Page 117 of Lethal Alliance

“It’s okay, baby. We’re nearly there now.” I stagger down to the mangrove shoreline, my feet sinking into the mud. My arm is losing strength rapidly, blood is pumping from my side, and I can feel Ofelia slipping from my grasp.

“Put me down,” she says, struggling in my grip. “You can’t hold me. He’s hurt!” she screams at the oncoming boat. “Help us!”

But I already know it’s too late. The men are bursting through the trees behind us, bullets hitting the water as they take aim at the boat, and there’s a chopper coming in hard above, machine gun pointing lethally from the open door.

“Get down.” I pull Ofelia and Masha to the mud, covering them with my body.

“Papa,” Masha whimpers beneath me.

“It’s okay,myshka,” I say, cradling her head with my hand, my lips in her hair, wincing at my own lie. There’s nothing okay about this. About any of it. “Ya lyublyu vas, moi krasivyye devochki,”I whisper against her head.I love you, my beautiful girls.

Then I hear the screams behind me, and like some kind of miracle, I realize the chopper isn’t shooting at us.

“Who thefuckis in that chopper?” I hear Dimitry roar behind me, and I close my eyes in relief.

I turn my head to find him frowning up at the chopper, just as the inflatable boat pulls in before me. To my utter horror, it’s Mickey who leaps out, white-faced and intent, machine gun in hand. He takes aim at the shoreline, and I hear a cry of pain as his bullet finds a target, then he is down in the mud beside us.

“Fuckinghelpthem!” he bellows at the men behind him. They leap from the boat and start shooting at the men chasing us.

I stare up at the chopper, trying to work out what the fuck is going on. “Get your sisters into the boat,” I growl at Mickey. There’ll be time to kick his ass later. Right now I just need to know the girls are safe.

A bullet hits the chopper, and it banks right, veering away from us.

Suddenly there are more men pouring from the trees off to our left. Dimitry’s face beside me grows grim as he kneels and takes aim. I roll onto my belly and pick up my rifle, reloading with a sinking heart.

Too many.There are too many of them coming for us.

Then, to my surprise, two of the black clad militia men chasing us fall, shot by the newcomers on our left.

“Wait!”

I hold up my hand, squinting in confusion as a blood-spatteredAlexei Petrovsky stumbles from the trees down toward us. His hands are still zip tied behind his back,his lone eye glittering, mouth a hard line. “Don’t shoot!” he yells at me. “They’re mine!”

I stare at him in astonishment. “They’re fucking what now?”

“Fuck that.” Dimitry’s finger is already tightening on the trigger. “We only need his fingerprints, right?”

“No!” Ofelia’s cry is so heartrending it makes me turn around in shock. She is struggling to climb out of the boat, her face contorted with some emotion I don’t understand.

“Papa, no!” Masha is screaming, tears running down her face, fighting against Mickey’s grasp. “Don’t hurt Lexi!”

Alexei hits the mud near us and stumbles, falling to his knees. “Help them!” he rasps at the men on either side of him. “Get those girls out of here now!”

For once, I have no idea what to do.

What in the fucking Stockholm syndrome is going on?

One of his men cuts Alexei’s ties and hands him a gun. That makes my decision a lot easier. I aim straight between the fucker’s eyes.

“Don’t do it, Roman.” This time it’s Mickey who speaks, his voice low and controlled. “He’s on our side.”

I struggle to my feet. Mak’s team is pouring through the trees, joining the others from the left, and the last of the black-clad militia chasing us are falling or running away.

“Thismudakalmost killed your sisters.” I glare at Alexei as I speak to Mickey. “He took a fuckingknifeto them. Give me one goddamn reason he doesn’t die right now.”

“No!” Ofelia is sobbing. “Alexei helped us. He protected us.”

Masha pulls out of her brother’s grip and plows through the mud, throwing herself at Alexei’s knees. “You can’t hurt him! Lexi is ourfriend!”

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