the cold.
“Get in,” I snapped. Her eyes flared with anger, but tonight’s events seemed to have shaken the defiance out of her and she got in without arguing. Vovk followed when I opened the backseat.
With a final scan of our surroundings, I rounded the car and got in the driver’s seat. The engine turned over with a rumble.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
“No.” Her teeth chattered and I wasn’t sure if it was from adrenaline or the brisk night air, but I aimed the vents towards her anyway, blasting the heat while I pulled out of the shipyard.
Tense silence stretched between us, leaving nothing to distract me from the sound of those gunshots echoing in my mind.
They grew louder and louder until I couldn’t breathe.
Each one of those bullets could have taken Sienna away from me.
My skin flushed hot and cold, and the crushing vise around my chest made each breath an agony.
She’s safe. She’s unharmed. You got to her in time.
No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, my heart wouldn’t stop racing. What if I hadn’t left Paris when I did? What if we’d hit traffic leaving the Chicago airport? Or I hadn’t run fast enough down the shipyard aisles? I had been so close to losing her.
I needed to fight, kill, do something to erase my powerlessness, but the only available opponent was the woman sitting next to me, and she did not deserve my violence.
So I gritted my teeth and waited for the riot of emotions in my chest to subside enough for me to speak to her without shouting, but my anger, fear, and confusion only grew.
Nothing about this reunion was what I’d imagined when I’d rehearsed my apology speech on the flight.
My knuckles turned white as I clutched the steering wheel to stop myself from grabbing her hand. I was desperate for her touch, the reassurance that she was still here and unharmed. But I had no right to comfort. I didn’t deserve to even breathe the same air she did.
“Where are we going?” Her soft words broke the silence, making me jolt.
“A safe house,” I croaked. “About two hours away.”
I caught Sienna’s nod out of the corner of my eye. We both stayed facing forward, staring out the windshield at the winding pitch-black roads, our unspoken words forming an almost tangible wall between us.
Eventually, the paved road shifted to gravel.
Sunrise was still a few hours off, and the lack of light pollution in the middle of nowhere meant the bright stars guided us down the long driveway to the safe house.
The Bratva safe houses were the one good thing Rustik had ever done.
He’d set up a network of them around the country and forced me to memorize their exact locations as a child until I could find all of them on the map with ease.
That training was still ingrained in me as I pulled up in front of a nondescript, tired-looking house that could belong to any middle-class family in middle America.
The Bratva safe houses had never been discovered, never been breached.
No one alive knew their locations besides me and Polina…
and now Rossi and his men. I hoped like hell my trust in them wasn’t misplaced.
I shifted the car into park. “Stay here while I check everything.”
My feet hit the ground before she could respond. The house’s huge yard backed up to a wooden area. The nearest neighbors were miles away. I checked the perimeter, gun in hand, but everything was quiet.
The alarm chirped when I stepped inside. I silenced it before checking each room. Two bedrooms, one with an en-suite bathroom. Small living room. Dated kitchen with a small breakfast table. The air carried a musty, neglected smell, but there were no signs of a break-in. Nothing unexpected.
I returned to the car and opened Sienna’s door, silently gesturing for her to get out.
She moved stiffly, and my panic intensified.
Was she hiding an injury? I resisted the urge to pick her up and carry her inside, confident my touch would not be welcome.
But the second she stumbled, all bets were off.
“Vovchyk?”
“I’ve got him.” I opened the back door to find Vovk spread out on the backseat. He was way too big for the space, a tangle of limbs and huge paws as he slept deeply.
“He warned me the Souleater was there.” Sienna nudged me aside and wrapped her arms around Vovk’s neck.
His tail started wagging in his sleep. I knew how he felt. Everything was better with Sienna.
“Come on, sweet boy. You’ll be more comfy inside.”