Page 78 of The Enemy's Defector
“I’ve already dealt with a bit of planning,” Sloane said, “so I thought I could offer some tips.”
“Thanks. I’ll take all the help I can get.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t a full one. “Unfortunately, I can’t shake this damn headache. Would you be annoyed if I kicked back and just listened in on you instead?”
We didn’t mind, and Joann fussed to make sure she was comfortable. Before long, Sloane slipped her ear buds into her ears and dozed off while Lucy and I browsed on my laptop. Joann fit right in too, offering her suggestions and praising Lucy for what she said she’d wanted to go with.
Before we could close out of one store, a dialog box blinked in on the screen.
The message was in code.
Joann and Lucy were oblivious.
But since I’d just been in the security room this morning and saw similar automation to prompt this dialog box, I knew exactly what it meant.
Fuck.Dread filled me. Right when things were looking up, something like this had to happen and remind me that life wasn’t fair.
“Get down,” I ordered immediately. I didn’t shout it, but instructed them.
That box pointed out a security breach. Someone had broken in through the doors closest to this room, and I couldn’t be sure the guards would cover us all.
Lucy frowned, looking around, but Joann acted faster. She reached her arm out to barricade Lucy just before the first round of gunfire erupted. It wasn’t loud, and the fact that they wereusing silencers bothered me. That meant they came stealthily and planned to get out like that too.
“Down!” I ordered, shoving Joann and Lucy together. “Cover Sloane!”
I wasn’t going to sit around. I couldn’t speak for Sloane. She seemed to have street smarts, but that told me nothing about whether she could handle a gun. I’d been trained. Nik helped me perfect my aim and shot. So long as I lived and breathed, I would defend my family. Whether they wanted to accept me or not, I saw them as my family.
As the two guards in the hallway were shot and fell, I crouched in a low run to reach one and take his gun. The second I grabbed one and stood, I whirled around to aim in the direction of where the trespassers were coming in.
I didn’t wait. I didn’t second-guess. I fired and took down the Kozlov assassin before he could take another step.
Another ran up so suddenly that I panicked. Watching him jump over the couch and aim his gun at Lucy and Joann, I fired and hurried to intercept.
Nik would be so furious that I was acting so recklessly, but he’d have to love me enough to forgive me for this incident. No one could fault me for fighting back. This was a matter of kill or be killed, and I would be damned if another one of my uncle’s men tried to ruin my life.
The Kozlov assassin landed on the carpet as Joann and Lucy huddled on the floor. He sank to sit, rearing back from my hit, but as I jumped over the couch to have a more direct aim, I slid in front of the women and shot him between his eyes.
Only then did Sloane wake up. When the man fell back, dead, and his shoulder nudged against her thigh, she stirred and sat up. That touch jarred her to wake up right as more Ivanovs streamed into the room and took over.
“What in the hell…” Sloane opened her eyes wide and took in the scene with pure confusion.
Instead of glancing at the dead man on the carpet, though, she focused on me with a look of alarm.
“Katerina,” she said, getting up and panicky to reach me. “You’re bleeding.”
I frowned, shaking my head. I hadn’t been hit. I would’ve noticed.
“Sit down,” she urged, her gaze lower on my body.
I looked down and felt my heart sink with dread and fear all over again.
I was bleeding. Not from a gunshot, but between my legs.
32
NIKOLAI
Ipaced outside the hospital room, so furious that I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t see anything, too focused on fixating my glare on the floor. Tunnel vision could kill. It was suicide to be distracted and not watching my surroundings.
