Page 135 of Emerald Vices

Misha bursts into the room with two guns in his waistband. He hands one to me. “There are two jeeps at the tail end of the convoy. We can hitch a ride on them.”

I tuck the gun into my jeans and clasp Misha’s neck, pulling his forehead against mine. “No matter what, you stay with me, is that clear?”

He nods.

“Good.” I turn to the girls. Mila has an arm wrapped around Katya, who’s still fighting back tears. Sarra is sleeping in her bassinet, and I can barely bring myself to look at her.

This isn’t goodbye. I’ll be back.

Still, I whisper, “Take care of my daughter for me.”

Katya sniffs. “Always.”

“Be safe,” Mila pleads. “And come back to us.”

57

NATALIA

I’m face-down in the back of the Jeep when the explosions start.

Then come the gunshots.

I poke my head through the back window to see the compound is on fire. Smoke rises into the sky in thick, dark pillars.

I don’t let myself think about how my son and Andrey are in there. I take deep, calming breaths. And as the last men disappear over the flattened gates, I open the hatch and jump out.

A second later, Misha does the same. I tip my head towards the gnarled entrance. A smoking car blocks the path.

“Do you know another way in?”

He nods and pulls me along the compound, staying as close to the walls as we can. It feels like we’re running for ages. The compound seems to stretch on for miles, its high walls keeping everything out but the vultures.

Misha finally stops in front of an ivy-covered section of the wall and starts rooting through the creepers.

“There’s a gate here,” he explains without stopping his search. “I didn’t even know it existed until the night I left… the night I was sent to spy on Andrey.”

His movements get more and more frantic as he tries and fails to find the gate. The sounds of gunfire and screaming getting closer aren’t helping his concentration.

Finally, he shoves aside a thick bundle of ivy to reveal a black metal gate. “Got it!”

Misha has to shove hard, but it screeches open by about a quarter-inch. Thankfully, the noise is drowned out by a wave of fresh gunshots.

A few more pushes and the gate is open wide enough for us to squeeze through. Before Misha can walk through, I grab his elbow. “You don’t have to come with me.”

He glowers. “You said I could. And I want to. Grigory is my brother.”

I wish he was too scared to go. I wish he would stay in the car. But if he did, he wouldn’t be Misha.

“Just stay close to me,” I order. “And let me go first.”

I have to duck low and wade through more creepers to get inside. The other side of the wall is completely deserted. It looks like Andrey has drawn all Nikolai’s men to the front of the compound.

Which is a good thing, considering we’re completely exposed right now. The closest structures are about thirty yards away—a small cul-de-sac of sheds spaced a few meters apart from one another.

“I know where we are.” Misha points towards one of the sheds in the far distance. “That’s where the youngest children were kept.”

I’m already running in that direction, kicking up a cloud of sand behind me. This part of the compound is eerily silent compared with the bedlam brewing on the other side.

---