I heard something on the other side of the cabin. I ran to the other side, grabbing a poker from the hearth. Viktor had taught me to shoot, but I wouldn’t be able to train a gun on someone and pull the trigger. I was too soft for that.
A window broke and I screamed, turning towards the sound, ready to defend myself. But hands wrapped around me from behind, an arm closing around my throat and another pulling my arm behind my back, forcing me to drop the poker.
“Help!” I screamed and screamed until I heard a voice that killed my own.
“Quiet, bitch,” Maksim’s voice rasped in my ear. I shuddered when his breath brushed against the skin of my neck. “I’m going to kill you in front of that asshole boyfriend of yours.”
I kicked and fought and squirmed, but Maksim was so much stronger than I was, it was futile. He dragged me through the cabin and toward the door.
As soon as we were outside, I screamed. “Viktor!”
“I said quiet!” Maksim shouted in my ear.
He pushed me away from his body far enough to slap me across the face. I stumbled and fell to the ground. My hand dug into the dirt when I tried to stop my fall. The click of a gun cocking made me freeze. The cold steel of the barrel pressed against my temple, and I didn’t dare move. I was going to die.
I tried to look for Viktor between the trees, but I was too afraid to move my head. I just wanted to see his face one more time before it was over.
Viktor
For a short while, when Axel and I had stormed out into the fray to end this shit once and for all, I’d been confident we had it in the bag. Maksim was brilliant at what he did, but close contact wasn’t his forte. His strength was in the long game, sniping, working out how to infiltrate, strategic attacks.
This was different. We were in the mountains where I was comfortable, and I had Axel on my side. We could see enough through the trees even though the sun hadn’t risen; his men were city dwellers, uncomfortable in the woods.
Now, though, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. I’d managed to take out Maksim’s men one by one – he’d really picked the roughest scum out there. Some of them weren’t Russian. Maksim had been losing men hard and fast since the moment we’d stepped out of the cabin.
Axel was a hell of a fighter, too. He’d held up his end of the deal. He’d promised to have my back, and he was doing just that. Except, now he was in the dirt with a boot on his face and a gun at the back of his neck. He looked at me, his face twisted, teeth gritted. He wasn’t ready to die; I could still see the fight in him.
Angela was hostage again, too. Maksim had nabbed her from the cabin. She was crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she whimpered softly. My heart broke at the sound. I needed to save her. She needed me.
I was going to kill that motherfucker if it was the last thing I did.
“Come on, Viktor,” Maksim said. “Look who I have.”
“I’m looking,” I said. I stepped out from between the trees so Maksim could see me. I laid my gun on the ground. “Don’t kill her.”
Maksim laughed, a fucking ugly sound. “You’ve gone soft, comrade. I expected more from you. But our heroes all have feet of clay, right? That’s how the saying goes?”
I snorted. “What the fuck do you know about heroes?”
Maksim laughed and shook his head, his laughter turning into a sigh. “Oh, Viktor. You know, I never thought I would see the day where you begged for a life instead of taking one. It’s not a good look on you. I like you better with a gun in your hand and death in your eyes.
“You want me, you have me,” I said. “Let Angela go. She’s not a part of this.”
“Oh, but Viktor, you don’t understand how punishment works.”
“I’ve exacted your revenge for a long time, Maksim,” I said. “I know exactly how it works.”
Maksim shook his head and pressed the barrel harder against her head. She flinched and whimpered. I balled my hands into fists. I’d put down my gun, but the barrel of a second gun dug into my back where I’d shoved it into my pants. I needed to bide my time. I couldn’t play my hand until the time was right.
“No, Viktor,” Maksim said. “If I kill you – or send someone to do it – you won’t feel what it means to betray me. What did I ever do to you?”
“I didn’t want that life anymore. You wouldn’t let me go if I told you that was what I wanted.”
“No one fucking walks away, Viktor!” Maksim shouted. He took a deep breath and spoke more calmly. “You don’t walk away from your blood.”
“You’re not my blood.”
Maksim pulled his lips into a snarl. “That’s just the problem. You have no fucking loyalty. We are Russian, we are blood!” He pounded his chest as he spoke, though his gun hand never moved. “And I’m going to hurt the one thing you love the most. To teach you a lesson.”
Angela turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were bright, shimmering with tears. Her cheeks were wet. Her face was pleading. “I love you, Viktor.”
She was ready to die, but I wasn’t ready to let her go.
“This is your last warning, Maksim,” I said, my eyes focusing on him. “Let her go.”
Maksim laughed and grabbed Angela’s hair and yanked her back to her feet. He held her around the body, pressing her against him, and the gun was to her throat. “You know what happens next.”
Everything around us grew very still. The wind rustled the leaves around me, and I smelled the earth in my nostrils. My hands were sweaty with anticipation, and I could taste Angela’s fear on my tongue.
But I was calm. Focused. My heartbeat was slow, my blood flowing steady. I wiggled my fingers. Maksim started pulling the trigger. I could see by the way the muscle in his arm flexed, the way his face changed ever so slightly, anticipating the bang that would ring out a split-second later.
I grabbed the gun from my pants, yanked it out, aimed, and pulled the trigger. I hadn’t had time to aim down sight. I hadn’t had time to shift position, to make sure that the bullet would go where it was supposed to go. I trusted my skill, my experience. I trusted my heart and my gut.
Angela screamed and squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the gunshot.
The bullet hit him square between the eyes. A red dot appeared where the bullet went in, and he flew backward.
Angela jumped forward, shock on her face, and she spun around, looking at the dead man on the ground.
I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her.
“Is he dead?” she asked me in a trembling voice.
I nodded. “Angela,” I said. “Look at me.”
She was still staring at Maksim. I didn’t want her to look at that. I needed her to look at me.
“Malen kiy,” I said. “Look at me.”
She finally turned her eyes to mine.
“I love you, too.”
Angela
I was alive. Maksim was dead.
“Where are the rest of them?” I asked.
Viktor shook his head. “The one or two who were still alive fled when Maksim died. When the Queen Bee dies, there’s nothing to keep the hive together anymore.”