Page 57 of Smoke and Shadows

“Oh, you will. Or I shall begin executing your people.”

“Fuck you, Shadid,” Viktor said. “Fuck you.”

“Everything all right?”Jack hollered at Viktor amidst the din of gunfire, a look of puzzlement on his face.

“We need to wrap this up.” Viktor evaded Jack’s question. Now was not the time to distract him.

“Working on it, Baran.” Jack fired a couple more rounds. “I think the rest are bugging out.”

Police sirens blared outside. Reinforcements had arrived. Some FBI agents joined them at the entrance and clearly, the tide had turned in their favor. In the next five minutes, all the terrorists were either dead, had retreated, or surrendered.

The mood was somber despite their success in repelling the attack. There were numerous casualties once again.

The DC police chief approached Viktor and the others. He patted them on the back and shook each of their hands vigorously.

“The MPD is grateful for your help.”

Nathan was on his phone, a worried look on his face. He looked at Viktor. “I can’t raise Tim. Manning called me from Cali because he needed some datacenter support, but he can’t get through to Tim or Holly.”

“Didn’t you just talk to him, Viktor?” Jack asked.

Viktor jerked his head to motion them to the corner. The three men followed him, a wary expression on their faces.

“What’s going on?” Jack’s voice was low as he enunciated each word.

“Shadid has control of AGS.”

The identical stunned looks on their faces quickly morphed into different reactions. Derek and Jack’s were murderous. Nathan’s was grim and resolute.

“When did you find out?” Jack asked softly.

“Ten minutes ago.”

Viktor expected it and he was prepared to take it. Jack’s fist connected with his jaw in a bruising right hook that sent him staggering a couple of steps.

Jack stalked forward, fists clenched and preparing to strike again, but Derek blocked him.

“You want to take a swing at me too, Lockwood?” Viktor spat out some blood.

Derek grabbed Viktor’s shirt and pulled him close until they were nose to nose.

“I would love to,” Derek said. “But I need your sorry ass to get my wife out of there. I understand your reasons, Viktor, but sometimes you need to trust us to keep our head on straight and do the job. Never withhold information about our women’s safety even for one damned second. Am I fucking clear?”

“Crystal,” Viktor returned calmly, looking Derek straight in the eye. His friend’s rage was barely under control.

“Marissa’s at AGS too?” Derek asked quietly.

“She is.” Viktor couldn’t allow himself to process his feelings for her right now. Responsibility weighed heavily on his mind. His agents on the field were vulnerable without datacenter support. The remaining AGS personnel were at their lowest defense right now. Olsen was a rookie, and Maia was far from a hundred-percent. But his thoughts always ended with Marissa. She was unpredictable. She better not play hero . . . ah, fuck, he was a hypocrite.

“I’m going with you,”Marissa informed Maia as she pulled out her own gun and checked the chamber.

“What about me?” Sophie asked. “I can handle a gun.”

The other two women looked at each other.

“Sophie, stay here,” Maia said. “Derek will never forgive me if I let anything happen to you. Besides, we can’t risk you, um, shooting the wrong person.”

“I’m better than that,” Sophie sniffed indignantly.

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