Page 56 of Den of Thieves

“How do you know this?” Karina frowned. She hoped Aksana hadn’t gotten a head contusion in her fall.

“This is my dedushka’s old building. He moved across the street during his fifth divorce. But the weapons are still here. I’m sure of it.”

“What about you? I can hear the blades getting closer.” Karina didn’t want to chance a look outside. She heard her enemies well enough through the closed roof access door.

“Give me the gun. I will hold them off.” Aksana said with a determined nod.

Karina moved Aksana, so she was in a half-reclined position against the wall. Her broken leg was of no use, but she pulled her bloody arm into position to steady the large gun in her arms.

“Go down two flights and enter the code 1225543 into the pin pad on the left side of the box.” Aksana said, getting comfortable.

Karina loaded the bandolier into Aksana’s gun before taking off. She rushed down to the penthouse level, taking the steps two at a time. She punched in the code and the fire extinguisher slid to the side, and Karina’s eyes widened at the mini arsenal of weapons showcased.

She grabbed two grenades, more bullets for her gun, and a Beretta. “They just have these lying around?” she shook her head.

Karina thought she could no longer be surprised in this life, but once again she was left astonished by the amount of paranoia and forward thinking on the Kovalyov front. Before she took off, Karina frowned at the machete before strapping it to her back as well. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

She sprinted towards the stairwell and heard Aksana yell as soon as the door opened.

“Nut up mother fuckers!”

Karina ran up the steps, shooting as she went, conscious of Aksana’s position. The men retreated. “Deep breath, AK.” Karina said, grabbing her underneath her armpits. Aksana nodded and muffled her screams as Karina dragged her across the small landing.

“I hope this doesn’t kill us,” Karina mumbled a quick prayer before pulling the pin to the grenade and tossing it outside. The floor shook with a bang, followed quickly by a larger boom, and she heard screaming until there was nothing.

Karina opened the door to see all hell breaking loose. She didn’t know what happened, but the helicopter was gone, and it was raining debris. She slowly walked out onto the roof. There was a large black spot on the ground where the grenade exploded. Three bodies lay still on the ground, while the fourth man twitched further away from the others.

“P-please,” he gasped, reaching a hand out towards her.

Karina scoffed. This was the same man trying to kill them less than five minutes ago. “The time for begging is over,” she said, pulling the trigger.

Karina was out of breath by the time she half dragged, half carried Aksana to the nearest penthouse. The door was left open as the residents fled the building during the gunfight. She laid her down as gently as she could on a large king bed in the primary suite.

“Let’s stay here for now. We’ll get in contact with Dim or Vlad.” Karina said with false bravado.

“Wake up, Aksana! Wake. The Fuck. Up!” Karina screamed, shaking her sister awake. When that didn’t work, she resorted to lightly slapping her cheek with increasing intensity until AK’s eyes fluttered open.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“You fell asleep. Again,” Karina said with an exhausted exhale.

“I told you not to let me do that,” Aksana grumbled.

“Woman, I swear. If you knew the hell you put me through this past hour.” Karina shook her head, raising a glass of water to Aksana’s lips.

“Drink,” she ordered.

Aksana gingerly lifted her head and drank some of the offering. She squinted in confusion. “Tinkerbell, are you bleeding?”

“It’s not my blood, remember?”

Karina sighed, wiping her face. Her fingers were clean; the blood was dry now. “I had to reset your bone. If I left it, you would have lost your leg, or worse.”

“How the hell did you know how to do that?” Aksana gaped.

She tried to sit up and moved all of three inches before the room spun. She plopped back down onto the plush bedding with a wince.

“American TV dramas are surprisingly informative, if graphic.” Karina shrugged, pointing to the makeshift splint. There was a large pile of soiled towels and gauze on the floor. “You passed out after I reset your leg. I would have left you asleep, but I’m positive you have a concussion.”

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