Page 188 of 5+Us Makes Seven

His eyes narrow, hardened. “I will do as you ask. But please, understand I am not at the top of the food chain here. I need to make some calls. Can you call me back in one hour?” He sounded professional, hiding his fear.

“Andrew, it’s me again.” The leader turned the camera to face him. He smiled, softly. “You see she’s safe. I promise that me nor my men will harm her if you deliver on what we ask. I will give you her location once I have the software. Then you will wire me the money. Then we will leave, and you can organize a helicopter to come and get her.”

“Deal,” my dad said.

“You have half an hour. Then I’ll call you. I expect movement, Andrew. Don’t let me down.”

Half an hour? Fuck. Come on Cruz, where are you?

I saw my dad nodding on the screen, his face distorted. Deadly silence enveloped the room.

Until it was suddenly broken.

There was a grunt from outside the house, followed by a shout an instant later. Then a gunshot echoed around the valley, quickly followed by another. A group of angry voices began shouting at each other outside the house.

“What was that? What’s going on there? Is Alexandra safe?” I heard my dad pleading, his voice high-pitched with worry.

The gang leader hung up the call. “Vladimir,” he said, “check what the fuck is going on outside. Now.”

Vladimir grunted and headed to the window. The two door guards had been peering through the dirty glass, hands cupped as they jostled each other for a better view.

Two more gunshots sounded again in quick succession.

“And you two idiots! Did you not hear that fucking rifle? Are you competing to see who gets shot first?” He was screaming now, veins pulsing on his neck and spittle flying from his mouth.

I sat down on the bed, hands on my head protectively. I couldn’t help but feel a welling of emotion in my stomach, a tight knot of positive energy building. I looked up at the men in the room.

I knew it. Cruz had arrived. These men were all as good as dead.

To my disbelief, Vladimir went to the window, slapping the two morons out of the way. I don’t think he had heard what the leader had said. He poked his head out and shouted something in Russian.

“Vladimir! What the fuck are you doing? You are all fucking m…”

Blood sprayed from Vladimir’s head, and he flinched back from the window as the gunshot echoed around us. He turned to look at us. There was a gaping hole in his eye socket, the wall behind him showing straight through it. He tried to raise his arm to point at the window, only to collapse to his knees, convulsing. He fell over sideways, motionless.

Cruz

My third target had been a slippery fuck. I’d shot at him, only for him to duck the moment I squeezed the trigger to take cover behind the remains of an old wall.

Motherfucker just dodged a fucking bullet! What the fuck! Ain’t never seen no one do that shit before.

I saw the pate of his bald head sticking four or so inches above the molding brick of the wall.

I quickly reloaded and took careful aim. He didn’t manage the feat twice, the top of his skull exploding with a spray of horrid gore like I’d just shot an overripe watermelon. My confidence was restored.

Four shots.

Movement at the window caught my eye again. I turned the scope toward it, seeing two stupid Russians glaring through the dirty glass. They were saved by their own stupidity, each of them pushing one another erratically as they peered through the glass. I wasn’t wasting my last bullet on a potshot at two fucking idiots.

Then, something amazing happened. The two men were slapped aside by a hulking figure. An ugly head popped out of the window, forming a perfect target. I was almost stunned by his sheer arrogance and stupidity. I reloaded the rifle, chambering my last bullet.

I took aim at his large head. Just before I fired, I saw him shouting something, probably at the mobsters hiding here and there around the farmhouse. And then he looked straight at me, h

is eye fixing on the scope, narrowing.

The bullet went straight through his left eye. His head jerked back, and he dropped out of sight.

Five bullets gone. Four kills. I kissed the wooden stock of the rifle and threw it away into the undergrowth beside me. I recovered the 9mm pistol in front of me and tucked it into my boot.

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