I answer it with shaking hands. “Alexei…”
“Vedma, are you okay?” His voice is tight and scary. “Hold on. I’m coming myself.”
“No, just send…”
“I’m coming with everyone I have,” he growls. “I’m going to fucking murder these people.”
The line cuts out just as a bullet shatters the back window, making glass spray all over us.
“I’m sorry!” Yulia sobs. “I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have taken those pictures! This is all my fault!”
“It’s not your fault,” I say, though my own voice is trembling.
Tears track down Larisa’s cheeks, stark against her bloodless skin. “I shouldn’t have come here,” she chokes out. “I shouldn’t have…”
“Stop!” I grab her hand and squeeze it. “It’s not your fault either.”
I can see the main road ahead and realize we’re almost out when I spot a convoy of ten black SUVs and military trucks led by Alexei, who is coming with everyone he has. But just as we reach the edge of safety, the tire explodes with a violent BANG, and the whole SUV starts to swerve.
We’re going too fast for Lev to keep control as the SUV skids sideways and the world tilts, sending us flipping once and then twice with the sound of metal crunching and everyone screaming until we hit something and finally come to a stop. I’m upside down, and the pain is everywhere as I try to move but can’t, feeling the blood run down my face.
I can hear Larisa crying and Yegor groaning while Yulia stays silent. Lev and Grigori remain completely still in the front. My vision starts to blur. I hear footsteps and voices shouting. Someone rips the door open and starts pulling me out. I try to fight them, but I’m too weak.
Then everything fades to black.
Chapter 34
Alexei
Smoke plumes up from the wreckage, and my heart starts hammering. "No, no, no. Please be okay," I whisper, the words catching in my throat before I turn to Paul. "Drive faster! Just go! They just crashed!"
We haven't even fully skidded to a halt before I’m yanking the door open. I hit the ground running. I’ve never moved this fast in my life, but the sheer panic of what I might find keeps my legs moving.
I reach the wreck and grab the door handle, praying as I pull. It gives way without much resistance, swinging wide to reveal her. She’s still strapped in, held upright by the seatbelt. I fumble with the clip, get her loose, and carefully ease her out of the seat.
Once she’s clear of the car, I start checking her over, my hands shaking. There’s a deep split in her lip where the glass must have caught her as the car spun, but I don't see any other blood. My stomach drops. If she isn't bleeding out, why isn't she opening her eyes?
I glance back into the car at the three who were with her. They’re awake, staring back at me with wide, glassy eyes, completely paralyzed by shock. Paul reaches us then, stepping past me to start pulling them out.
I look toward the front. Lev is thrown halfway through the windshield, and Georgie is slumped in the passenger seat at an angle that looks all wrong. Out of everyone, they’re the ones who took the worst of it.
"Bohdan! Get the medic!"
Gunfire erupts behind me - my men sweeping the site to finish off the Georgians who stayed behind to fight. I’m focusedon the medic as he drops beside her, checking her pulse and prying her eyes open to catch the beam of his light.
"Seems she only hit her head," the medic grunts, his voice barely cutting through the ringing in my ears. "Don’t worry, sir, it’s just a mild concussion and nothing serious. But we still need to take her for a check-up in case of internal bleeding."
"She’s stable?" I rasp.
"She’s holding steady," he says, already reaching for his bag. "But we need a hospital. Now."
I heave a sigh of relief at his words. "What about the others?" I ask, scanning the wreckage.
Across the debris, Paul is hauling bodies from the wreck. Larisa and Yulia are upright, shaking and sobbing through a mask of dust and minor cuts. Yegor is awake, too, cradling his arm against his chest, terrified to even breathe in case it shifts the bone.
But my eyes shift to the front of the car, where Lev and Grigori are still pinned.
Paul’s voice breaks through the ringing in my ears. “It’s bad, Pakhan. Both of them are unconscious and losing too much blood - we have to move fast before they die.”