Page 78 of Be My Vengeance

The guy glanced at his partner and spoke in Russian. After a small conversation, they allowed us to enter, first frisking us. To my surprise, they didn’t check the cart as thoroughly as I would have, and that was to our benefit. I had two guns taped to the top of the cart I hoped they wouldn’t see. Seemed fate was on my side.

I pushed the cart inside, Gideon directly behind me. I did a fast perusal of the room and saw that there was in fact a decent number of muscle.

“Table over there.” One of the men pointed and as I turned to head that way, all hell broke out in a reign of bullets and blood.

Before the door closed, it was kicked in and Gideon’s guys and Penn rushed in, guns drawn. Of course Vladimir’s men were quick on the draw, and bodies started to drop. Gideon and I needed to locate Ivanov immediately. While exits were blocked, I didn’t want to give the man time to lock himself in somewhere and call for more help.

“This way,” Gideon shouted, and we ran down a corridor that led to what I discovered was a master suite.

Gideon moved to the bathroom while I did a slow pan of the room. Where would he go if he were in here? The only options were under the bed, in the bathroom, or in the closet. Gideon had the bathroom covered, and I truly didn’t think he’d be able to slide under the bed with it being so low to the ground. Closet it was.

Once Gideon exited the en suite, he shook his head. I motioned to the closet and he lifted the syringe while I held the gun I’d ripped off the cart. My other hand was on the knob of the closet door. I mouthed, One, two, three, and yanked it open, only just dodging the bullet that whizzed past my head.

The gunfire in the other room was quieting, and I hoped that meant we were winning. Penn chose that second to rush in with the laundry cart.

“You had one shot, and you missed.” I sneered at the man who was pressed to the corner of the closet, his gun pointed toward me.

“I still have more bullets.” But before he could get a shot off I did…in his leg.

He crumpled to the floor, and Gideon seized the opportunity to jab him with the syringe. It took a moment, but he passed out fairly quickly.

“Did you need to shoot him?” Penn was obviously exasperated.

“I really did.”

“Can you two get him in the cart? I need to check out the other room,” Gideon asked.

“Yeah.” I dragged Vladimir out, and Penn grabbed his legs.

We unceremoniously tossed him into the laundry cart and Penn covered him with blankets, making sure to wrap one tightly around Vladimir’s leg so the blood didn’t seep to the floor and draw attention. We still needed to get Vladimir out of the hotel. He had men all over the place, and if they saw a trail of blood, it would cause some problems for us.

Gideon returned with a smile. “We’re clear.”

“Anyone hurt?” Penn inquired as he pushed the cart.

“Some, but Theo is going to make sure to get our people out of here before Vladimir’s security come up and see this shit show.”

We couldn’t do anything about the massacred hotel room, and I was sure Gideon would compensate the right people, but we had to get out of here—the cops were going to arrive soon since there had been gunfire at a high-end hotel.

“The service elevator will take us right down to the laundry room; that’s our best bet.” Penn steered the cart, and Gideon and I kept vigilant in case anyone jumped out at us.

When we got to the elevator, Gideon’s guy Lewis was there waiting. “I got your back. Head in; Mack is already in the laundry room waiting for you.”

“Good job.” Gideon patted Lewis’s arm as we entered the elevator.

Gideon and I had our guns pointed to the doors as they opened to the laundry, but thankfully only Mack was there.

“The van’s waiting by the side doors. We subdued three of Vladimir’s guys, so you’re all clear.”

With help, we managed to get Vladimir into the van without any more pomp and circumstance. I didn’t voice out loud how easy this had ended up being, but it really had and I wasn’t sure if luck was on our side or if our luck was running out.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Danny

I woke up, and Alex wasn’t there. In his place sat Raff, munching on some potato chips while laughing at something on his phone. My swelling had gone down some and I could see better, which was nice.

“Alex.” My throat was dry and croaky, but Raff peered up from his phone and inched closer.