Page 106 of Blood & Snow

"How many men are left?" he asks, noting that I haven't taken a drink yet.

His eyes track up to my face where he waits for his answer.

"Intelligence suggests twenty active soldiers, maybe thirty counting the walking wounded from our previous encounters. Arkady Sokolov still breathes, but his son Yaroslav has been eliminated."

Sokolov is being careful staying out of harm's way.

We were supposed to nail him tonight, but our information was bad, or maybe he moved before we got eyes on the warehouse.

Either way, he's still in the wind and that's one ghost that will be hard to track down.

"The deadline remains unchanged," the Pakhan continues.

"New Year's Eve, Mr. Morin. If any Sokolov blood flows into the new year, yours will follow before the calendar turns."

The deadline sits on my chest, feeling like an elephant I can't move.

I'm being tried and convicted before an audience of one for a crime I did not commit and a punishment that is unjust.

But I nod and take the bourbon, downing it in one gulp.

"They'll go underground after tonight," I say.

"The factory will make them paranoid, careful. Hunting them will take time."

"Time is a luxury you don't have." Leonid isn't budging.

He's damn serious and if I push him I'll regret it.

"Flush them out. Make them desperate enough to make mistakes."

I understand what he's wanting me to do.

Terror tactics.

Psychological warfare so intense they'll turn desperate for their own lives and make foolish choices.

The Sokolovs will either come out fighting or die hiding in whatever holes they've carved out of Moscow's underground.

I set the glass on his desk.

The alcohol still burns down my throat, but the fire is nothing compared to the cold calculation spreading through my thoughts.

War has its own logic, its own moral framework that exists outside civilian understanding.

A good soldier compartmentalizes the evil away into little black boxes in their mind, justifying bloodshed as a necessary evil in order to obtain the objective in question.

This war is no different than wars fought for freedom and justice, or in defense of human rights.

I have no governing authority other than my Pakhan, no God to serve besides obedience to his command.

And I've been given orders.

The Sokolovs declared this war when they moved against our territory.

They sucked me into it by moving through my established place of authority.

And they have already learned the sting of punishment that awaits them.