Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Not too bad. Just about two each. I’ll take three.”
“Those are the seven we can see from out back,” I tell them, trying to think. The dex keeps me amped up and ready to go, and I need to get my head straight. The pills want me to go in guns blazing, but that’s the thing, I have to resist the urge to start killing without thinking first. That sort of Rambo shit gets people shot in the face and put down for good.
I melt back into the woods and we skirt along the edges of the house, heading to the side. The place is a fucking compound, absolutely massive, the sort of sprawling palatial hell that’s actually very hard to defend. There are too many blind spots, too many little nooks and crannies, too many entrances to watch everything perfectly. All I need is a single opportunity, and I spot it hiding in the shadows of a bunch of bushes.
A single guard holding a rifle and yawning stands in front of a pitch-dark door.
“That’s our entrance,” I whisper, crouching low. I pull a silencer from my backpack and screw it onto my barrel. The others do the same. The suppressors won’t make the gun perfectly quiet, but they’ll muffle the noise enough that it won’t alert everyone nearby. Only the stupid things will melt if we fire too much. “I’ll take him out. Then we go in. Ghost mode.”
“Understood,” Tony says, eyes hard.
Niccolo only nods.
They’re both in the game, my brothers. They’re ready to do this and they know there’s a good chance they might never come home. That’s the risk we take when it matters, and I hate asking this of them, but I’ll live with whatever happens here for the rest of my life, and they will too. They’re doing it for Giacomo, for our fallen brother.
I’m doing it for her.
I get myself into position. There’s about half a football field from me to the guy, maybe a little less. It’s not an easy shot, but I don’t think I can get any closer without being spotted. I go prone, hold my rifle still, and take a deep breath.
I picture Kacia’s face, smiling. I can taste her lips against mine. I need her back in my arms, squirming, begging, moaning.
I squeeze the trigger.
The bullet hits the guard in the upper chest, right below his throat. I curse and adjust my aim as he gags, hands flying up to the wound. He tries to yell but I must’ve ruined his windpipe because nothing comes out, only these sick, horrifying croaks. But they’re loud enough that someone might hear.
I put another through his head and he drops.
Tony helps me up. “Nice shooting.”
“Well done,” Niccolo agrees. “Now what?”
“Now, we head inside.” I turn to the door and start crossing the barren open landscape between the trees and the house with my brothers on my tail.
We make it halfway when the door yanks open.
“Vitaly, did I hear you jacking off out here?” Another guard steps into the shadows. “Vitaly? Hey, are you—” He stares at the dead body at his feet, still holding the door open.
I start sprinting. I run faster than I’ve ever run before in my life, because everything hinges on what happens next. I have to get to him fast, otherwise we’re fucked, and I can’t screw this up already, not when I’m so damn close. The guy looks up, startled, and I raise my weapon. I fire, but I’m on the move and I’m not accurate at all, and the bullets thud all around him, hitting everything but my target. The Russian curses and turns, throwing himself inside, and the door begins to shut.
It’s a race now. I release my rifle and sprint so fast I feel like my legs might break. I release a snarl, a curse, and the door keeps closing. If I can’t reach it, the fucker might lock us out and set off the alarm and then we’re really screwed.
Inches before the door clicks shut, I jam my fingers in there. It hurts like hell and I think it cracks bone, but I manage to wrench the door open again, only to be met with a guard holding a pistol, his other hand holding a radio to his mouth. “Intruder,” he says. “Got the fucking—”
Tony fires over my shoulder and wings the Russian bastard. I leap on him, wrestle the gun from his hands, and shoot him in the skull, blowing his brains all over the place.
The gunshot is loud and echoes all throughout the compound.
“Fuck,” Niccolo says.
The alarm begins to wail and now they know we’re coming.
Chapter 27
Kacia
“What the heck was that?”
Two more pops go off in the distance. It’s muted and far away, but it sounds like fireworks. I look at Adrienne and she shakes her head. “I think they’re gunshots.”