72. Max

All my best guys are with me for this rescue mission, plus as many men as I could persuade Vlad to send me. Uriov won't be expecting an attack and it should be enough, but we're going in blind.

Sasha hasn't had time to do virtual surveillance on the old farm where Micky believes Natalya is being held. He tracked the IP address for the photo uploads to this location. Sasha checked the info and says the mayor purchased the farm under a shell company last year, so it makes sense.

The property is isolated enough not to attract too much attention with traffic coming and going, but close enough to the city for internet service not to be an issue.

Everyone has assembled a mile away from the farm. Mickey will act as tech backup. He says he can disable the security system and monitor the live website stream. The kid is good. Even Sasha has admitted he's good, so I may offer him a job once I have Natalya back in my arms.

"The cameras are down," Mickey tells me through the earpiece. "I've looped the feed of the areas around the farm, which should work for a while, depending on how observant the person watching the footage is."

I nod. "Everyone ready?"

There are various grunts and nods from my guys and polite affirmations from Vlad's men.

I check my weapons and shove some extra ammo in my pockets. "Let's move."

It's fucking dark out here but thankfully, the moon momentarily graces us with her presence. It's just as well because we soon come across a bear trap. Thank fuck nobody fell into it.

"Jesus," Sasha mutters. "Uriov must take security seriously, these things are fucking barbaric."

The word gets passed along and progress stalls while we look for other traps. Thankfully, there's nothing else. When we reach the perimeter fence, we pause.

The farmhouse sits in a clearing surrounded by trees. From here, I can see at least five guards on patrol, all armed. They don't seem particularly vigilant, which should work in our favor. One stands smoking and chatting on a phone, and a second wanders out toward the trees to take a piss.

"I'll deal with him," Kolya murmurs before slinking off into the shadows, a knife in his hand.

There's a muffled scuffle and then silence. Kolya returns a few moments later, wiping blood off his blade.

"We'll take the front and you take the rear," I tell Vlad's main man, Kiril. He nods and leads his guys off through the trees. When we checked the property listing, it indicated there were a few outbuildings. Once this is all over, I plan to check them for my stolen weapons. I have a feeling this is where they were taken.

We move as one toward the farmhouse.

Each guard is taken out quickly and silently. The last guy recognizes me just before I slide a blade between his ribs. His eyes widen in shock before glazing over. I drop him to the ground and edge over to a reinforced door. As I'm about to pick the lock, it swings open and another guard wanders out, whistling softly.

He yelps with surprise when I press a gun to his head. "How many men are inside?"

"Fuck you!" he snarls.

"Is Uriov here?"

The man makes a feeble attempt to disarm me but it's useless, I'm much stronger than him. I grip his throat and lift him off the floor. He begins to turn purple as the flow of oxygen to his brain stutters to a halt.

When his eyes start to glaze over, I release him. He falls back to the ground, coughing and desperately sucking in air. "Yes," he wheezes eventually, mindful of the gun I have trained on him.

"And the two women?"

"Two? There are more than—" There's a shout from somewhere nearby, followed by a gunshot. Fuck, there must be another exit door we missed. The man on the floor tries to dive toward the door but I shoot him in the head.

The time for subtlety is over. My only priority now is rescuing my woman.

We underestimated how many men Uriov has in the farmhouse. The fucking place is like a rabbit warren. But the narrow corridors and dark rooms work in our favor. It makes it easier to take guys out one at a time.

From the yells, Kiril is working his way in from the back of the property. We're no longer trying to be quiet - the aim is to find the women as quickly as possible before Uriov kills them just to spite me.

I head downstairs with Kolya and Sasha at my back. It's damp and cold here, with dim lighting. We pass several locked doors, which are likely holding cells. Once I've located my malyshka, my men will check them out.

We turn a corner just as a man leaves a room with a catatonic girl in his arms. She's covered in blood and for a minute, I freeze, terrified it's Natalya, but this girl is slim and has tattoos.

"What the—" The guy drops the girl and attempts to pull put his weapon but Kolya throws a knife, hitting him in the eye. He slumps to the floor, dead. The girl moans from the floor and I quickly scoop her up, passing her back to Sasha. She needs medical help but it will have to wait.

Boris and Leon appear behind us and Sasha hands over the girl to Leon, who quickly takes her away. A moment later, I hear my malyshka scream,

"NO!" followed by an awful shriek that isn't her.

Someone shouts just as we burst in and everything goes to fuck.