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I take a deep breath and pull the trigger.
47
SABRINA
Itry to keep my eyes open until the end so the last thing I’ll see is Adrik’s face.
When his finger jerks the trigger, my lids slam shut without my consent.
The gun explodes louder than a cannon shot. I expect a burst of pain and sudden darkness. Instead, something huge slams into me and knocks me backward, my whole body enveloped in heat and mass, and a scent that I know better than any other.
Adrik.
He’s wrapped his arms around me and taken me to the ground, rolling me over and over as shot after shot fires all around us. Something rips at my arm, a jolt of heat and pain, and something else bites into my calf.
Adrik drags me behind a stack of crates, shoving his gun in my hand.
Without a word, I position myself at the edge of the crates and start firing.
The warehouse is utter chaos. Bullets rip across the room from all angles, tearing chunks of wood out of the crates, ricocheting off the truck, the SUV, and the rusted old forklifts.
The dusty glass panes stacked against the wall shatter, raining broken glass everywhere. Thunder confuses the sound of gunfire, and flashes of lightning blind us all.
Vlad is closest to us. He rips a handgun from his belt and throws it to Adrik, before turning his rifle on Yuri’s men, firing shot after shot. A bullet rips into his thigh. He drops to one knee and keeps shooting, teeth gritted, sweat running down his face, mingling with the rain.
It’s hard to tell where anyone is hiding in the jumble of equipment. Hard to tell who’s even on our side.
The driver of the truck pops his head up and I almost shoot him, before seeing his terrified expression as he dives back down on the floorboards, hands cradled behind his head.
I see Yuri’s body sprawled like a rag doll on the ramp. That’s when I realize Adrik fired over my shoulder, hitting his partner in the face.
The Wolfpack are wearing vests. Most of Yuri’s men are not, except the one dressed in military gear. He changes positions like a trained soldier, his aim terrifyingly good. Hakim pokes his head around the trunk of the SUV for a fraction of a second and the soldier nails him in the shoulder. Hakim drops to the ground.
Andrei roars with rage, emptying his clip at the soldier, only to take a bullet in the center of his vest, knocking him backward. Lucky for him—the next shot from the soldier’s gun whistles through the air right where his face would have been.
I follow the soldier’s movement with the barrel of Adrik’s gun, ignoring the hectic flashes of lightning and the freezing rain pouring down from the roof. Adrik fires at him too, missing as the man ducks under cover.
The soldier pops up to let out three shots, then drops down again.
His technique is flawless. I can’t get a bead on him, he’s strategic and unpredictable.
The rest of Yuri’s men are dropping, less coordinated than the Wolfpack and lacking the protection of vests.
There’s only two left: one barricaded behind the old forklift, and the soldier now positioned behind the wheel of the truck. The driver is smart enough to stay hunkered down on the floorboards. In the brief spaces between thunder and gunfire, I hear him whimpering.
Jasper clambers in the front seat of the SUV. He floors the pedal, slamming into the forklift, pushing it back with so much force that Yuri’s goon is crushed against the wall. Reversing with squealing tires and crunching metal, the front bumper pulling away, Jasper leans out of the window and shouts to Andrei, “GET IN!”
Andrei hauls Hakim into the backset. Hakim is pale and reeling, blood pouring down his arm. Chief helps Vlad into the other side, Vlad limping and leaning heavily, his beefy arm slung around Chief’s shoulders.
As Vlad climbs into the backseat, the soldier fires a shot at his head that pings off the car door an inch from his ear.
Adrik fires at him furiously. The soldier ducks back into the wheel-well.
He’s between us and the SUV. We can’t get past him. We can’t seem to shoot him, either, the slippery motherfucker.
“Go out through the bay door!” Adrik barks at me. “I’ll cover you!”
“But—”
