Her Rogue Russian(34)

 

"Don't be surprised if I use excessive force in kind." He hated how easy it was to regain a smile in her presence. The length of the garage stretched between them, and Maxim knew in his heart what that space meant: this intangible, unnamable thing between them was as good as over. She was giving him a moment to finish his drink, but all he really wanted was a moment to find closure. He was going with her, and who knew when he would return again to Slick Cycles; to the Hammersmiths; to the life outside of the mob that he had fought for years to forge for himself. It was all about to end, and all he wanted was one more moment with the world-ender herself.

 

"And who's your other friend?" he asked. When Savannah's face registered confusion, Maxim nodded to the unmarked car pulling up alongside her vehicle. She turned just as the recent arrival rolled its back window down.

 

They realized what was about to happen the instant before it happened.

 

"Tom!" Savannah screamed. Maxim saw the figure behind the steering wheel duck in his seat as the second car opened fire. The driver's side window shattered in an eruption of jagged, fanged glass.  

 

He had made every effort to leave his old life behind him; now, it seemed to all be coming back to haunt him with a nightmarish vengeance. He wasn't disappointed to find that now that imminent peril had returned, so had his reflexes.

 

Three bounding leaps carried him across the garage. He grabbed Savannah's arm, practically yanking her off her feet as another round began to pop off. He dragged her out of harm's way back beneath the workbench that lined the wall. "God dammit," he muttered. The Ural was all shot to shit. What's more, the panel to close the garage door was located outside the office and directly across the wall from them. They didn't have a lot of room to work with. He tried to tug Savannah closer so he could trade spots with her and force her behind him, closer to the wall, but she refused to budge. Typical.

 

"The Blood Diamond Task Force can't afford to install fucking bulletproof glass in their cars?" Maxim shouted above the bedlam. On the subject of blood, he noticed that a tell-tale spray across the assaulted vehicle's windscreen was noticeably missing.

 

"I didn't even know they were following us. I didn't even see them!" Savannah gasped, drawing her firearm and peering out from around the side of the garage. Maxim grabbed her and hauled her back as another spray of bullets ripped apart the back wall of the garage.

 

"I think we need to start entertaining the notion that you weren't being followed-because maybe they weren't after you. Likely whoever called in your little tip didn't trust you to hold me to their satisfaction. Shit," Maxim cursed below his breath. Thank God Travis was out back, and thank God he was with Rebecca-Rebecca was born into the same world Maxim had been born into, and she would know the sound of gunfire when she heard it. She would take care of her own before she risked checking in on Maxim, but he knew the time would come when she would risk it. He probably had less than a minute to work out a solution.

 

Thankfully, it looked like he wouldn't have to do it alone.

 

"Tom!" Savannah exclaimed fiercely. She was peering around the corner again; this time, when Maxim attempted to drag her back, she shook him off her. "He survived! He's out there! Behind the car!"

 

Maxim finally gave up trying to get her to obey him and glanced over her head. "Obviously, he's not going to survive for long," he said. He needed Savannah to focus. The life of Agent Andrews was hardly as important to him as-

 

"We need to get him!" Savannah hissed. Maxim swore he could see the flames of war dancing in her eyes. "I know he wanted to frame you-"

 

"I sure as hell didn't know that-"

 

"But he's the closest thing I have to a partner, god dammit! I may not like him most days, but that doesn't mean I want to see him shot full of holes! Very often!" She amended her statement in the same wild tone of voice. "I have to go out there and get him!"

 

"Fine. We rescue Tom. On two conditions." Maxim grabbed her face and held her gaze. Savannah didn't bat an eye at this treatment, and didn't so much as look away from him when an answering hail of bullets sounded from Tom's side of the car. "You give me your gun, and you let me go out there. You can say I knocked you out and took it if you have to."

 

"Absolutely out of the question."

 

"Don't think I won't knock you out, Casillero," he warned.

 

Her eyes narrowed. She studied him intently, as if she wasn't sure which iteration of the Russian she was dealing with. Finally, she handed him her gun with an angry exhale. "What's your other condition, Karev? And it better not be as completely idiotic as your first."