Page 80 of Ruinous Need

I shoot him in the face and fend off the men who swarm around their fallen soldier.

I don’t think I recognize them, but it’s hard to be sure.

I could be killing anyone. I don’t let the thought freeze me in my motions, but I take care to check, pulling masks and ski goggles from the fighters who advance.

This is an outright war.

I’m now past the point of being able to tell whether my skin stings from the grazes of bullets, whether my lungs are burning from tear gas or something else. All my body parts are alternating between burning heat and blissful numbness.

I have to shove my trigger finger into my armpit in an attempt to keep it warm.

A bullet whizzes perilously close to my face. I roll over the hard, icy ground leaving a trail of blood in my wake.

I’m too numb to feel where it’s coming from. But I can tell that I’m getting slower and weaker, and I don’t like it.

A spray of sparks followed by a line of men falling to the ground confirms that the Irish have indeed arrived. I’m sure the Italian mafia won’t be far behind.

I crouch behind a tree and reload. I’m running out of bullets. I don’t know where Markov or Daria are. Not one of these men seems to be on my side.

I try not to let the paranoia and suspicion creep into my thoughts. But someone has sold us out.

Semyon never knew about this place. It was my father’s secret. A well-kept secret among the upper echelons of the former Council.

A gunshot skims past my shoulder, ripping through the ski jacket’s fabric, and I make it to the other side of the tree just in time.

Too late, I realize my mistake.

The thick tree trunk I thought I saw in the low light turns out to be a wall of living, breathing muscle. Semyon’s top guard, Vadim. Our eyes meet, and he rips back my balaclava, shoving his gun under my chin. He knows it’s me.

“Well well well,” he says. “She can’t be too far away if you’re here, can she?”

He slams the rifle across my face, the blow making pain explode through my numb skin.

I don’t react. Years of beatings have taught me how to handle a hit like that.

“Where is she, Viktor?” He yells at me, but I tense in his grip.

There’s a way out of this. There’s always a way out.

“Semyon will be pleased we’ve found you. He may even want to personally extract the information.” I tried to twist out of his grasp, stomping on his foot as hard as I can. He flinches, and I almost get to my belt to grab my knife before he brings another heavy blow down on my head.

Moving my muscles is becoming an effort. I can feel the blood flowing in a hot river over my face. He split my head open, the bastard.

The guards have heard his yelling. They’re swarming around us now, like flies around a tasty piece of dead meat.

I spit red blood in Vadim’s face. “You won’t find her.”

The next thing I see is Semyon approaching, looking fresh as a daisy. Not taking part in this battle like the paper pusher he is.

“Oh, Viktor,” his voice says, sounding pleased with himself. No.It can’t have all been for nothing.“I’ll make sure you’renotinvited to the wedding.”

Then one of the guards strikes me with the butt of a rifle. The freezing night dissolves in a black cloud.

CHAPTER 34

LISETTE

THE STRANGE THING about nearly freezing to death is that you feel warm. You feel relaxed.