*Stephen*
We followed Sephie’s signal. As we got closer, it was obvious that she had stopped moving. It was going to take all of us to keep Adrik from rushing into whatever was waiting for us. It was highly likely that they were going to use Sephie to set a trap for Adrik.
We got within half a block of Sephie’s signal and Viktor stopped us. “She hasn’t moved for a few minutes. I think it’s best we see what we’re walking into first. We don’t know if Ivan is still with her or how many guys they have.”
“You and Andrei go check it out. I won’t be able to hold myself back if I go,” Adrik said.
Viktor nodded and he left with Andrei on foot to get a better look at where Sephie was. They were only gone a few minutes. The looks on their faces when they returned made us all panic. Viktor held up the tracker he’d given Sephie, along with the helmets they were wearing when they left the warehouse.”
“Hopefully this means Ivan is still with her, at the very least,” I said.
We could all tell that Adrik was slowly losing control of his anger. I’d seen him when he’d lost control a few times. The carnage that he left in his wake was impressive. He wouldn’t hesitate to burn this city to the ground if it meant finding her. Lord help the people of the city if something happened to Sephie. There would be no survivors.
Adrik looked toward Misha. “Anything?” he asked, almost desperately. Misha got that faraway look in his eye that meant he was running through scenarios in his head.
“They’re still alive as far as I can tell, but that’s all I’ve got right now,” he said.
“FUCK,” Adrik said. “She could be anywhere.”
“We’ll find her. Ivan will protect her, as long as he’s with her. They don’t know who they’re dealing with when it comes to both Ivan and Sephie. Ten bucks says they escape before we can find them,” Viktor said, trying to put Adrik at ease.
“We’re going after Dr. Moretti right now. I need to beat someone within an inch of their life right now,” Adrik said, getting back on his bike. Might be a change of plans for the doctor, too. We had planned on holding him until the bosses were taken care of and then turning the doctor over to the police. They would get the credit for capturing him and he would have a very public trial for his crimes against the city. We might be improvising on that plan now.
It didn’t take long to make it across town to the doctor’s house. The house was quiet. He was being watched 24/7 to make sure he didn’t try to escape. The guys watching him said he’d gotten home about an hour before we arrived and had been in the house since. There were a few lights on in the house. The rest of the block was quiet. We waited to see if we could see movement in the house. He walked by an open window eventually, giving us the confirmation we needed it was him.
Adrik didn’t say a word, he just moved quickly toward the house. Even when he was so angry he couldn’t see anything but red, he was still a skilled assassin. He moved silently and quickly to the house. He was inside in seconds, moving like a ghost through the house. The doctor didn’t know what hit him. His face was unrecognizable by the time we got in the house. It took all four of us to pull Adrik off the doctor. We managed to push him to the next room while the other guys that were with us got the doctor secured and removed him from the house. They would take him back to the building and put him in a room.
Adrik started to calm down, but only slightly, after the doctor was removed from the house. We walked back outside, back to the bikes. He was slowly becoming distraught as his mind played out every scenario around Sephie being captured. We needed to find her quickly or there was going to be tremendous fallout when he fully unleashed his chaos.
I caught Misha on the way back to the bikes. I took my earpiece out and clicked it off, motioning for him to do the same. He did, but had a concerned look on his face. “I have an idea, but I need your help,” I said.
“I’m listening,” he said, puzzled.
“It involves the high strangeness we’ve all witnessed with Sephie and well, all of us. We have to convince Boss that he can find Sephie on his own. He can feel her. I know he can. We just have to convince him he can. I need your help to do that,” I said.
Misha thought for a minute, then a small smile crept over his face. “Stephen, you might be a genius.”
*Sephie*
“We’ll do it. Ivan, get Sephie out of here. Stephen, cover Ivan and Sephie as far as you can. The rest of us are going around the warehouse. Andrei will detonate once we’re clear,” Adrik said.
I didn’t even have time to object to leaving him before Ivan had grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Adrik. There was no time to say anything to him before we were gone. I knew I would see him in a few minutes, but there was a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach about leaving him. I didn’t like it.
We were moving so quickly that I didn’t have time to say anything to Ivan either. I just went with Ivan, knowing he would keep me safe until Adrik could make it back to the building. We ran to the bike that was waiting for us and were leaving in under two minutes.
It was quiet on the route we took. We were out of sight of Stephen now, so we were on our own until we made it back to the building. I was still nervous, even though I was trying not to be.
“At least you’re not bleeding profusely this time,” I said, as I held onto Ivan just a little tighter as we were speeding through the streets weaving our way back to the building.
He chuckled, patting my leg. He slowed to make a turn onto a new street and we were suddenly surrounded. There was an SUV in front of us, blocking the turn, and two more quickly blocked us from behind and the side. Ivan made a move to drive down the sidewalk to get away, but the vehicle in front of us moved at the same time, blocking our path. It gave them just enough time for two guys to jump out of the SUV behind us and catch up to us. One of them grabbed me from behind, ripping me off the bike.
“Ivan!” I screamed as they grabbed me. He stopped immediately and jumped off to try and get to me. I had screamed on purpose, to make the guy that grabbed me think I was helpless. I felt his grip on me relax slightly as he assumed he could easily manage me. I was still wearing my helmet, so I leaned forward as far as I could, then crashed my head into his as hard as I possibly could. He stumbled backward, his grip on me completely loose now. I got free, turned to face him, and promptly shot him in the face.
There were more guys on us. I turned to see Ivan fighting three guys. I pulled my helmet off to see better, but I couldn’t get a clear shot of any of them without risking shooting Ivan. I did consider trying it, since I knew he wouldn’t feel anything, but I decided against it. I ran toward him to help. Two more guys rushed me when I got closer to Ivan. They both slammed me into a parked car. One of them put a gun to my head, which made me freeze. The other guy grabbed my gun. The guy that had the gun to my head whistled loudly, which caused Ivan to look toward me. He stopped as soon as he saw they had a gun to my head. He’d still managed to kill two of the guys that were on him, though.
“Hands where I can see them or she dies,” the guy with the gun said to Ivan. He put his hands up immediately. They searched him, taking his weapons from him. “Get in,” he said, motioning to one of the SUVs. They picked me up off the car and searched me as well. They found the tracker in my pocket and took it. They threw me in the SUV with Ivan; they zip tied both of our hands in front. The guy that held a gun on me looked at me and said, “you try anything and he dies.” He then looked at Ivan. “You try anything and she dies.” They all got back in their vehicles and started driving. Once we were moving, Ivan reached over and pulled me closer to him. He looked over at me, saying quietly in Russian, “we’re going to get out of this. Don’t worry, princess.”