Page 139 of Kingmakers, Year Four

Sloane kisses him back, blood smearing from his mouth to hers, their hands clutching each other’s faces, their bodies melded together like they could never be parted again.

I’ve never witnessed anything so intimate.

I can’t look away.

They gaze into each other’s eyes as Ivan growls, “Remember what I told you, my little fox: nothing could keep me from coming back to you.”

As one, Ivan and Sloane turn, raising their rifles to their shoulders. Side by side they start to hunt.

It’s like watching a pack of wolves wheel upon their prey. Time seems to slow as the Petrovs reign down retribution on the Malina. Ivan, Sloane, Rafe, Freya, Adrik, and Kade—each one tall,dark, and utterly ruthless, moving with inhuman speed and coordination. They slaughter every soldier remaining in the chamber. Even Sabrina looks awed as Adrik fires two perfect shots to the chest and one to the head of the last man standing.

Silence reigns for exactly five seconds.

Then two more Hummers come roaring up the tunnel, loaded with men. My father stands upright inside the open top of the lead Hummer, an M240 mounted to the hood. He catches sight of Ivan Petrov and his face distorts in a snarl of rage. He opens fire, spraying bullets across the chamber.

“BACK!” Ivan shouts.

We sprint back up into the protected cover of the mine, back to the room filled with rusting equipment. Dean is dragging Hedeon along, with Leo’s help.

Ivan is scanning the hulking machinery, looking for the best vantage point to hunker down and fight. Sloane stops him.

“Can we get out this way?” she shouts to Rafe.

I see the swift calculation on his face: the assumption that the boat at the underground dock must be able to travel all the way out on the river.

“Yes,” he says. “I think we can.”

“Good,” Sloane replies. She pulls a detonator from her pocket and flips up the cover over the switch.

“Are you sure we should—” Timo says.

Sloane hits the switch.

Instantly, three separate explosions rocket through the tunnels, each one seeming to amplify the next. We’re already running again, back down past the cells, as rock thunders down in an avalanche behind us.

I can’t help looking back over my shoulder, horrified that my father might have been buried by boulders or blown to bits. I know that’s what the Petrovs are hoping.

But someone is still behind us, evidenced by the bursts of gunfire hitting the walls and ceiling overhead.

We’re back to the chamber where we came up through the grate in the floor. Then we’re running down the tunnel toward the dock . . .

Until my father roars, “I’VE GOT YOUR NEPHEW!”

We all stare at the filthy, bloodied faces around us. I see Rafe, Sabrina, Dean, Hedeon, Leo, Anna, Adrik, Ivan, Sloane, and her four surviving men.

In the mad dash, Kade Petrov fell behind.

Without hesitation, Sloane seizes me by the arm and shouts back, “AND I’VE GOT YOUR DAUGHTER!”

She begins to drag me back down the tunnel.

I let her do it.

She hauls me back to the stone chamber where I see my father, covered in dust, the side of his face bloodied, holding a Glock to the side of Kade’s head. The gun presses against Kade’s ruined ear. He looks like he might pass out from the pain.

My father’s expression upon seeing me is enraged to the point of madness.

“NIX!” he bellows.

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