Page 58 of The Bratva’s Monster

His eyes widen slightly. “You’re shitting me.” He glances around at his boeviks moving around their trucks, mentally counting them. From what I can see, he’s got about three per truck. The minimum for a convoy in the best of times.

“We know any details?” he asks me. “How many or anything like that?”

I shake my head. “Nope. Alex wants me driving behind you guys to make sure you get where you need to go.”

He looks me up and down quickly. “Just you?”

“That not enough for you, djadej?”

He smirks and says, “I know you’re a monster, but even you can’t take an army if that’s what they throw at us.”

“Just follow my lead and even if they send an army, they won’t touch us.”

He nods quickly. “All right, what’s the plan?”

The plan, as I explain it to him, is pretty simple. The first part is that we’re changing the route. If they know about the convoy, there’s a good chance they know which way we’re going. The second part is for me to ride in front and alongside and even behind them depending on where we’re at for any given time. It’s going to take some interesting driving, but if everybody stays calm, I’ll be able to tackle it.

I look over Igor’s head as I’m explaining all this. His boeviks look mean. A few of them, I’ve known for years and watched them rise through the ranks, but he’s got a couple of them that are new and noticeably young. Fresh from the Shestoryka ranks, probably.

“Got some young ones in your party,” I mention to him. Igor sighs.

“Yeah. About three of them were Sixes a week ago. Thought tonight was going to be a good mission to ease them into.”

“It still could be,” I say. “Trip hasn’t started yet. Make sure they're all in communication with one another. I want everybody’s head on a swivel.”

He nods and says, “Got it.”

I go back to my car and pop my trunk. I brought a shotgun and an AR along with the handgun in my belt and the knife in my boot. It’s overkill, but when the thing you’re doing is unpredictable, you don’t take any chances.

Besides, I have every intention of making it back to Liz by the end of the night.

The boxes are loaded and everybody’s getting into the trucks. The setup is pretty simple. Two riding in the front and one in the back. I watch as Igor gets in the first truck and his men all take their places, some jumping in back, sliding in and closing the doors, holding rifles ready for anything.

I put my guns in the car, shotgun in the back seat, AR up front, and heaven help the dumb cop that decides to try and pull me over.

And we’re off. We pulled out of the lot with me leading the pack, watching the road as we head east instead of west. I’m looking out in the shadows of alleys and around corners, looking for cars hiding in the darkness that suddenly come to life as we pass. So far, so good…

I spot a car rolling onto the road from an intersection. It’s two lanes away from us and keeping pace. We pass another street and another shows up on the other side.

Shit. That was fast. Too fast. We’re not far from the warehouse. It makes me wonder if they were watching us in the first place, waiting to see which way we were headed.

I get Igor on the phone. “You see ‘em?” he says when he picks up.

“Yeah. I’m going to swing around and handle the guy on your left. The guy on the right’s all yours.”

“Roger. Watch out, we got two coming up behind us, too.”

“I’m on it.”

I swing the car into the next lane, handgun drawn as I slow down and roll down the window. They’re ready for me. As I line up my car, the back window rolls down and I see a shotgun come out.

I get off two shots, hitting the driver in the head. The shotgun rings out, shattering my back passenger’s side window right before their car swerves away and crashes into a parked car.

The cars behind the convoy speed up as the sound of gunshots from the side and behind me go off. I hear another car crash on the other side as the one behind me swerves out of the way of gunfire coming from the back truck.

I swerve my car in front of that car and slam on my brakes, bracing myself. The car crashes into the back of mine and I see the telltale sign of the airbag going off, filling up the windshield with white.

And I spot more headlights coming up behind us. I put the car in park, grab the AR, and get out of the car.