Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Augusto and Lorenzo come from the right, shooting at whoever’s on the side of the building, while Georgi and Santino’s men drive toward the east side to blow the wall so we’ll have a quick escape.
I keep my focus on the door, and as I near it, it slams open, and a soldier steps out. He shouts something in Russian as he lifts his rifle, but I shoot him twice in the chest and keep moving, barely feeling the recoil of my weapon.
Jumping over the idiot, I rip the door open and enter the building.
Ciro and Nathan stay right behind me, and the prison erupts into panic and chaos when the guards notice us.
Rows of people scatter from where they’re sitting behind desks, chairs scraping over the floor. Some of them dive beneath the tables while others freeze with their hands raised, eyes wide as the guards start firing from between the rows.
I focus as I return fire, making sure not to hit an unarmed person. Unless they reach for a weapon, they’re not a target.
A man with a blue band turns on the other soldiers, while shouting something at them. Then I notice another, and another.
My gaze sweeps over everything, taking in the rows of tables, the bright industrial lights, the giant screen on the far wall, and the cells above.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
I take out another soldier as I run toward the door up ahead, and as soon as I push it open, I see Rosie.
My Rosie.
It feels as if my soul takes its first breath since the fortress fell.
She’s near the far side of the room, and Rodian has one hand clamped around her arm as he drags her through another doorway. A young guy is with them, looking terrified out of his mind, and when he falters, Rodian grabs the back of his shirt and shoves him forward hard enough to make him stumble.
For one brutal second, everything inside me stops.
Then someone opens fire on them from the room they’re running into, and one hits the ground near my woman, but Rodian forces her to run from my line of sight.
“Rosie!” I shout as I break out into a run. “ROSIE!!!”
Rosie
(A minute or three earlier…)
Suddenly, there’s a blast nearby, hard enough to rattle every monitor on my desk.
Holy shit!
My eyes widen as my heart lurches into a chaotic beat.
I shove away from the desk, then there’s another blast, and dust drifts from the ceiling and the screens flicker.
Gunfire erupts somewhere beyond the walls, followed by men shouting and the sharp blare of an alarm ringing through the prison.
I grab hold of Tim’s arm and look at Mikhail, who’s pulling a blue band up his arm.
The door flies open, and Rodian storms in with his gun in his hand.
It’s happening. They’re here!
The emotions pouring into me are so overwhelming that a lump forms in my throat, but I swallow it down.
My eyes snap to Tim, taking in his pale face. He looks like he’s one breath away from losing his shit. “Just stay calm,” I tell him. “We’re going to get you out of this hellhole.”
Tim nods, and when Rodian reaches me, he grabs my wrist and unlocks the cuffs quickly.
“Your people are here,” he says, and crouching, he removes the shackles from my ankles. “Yegor’s men are turning on mine, mine are turning on his, and everyone caught in the middle is about to die, so we need to move fast!”
Enzo.
Two guards rush into the room, their attention on something in the hackers’ hall, but Rodian and Mikhail shoot them before they even have a chance to notice us, then Mikhail shouts, “Run! I’ll cover your back, boss.”
We haul ass toward the other door, which Rodian shoves open, and we step onto a metal walkway stretching over what looks like a counterfeit operation center in what could’ve been a basement at some point in time.
Not weird at all.
It looks like the original floor has been demolished, leaving only sharp edges of thick concrete around the walls.
The whole space opens beneath us, the bottom filled with desks, counterfeit printers, cash counting machines, and wooden crates. Tables are lined up on the left, bundles of fake money scattered everywhere as the workers abandon their stations and scramble between crates. Some drop to the ground with their hands over their heads while others crawl behind stacks of loaded crates.
The guards shout from the walkways running across the large room, and on the other side are bays where trucks are parked.
It only takes a few seconds for it all to register.
Rodian goes first with his gun raised, keeping Tim right behind him, and when the guards open fire on us, a bullet hits near me, making me shriek.
“Rosie!”
Hearing Enzo’s voice, I turn to look, but Rodian yanks my arm and forces me to run, my bare feet slapping against the cold metal.