I was closest to Jericho now that he’d movedthe door, so I kidney punched him, then locked my arm around hisneck and yanked. He didn’t give in, however. Instead he rolled,whipping his hands around my neck and squeezing the air out of me.I leaned over, trying to get my hands back on him.
Jeremy was on top of one of the downedguards, trying to extricate the rifle from his grasp. Mikado foughtone of the other guards, and Kozlov fired a rifle at a third guardwho plagued him. The man fell back and remained. Kozlov then aimedthe gun at the final guard, who was pointing his gun at Kozlov.
Alexander had righted himself against a walland pulled a knife out of his boot. I leaned my head back and headbutted Jericho. He staggered back, but bared his teeth and came atme again, but not before I had the chance to shout out a warning,“Knife! Alexander!”
Everyone turned their attention toAlexander, including Kozlov, who turned the gun on him, waving itback and forth between the guard and the brigadier. It took myattention away from Jericho just long enough to give him theopportunity to grab hold of me again. I hit his arm with mine, andhis gun shot across the deck.
We both flew to the ground for the gun, ourarms outstretched. I pushed with my feet and snagged it beforeJericho could, and I rolled, the gun pointing directly at his faceas he twisted toward me. It didn’t stop him. He kicked my leg andthen clamped my legs in his, effectively stopping me frommoving.
I still had the gun pointed at his head.Kozlov, Alexander, and the guard were in a showdown, and Mikado hadfinally knocked the guard he’d been tangling with. He sprung to hisfeet and froze, taking in the situation. Jeremy snatched a riflefrom one of the three downed guards and without a moment’shesitation, shot the guard challenging Kozlov, freeing Kozlov tosend a slug into Alexander just as he released the knife. It stuckinto Kozlov’s leg, and he cried out.
Jericho glanced away to see what made theawful sound. I took the opportunity to hit Jericho over the headwith his own gun as hard as I could from the awkward position I wasin. That was it. He must’ve blacked out because he didn’t move. Icould have shot him, but I wanted him to suffer and go toprison.
We could hear the stomping feet of otherscoming down and up the stairwell.
“Kozlov! Get out of here.” Jeremyshouted.
He didn’t wait, but shouted to Jeremy,“Shoot me, Jeremy, now.”
Without hesitating, Jeremy obliged. He shothim once in the shoulder and once in the leg, and Kozlov fell tothe ground. I screamed out before I could reason out why Jeremy hadshot him.
“Mikado, Amber, get your hands on a gun,”Jeremy barked.
I rolled out from under Jericho and wrappedmy hands around a rifle. Mikado grabbed one, too. I looked towardKozlov, lying inert on the deck. He had to pretend to have beenovertaken on the ship so that it wouldn’t look like he wasinvolved. It was the only way he’d keep his position. And we wantedhim to keep his position to bring down the entire bratva. He’d needmedical attention fast or he’d bleed out. We needed to hurry.
We all aimed our guns at the crowd of guardsthat spilled out of the stairwell.
“If,” Jeremy said to the five guards packedup against the stairwell door, “you turn around and go back the wayyou came, we’ll forget we saw you, and we’ll be gone in threeminutes flat. Or you can choose to take us on and you will lose,just like your comrades here.”
Eyes perused the deck and one by one, theguards disappeared back down the stairwell.
“Check everyone,” Jeremy said. “And makesure there aren’t any more guards around before we take off. Therecan be no witnesses to Kozlov’s treachery.”
I could hear the blades of a helicoptercoming, but I could tell it was still very far away. Was another ofAlexander’s helicopters coming? I pointed up and then to my ear,and Jeremy furrowed his brow. “Maybe Halluis was able to pullthrough after all.” I didn’t dare hope. I braced myself for anotherwave of attackers when the helicopter arrived.
Jeremy checked the other five. All weredead. I didn’t dare check Jericho, even though I could have reachedmy hand out and done it easily. I stared at him, hoping he wasn’tdead one second and hoping he was the next. Both Jeremy and Mikadomade their way to me. Jeremy reached out and felt for a pulse onJericho’s neck.
“He’s still with us,” Jeremy said.
Without any ceremony, Mikado shot him in thechest, anger blazing in his eyes.
I screamed, covering my mouth.
“He can never hurt another person now. Hewas pure evil.” He spat. “They all were.”
“What now?” I asked Jeremy. There were nomore guards, and no one to order them after us, anyway, but therewas still the small matter of getting off the ship. Mikado stoodguard at the stairs and kept watch for any sneak attacks from aboveor below.
“It’s not one of Alexander’s,” Jeremy said,and he motioned toward the sky. “That’s a chinookhelicopter—government issue. We’re saved.” He smiled wryly andpointed in the direction of the shore. “And we won’t even have toget wet.”
I looked up and saw, far off in thedistance, the huge helicopter moving steadily in our direction, alarge black shadow against the inky sky.
“Why are they sending such a huge chopper?”I asked, incredulous.
“I told Halluis we’d need something bigenough to transport a car and a bunch of prisoners.”
“A car?”
“I figured, since we’re here…” he shruggedand smiled.
“You don’t mean—?”
“Yep, our mission’s not over, yet. Come on,didn’t Ace get you a look at that shipping manifest?”
“Well, yes, but I only saw it once,” Ifloundered. It was true that with one look
