Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(72)

Six's mic clicked in his ear. "Buddha, driver. Cabe, leather jacket. I got the gray T-shirt," Mac whispered. "Six, Kovalenko."

"I need to get away. Someone was watching my home," Kovalenko said. "They came for me. They know who I am and where I live. I need money to get away."

Mitkin looked between his two henchmen and smiled. "I still don't understand why you think this has anything to do with me. You screwed up. And there are always consequences."

"You made it sound like a simple in and out."

Laughter cracked through the silence. "I offered you a job, you took the job, and you failed on the job. There is nothing to be gained by crying to me about your own inept failings. But you can be of use to me."

Kovalenko wiped his brow as he looked between the three men nervously. "What do you need?"

Mitkin walked toward Kovalenko, and Six shook his head.

"Bye bye, Kovalenko," Lite sang quietly through the earpiece.

Six sucked in a breath and waited for the inevitable.

"I want you to be a lesson to those who think they can fail and expect payment." Mitkin stopped a few steps away from him.

Suddenly sensing what he'd gotten himself into, Kovalenko reached around his back to pull his gun from its holster, but it was too late. Six shook his head as the driver of the vehicle stepped forward and pointed his gun, ready to pull the trigger until the gun was shot out of his hand by Lite. They needed Kovalenko alive. They needed all of them alive.

Mitkin dove for cover, and Kovalenko crumbled to the ground in fear.

"Go!" Mac shouted.

"Put your weapons down," Six yelled as he tore up the distance between them, gun pointed directly at Mitkin, even though Mac already had him covered. With Kovalenko already down, the focus should be on the boss. Cries instructing the three men to get down on the ground echoed around him.

Capitalizing on the element of surprise and seeing the shock etched on the faces of Mitkin's men, his men hurried from their hiding places with Lite providing cover from above, hitting the driver squarely in the shoulder as a bullet went whizzing by to the left of Six's head. Already doubled over from the gunshot wound, the driver was the easiest target. Six saw Buddha charge him, sending him sprawling onto the floor, face-first. With a loud yell, Buddha landed squarely on top of him, placing a knee directly in the small of his back. Roughly, he tugged the driver's arms behind his back and secured them tightly.

"Cover me," Mitkin shouted, but there was no one left to do that. The driver was out, and Cabe was in the process of disarming the guy in the leather jacket. 

Six focused on Mitkin, who took in the confusion going on around them. Shock was etched across his face. Six held his gun directly at him. "On the ground," he yelled, but being the ill-informed, weak asshole he was, Mitkin instead made a dash for Kovalenko's car. Six groaned. "Down on the floor," he yelled and fired a warning shot that deliberately landed just inches away from Mitkin's foot. There was no way Six was going to let him get away. He charged over the uneven concrete as if hell was at his heels. He'd shoot the guy before he'd let him get away. With a grunt, he threw himself bodily onto Mitkin and forced him to the ground. Even with Mitkin's slight frame absorbing the majority of the impact, Six's knees made contact with the concrete and pain rushed up his legs.

"You have no idea who you are messing with," Mitkin yelled. "You'll be dead before morning."

"Unlikely," Six said, jamming Mitkin's head to the floor for good measure.

"Clear," Cabe shouted.

"Clear," Buddha echoed.

Six restrained Mitkin's hands and checked him for weapons. "Clear," he added finally.

Mac turned off Kovalenko's car engine. "Let's take them inside," he instructed.

Their captives fought for a moment longer, but quickly became subdued when they realized they were outmanned and outarmed.

Six hauled Mitkin to his feet and dragged him bodily to their waiting vehicles. Mac and the others followed suit, and once everyone was in the vehicle, transported them to the San Diego FBI field office as agreed. Unlike in the movies, they made no move to Mirandize them. They wanted the men to talk. "Loose lips sink ships" was a saying for a reason, and he'd take any information he could to help Lou.

In spite of Six's hopes that they might fight with each other, revealing something crucial to Louisa's case, Mitkin had done little more than glare at Kovalenko as they'd driven. As soon as they got into the federal building they were separated. The driver and henchman were put into holding until they could be interviewed. Six and Cabe took Mitkin to an interview room, Mac and Lite took Kovalenko.