Page 84 of Fight for You
Nan handled her meat tenderizer.Brody’s bullet ended the man she bashed over the head. I reached for a weapon of my own—the ceramic pan in the drying rack. I suffered a glance over my shoulder through the window. Would that sniper shoot again? A pan might be deadly with a few things: scalding water, grits, and a mean backhand like Nan, but a sniper?
Not so much.
A gunshot echoed.
Brody’s shoulder jerked forward. Blood sprayed out. The .357 in his hand fell.
Nan threw her cooking tool. The tenderizer heaved through the air like a hammer, knocking the gun from the Russian’s hand. A wayward bullet slammed upward into the chandelier.
As she sprang for Brody’s gun, the Russian reached down and grabbed his weapon first. He removed the mask from his face, smiling while training the gun on Nan.
“Aleksandr,” I murmured.
“Surprise, my Black matryoshka doll.” His soulless eyes pierced Nan as she bent down to reach for Brody’s gun. “Don’t.”
She held up her hands.
“Unlike Elrick”—his chin jutted to the man Nan and Brody had double teamed—“I won’t assume you’re a sweet, fat, old babushka.” His chest heaved a chuckle. He gestured with his gun to Brody, who sat on the ground, tamping a hand over the blood. So much blood. His tanned skin paled. “Get down next to him.Dah?”
“Okay,” Nan grunted, descending to one knee, then the other.
“Jordyn, put the pan down.” Aleksandr threw zip ties onto the center of the island. “Make it quick. So, we can go.”
Mouth twisting, I held the pan tightly.
Brody dropped sideways, half his body hidden from Aleksandr because of the island cabinets between us.
“Nyet, Jordyn!” Aleksandr growled. “Throw that at me. Your punishment for disappearing intensifies beyond your imagination. You obey? What I’d already intended to do to you, well, I cut that timeframe in half.”
A wave of nausea and fear rushed through me. The pan fell from my fingers with a clank. I could hardly look at Nan and Brody when I snatched up the ties.
“Quick!”
I cut through the anxious pants to argue. “He’s bleeding out.”
Aleksandr gave me a look that read,Whose problem is that?
Quietly, I murmured, “I’m so sorry.”
Nan wouldn’t look at me then I realized where her eyes landed.A knife. That was why Brody had groaned and lay prostrate on the ground. He’d wanted to get me closer to the knife. With Aleksandr’s position on the opposite side of the kitchen, he didn’t have a visual of their actions. I took a zip tie and placed it around thecabinet’s silver knob. As I tied it, the loudzipsound ripped the air. I did it again, same knob, different tie.
“Okay, done.” I gripped the knife in my hand and slowly arose, hand behind me.
When I rounded the island’s side, Aleksandr shot me a glare. “At-at!”
With my back arched, I pretended to massage the base of my spine. “Ugh. My back hurts. I hit the sink when Elrick came inside.”
The lie seemed to satisfy Aleksandr. “Let’s go.” A savage grin twisted his face. He turned around.
I rushed forward, lifted the knife, and stabbed it in his back. The Russian staggered and spun around. He aimed his gun straight at my face.
Reflexes squeezed my eyes shut. I had no cover, no time, and no strength to fight him. This was the moment I died.
I wouldn’t get to marry Jamie, make love to him, or have his babies. I wouldn’t get to be the mother that I wasn’t sure my momma wanted to be. So many thoughts tumbled through my mind while I waited for the light. Or the absolute darkness I already knew well since it seemed like hell had permeated the earth.
33
BIG BEAR
