The soldiers fall before him like grass beneath the scythe.
He rampages through them, his bull-like body whittled down to pure muscle and sinew, not an ounce of fat on his frame. His dark hair is matted, longer than his shoulders, his face bearded, eyes wild with bloodlust.
In the space of a breath, everyone in military uniform is dead.
We stare at this monster, at his snarling teeth and dripping knives.
Then Rafe says, “Dad!”, and he runs to him.
Ivan Petrov drops the knives, sweeping his son and daughter into his arms.
His bloodstained hands sink into their hair. He pulls their faces against his.
I can’t look at the expression on his face.
I have to turn and stare at the stone wall, filled with a shame I can’t express.
The reunion only lasts a moment. Ivan embraces Adrik and Kade as well, saying, “Is Sloane in the tunnels?”
“Yes,” Freya says.
“Then we’ll save the introductions for another time,” Ivan says, his gaze sweeping over Leo, Anna, Hedeon, and me, before he urges us all on.
I don’t know if I imagined a flicker of recognition when those dark eyes passed over me. I’m supremely relieved that there’s no need for us to speak at the moment. Ivan Petrov is frankly terrifying, and I’m staying as far back in the group as possible.
Rafe rejoins me. I can see the blazing relief in his face, a lightening of his step that makes me realize what a burden he was carrying all this time. His fingers tremble slightly as he clutches his rifle.
My chest is burning with the most complicated set of emotions I’ve ever known: immense guilt, mixed with happiness and sorrow.
Our eyes meet. I hope Rafe can see that no matter the circumstances, and without considering what might happen next, I’m glad he has his father back.
We’re running toward the steadily increasing sound of gunfire, Kade walking on his own, his ear still bleeding but his rifle in his hands once more. Hedeon can’t even stand—he’s supported between Dean and Leo, his pant leg darkly soaked.
This mine is massive—endless tunnels and chambers.
My father never showed me this place. He told me that he took me to every warehouse, every nightclub . . . and yet, it’s obvious he doesn’t only keep Ivan Petrov captive here. If it’s an old uranium mine like Adrik said, I can guess exactly what goes on here.
None of the uses for black market uranium are at all palatable to me. Another blow to my image of my dad.
We reach the main guardhouse at last, the entry point where my father’s men drive in through the tunnels.
Sloane has made it all the way inside, but she’s pinned down at the base of the guardhouse, the tires blown out of her Jeep, all the windows shattered. It appears that only four of her men are still alive, including the one called Timo. He crouches next to her, shooting up at my father’s soldiers who surround them on three sides.
Dean sets Hedeon down against the wall, tearing a strip off the bottom of his shirt and tying it tight around Hedeon’s thigh.
Watch Me Burn — Michele Morrone
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Our group fans out, attacking my father’s men from behind.
The Malina splinter, shot at from two sides. The bulk of them retreat up the tunnel to regroup. I stay right behind Rafe as he fights his way closer to his mother.
I see Olek, one of my father’s brigadiers, stand up in the guardhouse, pointing his rifle directly at Rafe. I scream, “RAFE! Six o’clock!”
Rafe wheels around, Olek’s bullet cutting a groove out of his shoulder as Rafe’s shot hits Olek right in the chest. I stare, horrified, as Olek slumps over, his head crashing through the guardhouse window.
Meanwhile Ivan shoots two, three, four Malina, before sprinting across the open ground to his wife, heedless of bullets flying around him, sliding into her behind the body of the Jeep, seizing her and kissing her with a ferocity that would tear apart a more delicate woman.
Sloane kisses him back, blood smearing from his mouth to hers, their hands clutching each other’s faces, their bodies melded together like they could never be parted again.
I’ve never witnessed anything so intimate.
I can’t look away.
They gaze into each other’s eyes as Ivan growls, “Remember what I told you, my little fox: nothing could keep me from coming back to you.”
As one, Ivan and Sloane turn, raising their rifles to their shoulders. Side by side they start to hunt.
It’s like watching a pack of wolves wheel upon their prey. Time seems to slow as the Petrovs reign down retribution on the Malina. Ivan, Sloane, Rafe, Freya, Adrik, and Kade—each one tall, dark, and utterly ruthless, moving with inhuman speed and coordination. They slaughter every soldier remaining in the chamber. Even Sabrina looks awed as Adrik fires two perfect shots to the chest and one to the head of the last man standing.
Silence reigns for exactly five seconds.
Then two more Hummers come roaring up the tunnel, loaded with men. My father stands upright inside the open top of the lead Hummer, an M240 mounted to the hood. He catches sight of Ivan Petrov and his face distorts in a snarl of rage. He opens fire, spraying bullets across the chamber.
“BACK!” Ivan shouts.
We sprint back up into the protected cover of the mine, back to the room filled with rusting equipment. Dean is dragging Hedeon along, with Leo’s help.
Ivan is scanning the hulking machinery, looking for the best vantage point to hunker down and fight. Sloane stops him.
“Can we get out this way?” she shouts to Rafe.
I see the swift calculation on his face: the assumption that the boat at the underground dock must be able to travel all the way out on the river.
“Yes,” he says. “I think we can.”
“Good,” Sloane replies. She pulls a detonator from her pocket and flips up the cover over the switch.
“Are you sure we should—” Timo says.
Sloane hits the switch.
Instantly, three separate explosions rocket through the tunnels, each one seeming to amplify the next. We’re already running again, back down past the cells, as rock thunders down in an avalanche behind us.
I can’t help looking back over my shoulder, horrified that my father might have been buried by boulders or blown to bits. I know that’s what the Petrovs are hoping.
But someone is still behind us, evidenced by the bursts of gunfire hitting the walls and ceiling overhead.
We’re back to the chamber where we came up through the grate in the floor. Then we’re running down the tunnel toward the dock . . .
Until my father roars, “I’VE GOT YOUR NEPHEW!”
We all stare at the filthy, bloodied faces around us. I see Rafe, Sabrina, Dean, Hedeon, Leo, Anna, Adrik, Ivan, Sloane, and her four surviving men.
In the mad dash, Kade Petrov fell behind.
Without hesitation, Sloane seizes me by the arm and shouts back, “AND I’VE GOT YOUR DAUGHTER!”
She begins to drag me back down the tunnel.
I let her do it.
She hauls me back to the stone chamber where I see my father, covered in dust, the side of his face bloodied, holding a Glock to the side of Kade’s head. The gun presses against Kade’s ruined ear. He looks like he might pass out from the pain.