CHAPTER 45
Sonya froze.
"Where is he? Where is Dmitri?" the man shouted.
Sonya stared at the gun she still clutched in her hand, just in front of her chest. Two teardrops sat beside each other on its barrel, glistening.
“Well? Where’s that coward hiding?”
She slid the safety down with her thumb. She didn't know how to tell if the 9mm was loaded. Dmitri hadn't mentioned that part. And the man behind her might already have a gun pointed at her head.
"Okay, you little brat. I guess I have to hurt you to make you talk."
His voice didn't sound close, it sounded casual and indirect, as if he weren't even looking at her as he made his threat.
Sonya took a deep breath and spun around. The assassin was glancing under the bed.
As if Dmitri would ever hide under a bed! Sonya thought, almost laughing at the absurdity of such an idea, despite the danger.
The intruder had a pair of pliers in his hand. He was planning to rip out Sonya's teeth or crush her fingers until she told him where to find Dmitri.
But his plans changed when he saw the pistol in Sonya's hand. He dropped the pliers and reached beneath his sportcoat. He’d never imagined Sonya would be armed.
She pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
No bullets? she thought, her heart skipping a beat.
The man whipped out a gun from the holster beneath his jacket and raised his other hand to pull back the hammer.
Of course, I've got to cock it.
Sonya yanked back the top of the 9mm and pulled the trigger again.
Bam!
The gun was loaded. The would-be killer had a shocked expression on his face as he looked at the hole in his arm. He dropped his gun onto the bed, but he reached for it with his other hand.
Sonya had to aim better.
She fired again.
This one caught the hitman in the gut. He staggered backward across the room, and Sonya didn't wait to see if he had another gun under that jacket. She shot once more, now taking off the top of his head.
As she walked toward the dead man, still aiming the gun, Sonya felt powerful, yet horrified. In her peripheral vision, she saw another man charge in through the door. She turned and leveled the weapon at him.
"You don't hate me that much do you?”
“You big dork, what are you doing here?” she said as she lowered the gun.
“Just watching my student take target practice at rats,” Dmitri said, stepping closer to Sonya and wondering how to grab a girl and kiss her with his arm in a sling. "Hey, give me that thing before you hurt a human."
"Shut up and kiss me."
Dmitri smirked and stepped closer to Sonya.
“Don't move, Dmitri,” a man said. “Drop to your knees, tell me where Andre and Alexei are hiding, and I'll let the girl live. You, no. But I'll finish you off fast.”
Dmitri knew the voice, it was Boris, a Krysha, which is an enforcer, one of the most violent positions in the Bratva. He was almost forty years old and had been envious watching Dmitri soar up the ranks.
Finally got that promotion, eh, Boris? Dmitri thought to himself, not surprised that Boris would sell out to Ivan.
He knew Boris would never let Sonya live. That sick bastard killed for fun, and who knows what twisted things he'd do to a pretty girl before he murdered her. Boris wouldn't “make it quick” for Dmitri, either.
Sonya didn't understand the words, because they were in Russian, and she couldn't see the man, because he was standing in the doorway, hidden from her view by Dmitri's huge frame. But she knew he was an unwanted guest, and that this could be the end.
She looked into Dmitri's eyes the way only dying lovers can. And he… winked.
A wink? What the hell… oh, wait, she thought as she realized what he meant.
Dmitri dropped to his knees and Sonya raised the gun. Her target was farther away this time and aiming back at her. She had only a split second to react. One bad shot and it'd be over.
She shot Boris right in the chest, and he dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
“I have to remember not to make you mad again,” Dmitri said with a facetious look of fear, before laughing.
“How can you laugh now? You're crazy. Take me away from here.”
Dmitri grimaced as he grabbed the bed with his free hand and hoisted himself upright. Blood had oozed out from his stitched gunshot wound, dying the homemade sling with a small red circle.
“Good idea,” he said. “I could use a sandwich.”
“Wait, could there be more of them?”
“I'll walk ahead and check, but I doubt it. These two always worked as a pair. Though maybe they sent more today. I'm special, you know?”
“Special… I guess you could call it that.”
“Har har. Now give me that thing.”
She handed him the gun.
“Good job. It wasn't fully loaded. There were only four bullets. You miss Boris once and we're both dead.”
“Who's Boris?”
“One of the rats. Forget that, let's go.”
Dmitri stepped outside and looked around. Then he came back in, wiped Sonya's fingerprints off the gun with his sling, and tucked it into his waistband.
“Just act normal,” he said.
He took Sonya by the hand and led her toward the door.
“Wait a sec,” she said, pulling her hand away.
“Are you nuts, the cops will be here any minute,” he said in an angry but muffled voice.
Sonya was rummaging through her closet.
“You look great in those purple pants. Let's go.”
She grabbed her favorite t-shirt and jeans and a pair of sneakers and hurried after Dmitri, who was now standing in the outer hallway, keeping an eye out for the cops.