Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“It’s an order, Sergei!”
“No. Andrei will kill me. I’ll get men to bring gas, but I’m not leaving you.”
It’s the first time he’s disobeyed me, but he’s right. Andrei won’t hesitate to kill him if he finds out I was left unprotected.
“Fine. Make the calls.”
The line disconnects, and as I reach a fork in the road, I stop the SUV and get out.
“What are you doing?” Anastasia calls from where she’s still sitting in the car.
“Checking for signs.”
I search for anything that will tell me if they passed through here, but there’s nothing.
“Rodian, Atanas is calling,” my wife notifies me.
I get back into the SUV and answer, “I’m a little busy.”
“I know. Wait for us. Constantin and I will be there in two and a half hours.”
“I don’t have that kind of time.”
Another video call comes through, and knowing what it means, the blood in my veins turns to ice as I accept it.
The sight of Andrei, tied to a chair in an otherwise empty room, comes onto the screen.
He looks straight at the camera and growls, “This is not on you.”
A masked man suddenly appears on screen, punching Andrei before stepping back again.
My friend spits blood onto the floor, then looks at whoever is in the room with him. “No matter what you do, they’re going to kill me. Revenge for Sokolov. I don’t want you to watch. End –”
The masked man appears again, this time holding a K-Bar. He slashes Andrei across the face, from his temple to his chin.
I feel that cut straight through my fucking soul.
“End the fucking call!” Andrei roars angrily.
“Rodian,” Anastasia whimpers.
Getting out of the SUV, with the phone in my hand, I slam the door shut. “No. Tell me what you see.”
“Oleg Junior.” Another slash right through his left eye. “Mercenaries.” Andrei manages to get his right hand free from the rope restraining his wrist to the chair, and as he swings at the masked fucker, another one joins, grabbing his arm and holding it down. The first one brings the K-Bar down on Andrei’s hand, taking his whole pinky and half of his other finger off.
I almost close my eyes but force them to stay open. “I’m at a fork in the road! Where do I go?”
“Left!” Andrei shouts between grunts of pain as they punch and slice him. “Left. Left. Right. Left.”
Hauling ass, I get in, and clipping my phone to the holder on the dash, I start the engine and floor the gas.
“Oh my God,” Anastasia cries. “Andrei!”
While I focus on driving as fast as possible and Andrei is being tortured, my wife’s courage knows no bounds as she begins to talk to him. “Listen to my voice, Andrei. You’re alone at a cabin in the woods. You can hear water trickling nearby as the snow melts. Birds sing. Just focus on my voice. You open your front door and walk past the trees, following a trail your feet have carved out. Do you hear the birds? Feel the breeze. The sun breaks through the treetops, warming your skin. Then you see a lake where you like to fish. There are no other people. Just you and nature.”
Throughout it all, I see Andrei checking out, his expression going blank, and I think it’s because he went to the safe place Anastasia was describing.
“Bring him!’ A man shouts, and the last I see of my friend is the blood coating his cut-up face before the video call ends.
The fact that they’re moving him tells me I’m close and they’re making a run for it.
“There’s a message from Rosie,” Anastasia gets out before she begins to cry hard.
I check the text and see it’s GPS coordinates Rosie sent and realize she probably tracked the call.
Passing the device to Anastasia, I say, “Put the coordinates into the map. Tell me where it is.”
Even though she’s trembling violently, she does as she’s told, then says, “Up ahead, turn right.”
Movement behind me draws my attention, and glancing in the rearview mirror, I see sedans and SUVs as my army joins us.
Just as my gaze returns to the road ahead, two vans come speeding from the right, fishtailing as they take the sharp turn.
“There they are!” Anastasia exclaims.
“That’s a decoy.” I take the right, then bark, “Where to next?”
“Just go straight for two miles.”
I notice how a few of my men keep going after the van, while the rest stay on my tail.
“Just around the bend, you have to turn left,” my wife gives me more directions.
“Look in the glove compartment. There are two guns.”
She yanks it open and quickly retrieves the weapons, and as I take the turn, she lets out a peep.
Up ahead, black smoke starts to billow into the air, and as we get closer, an old shed is on fire. I keep going, my foot pressing the gas pedal hard. Suddenly the stretch of tar ends and we hit gravel, which makes the wheels spin for grip.