I leave the corpses behind and keep rushing down the hallway in the direction of her scream. The last door is closed. I put my shoulder into it, but it doesn’t yield. So I back up, unload a clip into the locking mechanism, and then try again.
This time, it gives way.
I burst into the room in an explosion of wood splinters and hot metal fragments. I’m just in time to see Oleg Agapov throw one foot out an open window. He’s got an arm wrapped around Polly’s neck in a chokehold and her face is turning a nasty shade of blue. She’s clawing at his arm with her nails but he seems oblivious as he tries to drag her through the window with him.
Not on my fucking watch.
I cross the room in a single stride, grip Oleg’s fingers where he’s clamped down on my sister’s throat, and tear them backwards. Shit breaks, lots of it, his bones cracking like popsicle sticks in my grasp. His scream is music to my ears.
Caught awkwardly with one leg on the windowsill, Oleg collapses. Polly wrenches herself free and stumbles to the corner of the room, her body going slack as she slides to the ground and buries her face in her hands.
I haul Agapov up by the collar and send my fist flying into his nose. He takes the first punch like a man.
The third, fourth, fifth, tenth, though? Not so much.
His mouth is a mass of blood and spit and both his eyes have already swollen shut by the time more footsteps join us.
Polly screams but then I hear Nikolai’s voice. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s just us.”
I turn to Nikolai and Dimiv, who’re standing by the door with a handful of men behind them. I drop Oleg in disgust. “Cuff that mudak and bring him. I’m not done with him yet.”
My soldiers swarm forward to do just that while I approach Polly, who’s still got her face covered. She’s balled herself up in the corner of the room and she’s shivering violently. “Pol,” I say gently. “Polly, it’s me. Uri.”
She peeks out from behind her hands. She looks like she’s seeing a ghost.
“I’m sorry it took me so long,” I continue. “But I’m here. You’re safe now.”
Her eyes stay glued on me, wondering if she can trust that I’m real. Then her face crumples and she starts to sob. Her knees drop and her hands rise and I lean forward so that I can catch her. She falls into my arms, clinging to my shoulders and sobbing on my neck.
“I’m sorry,” I say again and again. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
I hold her until she’s calmed down. When her sobs start to quiet, I talk to her gently, the way I used to when she was a little girl and she used to cry for our mother.
“You’re going to be alright. I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you again. I promise.” I run my hand over the back of her head while I talk.
After a few last hiccupping sobs, she pulls away from me so that she can look up at my face. “Thanks for coming for me.”
I stroke her face. She’s lost a lot of weight. Her cheeks have caved in and her eyes look huge. I scan her body fast, checking for injuries or any signs of torture but she looks relatively unscathed. Physically speaking, at least. There’s no telling what they did to the inside of her head.
Nikolai pops a squat in front of us. “Hey, kiddo. You have no idea how good it is to see you.” His voice catches and wobbles.
Polly reaches out and slips her hand into his. Then her eyes veer to Dimiv. “Who’re you?”
“You remember Dimiv? Our cousin.”
He smiles kindly. “You were seven years old when I last saw you.”
She blinks a couple of times, releasing fresh tears. The relief of seeing her, touching her, knowing that she’s under my protection again—it’s a drink of water after weeks in the desert.
I pick her up and get to my feet. “You’re going with Nikolai, okay? I’m just going to clean up in here.”
She flinches but she doesn’t ask any questions. Nikolai steps up and scoops her into his arms. It breaks my heart how easily she lets him.
The only discernible mark that I can see are the bruises around her wrists. But I know better than anyone that sometimes, the worst scars are the ones that can’t be seen. My stomach caves in when I think about what she must have endured before we’d shown up.
But I still can’t help but feel relief. Now that she’s safe, I can admit to myself that there was a part of me that had been preparing for the worst. For the possibility that she might have been lost to us forever.
“Get her warm and safe. Stay with her until I come down.”
Nikolai nods and leaves without argument. Just before he turns the corner, I see Polly’s eyes flit to Oleg. When a flicker of fear passes over them, I clench my jaw.
He’s about to pay for what he did to my family.
“I never pegged you for a smart man, Oleg,” I hiss as I pull out my knife. It’s still coated with his blood, but there is plenty of that yet to come. “But I didn’t think you were this stupid.”
He’s spluttering awake as one of my men pours water into his face. “Your father cost me my entire family.”
“Only because your father was stupid enough to make an attempt on my mother’s life,” I remind him icily. “If you’re going to start a war with the Bugrov Bratva, get your facts straight.”
“L-listen… I just… It was a scare tactic, okay? I didn’t touch her. No one did. You can take her back and we can forget this whole—FUCK!” He stops his lies when I stab him in the leg, making sure that the knife carves deep enough to meet bone. “Fuck, fuck… please stop… s-stop…”
I pull the knife back out and he gasps dramatically. “‘Forget’?” I laugh bitterly. “If only I could make Polly ‘forget’ what you put her through. But I can’t do that, can I?”
“I-it was all just a mistake… a m-misunderstanding… please…”
“You buy and sell little girls, Oleg. Pleading is not going to help you now. Nothing will.” I toss my knife in the air and let it rotate once before the handle lands back in my palm. “Your day of reckoning has come.”
“No, no, no… aah, no, fuck. NO!”
I take my time carving him up. I know where to go to maximize the pain and minimize the blood loss. Every time he tries to pass out, I pour more water into his face and slap his cheeks until he stirs. Then I get right back to work.
Dimiv pulls out his own blade as he kneels at my side. “Mind if I join? I’ve got some ideas for this little operation.”
Oleg’s eyes go wide. Sweat and blood mix together as he tries to crawl away as much as his restraints will allow.
“No, don’t do this… please…”
“There is no mercy for men like you, Oleg,” I tell him grimly. “Your end has come—”
There are red veins pulsing through the whites of his eyes. He opens his mouth and lets out a strangled scream as Dimiv’s knife sinks into his right eyeball.
“—and it’s gonna be fucking slow.”
34
ALYSSA
URI: We’ve got her.
The message came in over an hour ago and I still can’t stop looking at it. Lev has already asked me why I couldn’t seem to put my phone down. I distracted him with video games and an extra hour of TV time before insisting that he went to bed.
I’m just stepping out of his room when I hear the purr of an engine. Gasping, I rush downstairs and peek out the window.
It’s them.