Page 81 of Blood & Snow
One of the Chechens tries to flank my position, but I catch him in the open and put two bullets in his torso.
Stepan's voice calls out from across the warehouse.
"Yaroslav moving toward the loading bay!"
I see him—the blond hair bobbing up and down as he runs in a crouch toward the front exit.
Two of his remaining men provide covering fire, their bullets sparking off metal shelving.
I break from cover and sprint parallel to his route, using the crate stacks to stay hidden.
At the loading bay, I position myself between Yaroslav and his escape route, all the while listening to the eruption of gunfire outside as Stepan's men posted around the building catch the fleeing cockroaches.
He rounds the corner at full speed and runs directly into my line of sight.
His eyes go wide when he sees me.
"Alexander Morin," he says, breathing hard. "We can make a deal?—"
My bullet takes him in the forehead before he even finishes his sentence.
He drops backward onto the concrete, blood pooling beneath his head.
The warehouse goes quiet except for the ringing in my ears, and the gunfire outside slows until it, too, fades.
I count bodies as I walk back through the space.
Yaroslav, four Brotherhood soldiers, two Chechens and based on the shots outside, I'm assuming all are accounted for.
Stepan appears from behind a stack of machinery, reloading his weapon.
"It was a clean sweep."
"The driver?"
"My men handled him when the shooting started."
I note the walkie on his belt and check my watch.
Twelve minutes from start to finish—as efficient as we could be but now the real work happens.
"Get the cleanup crew here," I tell Stepan.
"We're going to need full sanitization and fast."
"And the weapons?"
I look at the open crate Yaroslav had been showing off.
High-quality automatic rifles, enough to arm a small war.
"Load them in our van. Leonid will want to see them."
Stepan nods and starts making phone calls.
I walk back toward the side entrance, stepping over bodies and spent shell casings.
The warehouse will be clean by dawn, the bodies disposed of, all evidence of the meeting erased, and nothing will be tied back to me.
