Page 71 of Defiant Devotion

I jogged with Lev, bringing my gun up.

Perhaps that was our mistake, running to get to O’Malley before we’d lose this chance. In a pursuit with the urgency ofnow or never, we gave away our location with our footsteps.

“Get down,” one of the guards said, shoving at O’Malley. “Get down!”

Lev was either more impatient than me or he didn’t care. He lifted his hand to shoot. I was more the kind to move with stealth, to measure and strike with planning. Then again, this was an ambush. No plans applied there.

The Ilyins reacted in kind. They shot back, forcing me and Lev to pause at a concrete half-wall and duck. We took turns covering for each other as we leaned up to shoot.

Even though we didn’t make it a strategy, our position was ideal. They had to pass us to reach a vehicle and flee.

Over and over, we continued to fire. We reloaded one at a time, and I bet they had as well to keep up this kind of a shootout.

Fuck.I blinked, distracted by the limitation to see.

Rain began to fall again, in such a steady stream that it was nearly impossible to see far with the deluge. Squinting and straining to fire accurately, I worried that they could get away by running along the building and give up on getting into a car.

We stayed on it, shooting at them without a break. But in facing forward, we neglected to consider anyone coming up from behind. I hadn’t anticipated that they could’ve called for backup.

Two men jumped on us, knocking us aside with that element of surprise. Lev went down first, and this newly arrived Ilyin aimed a gun at him.

O’Malley would get away without any gunfire on him. Maybe. I couldn’t determine whether I’d succeed in this shootout with limited visibility. But I could help Lev.

A shot was fired too close for comfort. The Ilyin aimed at him, but Lev rolled just in time for it to only hit his arm, not his chest.

I swung around, pointing my gun at the other man who’d arrived. A clean headshot dropped him before he could kill me.

Then as I stuck with the momentum, moving my arm in an arc, I followed through and shot the other. In that one stroke of a second, I killed him before he could put a bullet in Lev’s head.

He dropped, and after checking that Lev lived, holding his hand to his arm and wincing, I pivoted to aim at O’Malley again.

Through the rain, I just barely could make him out that far away. Breathing hard as the adrenaline coursed through me, I squinted until I saw movement.

The Ilyin leader must have called for more backup. Both in those two showing up behind us and also in calling for another car to come closer to the building.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “They’re getting away.”

“You kill those Baranovs yet?” O’Malley shouted, likely counting on the Ilyins to reply.

I fired at him as he ran for the car. That was my reply.

Lev strained to sit up next to me, but he couldn’t lift his arm to join me in shooting.

“Ah, fuck you. Fuck all of you,” O’Malley yelled. “I’m sick of your interference.”

I fired more. He had to be hiding on the other side of the car that pulled up.

“I’ll still end you. I’ll end you all!”

The fuck you will.

“I’ll see to it,” he vowed. “Your wives and bastard children. All of them will be dead tonight.”

Lev and I glanced at each other, glaring.

Neither of us would accept that threat.

“It’s the end of the Baranovs,” O’Malley declared. “Because none of them will survive the bombs I sent there. None of them will live to interfere with our plans again.”

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