Dmitry walked to within twenty feet of the gate and shouldered the RPG. The guards began fumbling with their weapons.
“He’s crazy!” I told Kelso, who agreed, but at this point, Levi and Alana needed this. Hell, even Callum. My chest constricted. My family was in there, shooting their way out. I could only hope that Dmitry’s wild west action was the diversion they needed.
“Down!” Kelso yelled just as Dmitry fired the RPG.
The blast rocked the RV, and a bright light cast an orange glow around us. Dmitry calmly stepped back into the RV, but he didn’t come in, instead he lowered the weapon and picked up an uzi. Kelso straightened in his seat and shot the vehicle forward while I was still trying to find my bearings. Dmitry braced at the RV entrance and prepared to fire as the vehicle bounced on the driveway at top speed.
This was like the movies.
Then my mind backtracked. This was exactly like the movies.
“Keep down,” Dmitry ordered.
I obeyed without argument.
As the RV sped through the gates, bullets pelted our vehicle.
It was only after we were a few seconds past the gate that Kelso gave the all clear. “But I want you to stay down,” the detective added. “Levi, you there?”
The pit that had taken root in my gut had pushed up against my throat. We hadn’t heard from Levi since Dmitry destroyed the gates. I tried to quell the rising panic threatening to take over.
He’d been in a standoff against Blaze who had Alana under duress.
They’ll be fine. They’ll be fine.
Levi had been in worse situations than this and I knew my sister enough to know she wasn’t going to be a helpless damsel. They would get through this.
My breathing hitched.
They had to.
At that moment, I clung to Dmitry’s show of force to maintain my sanity. The man was as good at playing politics and giving orders as he was in executing an assault.
Every single man on the team was a deadly weapon.
The RV approached a rotunda, and beyond it, a Tarantino-like gunfight was in full chaotic glory. Fireworks jockeyed from one corner to another.
Kelso swerved to the left.
“Are you there, man?” the detective repeated.
My breaths turned shallow.
Pick up, Levi. Pick up. My jaw was aching from clenching too hard, and my fingers were frozen icicles.
“Should we go check on him?” I was looking at Dmitry.
The Gray Wolf shouted something in Ukrainian and started firing.
Seconds later, the shooting abated, and my brother jogged up to the RV. “Thanks for the assist,” he told Dmitry. “Where’s Levi?”
“Ulrich has Alana,” Kelso said.
“Dammit,” Callum sprinted off before I could say anything.
Bile burned a line down my throat, and I must have whimpered because Kelso glanced at me with sympathy in his eyes.
Two of the most important people in my life were in that house. And the one I just got back ran off to join them. The cramping in my stomach intensified and with my chest weighing so heavily, I didn’t know whether I was about to throw up, pass out, or have a heart attack.
“If there’s anything I know about Levi James, he’s the toughest son of a bitch on the planet,” Kelso told me. “He’s fine. He’s got rage on his side.”
“That might make him careless.”
“Job for you.” The detective brushed away my fears. “Clear some room in the RV. Seems like we have a dozen passengers to load.”
My eyes strayed back to the guest house, willing my husband to appear, but the door remained shut.
Levi
I surged toward Blaze the second Alana stomped on his foot and managed to break free.
He fired.
Burning singed my shoulder, but momentum carried me forward sending my shoulder straight into his torso. We both fell to the floor. Images of Kelly’s bruised face throbbed through my mind, and my fist connected with his jaw again and again. He bucked his hip, but my weight crushed him.
“What about now, eh?” I spat. “How does that fucking feel?”
“Fucking spectacular,” he gurgled with blood spilling from his mouth.
“Psycho.”
“We’re two of a kind.”
“No, we’re not. Hit me, damn you.” I straddled him and leaned away, spreading my arms. We weren’t physically matched, but I knew he wasn’t helpless. I never underestimated a man’s size. Blaze probably had a knife on his person, I was egging him on to use it to give me an excuse to kill him.
I yanked him up and slammed him against a wall.
“Where are you guys?” I spoke into comms.
No answer.
Shit. The receiver must have fallen out of my ear. No time to look for it. Blaze was smiling through his bloody mouth.
“What’s so funny, motherfucker?”
“You’re not getting out of here alive.” He continued his hacking laughter.
I released him and glanced at Alana. “Check the front door and see if there’s an RV parked there. Your sensor is disabled. You know Kelso, right?”
“Yes.”
I kept Blaze in my periphery.
The backdoor slammed open, and I immediately pointed my Glock at the new arrival.
“Alana,” Callum whispered.
“Is this one of yours?” Alana asked warily.
“Yes.”
Callum couldn’t stop staring at his sister. Now was not the time for an emotional reunion, but Kelly’s brother was distracted.
The front door opened again, and Bristow appeared.
I waved him down. “Get them out. Help him, Alana.”
She split a look between me and her brother. I clapped Callum’s shoulder to wake him up from his trance.
When Bristow approached us, Alana said, “Do I know you?”
Blaze laughed mockingly. “That’s because—”
I punched him across the jaw, hoping like hell this time it shattered.
“Fuck!” Blaze mumbled and sank to his ass.
“What’s the matter now, motherfucker? Can’t take it?”
“You’re the ass picking on someone half your size.”
“It sure didn’t bother you when you hurt my wife. ”
Blaze continued laughing like he wasn’t in deep shit, or he was laughing like a maniac because he realized he was in deep fucking shit.
Alana finally gathered the young captives together, but dawdled back.
“Outside. Now,” I told her.
“What are you going to do with him, I want to take a shot,” Alana said.
“Jesus,” Bristow muttered and shot me a shit-eating grin.
“Alana. Go! Bristow. With her.”
“All right, all right,” she said and finally followed the kids outside.
“What are we going to do with him?” Callum repeated his sister’s question.
“This is less satisfying than I thought,” I told Blaze. “Why didn’t you put up a fight, you fucker?”
“Because you’re going to beat the fuck out of me anyway.”
“Let’s take this asshole outside,” Callum said.
“Wait,” Blaze croaked, staggering to his feet. “Let me have a smoke before you lock me up.” He reached into his pocket.
Callum and I raised our guns. “Keep your hands where we can—”
He slipped out a pack of cigarettes, but his bloody smile gave me chills.
He’s the ordnance expert of Murder Sanctum. He likes to blow up shit.
Fucking hell. Without another thought, I shoved Callum into Alana’s room, followed him, and shut the door, leaving Blaze in the hallway. There was no second guessing where the explosives were planted. The blast was simultaneous with the slamming of the door.
It blew the door back open and threw me into the air.
Intense heat wrapped around me, and the building collapsed.
