Page 15 of Devil's Retribution

I went to the far side of the house, glancing back to see Tolya and his team hurrying across the street with the machine in hand. We had shut it inside an insulated box to kill the sound of the motor. It would flood each of their rooms with the sleeping fog I’d come up with. Five minutes of exposure and we would be able to come in wearing our masks and collect them both.

The third man went down just as quickly and quietly as the first two, but when I reached the back yard, I knew I had a problem. Unlike the others, guard number four had found a hiding place I couldn’t immediately pick out—and I was almost sure that he wasn’t alone. I could picture their boss, the voice in their ear mics, hanging back, probably covering them with a night-scoped rifle if he knew his stuff this well.

I couldn’t afford to get in a sniper’s sights. I moved cautiously, watching the tree line for the glimmer of a scope.

I didn’t see their boss, but I finally located the third guard, down the short, railed stairwell that led to the basement. He popped his head up and started looking around just as I was getting close. I managed to shoot him before he saw me—but then had to duck and roll as a pair of rifle bullets bit into the brick wall behind me.

No, stop shooting at the house, you moron! I rolled over and emptied my pistol into the patch of trees the bullets had come from, then moved again. Another bullet dug into the dirt where I’d been. Hopefully, the silencers and background noise of the city would keep any nosy neighbors from catching wind of our mission.

I holstered my emptied pistol and pulled out my backup, emptying it as well. I was almost dry when I heard the crashing of a body falling through the branches. About fucking time! I activated my mic. “Are we set up?”

Tolya’s voice was a low mutter. “We’re pumping the gas into the bedrooms now. What about the guards?”

“I cleared four. Their boss I’m going to check on now. I know I hit him, though. Keep it going, and remember, five minutes. No more, no less.”

I hurried back to the small copse at the rear of the property, gun still drawn, ready to either confront a wounded man or finish an unconscious one off. Instead, I found broken branches, stripped bark where boots had dug in, a few spots of blood—and a ruined .308 rifle, its stock splintered from a direct hit. Its owner was nowhere to be found.

Damn it. He ran for it! I had no idea if he was fleeing for his own safety or circling back to grab another weapon and come after us. I went over the bullet-riddled fence into the adjoining yard and saw the side gate still swinging clothes. I sped up, racing through it and through the side yard.

No sign of anyone. I kept running—only to hear an engine roar to life. Before I reached the street, I saw a Humvee with smoked windows drive past, weaving a little, as if the driver was drunk or wounded. I quickly got a photo of the license plate as it drove away.

“Damn it,” I growled, walking back toward the doctor’s house. The last thing I needed was a surviving witness to the kidnapping. Especially one who was a good shot and would definitely be around for the exchange.

But there was nothing to be done about it now. I’ll just have to finish up here and get out as quickly as possible.

When I got back, the men were just finishing up, shutting off the machines and donning their gas masks. I pulled my own on and checked that it was working before heading for the front door.

“We need to get out of here quickly. The team sniper escaped with wounds.” I saw Tolya’s eyes widen slightly and gave him a grim nod. Going out alone to pick off the team had been my call, his escape was on my conscience. Hopefully I’d hurt him badly enough that he couldn’t risk circling back. But even that didn’t stop him from calling for backup.

The house was filled with the mist, which was slowly settling to ankle level now that the pumps were off. The first thing I did once I got inside was to shut off the security system. The second thing was to find the doctor’s phone on its charger in the kitchen. I managed to turn it off just as the screen glowed to life to announce a call. We’d only jammed communications for long enough to get the guards’ attention. Any longer and it would have gotten us the wrong sort of attention.

That was probably a warning call from Graves. Now, he’ll either send in a second team or call the police. Either way, we have under five minutes to extract both of them.

I checked on Nick first, he was sleeping peacefully, his breathing slow but strong and even. A tension I hadn’t realized was there eased off inside my chest, and I went to check the doctor, signaling to Tolya to carry the boy out. I hated the idea of harming a child. Bad enough that we had to disrupt his life.

Emma was fine as well. She lay in a pool of filtered moonlight, half-curled on her side, her face relaxed. She was even more beautiful than I remembered—--and for a split second, her helplessness made me hesitate. This was wrong, but it was also necessary. Her uncle had made certain of that.

She made a soft sound as I lifted her and turned a little in my arms to nestle into my chest. I stopped dead for a moment, mouth working as guilt and desire stabbed at me. Then I set my jaw and walked out with her to the waiting stretcher.

Two minutes later, the sleeping pair were in the van, the gear was in the van and so were we. I took the ruined rifle with me, laying it across my lap as Tolya drove us back toward Hollywood. We were just blocks from the house when we heard the wail of sirens drawing closer in the distance.

I lifted an eyebrow slightly, but stayed relaxed. By the time they arrived on scene and started throwing up their cordon, we would be long gone.

“Someone called the cops,” Tolya grumbled. “That’s going to make things messy.”

“For Graves, maybe.” I kept my voice confident, despite my anger at how sloppy our operation had been—anger directed at myself, for allowing that guard to let off a round of gunfire. “I’m certain he’ll have wanted to handle this privately. If he called them, it’s because he panicked—and soon he’ll be having to explain what and how he knew about it all.”

“But he’ll have you to point the finger at.” Tolya surprised me, he sounded genuinely concerned.

“True enough. I suppose we’ll have to hand out more than the usual number of bribes to quiet their questions.” I still kept my voice even.

“What about the guy who got away?”

“I’m giving his license plate number to Alexei for research as soon as we get back. Though I suspect it will trace directly to Graves’s motor pool, I still want to see what we can turn up on the guy.”

So much to do, I thought as I looked over at the kidnapped woman and child. And so little time to do it in before our new guests wake up.

Chapter 7