The two men walked away into the now silent woods. The fight—her fight—was over. Vladimir raised his gun, aiming at her chest, then changed his mind and began to raise his gun to her head.
Elena’s life flickered before her eyes, moments of bliss and pain in equal measure, moments that had changed her forever. Her mother holding her when she’d skinned her knee riding her bike. Her father hugging her the day she’d graduated high school and shown him her college acceptance letter. Dimitri holding her in the waves. Maxim, Leo, and Nicholas kneeling before her, tying their fate to hers. The faces of the men in the cabin as she glimpsed them one last time . . .
A million different memories blended and merged into one single final image, an image that changed everything. It wasn’t even her memory, but that of a young woman from more than a century ago. Staring down a firing squad of soldiers in a dark basement, men who believed violence was the only way to change the world.
That girl had survived against all odds, and Elena as her descendant owed it to her to never give up. If Elena died now, everything that girl and all who came after her had gone through would be for nothing.
Elena bowed her head as Vladimir’s gun moved toward her head. Then she struck out, knocking his arm up and away, sending the gun deep into a snowbank.
Vladimir recovered fast and lunged for her as she turned to run. He gripped her arm from behind, the other arm going around her throat. Adrenaline spiked through her, but instead of struggling, she turned right into him while jabbing her free hand, thumb out, straight at his face.
He hadn’t expected that. With a grunt, he jerked back, and she twisted farther in his direction, giving him a swift knee to the groin. The second her knee connected, he landed a blow to her temple. Elena staggered back, but now that she was free, she bolted.
“Stop her!” Vladimir cried.
Elena heard the other men charge after her. She had abandoned the shelter of the deep woods when the two men circled her from the front, guns raised. She skidded to a stop, hoping to duck behind a tree, but there were none to be found.
Then one of the men who had his gun trained on her turned and shot the man next to him. Elena stared at the fallen man, not quite sure she understood what had happened. The man left standing removed his mask and thermal goggles.
Cody grinned at her. “I always wanted to do that. Pretend to be one of the bad guys, I mean, not shoot some random asshole.”
“Cody?” Elena stared at him.
She had a mere second to process what had happened before Cody yelled and tackled her to the ground. Bullets peppered the snow all around them as Vladimir opened fire. Then everything went deathly still. Elena and Cody cautiously raised their heads to look. Vladimir was lying on his side, blood pooling from a hole between his eyes. A dozen feet behind him, Dimitri stood, one hand gripping his side and his other holding a gun.
Elena blinked, trying to clear her vision.
“I’ve been wondering where the hell you were.” Cody got up and helped Elena stand. Her legs shook as she ran to Dimitri and fell against him.
“How many are left?” Dimitri asked.
Cody nodded at Vladimir’s body. “He was the last one.”
“You’re sure?”
“Whole reason I’m out here and not back there.”
Elena was barely listening. She was focused on searching him for wounds. She pushed aside his coat, and her fingers came into contact with the Kevlar vest beneath his sweater, which was riddled with bullet holes.
Dimitri hissed as she came across a place where a bullet had grazed him beneath the edge of the vest.
“Sorry . . .” She pulled her hands away.
Dimitri pulled her toward him. “I’m all right, kiska.”
She closed her eyes, her breath coming shorter and shorter as she started to cry. Dimitri hushed her, making soothing sounds that eventually reached her through the haze of her adrenaline crash. She hated that she couldn’t stop shaking now that it was all over.
“Cody . . . how many did we . . . ?” Dimitri couldn’t finish.
“No one when I left. Hans got me out after the majority of the fight. He told me to find you guys. When I left, everyone was holding their own against the last two they had pinned down, but the fire in the cabin was getting bad. If anyone got trapped inside . . .”
They turned to face the distant cabin, which blazed like a black skeleton against the orange flames.
Dimitri ignored the pain of his broken ribs and the slow burn of the two places where he had been grazed by bullets. Adrenaline kept him going as he, Elena, and Cody hurried back to the cabin. Cody touched base with Hans, who gave them the all-clear via the comms to return.
Dimitri spotted Fenn Lockwood as they reached the open garage. Fenn was moving the SUVs into the driveway with Leo and Emery, to keep them away from the flames.
“Maxim! They’re here!” Leo roared over the sound of the fire.
From the darkness of the garage, Maxim emerged. He visibly relaxed at seeing them all alive.
“Did we lose anyone?” Dimitri asked.
Maxim shook his head and touched Dimitri’s shoulder in concern. “Nicholas and Hans have shoulder wounds, and Emery has a through-and-through on his right arm, but the rest made it out okay other than just minor scrapes. You?”
Dimitri slumped a little. “I’ve been better.” He was exhausted, but he couldn’t stop now. Any moment the local authorities would be here. They would have to explain everything, and they didn’t have time for that. Elena needed to get out of here fast. The
