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For a second, everything is still.
Then—chaos.
Gunfire erupts from every direction.
Torres and I move fast, ducking low as bullets tear through the air. I fire twice, dropping two men before they can react. Torres presses against the SUV, firing at the ones near the warehouse entrance.
I take off toward the main building, cutting through the cross fire. A man lunges at me from the side, blade glinting under the lights. I sidestep, grip his wrist, twist—his own knife buries itself into his stomach. I shove him off before he can drag me down with him.
The moment I step inside the warehouse, I know I’m outnumbered.
The place is crawling with men—Ryan’s, Evans’s—but I don’t stop moving.
I tear through them.
A blade swings toward me. I catch the attacker’s wrist, twisting hard enough to snap bone before shoving my knife into his gut. I don’t pause as he slumps forward, gasping for breath.
Gunfire erupts from the other side of the room. I dodge, roll behind a stack of crates, and fire two shots. Both hit their marks.
I need to find Lila.
A man rushes me with a crowbar. Stupid. I sidestep his swing and slam my elbow into his throat, cutting off his breath before shooting him point-blank.
I turn, moving toward the back of the warehouse?—
Then something sharp hisses past my ear, embedding into the wooden beam beside me.
I pivot, gun raised?—
Alex.
He stands a few feet away, gun trained on me, his expression unreadable.
Fury spikes through me. “You,” I growl.
His mouth presses into a thin line. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
I pull the trigger.
He ducks, firing in return?—
A sharp whistle cuts through the air, something thudding just past my shoulder and hitting one of the men who goes down in a heap.
He missed. Barely.
I lunge forward, but his sleeves ride up as he moves, exposing the tattoo on his wrist.
A sun.
The same sun Alexei had.
My blood runs cold. “You,” I breathe, staring at him.
His eyes meet mine, something dark and knowing flickering there.
Realization slams into me like a freight train.
“You are Alexei.”