Page 20 of My Russian Protector

My heart races and my breath quickens, fearful of what I might find on the other side of the door. I point and the officer takes the left side of the doorway as I take the right. We enter together and fire on the two gunmen before they have an opportunity to react, leaving Anna standing alone in the room.

“I thought you said the Mayor was here?” I ask the officer.

“He was. I saw him,” he replies.

I rush to Anna and take her in my arms. “Are you alright?” I ask.

“My father. He heard the gunshots and went out the back door,” she stutters.

My vision goes red and I release her from my grasp, “He’s not getting away.”

The officer nods and we rush back toward the parking lot where we see Pavlova struggling to open the driver’s side door of his black sedan.

“Stop!” the officer cries but Pavlova succeeds in opening the door. He looks at us, smiles, and climbs inside the car. The engine starts and I walk into the path of the headlights. The car rolls forward as I raise my weapon and shoot. I take out the tires first then shoot through the grill until a plume of steam explodes from under the hood.

“Get out of the car,” the officer shouts but Dimitri remains in the vehicle, looking out the windshield with a creepy smile on his face.

The officer continues to shout but my rage has reached its tipping point. I rush to the car and break the driver’s side window with the butt of my weapon. I unlock and open the door, grabbing Dimitri by the arm and dragging him out of the car.

He struggles to remain on his feet and lunges toward me. I feel a sharp pain in my side and look down to see a puddle of blood forming on my shirt. He stabs me again, this time just under my lung and the entire world around me disappears.

All I can see is this bloated, evil man. I grab his hand and bang it against the car, hearing the bones crack. The knife falls to the ground, and he cries out in pain.

My mind tells me that he’s a threat to my girl and I need to take him out once and for all, so I begin pounding on his face and gut. I hold nothing back and it takes just a few blows to drop him to his knees. I drag him away from the car and kick him over and over again.

“You came here to kill my girl? You must be out of your mind. Did you forget who I am and what I can do to you?” I scream as I pummel his bloodied body.

It’s time to make a decision. I can put a bullet in him and know that Anna is safe or I can let the officer take him into custody, keeping my promise to the girl I love.

“Why do you care?” Dimitri coughs and gasps for air. “She’s not worth it.”

I raise my weapon and watch as the laser points between his eyes. My finger is on the trigger and itchy to end this once and for all.

“Daddy! No. Don’t shoot him,” a tiny voice cries out from behind me.

I look up and see Anna, terrified, looking at something over my shoulder. I turn and see two small children huddled together beside the back door of the sedan. How could this psychopath bring his children to a gunfight? I guess he doesn’t care for them any more than he did for Anna.

“Alex, don’t!” Anna calls out to me. “Don’t make them see this.”

I look at the officer who is standing beside Anna and drop my weapon.

“Take him,” I tell him. He nods and pulls the cuffs from his belt.

Anna rushes to me and falls into my arms. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“What do we do about them?” I ask her, checking on the two small children.

She walks to the kids and kneels beside them, “Where’s your mother?”

“Father left her at home,” the little boy replies.

I help the officer drag Dimitri to his feet and tell Anna to bring the children inside. When Dimitri is safely inside a cell, I radio the Constable and tell him what’s happened. Anna takes my hand and says, “Tell him to bring their mother.”

“Let’s take them back outside. They shouldn’t be breathing in all this dust,” I tell her as we step out into the night. We watch as a parade of flashing red and blue lights ascend upon us. They pull into the parking lot and surround us. A tall, thin woman gets out of the passenger side of the Constable’s car and rushes to her children who hug her legs and cry.

She looks at Anna and tilts her head. I imagine she’s wondering why this beautiful girl has her husband's and children’s eyes.

“Thank you,” she tells us and Anna nods and smiles.

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