Page 81 of The Bratva’s Monster

He takes another sip and Alex grips the handle, ready to strike. Before he can move, the kitchen door swings open and a gun is put to my head. At the same time, several of Stefan’s men come in through the doors, guns drawn.

I can’t look behind me because of the gun in my face, but I can hear the gunfire. A battle has started.

Stefan finishes his coffee as if nothing has happened. He sets it back down and as he wipes his face with a napkin, he tells Alex, “You might as well take your hand off that knife.”

I can see the curse in his eyes as he slowly moves his hand away from the knife in his belt. One of his guys steps up, reaches around him, and takes it out, then tosses it across the room.

“For the record,” Stefan says as he stands up and straightens his jacket. “I didn’t get as far as I have by using smoke, mirrors, and gossip. Slavik chose me to be his right hand because nobody can strategize and plan as well as I can. The moment Josef didn’t check in, I saw this move coming a mile away. I even planned for you have such a hard on for getting me that it didn’t see an empty cafe as a threat.”

Josef, I think. Where the fuck did he go?

The moment I have that thought, I hear screaming from outside. At first I think it’s my own anxiety placing Liz in with the sound of some random bystander…

Then I dare a look over my shoulder, past the faces of the men between me and the door and through the glass doors and windows, to see Josef dragging Liz down the street, one arm around her waist as she kicks and screams. They’re moving toward a car nearby.

“We should play chess some time,” I hear Alex say, though he sounds a million miles away.

“We should. I’ll warn you. I’m a menace on the chessboard.”

“Too bad you don’t know when your opponent’s only in check.”

And just like that, Alex is on his feet. He grabs the barrel of the nearest gun, twisting it out of the hands of Stefan’s man’s hand, taking him by surprise.

The moment he moves, I do, knocking the gun at my head away and punching the guy in the face, breaking his nose in an instant. Gunshots and Alex tackles Stefan. I duck just in time and ram the one who had been standing behind me with my shoulder, sending him to the ground. I start beating the shit out of him while the last man wavers, unsure of whom to shoot at.

Then he’s shot in the head through the window. One of our guys or a stray bullet. Who fucking cares?

I look out of the window just in time to see Josef shove Liz into the back of a car. I grab the gun from the bleeding bastard under me and get to my feet right as Josef gets in the driver’s seat and pulls off, the tires screeching.

32

RIKKI

Ihear a round of shots behind me and I glance over my shoulder to see Alex shooting at a swinging kitchen door. He starts to run toward it, but I yell, “Alex, we gotta go!”

He stops, looking back at me. “The motherfucker’s getting away.”

“Forget him. Josef has Liz.” It’s all I say and all I need to say, so I turn and push open the nearly shattered glass door.

The street is littered with chaos. Broken car windows, alarms going off, bodies in the street—both Rostov and Irkutsk. I’m just barely paying attention to that, however. All I can see is the tendrils of white smoke left from the car as Josef pulled off.

Alex runs up behind me. “Which way?” I nod to the north. “All right, let’s go.”

We run to the car and get in. Before I swing that car out into the street, Alex is on the phone, calling for backup.

The animal inside me that I’ve worked to keep reined in is loose. Everything sounds far away, even Alex’s voice as we speed through the streets. I don’t have eyes on him yet, but I’m scanning the streets, looking for any sign of the son of a bitch.

“We’ve got company,” Alex says.

I glance up at the rearview. Two or three cars are chasing us, swerving trying to keep up. Alex pulls out his gun and cocks it. “Keep it steady,” he says as he leans out of the window and aims behind us.

Gunshots in the distance, followed by more gunshots and the sound of glass breaking. I’m still looking for her. Some sign. Any fucking…

“Turn around!” Alex says as he ducks back into the car.

“What?”

“Now!”