Chapter 99 DIRECT CONFRONTATION
“Damn it!” I threatened to rush in, but Robert held me back, shaking his head.
“The gun is too close to her head; he'll kill her before you get close.” Robert kept me in place.
“I can't stand here and watch him hurt her like this!” I clenched my fists, consumed by fury.
“Major, your emotions are speaking. Think like a soldier. What would you do in this situation if we were at war?” John kept his tone low and calm. “He's just another enemy we need to take down.”
I considered his words, looking back into the warehouse and thinking about what to do.
“Robert, you and James go to the other side of the warehouse and start a shootout to draw his attention. Andreev won't want to kill Elisabeth so easily; he's a damned torturing psychopath.” My fists were clenched, and my hands squeezed tightly.
“He'll want to take her out of here!” John observed, and I nodded. “And what will we do?”
“Did you see where his car was parked?” I smiled, my eyes burning with determination. “We'll wait for him there. Robert and James will fake a direct attack on him, locate him, and corner him near his escape vehicle. We'll be waiting.”
“Alright, but what if he points the gun at her head?” John looked at me firmly.
“He won't. You'll be under the vehicle and pull his legs out. I'll come out from behind the car and stab him in the back before toying with his damned body, making him pay for everything he did to my Lis.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead. The discomfort was there, but the hatred and need to protect my apprentice drove me.
“Sounds like a great plan. Let's go!” James said, and we all began our roles.
Soon, the loud sound of gunfire echoed throughout the area. Pavel turned toward the noise, dragging Elisabeth toward the car. John was already positioned under the vehicle, while I was behind it, ready to take him down. However, he stopped before reaching the car, looking around suspiciously, and then I heard him laugh:
“Military tactics, Mr. Morgan? Very clever,” Pavel said, amused. “Eliminate the surrounding threat and distraction. And let me see if I remember correctly.”
Laughing, he rolled something under the car. It was a grenade. I pulled John's legs out from under the vehicle, jumping back.
“Ambush...” Andreev wrapped his arms around Elisabeth's neck, choking her with the gun pressed to her head. “Look, my Light, the playboy CEO came to your rescue.”
“Let her go!” I shouted, stepping out as he pointed the gun at me, raising my hands.
“Tell your accomplices to show themselves, drop their weapons, or the next explosion will be right in your fiancée's brain!” Pavel spoke the last words with venom. “My Light, you should have told your bourgeois lapdog that I'm not just any threat.”
Licking Elisabeth's ear, his eyes were wide as he stared at me. My clothes were torn, and while the explosion didn't hit me directly, some shrapnel had cut deep into my legs, causing bleeding.
“Patrick,” she moaned as Pavel tightened his grip on her neck. “Get out of here!”
“How rude, my love. That's not how you treat a war hero who came to your rescue!” Pavel laughed cynically. “Where are your accomplices?”
He shouted, pulling a knife from behind him and pressing it against Elisabeth's abdomen. She groaned in pain as her skin was pierced. He twisted the tip, playing with it.
“Ah...” Lis whimpered.
“Don't hurt her, you bastard!” I yelled furiously. “Why don't you face someone your own size?”
“And would that be you?” Pavel removed the knife, licking the blood off the blade and looking at me with disdain. “You're not my type.”
“Your type is defenseless women, you bastard!” I took a step forward, but he pointed the knife at Lis's neck, forcing me to stop. “Son of a bitch!”
“What a dirty mouth, Mr. CEO. We are gentlemen, keep it classy!” Andreev laughed, amused. “Your friends have one minute to show up, or I'll play butcher with my lovely wife.”
“Show yourselves!” I shouted urgently, calling them. “James and Robert!”
They appeared, raising their hands and walking past Pavel, who kept one arm around Elisabeth's waist with the gun pointed at them, while the other hand held the knife to her neck.
“Stand by your major, little soldiers,” he said with irony. “Disarm and throw your weapons here; are you all here? Where's the one who was hiding under the car?”
“Where is John?” Robert looked at me curiously. I lowered my head, shaking it. “No!”
“The grenade got him...” I murmured, gritting my teeth.
“Really?” Pavel looked suspicious, pulling Lis back with him, looking at John's lifeless body on the charred ground. “Barbecued.”
“You bastard, I'm going to kill you!” Robert shouted, threatening to go toward him, but I stopped him, shaking my head and winking subtly.
“What are you going to do now, Pavel?” I turned to face him, staring him down. “Kill us all, and then what?”
“No, that would be too boring!” He smiled maliciously, taking something from his coat pocket and pulling out a wristband, handing it to Elisabeth's trembling hands as she cried uncontrollably. “Darling, be a good wife and cuff his hands.”
“What?” She looked at him, terrified. “Please, Pavel, you already have me, let them go... I beg you... I won't run away anymore, please.”
Kissing Lis's forehead lingeringly, Andreev seemed lunatic with his reactions.
“My love, I will never let you run away again, don't you see? There's nowhere to run; we'll be together forever!” Pavel pulled her into a kiss, keeping his eyes on mine as he shoved his tongue down Lis's throat. I clenched my fists, furious, wanting to tear that damned demon apart. “Now go and do what I ordered, or I'll start emptying the gun's magazine into your friends.”
“No!” she said, trembling and crawling toward us, injured, her face bruised and swollen on one side, her eyes red from crying so much. She approached, fastening the wristband on James, then Robert, and stopped in front of me. “Forgive me, I... I'm so sorry, Patrick. Forgive me.”