Mila’s adrenaline pumped as she made her way into the house. The minute Denis’s voice came over the communicator, she was no longer a woman hanging with her lover in the woods, but a deadly soldier for the Tokhan Bratva. Her glock rested comfortably in her hand as she waited for Kole to finish climbing up the tree. Their spy had left the window open to allow them to sneak into the house.

Shouts and gunfire could be heard off in the distance. Kole made his way into the window and she held back a smile. She had plenty of practice climbing ropes in the gym to ensure she had the strength and ensured that her men did too. She trained her men with the precision of trained military.

It helped that Davor, her right-hand man, was ex-military, and was in charge of ensuring that their soldiers were in tip-top shape, no fat, lazy soldiers for the Tokhan Bratva. That was why they were the most notorious mafia in all of New York.

Mila led the way to the door of the bedroom, knowing that the office would be a few doors down. She could feel Kole’s presence behind her. Her glock aimed in one hand, she reached for the handle of the door and slowly opened it. She checked the hallway and didn’t see anyone. There was a balcony that ran along the upstairs that would give them a view of what was going on.

Kole motioned down the hall to a closed door. They had to make it to the other side. The shouting and gunfire grew louder. She turned toward the stairs just as a figure came barreling up. She didn’t hesitate in pulling the trigger. The guy screamed before tumbling down the stairs.

Comments came across the communicators as the others were fighting with Vlad’s men. She brushed past Kole as he took aim toward the stairs. The sounds of his gun firing filled the air as she continued down the hall, her eyes on the door that was the office. Her steps were confident, her gun poised as a figure stepped out the room near her.

He went for her. Grabbing her body, he slammed her into the wall. For a second, stars filled her vision from the force of the blow. His hands went for her throat and her instincts kicked in. She released a grunt as she brought her knee up to his balls. He stumbled back with a roar, giving her the opportunity to empty her clip into his chest. His body hit the railing and flipped over it, disappearing below.

She ejected her empty clip and reloaded her gun within seconds as she turned toward the door. She tried to get her breathing under control as she made it to the room the guy had come from. She glanced inside, not wanting any other surprises.

It was a small, empty bathroom.

She glanced back and found Kole stalking toward her. She turned back and finally made her way to the door.

“Are you okay?” he growled.

She nodded her head and reached the office door.

Her heart slammed against her chest wall as she turned the handle. A smile spread across her face. Kole’s spy deserved a raise. The office was a safe room and the door should have been locked. He programed it to only open from the outside. She turned the handle and pushed it open.

It was time to get her revenge.

“Don’t let anyone in,” she ordered softly, knowing that Kole would hear her.

She didn’t wait for an answer.

* * *

“Vladen Jaksch,” she growled as she slammed the door shut behind her. Her eyes immediately scanned the room and found it to be empty, except for the person she was hunting.

“Kollektor,” Vlad murmured from his seat behind his desk. “I’ve been expecting you.”

His eyes narrowed on her as she stepped into the room. She gripped her glock tight in her hand and had to gain control of herself. Putting a bullet in between his eyes would not cancel the hit. Only the man in front of her could cancel the hunt for her.

“I wonder what you are here to collect,” he huffed. She held back a growl at his cockiness. “I don’t owe Pasha any money,” he chuckled.

“You know why I’m here,” she stated, ignoring his comments as she took another step toward him, pulling her mask off her head and tossing it aside. There was no use in hiding her identity now.

“Ah, the contract.” He reached over for a cigar off the corner of his desk. She watched as the cocky bastard cut the tip off and inserted it into his mouth. “Do you mind?”

She shook her head as she watched him light the damn thing. He took a few puffs with his eyes closed before he opened them again. She would let him enjoy his cigar, but she would get what she came for.

“Call it off,” she demanded, her voice hard and cold.

“So you don’t care about the war between my family and yours? You just want to save your own head?”

“You don’t know my family well. My brother is nothing like my father. My brother will tear through New York, exterminating the Slokavich Bratva like roaches.”

“Roaches, my dear, are a species that can survive through anything. They are truly a species that will survive long after humans.”

“They’ve never went up against Pasha Petrovna,” she growled, knowing that her brother would not stop until every single person associated with the Slokavich’s was six feet under. “He will not stop until every member of your organization is dead, then he will go after their family members and their family members. Do you think that your organization can withstand that? We are not my father’s generation. We will end an entire generation of Slokavich’s.”

“Who are you to come here to threaten me? My men will come and destroy you,” he snapped, cocking his head to the side.

“Has anyone came through that door yet? You’re men are getting slaughtered as we speak,” she snapped, pointing to the door. “Do you think that I was stupid enough to come by myself? Now, as I said before, cancel the fucking hit.” She narrowed her eyes on him and raised her gun.

“Now wait a minute. I’m sure we can work something out—”

“Cancel the hit,” she demanded again. Her hand didn’t waver at all as she stared down the boss.

“And what do you think will happen when you kill me? There are cameras everywhere in this house. I’m sure one of them will have you killing me on it.”

“Let me worry about that.” She walked closer to him and pushed the phone toward to him. “Call it off.”

The sound of the door opening grabbed her attention, and she turned to find Kole coming through, doing something to the door handle before shutting it. He kept his mask on but she would recognize his body any day.

She glanced back at Vlad and pressed the barrel of her gun to him. He jumped away from it. She was sure it was still warm from use.

“Dial the number now,” she growled. Kole stood near the door as Vlad took the phone off the hook and dialed the number.

“You would shoot and kill and old man? An unarmed one at that?” Vlad snarled at her. She glared at him and refused to answer.

Old man my ass, she thought. This fucking old man is the reason there are countless assassins trying to kill her and a bloody war spilling out into the streets.

She knew that he would need to call the Network. The Network was an underground organization that made putting out a hit on someone in an organized fashion. Every assassin had access to it and would be notified of contracts or the cancellation of hits. Even she had access to it and would take the occasional job on the side.

She kept her gun trained on him as she reached for the cell phone in her back pocket. She swiped it and hit her voice memo app so that she could record his part of the conversation. She wanted to have her own proof that the hit was cancelled. Once it was, it would take a few minutes for them to send out a cancellation message to every assassin who accepted the job. She placed her phone on the desk so that it could capture every word.

“Ah, yes. I placed an order not too long ago that I would like to cancel.” Vlad paused as he waited for the operator to confirm, placing his cigar in the ashtray on his desk. She knew next he would have to give an identification code that would identify him to the Network. “It is 143876001.”

Vlad turned his cold eyes to her and she held back a snarl. His last attempt to intimidate her would fall on deaf ears. Her finger itched to pull the trigger, but she knew that she would have to wait.

“Repeat back the cancellation code they give you,” she demanded as they waited for the operator to come back on the line.

“Cancellation code is M545P892,” he repeated into the phone. “Yes. Thank you. That is all for now.” He hung the phone up and turned to her as she grabbed her phone and cut off the recorder, sliding it back into her pocket.

“Mila, we got what we came for,” Kole snapped from his spot. Mila didn’t take her eyes off of Vlad. “Let’s go. The hit is cancelled.”

“Yes, Mila. Why don’t you run back to your lover like a good little whore—”

A single shot cut his words. Mila stood in front of the Slokavich pakhan with her gun still pointed at him. She didn’t have any regrets whatsoever as she stared into the dead pakhan’s dull eyes. A single red dot appeared on his head as a trail of blood began to make its way down his face. His body slumped down in his chair as she turned toward Kole.

Kole cursed and strode over to her with a stern look on his face and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the door. “We need to go, now. I flipped the lock to allow us to get out of here. Somehow, they were able to call for help. Looks like we’re fighting our way out.”

She put her glock back in her thigh holster and pulled out the handy-dandy automatic rifle from the sheath on her back.

“I knew this would come in handy,” she murmured. She wouldn’t worry about them sending more men. They could send in a whole army and she would fight them.

“God, you’re fucking hot,” Kole murmured, opening the door.

“Front door?” she asked as she made her way through. The sounds of fighting below greeted them.

“Might as well,” Kole said as they made their way to the stairs.

“Alpha, you two need to get out of there now!” Denis’s voice shouted through the communicator.

“We’re on our way out now,” Kole responded as they flew down the stairs.

Mila’s foot hit the first level and she turned, just as bullet flew by her. She turned and unloaded a few slugs into the shooter. His body jerked, his weapon falling to the floor as he hit the ground.

“This way,” Kole shouted.

A figure ran out in front of them and Kole pulled the trigger on his weapon, knocking him in the chest. Mila pulled up the rear as they made their way to the door. A bullet hit the doorjamb near her head, and she cursed as one slammed into her shoulder. She bit back a groan and turned around and shot the shooter that was coming up behind them. His body flew back from the force of her slugs.

A figure slammed into her from the side, knocking her to the ground. The pain in her shoulder pulsed but she had to ignore it as she instinctively went into fighter mode, not giving him a chance to get the upper hand on her. She threw her weight to cause them to roll. Pulling her dagger from her ankle sheath, she plunged it deep in the chest of her attacker as she landed on top.

Kole was fighting his own attacker. Kole landed a few punches to his face before he knocked him out. She scrambled for her rifle and stood, unloading a few bullets in her attacker’s chest, ensuring he wouldn’t be getting up. She walked back over to Kole and shot his attacker in the head.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Kole gasped, standing tall as she arrived back at his side. He picked his gun up from the floor and glanced through the front door.

“Remind me to thank Denis for introducing me to this gun.” They pushed through the front door and she held back her groan, not wanting to alert Kole to her shoulder. It burned like fire and she had no choice but to grit and bear it.

“You can thank him as soon as we get the hell out of here,” Kole stated, coming to a halt on the porch. Mila came to a halt as a few SUVs were flying up the long driveway toward them. A few men hung out the windows, shooting toward them.

Kole returned fire, but they would be outnumbered. She knew when to stand and fight, and she also knew when it was time to run.

“Run!” she hollered, taking off down the stairs toward the yard. She pumped her legs as hard as she could and felt Kole coming up alongside her.

Something flew through the air over their heads and slammed into the first SUV, ending with a large explosion, throwing them to the ground. She rolled over, the shock from the blast causing a ringing in her ears. She glanced at the trucks and found them on the ground with fire engulfing them. The men from the trucks were scattered on the ground, attempting to get up.

“We got to keep moving,” Kole yelled, grabbing her arm and dragging her to her feet. Another missile flew overhead toward the house as they ran. The second blast shook the ground, causing them to stumble again. She righted her steps and turned for a second to see flames engulfing the house. “Mila!”

She turned back and followed Kole toward the rendezvous point.