Another gunshot rang out below. Wind howled through the house.
“Remember what I said,” Ryan taunted. “If I die, you die!”
Anastaysia could almost taste his fear. Rolling her eyes, she rested against his chest. “Just as long as you die, my love.”
***
Outside in the storm, Gabriel and Vasily identified a second way to get into the house. They had plenty of firepower to level it, but with Anastaysia inside, it would be too risky.
“We’re going to have to scale it!” Gabriel yelled to Vasily and the other men as he jumped in the SUV. Driving through the soggy lawn and debris, he parked at the base of the house and got out.
A gunman stepped out on the ledge from the balcony door and started shooting below, but his bullets were rendered useless in the wind.
Taking cover behind the truck with Vasily, Gabriel pulled a grenade from his vest and launched it as hard as he could to the second-floor balcony.
“Take cover!” the guard screamed to his men as he darted back inside. Too late, the grenade exploded, bringing down part of the balcony on to the SUV.
“Wasn’t my first plan, but it works,” Gabriel said, jumping on top of the truck and using it to pull himself up to the second floor. Vasily followed closely behind, motioning for others to trail him.
***
Vic screamed from the second-floor landing. “If you come any closer, we’ll kill the girl!”
Anatoly was at the base of the stairwell, hiding behind the adjoining wall that led to the dining room. “If you kill the girl, I’ll kill your children!” he screamed back.
Vic sent a round down as his response. “It’s a good thing I don’t have any.”
“Well, there is always someone you love,” Anatoly said, triangulating his location.
Anatoly had a thought. It was doubtful that his sister was on that landing.
More than likely, she was being held in one of the rooms on the opposite side of the guard who was screaming down at them. He needed to cut the guard and whoever was with him off.
He looked back at Marat, who was lined up behind him and motioned for his ARWEN 37, a black tactical launcher with more power than a grenade but not as much punch as a RPG 7.
“What if you hit your sister?” Marat whispered.
“Then it’s on me, not you,” Anatoly said, taking the weapon.
Vic signaled for his men, who were on the opposite side of the stairwell, to cover it as he kept his weapon aimed on the entry where Anatoly’s voice was coming from.
“Papa, draw their fire,” Anatoly said into the radio.
Dmitry was on the other side of the room, hiding behind the wall with his men.
Hearing the communication, he stepped out quickly and sent a round toward Vic’s voice.
As intended, Vic’s men sent rounds toward Dmitry instead of Anatoly, who used the opportunity to step out with his weapon from his covered position and sent a round in Vic’s direction. The blast was instant and deadly, drenching over the area like firewater and sending Vic’s burning body over the side of the balcony to the terracotta floor below. He landed in a broken mess, one leg turned inward, one arm twisted behind him, his neck broken. Blood pooled around him, mingling with the water that was flooding the first floor.
“Who’s next?” Anatoly screamed from behind the wall. He could hear the remaining men moving fast to fortify themselves down the hall.
It was then that shots rang out from the reading room on the second floor. Gabriel and Vasily had breached another of the guards’ positions. They came from the room shooting, sending men running and falling, trying to escape their path. They mowed them down without mercy, down to the last person, they killed everyone.
Hearing that they finally had men on the second floor, Anatoly ran up the stairs, making sure to stay to the far-right side, harder to reach by anyone who might try to shoot at him.
Dmitry crossed the floor, passing Vic’s body, to follow behind his son, making sure that his men had cover.
“Back! Back!” Popov’s men screamed, falling over each other to get into the room where Ryan was holding Anastaysia.
When Anatoly got to the top of the landing, Gabriel and Vasily met him. Dmitry, Marat and Boris were following closely behind with a long line of soldiers who were now sweeping the bottom of the house to make sure they had left no stragglers.
“You’re supposed to be out there!” Ryan screamed, pointing his gun as the remaining four men left alive came through the bedroom door. “Where is everyone else?”
“Dead!” one of the guard screamed.
A large palm tree burst through the bedroom windows, uprooted from its position outside. Startled, Ryan turned and sent rounds toward the tree until he realized what had happened.
“This was easier than I expected,” Gabriel said as he and the rest of the men prepared to head down the hall.
“Don’t speak too soon,” Dmitry warned.
They advanced slowly down the dark hall, the only light coming from the scopes of their weapons.
Things were getting desperate for Ryan and the men who were sent to protect him. In Anatoly’s mind, it was time to offer a deal.
“We just want the girl,” Anatoly said, a room down from where they were holding his sister. “If you come out with your hands up and your guns down, we’ll let you go. We’re only here for Ryan and Anastaysia.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Ryan said, gun pointed. “The first motherfucker who walks out of this door is dead.”
Even in the darkness, he could feel the paralyzing effects of their choices.
“He can’t shoot you all,” Anastaysia whispered. “You should run for it.”
“Shut up!” Ryan said, holding her by her throat. “One more word, just one more fucking word, and I’ll snap your neck.”
With his back pressed against the wall, Anatoly inched down the hall with his Glock pointed toward the ceiling. Dmitry and Vasily were posted up down at the end of the hall with their guns providing cover while Vasily moved a few feet ahead of Anatoly toward the door.
“I’m going to give you to the count of five!” Anatoly yelled. “Then there will be no more chances.”
“One!” Anatoly screamed, arriving at the door.
“Two!” He put his hand on the knob.
“Three!” He took a deep breath.
“Four!” Vasily raised up and prepared to kick it.
“FIVE!” The door creaked open up from the inside and a representative of the small contingent stepped outside with his hands up. He looked first at Vasily and then down to Anatoly.
“Don’t shoot!” the man said, voice trembling. He motioned with one hand toward Ryan. “We’ve got him at gun point. Just let us go.”
With his gun pointed, Anatoly walked inside the dark room to find Ryan on his knees, and Anastaysia sitting on the bed. Glass had shattered all over the floor from the palm tree and its feathered fronds angled into the room.
Even in the dark, he could see his sister’s outline. She glanced up at him with spacey eyes and smiled. “I knew you’d come for me.”
Walking to the bed without a word, Anatoly scooped her up in his arms, pressed her to his body and carried her out of the room into the hallway. She held on to him, head in his chest, arms wrapped around his neck. He passed her to Vasily. “Get her out of here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “I don’t want her here for the rest of this.”
“No!” Anastaysia said, struggling to get down.
“What?” Anatoly asked.
“Don’t deny me this,” Anastaysia said with tears in her eyes. “For what he put me through, for what that disgusting man did to me, I deserve to see his end.”
Gabriel understood her pain. Damn if he had not felt the same a year ago. Walking up to her, he looked over at the men. “She might need this for closure.”
“I need to see his eyes close forever before mine will ever close to sleep,” Anastaysia said, wiping her face.
“What about them?” Vasily asked of the four men lined up in the hallway on their knees.
Anatoly walked over and looked at them. Pulling out his side arm, he pointed it at the first man’s hand.
“But you promised,” the man said, looking up at the shadowy figured.
“I lied,” Anatoly said flatly, shooting the man in the head.
Dmitry finished them off, using his automatic weapon to cut through them with one efficient clip. Their blood colored the walls and the floors a red, angry hue.
Stepping into the bedroom, Anatoly stood in front of Ryan, who was still on his knees. Instantly, the emotion was back, his insides trembling. “You beat my sister.”
Ryan knew that he was dead, and he wasn’t about to give Anatoly Medlov the satisfaction of hearing him beg for his life. “I did more than beat her,” he said, looking up in the darkness of the room at Anatoly. The wind blew through his dark locks. “I also fucked her. I sold her. I drugged her. I…owned her. No matter how dead you make me, I’ll always be the big bad boogey man in her dreams.” He smiled grimly and prepared himself to be shot.
Anatoly sucked his teeth. “Up until this very moment, I didn’t really believe my wife when she said we all have a purpose.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s mine?” Ryan asked, seeing Anastaysia come to the threshold of the door. She watched on quietly, waiting for the moment.
“To prove that even the boogey man has nightmares.” Grabbing Ryan by his neck, Anatoly dragged him out in the hallway where the lights from the scopes shined on him in the darkness.
“If you were a real man, you’d fight me instead of using a gun.” Ryan challenged.
“If you were a real man, you wouldn’t have been pimping women,” Dmitry said, kicking Ryan in the ribs. “End this shit, now!” he said to Anatoly.
Pulling out his knife, Anatoly grabbed Ryan by the hair and made him look at his sister. “Look at her!” he yelled. “Look at my sestra!”
Anastaysia stood silently watching, unable to blink, scared to miss one moment.
With a hand full of Ryan’s hair, he snatched the man’s head back and put the serrated edge of the blade at the tip of his forehead. As the blade began to cut into his scalp, Ryan’s hand flailed out to stop him, but Gabriel quickly put a bullet in both. Cutting through the tendons and flesh, Anatoly ripped the beautiful head of hair that Ryan had once worshiped from his body and threw it on the floor.
Screaming in agonizing pain, Ryan fell on the floor and tried to crawl away. All of his sensory factors were confused. Giving up, he slumped over on the cold surface.
“Oh, I’m not done with you, Colt,” Anatoly said, kicking him in the back with his steel toe boots.
The sobs and wailing were deafening, but Anastaysia did not cover her ears. Instead, she watched as Anatoly yanked the man’s pants half-mast and severed his penis from his groin. Shoving the limp member into Ryan’s mouth, Anatoly whispered in his ear. “This will be the only image of you she’ll think of when she sleeps. A sniveling, bloody, dickless man who just shit himself.” Standing up, he pulled his weapon and prepared to shoot him.
“Don’t,” Anastaysia said, stopping her brother as Ryan’s incessant wailing turned to gurgling gasps.
“Do you want to do it?” Anatoly asked, turning to her.
“No,” she said, grabbing his hand. “It’s too quick. Don’t take him out of his misery. He doesn’t deserve it. Let him lie here and bleed to death. By the time anyone finds him, he’ll be a corpse.”
Anatoly grinned. “Just like his girlfriend, Eddy.”
Ryan curled into the fetal position, fighting shock and losing consciousness. The idea of dying in a dark hallway, bloody and covered in his own waste was more than a notion. Completely consumed, he begged for Anatoly to shoot him.
“Just end it already,” Ryan cried, hands between his legs. “Killlll meeee!”
Anatoly picked his sister up to make sure that she didn’t get glass in her feet. Holding her close, he headed down the hall. “You’re the boogey man, remember? The dark is where you’re supposed to thrive. Look at it this way, if you survive through the hurricane that will arrive in full force in a few hours, plus days in the sweltering heat, and you don’t bleed out, then it is also your purpose to live.” He laughed at the idea.
“Don’t leave me here!” Ryan screamed. “End this!”
Exhausted but vindicated, the men headed downstairs. It was time to get off the island and out of Miami away from the dangers of the storm and the law.
“We’re leaving a hell of a trail,” Vasily said to Gabriel as they loaded into the back of one of the SUVs.
Gabriel reached in the side pocket of his black tactical pants, and flipped open a detonator as they pulled out into the road. “You heard the old man. No video. No witnesses,” he said, hitting the button.
As they headed down the street, the C4 Gabriel had placed upstairs exploded and triggered the generator below in the kitchen, leveling the house and burning everyone in it.
Watching the explosion from the back window, Anastaysia finally rested back on the seat, pulled the covers around her body and let her long, torturous nightmare fade away.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she said of her brother, who was driving the SUV.
Chapter Fourteen
New Beginnings….
Memphis, TN
One Day Later
W hat a difference a day made, especially after a life or death fire fight in a category four hurricane. Safely back in the city of Memphis where things were much calmer than the devastated metropolitan of Miami, there were brilliant blue skies, no clouds, fresh air, even a pleasant breeze on a lazy midweek afternoon.
The entire Medlov family had decided that the next few days were reserved for calm respite only. No business. No traveling. No drama. And most of all, no killing. To celebrate the success of the operation and of finding Anil, Royal had ordered a full day of BBQ, poolside relaxation, margaritas and a Medlov dinner with all the trimmings later that night.
Sitting on the edge of the pool in the back of the Medlov compound, Renee snuggled under Anatoly’s arm in her two-piece yellow swimming suit and dipped her feet in the warm water while Dmitry taught Alexandria how to float on her back. Her bell-like giggles danced on the air with the music playing over the entertainment system.
Feeling at ease for the first time in quite a few weeks, Renee realized she had been silent beside Anatoly for nearly half an hour as they sat basking in the tranquility of their lives. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, resting her palms on the warm concrete.
Anatoly watched his sweet little daughter, laughing without a care and playing in the water with her larger-than-life grandfather, he watched Dylan chase Anya down the lawn and dogs sleeping under a tree in the back and smiled at all of it gratefully. He inhaled a breath and smacked his lips. “I’m thinking that there is nothing more important than family.” Kissing the top of Renee’s head, he ran a hand down the side of her silky brown arm. “You helped me realize that more than you know.”
“Really?” Renee’s interest was suddenly piqued. “Do tell.” It wasn’t every day that her husband was willing to not only open up, but give her the credit for being a better man. Christmas must have been coming early.
With a straight face, Anatoly pursed his plush lips together and shook his head as though contemplating something very deep. “Well,” he exhaled, “if it hadn’t been for your incessant, irritating nagging, I would have never been pissed enough to kill half of Miami. But you know how to drive a man insane.”
Renee laughed aloud. “Nagging, huh?” She put a goose egg on his arm. “I see you still got jokes, Ana.”
“No, I’m messing with you.” Glancing down at her, his blue eyes sparkling, he leaned in and kissed her lips gently, savoring the softness of them and wanting more. “You stood by me,” he said seriously. “You made me realize my purpose. You made me realize what is important. What is real…I gu
ess.” While he was trying to open up more, he was still no wordsmith. She’d have to be patient with him.
Renee wrinkled her nose. “So…you do believe in purpose?”
“Maybe just a little bit.” Anatoly knew she was enjoying this far too much, but he let her have it.
“Hey, I’ll take a little bit.”
“I know you will,” he quipped.
His words warmed Renee’s heart. Anatoly seemed much different after everything that had happened, more at peace with who he was and what he did for a living, more secure in who he had at home waiting on him. It was a breakthrough that she couldn’t take full credit for but was still grateful. No matter how they arrived at this point, the important thing was that they had arrived.
“Well, baby, I’m proud of you,” she said, leaning back into his rock-hard chest. This was living. Rubbing a hand over his wedding band, she weaved her small fingers into his tattooed broad fingers. Her diamond ring caught the light and glimmered in the sunshine. “You’re a good father. And every girl needs a good father.”
“You’re right. That’s exactly why I called your father this morning.” Anatoly ran his right hand over his shaved head. The sensation was still new to him. He kept expecting his long locks instead of the smooth surface. It would take a few months to grow it back out the way he liked it again.
Renee sat up. Did she hear him right? “You called Daddy? Why?” She prayed it wasn’t to give him a piece of his mind again.
“I…I asked him to come up on the holiday, spend some time with us. It might be good for you and Alexandria and for the pregnancy.” There had been more than time for Anatoly to think of himself and his own self-interests over the last few days. He had also reflected on what his wife needed. It was easy to just discard Renee’s father, especially because he was a genuinely difficult man, but he was also as much a grandfather to Alexandria as Dmitry.
Renee did not know what to say. Staring at the red polish on her toenails, she twisted up her lip and tried not to get too emotional. “That’s very kind of you, baby. Thank you.” Bating her eyelashes quickly to fight off a tear, she looked out at Alexandria as Dmitry dunked her in the water.
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