Page 106 of Demitri

“Time to buck up, girl. Those assholes are being led out.”

Well, I guess if there’s ever a time to stop crying, it’s watching the people who kidnapped the love of your life get dragged away, right?

I turn and watch as four large men in black tactical gear lead Katya and Andrey out, their arms held behind their backs by the much larger men. I know I’m too far away for her to make out anyone clearly, but I swear, she’s staring at me—intome. It makes a shiver go down my spine. Andrey looks nothing like what I imagined. He’s short, balding, with a very well-fed midsection. But he’s a barrel. His arms are huge, he has no neck, and his chest almost matches his gut. I wish I could see his face up close, but I can’t. And maybe that’s a good thing.

As they get to the SUVs waiting to take them away, Andrey turns and, in a move straight from a horror movie, kicks the man holding him and charges toward us. Everyone freezes, not knowing what to do, until he’s about fifty yards away. Sasha steps forward, calmly and a little scarily, raises his arm and shoots. The men holding Andrey let him go as he goes down, immediately holding his leg, screaming what can only be obscenities in Russian.

Sasha, still cool as a cucumber, turns to me, handing his firearm to Mary, and smiles. “You asked for him to be shot in the shin,da, malenkyi?”

“You’re doing the paperwork for this,” Mary deadpans while I nod and smile at him. She puts the earpiece back in. “We’re going to need that backup bus.”

“Thank you,” I mouth to Sasha, who bows his head.

Two EMTs, paying the man writhing on the ground no attention, run into the building with a stretcher. I look at Mary, who nods her head.

“Second floor. To the back.”

She really doesn’t give a shit, does she?

I take off running, not giving anyone the chance to hold me back or stop me.

“Demitri!” I yell, running up the stairs. “Dem!”

I find them in the back room, two of Mary’s guys still with him, his arms now unbound from the chair and the rope that had been around his legs gone. They’re moving him onto the stretcher, and I freeze. He looks like everything hurts. He’s holding his body wrong, and his face. Well, his face has seen better days.

As soon as they have him on the stretcher, I find my feet again and rush to his side. His arm is sticking out weirdly, and the EMT stops me before I can get too close.

“Ma’am, might want to go to the other side.”

They don’t even question if I should be there, and it’s a good thing. They don’t deserve all these big emotions I have coursing through my body. I quickly move to his other side and take his hand.

“I’m here, Dem. I’m here.”

His eyes try to open, but they are so swollen he can’t. Instead, he squeezes my hand, pulling me closer. I lean over him, and hemumbles something, but I can’t understand what it is. He tries again, his face contorting in pain.

“Wuv vu.”

“Oh, you idiot.” I cry-laugh. “Don’t talk. I love you, too.”

He nods, and it’s almost as if he needed to hear that before he could pass out for a little while. I worriedly look at the EMT, who smiles.

“He’ll be fine. Just needs a nap, and that shot of good stuff we gave him knocked his ass out.”

I nod and walk with them out of the room, following them down the stairs and to the back of the ambulance.

“We’ll follow you,” Daniel tells me before they close the back doors. “And you’re getting checked out as soon as we get there.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Don’t care.”

“Okay, Dad.”

He shakes his head and chuckles. I watch him join the others and start to load up as they close the doors after doing some checks. I don’t let go of Demitri’s hand until I’m forced to when we arrive at the hospital.

“Hey, honey. Gotta let me check you out,” the nurse tells me, and it takes me a minute to realize I know her.

“Lizzy?”

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