29. Misha
MISHA
Get in. Get Peyton. Get out.
Don’t die.
I liked this plan. Very concise. Very Leo.
I checked my guns before sliding the gag from my back pocket and showing it to Elena. “If you even try to bite me, I will shoot you in the gut and let you bleed the entire time we’re in there. I’ll make you walk every step with the pain ripping you apart from the inside. Understand?”
She swallowed hard, and for the first time she looked like she understood that I’d be more than happy to kill her.
Beating her might have made me slightly uncomfortable, but not enough that I would have refused.
I reached across the SUV and tied the gag around her mouth, making sure it went between her teeth and wouldn’t come untied.
Her hands were still tied behind her back, and I checked the zip ties to make sure she hadn’t started working her hands free.
Always had to keep an eye on the wily ones like Elena.
Leo exited the SUV and opened the hatch.
Mags slid into place, and the barrel of a rifle swung into view. Our men raced around the SUV on either side to take up offensive and defensive positions. We were going in quicker than we would in any other situation, but Peyton’s life and wellbeing depended on our taking care of the problem now.
There was no later.
Night had fallen an hour ago, leaving the warehouse lot dark and full of shadows.
We’d parked far enough away that they wouldn’t hear us coming.
I looked up and east when I exited the SUV with Elena in front of me.
“Snipers.” I jerked my chin toward the roofline, and Viktor followed my line of sight.
“And soldiers at every entrance." Leo handed us our weapons before taking the lead.
A full contingent of soldiers, if my quick head count meant anything as he darted down dark alleys and wound his way closer to the building.
We didn’t need to discuss our plan, and I was not willing to wait and see what happened to Peyton if we stormed the warehouse with guns blazing. Instead, we concentrated our efforts on a small side door at the back of the building.
Leo took out the first guard, Viktor the second. I eliminated the third and fourth, and we slipped through the door undetected.
More soldiers fell beneath our knives and suppressed pistols. Crouching, we weaved our way through a maze of storage rooms. I paused once and pulled Elena close. “Have you ever been here before?”
She gulped and shook her head.
Fine. I hadn’t wanted to remove her gag anyway because of the risk of her shouting and alerting them to our presence.
Leo tucked his shoulder against a stack of pallets and peered around them. “Distribution chambers ahead, and docking bays on the other side.”
“If I were him, I’d have her in the center of the building. Hardest place to get to.” Viktor checked his weapon before holstering it and taking out a second knife.
I pushed Elena ahead of me, my fingers digging into her arm. “The blueprints showed an office space in the center.” We’d already been making our way in that general direction, and I agreed with Viktor’s assessment.
“Eyes open.” Leo gave our old command, the one that snapped me back ten years before I had a chance to quiet the memories.
Viktor took the lead, slipping around the pallets of product. “Found our stuff.” He tapped his knife handle on one of the boxes that boasted our ship’s name on the slip attached to the side.
Figured Anton would be egotistical enough to hide Peyton in the same warehouse as the product he’d stolen from us.
The man had no morals, and sometimes no common sense. Oh, well. It worked in our favor this time.
A soldier rounded the opposite corner. His eyes had time to round in surprise as Viktor’s knife flashed and he ended in a puddle at Viktor’s feet.
Steps scuffled on the concrete behind me. I shoved Elena toward Leo when he turned, lifting my arm to block the overhead knife attack aimed at my back.
Interesting.
He’d gone for the quiet kill instead of trying to shoot me.
Then again, we all wore bulletproof vests. Maybe he was a crap shot and didn’t think he could blow my head off from two feet away. Idiot.
I knifed him in the side of the neck, then shoved his body into a shadowed corner before resuming my watch over Elena.
Two more turns, and a set of metal stairs led up to an office space with windows on every side. And there, right in the center of one window, was Peyton.
“Trap.” I hissed at Leo, who tapped Viktor once on the shoulder.
He nodded. “No choice.”
We were both right, and I agreed with Viktor. Peyton was alive, and we were too close to give up. We crept up the steps, each of us keeping watch in a different direction.
No one stopped us. Which meant we’d either been successful in our sneak attack or they were inside waiting to ambush us.
Viktor reached the top first and peered in the window. “Just Peyton.”
That was all it took for all of us to charge into the room.
Peyton’s eyes flew wide. Tears streaked her cheeks, and she thrashed from side to side. “You came.”
“Of course they did.” Anton stepped out from a locker beside Peyton and pressed a gun to her temple.
Peyton struggled, her head swinging around to take us in.
Her gaze landed on me, and I knew.
With that one look, I knew she’d finally learned the truth.
For the first time, she looked at me with fear, and it had nothing to do with the gun pointed at her.
My gut churned, acidic bile rushing up so fast, I barely swallowed it in time.
“Misha.” Raw terror widened her eyes, her horror on full display.
This was me. This was the monster I’d worked so hard to hide from her. And now she’d seen all of me. No wonder she was terrified.
Staying loyal to the brotherhood was going to cost me. I’d known that all along, but I had hoped, with what little decency I had, I had hoped that it would not take Peyton from me. I’d worry about that later.
“Do not try anything stupid.” Anton grabbed Peyton’s shoulder and ground the pistol against her temple.
Viktor grabbed Elena from me and brought her to the front, pressing his gun to her head.
Elena made a sound behind her gag. Viktor untied it while watching Peyton.
“I’ll kill her unless you let Peyton go.
We know she’s one of your people. She’s been using her friendship with Peyton to steal private information right out from under our noses. ”
Peyton sucked in a ragged breath but didn’t seem as surprised as I’d thought she’d be.
Anton laughed such a cold, brittle sound that my spine tingled. “I could not care less about that bitch. She has served her purpose.” His gun shifted, and a single shot rang out.
Elena sagged against Viktor.
“Elena!” Peyton screamed and tried to throw her body forward. Her bonds caught her, trapping and holding her in place.
Fuck Anton. I was going to make him wish for death a thousand times over for daring to put Peyton through any kind of pain.
“I’m… sorry.” Elena choked on the words, her body slumping toward the ground.
Viktor let her fall. He couldn’t afford to try and manage her literal dead weight with Anton pulling a power move.
With that one shot, he’d taken our leverage, which meant we’d overestimated Elena’s importance to him.
Something we should not have done. Anton was a known menace who epitomized love as a weakness and feelings as something to be destroyed.
Being compromised meant death. Our time with Peyton had allowed us to forget that.
A mistake I would not make again.
“Now then.” Anton pressed down on Peyton’s shoulder.
Gunfire erupted outside, and a tiny spurt of relief relaxed my grip on my knife. If I could ease around just right, I might be able to grab my pistol. No doubt Anton wore body armor beneath his suit. One shot between the eyes. That was all I needed.
“It’s time we renegotiate our terms.” Anton waved the pistol. “I’m finding New York to have much to offer.”
Rapid gunfire escalated outside the office. Anton seemed unbothered, like he fully expected his men to overpower ours.
Was that possible?
“I want free rein of the ports in your operation, Leonid. All the ports you have been hoarding for yourself. I also want the business on Oakland.” He rattled off a few more demands, some minor and some large enough to put a dent in our daily operations.
No doubt, Anton knew that, knew exactly where to hit to hurt us the most. “In exchange, you will get your woman back in one piece.”
“Agreed.” Leo didn’t even think about it. He held out his hand, ready for Anton to shake.
Peyton watched the entire exchange with wide eyes.
Once she tore her gaze away from Elena’s prone form, things shifted in her expression.
The innocence fled, and my heart hurt for her.
I’d become immune to the sight of death. Unless it involved her, Leo, or Viktor, I turned a blind eye. I was not affected.
But Peyton? Peyton mourned her friend despite knowing she’d been betrayed.
Anton’s mouth puckered even as relief lifted the tension from the room.
I’d known what I would say to Anton, but there had always been a lingering doubt in the back of my mind that Leo did not feel as strongly about Peyton.
I should have known better. He would not have put all of us through this if he didn’t love her.
Shouts sounded outside the office, followed by more gunfire. Russian curses littered the air, and that was when we all knew Anton’s men were failing to hold back the flood of our soldiers.
Anton knew it too. The sound of the warehouse doors rolling open caused Anton’s mouth to pinch with disbelief.
His head twitched to the side in a tiny motion of denial.
An instant later, he’d cut Peyton’s bonds and hauled her to her feet.
He pushed her in front of him. “Call an immediate cease fire or she dies.”
Fuck Anton. I managed to grip my pistol in the holster tucked into my spine.
Could I make the shot?
Anton lined Peyton up in front of his body, then pulled his head back so that my only visible target was a single inch of his jawline.
Damn it all to fucking hell and back. I should have taken care of this minutes ago.
Desperation to keep Peyton safe had stilled my hand. Now look. I’d given Anton more leverage than ever.
My hunting drive pressed hard into my chest, demanding I do something.
“Let me go, and I’ll return her.” Anton’s grip on Peyton’s arm tightened.
She bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed, her wince enough to turn me into a frothing menace.
“Leo.” I begged him with nothing but his name. Begged him to unleash me.
Instead, Leo held up a hand and backed toward the door. “Your men must stop shooting as well. I cannot call mine off, only to have yours continue to kill.”
Anton bared his teeth at me and Viktor. “Move aside. We will walk out together and stop them.”
Viktor and I had no choice but to move out of his way.
I raised my eyebrows at Leo, silently asking if I could shoot the bastard in the back.
Leo shook his head.
I knew why. Anton was so full of hot air, my bullet might pass right through his empty head and kill Peyton too.
I could shoot him in the spine.
That ought to stop a bullet. If he was using Peyton as a shield, I had to rethink my body armor assumption.
Then again, I wouldn’t put it past him to tempt us to shoot him.
Anton and Leo walked onto the metal catwalk that surrounded the office, Anton turning as soon as he could to keep Peyton between me, him, and Viktor.
His and Leo’s voices blended together, a mix of Russian and English as both called their men to stop.
The warehouse went silent in an instant.
I was going to kill him. Not today, unfortunately. But I would kill him.
No one touched Peyton against her will. No one put a mark on her.
The fire in my veins slowed enough for rational thought, and that allowed me to promise myself that I would end him.
Anton turned and walked backward down the steps, dragging Peyton with him.
She stumbled a couple of times and almost fell. Anton’s hold on her arm kept her upright, and the rapid rise and fall of her chest gave away her panic.
“If you do not let her go, then it’s all over.” Leo’s warning rang out clear and strong.
Anton sneered. “You have let yourself fall prey to weakness, my boy. It would do you well if I did kill her. Perhaps then you would remember who you are.” Anton reached the last step.
I prowled forward, closing the distance between us. “Keep going, old man. You have about five more steps before I put a bullet in you if you do not release her.”
Surprise flickered, then slipped into his snide grin. “Ah, Mikhail. You surprise me. When Elena told me of your activities with Peyton, I supposed that perhaps only Leo had fallen.” He clicked his tongue. “Such a shame.”
I’ll show you shame.
The thought came at the exact moment Anton shoved Peyton toward me.
Tremors shook her body, turning her limp in my arms. I held her upright, one arm around her waist and the other hand holding the back of her head.
I tucked her into my arms, though it was likely the last place she wanted to be. “You’re okay. It will be okay.”
She buried her head in my chest, her hands curling beneath her chin.
Anton and his men slipped into the night and faded into the shadows.