comes at us from the back vehicle. There must still have been men left in it. Bullets hit the glass in the turret, and I drop to the floor, below the level of the low windows.
The glass breaks, and something hits the floor near me. I stare in horror for a split second as Luka dives for it and throws it out of the room down the hallway. We all hit the floor as a boom shakes the house.
“Fuck,” Luka shouts.
I turn to him. He didn’t get far enough away from the door, and he’s got shrapnel in his legs. I pull him to me, getting him out of the way.
“Enough of a gunfight for you?” I ask Andrius.
“Motherfuckers.” He grabs the M16, knocks the remaining glass out of the ruined middle window, and rains down a hail of bullets on the third car.
I grab my phone and drop call Vasily, the go sign for him and Bohdan to do their thing. I rush to the window to look. Cars screech out of the garage at the side of the house, and the front car starts its engine just as Vasily slams the Land Rover right in front of it, side on, not giving it room to move backward or forward.
Then the Mitsubishi roars around the corner and faces the middle SUV. The front lights turn on full beam, and the engine roars three times, as Bohdan, the dramatic fucker, guns it.
Andrius picks up one of the M16s and peppers the front car. Glass smashes as bullets boom.
I grab the remaining M16, fury in my veins, and yell to Andrius to stay with Luka and cover me. Then I’m down the stairs and out the door.
There’s no movement from the middle car. No sign of anyone getting out. I presume Marcus isn’t able to take control of things. I nod at Bohdan, and he plows my Mitsubishi into the side of the armored SUV. He reverses a good distance and does the same thing again, absolutely flooring it, so he hits the SUV at a good speed.
The side of the car crumples, and I smile as he hits it again. The side door on the farthest side opens, and Marcus slides out, blood all over him. I can’t tell if it’s his or someone else’s. From the way he flops to the ground and crawls out of the way, I’m assuming it’s his.
Fuck.
Once he’s out of the way of the vehicle, I grab his collar and pull him back just in time as Bohdan rams the car again. A man’s upper torso pops out of one of the back windows as a man fires on Bohdan, the bullets going straight through the windscreen of the Mitsubishi.
Pop. Pop.
Andrius fires from the window, and the man yells as blood blooms at his neck. His body flops forward, so he’s half hanging out of the window.
I walk toward the car, dodging around the front vehicle, and hope that Andrius’ impressive shooting of the roof and windows means there’s no one alive in it. I approach the vehicle with Aram inside and raise the M16. I stay far enough back so I won’t be hit by any projectiles bouncing off the windshield as I aim and fire. And fire. And fire.
I fire at the same spot on that fucking thing, until finally the glass cracks fully, and I spray the inside of the vehicle with bullets. I can’t reach all of it though, so I re-aim at another portion of the glass.
“Hey. I’m coming out,” a voice shouts from inside the SUV the second I stop firing to re-target.
I don’t fire, but keep my gun aimed at the vehicle. “Slowly, and get your hands up,” I demand.
Aram slithers out of the back door like the snake he is.
“Well, you got me.” He laughs. His hands are held up high. “Thing is, you don’t want to put one of those bullets in me. I’m backed by some very powerful people, and they won’t like it one bit if you get rid of me.”
“Who?” I demand.
“I can’t fucking tell, but suffice to say … I never wanted all this.” He sweeps his hands around him in a dramatic gesture, and I aim a burst of gunfire at his feet. He dances out of the way and puts his arms in the air. “Tigran got ahead of himself. And Popov.” He sighs. “The man was an imbecile.”
“You worked with him, you hired him, so what does that