Page 23 of France Face-Off (Brotherhood Protectors International #6)

As the guard addressed Griff, Striker eased up behind him and grabbed him in a headlock, applying enough pressure to cut off the man’s air long enough for him to pass out, but not to kill the man.

He checked for a pulse. The guy would live.

Before the guard could fully recover, Striker secured the man’s wrists and ankles with zip ties and slapped a length of duct tape over his mouth.

Then he dragged him behind the guard shack and left him lying on the ground.

The entire effort took less than three minutes.

While he secured the guard, Griff opened the gate and drove the Ferrari through it.

Striker climbed into the Ferrari, and Griff drove toward the blip on the handheld tracking device. The closer they came to the blinking dot, the faster Striker’s heart beat.

No one stepped out to stop them as they neared a building at the center of the massive facility.

Griff parked the Ferrari to the side of the building next to other vehicles and out of sight of the main entrance.

Both men climbed out and found a side door that was likely used as an emergency exit and was otherwise barred as an entry point.

It would work perfectly for their entrance into the building. Based on the tracking device, Alex was somewhere inside.

Griff pulled off a section of the C-4 and weighed it in his hand. As a Navy SEAL, they’d worked with explosives enough to know how much to use to breach a lock versus how much was needed to blow the building apart. He pressed the C-4 against the locking mechanism on the door.

Striker stood back as Griff molded the C-4 around the lock and door handle.

“Lucie, if you’re listening, now would be a good time to set off the alarms,” Striker said.

“On it. Just need another—” Lucie paused. “There. I found it.”

An alarm screeched inside and outside the massive building. Red strobing lights lit up the corners of the building.

“Perfect timing.” Striker mashed the detonator into the clay-like explosives and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Griff nodded, and the two men stepped around the corner.

Striker rested his finger on the switch, ready to set the plan in motion.

Depending on where the majority of people were congregating, a small explosion might not alert all inside to an attack.

The added noise of the alarm would help mask the detonation.

At least, that’s what he hoped for. If all else failed and every damned person inside decided to take up arms and fight, so be it. Striker wasn’t leaving without Alex.

Alex lifted her chin and turned to Baranovsky. “If she shoots me in the face, you won’t have access to the software on that flash drive. It’s encrypted with biometric software. I’m the only one who has access.”

Baranovsky lunged for Natalya’s arm, knocking the barrel to the side just as Natalya pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the man on Alex’s left. He jerked backward, releasing his hold on her arm.

Apparently shocked by the fact that Natalya had fired the weapon inside the control room, the other man holding her arm also loosened his grip.

Alex jerked free and ran for the nearest door. As she reached it, she looked back to find Baranovsky struggling to free the gun from Natalya’s hands.

The weapon went off. Baranovsky fell to his knees and toppled forward, the flash drive flying from his hand.

Natalya crossed to where it landed and stepped on it with her high-heeled shoe, crushing it beneath her.

Alex’s chest tightened. Her parents had given their lives for what was contained on that flash drive.

Natalya turned toward Alex and aimed the gun.

An alarm erupted in a deafening screeching wail, followed by a muffled boom coming from somewhere above.

At first, Alex thought it was Natalya firing at her.

And then a loud bang behind her sent her diving through the door as pieces of the wall above her fell into her hair.

Okay, that was Natalya firing at her. She passed the elevator, knowing it would take too long for that door to open and close again.

Natalya would be within firing range too soon.

Alex ran toward a sign that indicated stairs.

She heard footsteps behind her. As she pushed through the door to a stairwell, she shot a glance over her shoulder.

The man who hadn’t been shot was running toward her.

Natalya emerged into the hallway behind him, aimed her weapon and fired over the man’s shoulder.

Alex ducked.

The bullet hit the wall above her head. Alex let the door swing closed behind her as she raced up the stairs.

Since she’d been brought in with a bag over her head, she had no idea how to get out of the building or where exactly she was.

Her primary focus was getting away from Natalya and the men working for her.

She couldn’t avenge her parents if the other woman put a bullet through her first.

The stairs led to another level of the facility, opening up into an area with a metal catwalk that crossed over huge pipes and machines below.

Across the maze of catwalks, Alex spotted the elevator shaft and the car rising up from the floor below.

Men ran past on the lower level, not aware of or interested in Alex.

They seemed to be moving with purpose, possibly to evacuate the building or rush to the scene of whatever had made the loud booming sound.

Considering they were in the transfer station for a natural gas line, could one explosion trigger an even larger explosion, compromising the massive pipeline?

Alex’s heart pounded in her chest. Being chased by Natalya and her henchman could be the least of her worries if she didn’t get out of the building and as far away as possible before the pipeline exploded and took out the transfer station, and who knew how much more of the surrounding area.

Footsteps pounded on the wire mesh of the catwalk behind her.

First, Alex had to lose the guy on her tail. She ran to a set of stairs and climbed up another level of metal steps. The man behind her followed. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex could see the elevator door open. Natalya exited on the level below and stood waiting for a clear shot.

Alex refused to give it to her. She hid behind a massive column that stretched from the bottom of the facility up to the roof.

She couldn’t keep running, or Natalya would eventually get the drop on her.

Alex waited on the other side of the column.

She had to deal with the man following her before she could find her way out of the building.

If it meant going through Natalya, so be it.

After all, the woman was the one she’d been searching for.

She’d freely admitted she’d had Alex’s parents killed.

Anger burned deep in Alex’s chest, but she wouldn’t let it control her. Instead, she channeled the adrenaline rushing through her body into action.

When the man following her ran around the column, Alex was ready. She bent low and rammed into him, driving him backward. He slammed into the catwalk railing and tipped backward. He reached for Alex, snagging her arm.

With her other arm, she knocked the man’s grasp loose.

Instead of turning and running away, she rushed toward him and gave him a hard shove that sent him flying over the rail.

He screamed as he fell and crashed to the concrete floor below.

The man lay still, his limbs at odd angles. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Which left Alex with one woman carrying a gun between her and getting the hell out of whatever building they’d brought her to.

At least, she thought that was all there was between her and the exit. She didn’t know what other security measures were in place or if the occupants of the building had all vacated the premises.

“You might as well come out,” Natalya called, her voice echoing against the pipes and walls and then disappearing into the wailing noise of the alarm. “There is only one way out of this building, and my people are waiting outside.”

Alex didn’t respond. Her best bet was to move quietly and sneak up behind the woman.

It was hard to do on the metal mesh of the catwalk, even with the blare of the alarm.

She had no other choice. Remaining hidden behind the column indefinitely was not an option.

The entire complex could explode at any time.

Looking around, she found a metal ladder that led to the level below, and it was behind the column, which would provide the concealment she’d need to make the descent without Natalya shooting her before she reached the bottom.

Alex swung her leg over the rail, held onto the sides of the ladder and eased her way down as quietly as she could.

When she reached the bottom, she stepped off onto a solid floor. As she turned, the barrel of a gun pressed against her throat. The scent of perfume wafted around her.

Natalya stood before her, a smirk curling the edge of her lips. “You can’t be allowed to leave this facility alive,” she said. “You were supposed to die two years ago. The men I sent were incompetent. They didn’t finish the job, but I will.”

Alex cursed beneath her breath. If she so much as flinched, the woman would pull the trigger, and that would be the end of her quest for vengeance.

“You have been the one loose thread that needed to be tied. I wasn’t sure you were a threat until Baranovsky stole you away from the conference. I figured he knew you had what your parents stole from me, and he was going to use it to cheat me out of what he owes me.”

Alex wanted to take this woman out, but Natalya had the upper hand with a gun pointed at her and her finger on the trigger. “You’re both thieves and deserve each other,” Alex said through gritted teeth.

Natalya’s eyes narrowed. “Your parents were no better. They stole from me. For that, they had to die.”

“You destroyed the flash drive. I have nothing to hold against you.”

The woman snorted. “Maybe so, but now you know who I am.”

“And who is that?” Alex said. “The person holding companies and nations hostage with ransomware? You prey on others.”

“I prey on stupid people.”

“You put people at risk of dying,” Alex said, intent on keeping the woman distracted while she figured out how to get away without catching a bullet. “Without natural gas, many will freeze to death.”

“All they have to do is pay, and it’s theirs,” Natalya said.

Alex glared at her. “It’s blackmail…extortion.”

“It’s business,” she said. “My business.”

“And illegal.”

“You do what you have to do to make a living,” Natalya said. “Now that the pirated copy is destroyed, I have no use for you.”

“Then let me go,” Alex said.

Natalya shook her head. “Can’t. You know too much.”

“And so do we,” said a deep, familiar voice from the shadows behind Natalya. “Put down the gun.”

Before Alex could react, Natalya grabbed a handful of Alex’s hair and yanked her around, using her as a shield.

Alex’s heart leaped when she looked past Natalya to see Dane with a gun in his hand.

Natalya laughed. “You have to go through her to get to me. I’ll put a bullet in her before you can pull the trigger.”

Alex had just about had more than she could stand of the Russian mafia interpreter bitch. She reached up, grabbed the woman’s hand with the gun and yanked it down.

Natalya pulled the trigger. The bullet went wide.

Alex turned and wrestled the woman for the gun. She’d be damned if she let Natalya get away with anything else. She was going down. Now. Today.

But damn, the woman had a strong grip on the gun.

Alex smashed the woman’s hand against the metal ladder. “Put. The. Gun. Down.”

“Never!” Natalya rasped.

One more slam, and the gun crashed to the floor. Alex kicked it, sending it sliding under a massive pipe.

Natalya shoved Alex hard, sending her flying backward toward Dane.

He caught her. In so doing, he missed the chance to fire at Natalya.

The woman took off, running straight for the massive pipe. As she neared it, she threw herself on the ground, like a baserunner sliding into home and disappeared beneath the metal cylinder.

“She can’t get away.” Alex pushed free of Dane and ran after the woman who’d had her parents murdered. Like Natalya, she slid under the pipe. When she emerged on the other side, she found Natalya searching the shadows for the gun.

Alex spotted it a couple of yards to Natalya’s left. She dove for the gun at the same time as Natalya. Natalya reached it first and grabbed it.

As she straightened, Alex plowed into her, grasped her wrist and shoved her backward into another of the massive pipes. The woman was strong and desperate. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Alex had anger on her side and months of self-defense training. She held onto Natalya’s wrist. This time, she wouldn’t let the bitch get away.