Chapter 46
Alexei
"East perimeter clear."
Bohdan’s voice crackles through my earpiece - sharp and distorted by static.
Crouching twenty meters from the main house, I move through the deep shadows with Marko flanking my left and Pavel covering our rear.
Harsh floodlights wash the compound in blinding white.
Every single window glows against the dark sky, illuminating the armed guards posted at all three entry points. Forty men wait inside those walls.
"Snipers in position," another voice reports over the comms. "We have two targets standing on the north balcony. One pacing by the kitchen door."
"Take them," I order.
Three suppressed shots echo as soft pops in the distance, and the bodies drop heavy to the grass.
"Clear."
Reaching the south wall, I press my back flat against the cold stone.
The primary war room sits on the main floor of the west wing, accessed directly through the library.
Dato is in there right now with his inner circle.
They're spreading maps across the table - distributing fresh magazines to plan their own assault for tonight.
They should've moved faster.
"Breaching in thirty seconds," I whisper into the mic. "Four teams. Simultaneous entry - north, south, east, and kitchen. The war room is mine. Do you hear me? Nobody touches Dato. He belongs to me."
Low confirmations crackle back.
Drawing my gun, I check the chamber to ensure a round is loaded. Two extra magazines rest inside my tactical vest. A sharp knife stays strapped to my thigh, while Zoya’s panties remain tucked securely over my heart. That's all I need.
"Twenty seconds."
Bohdan steps forward to plant the shaped breaching charge on the heavy library door. Marko readies his rifle as Pavel circles tight to the nearest window.
"Ten seconds."
My pulse beats steadily in my throat. My hands don't shake.
"Five."
"Breach."
The explosive charge detonates, blowing the heavy wooden door inward in a violent shower of splinters and thick smoke. I step through the ruined frame before the dust even settles on the floor.
The library sits empty. Moving fast, I cross the large room in four long strides to reach the closed war room door ten feet ahead. Angry Georgian voices shout inside.
Dato’s voice rings out - loud and agitated. "…don't care what Levan ordered! Three days is way too long to wait. Romanov is planning a strike right now, I can feel it. We move tonight. Load the weapons and get the men ready…"
An older, calmer voice interrupts him. "Your uncle said to wait. You disobey him and…"
"My uncle isn't here!" Dato shouts over the warning. "I'm in charge of this operation - I say we attack tonight!"
Stepping back from the heavy door, I process the argument. Levan ordered his nephew to wait three days, yet Dato chose to ignore the command. Good to know.
I don't bother knocking. Kicking the door wide open, I step inside the room with my gun raised.
Twelve armed men stand gathered around a long wooden table covered in maps and assault rifles. Dato stands at the head of the room with both hands pressed flat against the wood. He cuts off mid-sentence as his head snaps in my direction. His dark eyes widen in pure shock.
I shoot the guard standing closest to the door in the center mass, dropping him dead to the floor.
The entire room erupts into chaos. Men scramble desperately for their weapons while chairs scrape loudly against the hardwood.
They shout panicked warnings as I push forward.
Firing two quick shots, I send two more bodies crashing to the rug.
Bohdan steps into the room behind me to cover the left flank while Marko takes the right.
Deafening gunfire fills the confined space, thickening the air with the harsh smell of cordite and fresh blood.
A guard raises his heavy rifle toward my chest. I put two rounds into his heart before he can even aim.
Another man lunges at me from the blind side.
Sidestepping the clumsy attack, I grab his extended arm and twist hard.
The bone snaps with a loud crack, and I shoot him directly in the face at point-blank range.
Dato backs away toward the far plaster wall.
Completely unarmed, he screams at his dying men to protect him.
I walk straight toward his trembling form, stepping carelessly over bleeding bodies to shoot anyone still twitching on the floor.
A desperate guard fires at me from behind an overturned chair.
The stray round hits my armored vest. I barely feel the impact before shooting the man three times to end his life.
Bohdan clears the final man on the left side of the room.
Marko drops the last two on the right. The violent space falls quiet.
The only remaining sounds are ringing ears and ragged breathing.
Eleven dead bodies litter the floor. Dato remains pressed flat against the wall, his hands raised in surrender.
Holstering my warm gun, I walk to the head of the long table.
The large chair Dato occupied moments ago remains upright.
I grab the heavy wood, dragging it aside to climb directly onto the table and sit at the head.
My heavy boots rest on the polished mahogany while thick blood pools on the floor beneath me.
Dato stares in horror.
"You were saying something." My voice cuts through the ringing silence in the room. "Right before I walked in. Finish your sentence bitch."
Dato stares down at the bleeding bodies of his men. His jaw works, but his dry throat refuses to form the words.
"Take a seat, bitch."
He swallows hard, his chest heaving under his ruined suit. "Alexei, listen to me. I swear to God I…"
"I didn't ask you to swear." I kick a dropped rifle out of my path. "I told you to sit down."
Stumbling toward the nearest chair, he collapses onto the seat. Cold sweat soaks through his expensive suit, and his hands tremble without stopping.
Leaning back, I cross one ankle over my knee and pull out my phone to scroll through my missed messages. Zoya sent a photo from inside the bunker. Her bare feet rest propped up on the metal bench. The caption reads: Bored. Hurry up.
A genuine smile touches my lips. I type back:
Almost done. I’ll be home soon vedma.
Read
Sliding the phone back into my pocket, I turn my full attention to Dato and start laughing.
He looks furious.
“I thought you’d attack tonight and I was right, thank god I came here before you carried out your plans because now you look like a damn fool.” I gesture around the warehouse. “Look around you, all your men are dead.”
His jaw clenches but he stays silent.
“But there’s an olive branch I’m about to give you, and it’s a short, stubby, withering little thing, but I’m gonna give it to you anyway.
” I lean against the table. “Why? Because never once in my thirty-seven years of life have I ever been more infuriated with a person and still wanted to keep them alive.”
He stares at me, hope filling his eyes.
“So here’s the choice: option one, I take you to the Bratva council where you confess what you did and tell them about all the families you killed, then the families of those victims get to decide how you die.
” I shrug. “See? I’m not the one who ends up killing you, it’s them, so here’s your olive branch and tell me what’s your pick. ”
He makes a pathetic sound, a broken and terrified exhale.
“Choice two.” I pull his personal gun from my belt, the exact weapon he was holding when my men first found him, then check the chamber to make sure it holds a single round.
I slide the heavy metal across the table until it stops right in front of him.
“You handle the execution yourself on your own terms, and it’s the last decision you ever get to make. ”
He stares down at the weapon for a long moment. “Tell Stanislav I’m sorry,” Dato whispers, his voice cracking. “Tell him I didn’t mean what I said on the phone, that he was never weak and he was always the best of us.”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll tell him, just kill yourself already.”
He picks up the gun with a hand shaking so badly that the steel barrel rattles against his teeth when he presses it under his chin.
“Do you love her?” he asks. “Zoya?”
“More than anything in this world.”
“I hope her baby isn't yours.”
He pulls the trigger.
The shot echoes through the silent room as his body jerks hard before slumping sideways off the chair, hitting the floor with a heavy thud. Everything Dato Janelidze ever was ends right there on the polished wood of his uncle’s war room.
I sit in the quiet for a long moment before finally standing up and stepping off the table, walking right past his bleeding body without bothering to look down.
“Clear this room,” I tell Bohdan. “Bag him up, bag all of them, then burn the bodies to ash, I want no graves and no remains.”
"Understood, Pakhan."
Walking out the door, I head down the hallway. The fresh blood coating my boots leaves dark red footprints across the clean tile.
The staircase leading to the basement sits at the far east end of the main floor. Taking the steps two at a time, I descend into the unfinished space. Bare concrete walls surround me, with exposed pipes running along the low ceiling in the dim, flickering light.
Two armed guards stand watch at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing me approach, they immediately raise their weapons.
I shoot the first guard before he can aim down his sights.
The second man manages to get a wild shot off.
The bullet goes wide, chipping the concrete wall right behind my head.
Putting two rounds directly into his chest, I drop him to the floor.
I step over both bleeding bodies and move deeper into the dark basement.