Nikandr’s lip curls in disgust as he takes in the site. “This place should be torn down.”
“It’s not far from it.” I point to a faded red and black sign dangling from a metal post. Warning: This Property Is Condemned.
The windows are all shattered, but they only bothered to board up the ones on the ground level. Weeds grow through the cracked asphalt lot and vines trail up the side of the metal building, looping themselves around gutters and rusted bolts.
“I guess it’s a good place if you want to keep people away, but still.” Nik shakes his head. “This doesn’t seem like the kind of place Akim would spend his free time. Even to keep prisoners.”
It might be the kind of place he’d dispose of a body.
I shove the thought aside as soon as I have it. Luna is alive. She has to be.
We’re in the shadow of the warehouse, cutting around the corner to find our way through a side door, when an engine revs around front.
“Shit.” Nik sprints for the front of the building. “They’re not staying here. They’re switching cars!”
They knew they were being followed. Or they knew it would be stupid not to plan for the possibility. This was a midpoint to lose anyone on their tail and avoid leading us to wherever they’re actually keeping Luna.
As we round the corner, I see another dark car with tinted windows idling along the curb. Two men are sitting in the front with the windows down. They’re looking towards the warehouse, yelling in Russian.
“Hurry up!” the driver barks. There’s a prominent white scar running down his left cheek.
The passenger laughs. “Akim didn’t build bathroom breaks into the schedule.”
They don’t see Nik and I approaching slowly. I make decisions quickly in my head. Two is a crowd. I only need one man alive to get the answers I want.
“Passenger,” I whisper to my brother.
Then I raise my gun and shoot through the windshield.
The passenger slumps in his seat as the driver ducks down. Nik shoots out the two front tires and advances at a crouch.
Even on flat tires, I know the driver is going to take off. I run past Nik towards the car.
The man is fumbling in his seat, probably scrambling to find his gun. I just need to grab him before he drives away. I have time.
I’m closing in on him when he throws his arm out the window and fires. I dodge right, ducking behind a metal mailbox lying on its side on the pavement.
I turn back. Nik is still standing in the middle of the sidewalk. “Get down!” I bark at him. “Nik, what the fuck are you—”
Then he staggers back… with a hand pressed to his chest.
No.
There’s movement to the left. The third man—the one from the hospital—is standing next to the warehouse with his pants unzipped and his dick hanging out. He’s still pissing when I shoot him without a single thought in my head beyond getting to my brother.
The driver peels away from the curb, bare rims screeching, as I double back and drop to the ground next to Nik. Bright red blood stains the front of his shirt.
“Follow the c-car,” he gasps. Blood bubbles between his fingers.
I slide out of my jacket and press it to his chest.
Nik swats my hands away. “No. Get the fuck out of h-here.”
“I can’t leave you, goddammit!’
Sirens wail in the distance. Someone nearby must have heard the shots and called the police.
“Help is coming,” I tell him. “Just hang on.”
His eyes roll back, but he blinks and refocuses them. “Go. Go save her.”
“I’m not leaving you bleeding on the fucking sidewalk, Nik. I’m not going to let you—”
The words stick in my throat. I’m not going to let you die alone.
He’s been shot in the chest. The blood is pumping out of him too fast, spreading across the sidewalk. His face is pale. Too pale.
Am I going to watch every member of my family die like this?
Nik slides his hand into mine. It takes me a second to recognize that he’s handing me the car keys.
“Go save your kid, Yakov. Save your family,” he says weakly.
My throat tightens. I can’t save Nik, but I can try to get to Luna in time. I can save her and our baby.
I lean over my brother and press a kiss to his forehead. When I pull back, his eyes are closed.
Rage propels me off the ground and down the sidewalk. The only reason I can walk away from my brother is because I know the man responsible for his death is going to die slowly and painfully.
But first, he’s going to take me to Luna.
