“When I got shot, Ki…I mean, Captain took me to a small village where we remained in hiding until I got better. We would’ve come sooner, but there was a storm.”
“No wonder we couldn’t get a signal.” Maksim places both his hands on the mattress and leans against them. “Viktor was going berserk trying to locate the boss. I’m glad you’re back, but Captain won’t have it easy.”
I lean closer in my chair. “What do you mean?”
“He’s with the higher-ups now, who will, without a doubt, put the blame on him for the mission’s failure, when it’s clear that it was plotted all along. It doesn’t matter what he might have done, he was set up for failure from the get-go. Those stupid fuckers planned all this.”
“Shut it.” Yuri kicks his friend in the shin, and the latter howls.
“What the fuck was that for? I’m telling the truth here. Sasha deserves to know why he took that bullet.”
I stare between them, grabbing for a sliver of information. “What’s going on?”
“Remember the fat man who came on the day of the mission?” Maksim asks.
“Captain’s father?”
“That’s the one. He’s always wanted Boss back in New York and has been trying to get him to discharge from the military for years. Since he failed and most of us chose to stay with the boss, what do you think his next course of action would be?”
“Try to force him.”
He snaps his fingers. “Exactly.”
“We don’t know for sure.” Yuri lowers his voice. “But it’s true that the old boss met the captain’s commandants prior to leaving.”
“In our line of work, we don’t believe in coincidences,” Maksim supplies.
“Does…could the captain share the same suspicions?” I ask.
“I’m sure he does.” Yuri’s brows draw together. “If we thought of this after the mission, then he must’ve figured it out during. It’s probably why he was hesitant about sending the units to that warehouse.”
Shit.
If that’s the case, and he was sabotaged by his own father, then how can he stay that calm? Just what type of steel is Kirill Morozov made of?
Maksim changes the subject to focus on me, and I realize they’re trying to escape the reality they find themselves in and whatever the future holds for them.
Omitting the husband and wife roles Kirill and I played, I tell them about Nadia and Nicholas while fighting tears.
“It’s a miracle they accepted soldiers in their house,” Yuri says. “Most villagers have a distaste toward us.”
“Uh, the captain stole civilian clothes, and we pretended that we were attacked by soldiers.”
“Smart.” Maksim grins. “As expected of Captain.”
Yuri nods in agreement. “Point is, you came back safe and sound.”
I’m not so sure about that. It feels as if something has been missing since I saw the blood and the old couple’s corpses. A part of me has remained in their house and refuses to return.
That part of me is so riddled with grief, it’s impossible to chase away the red haze that’s been turning my vision hazy.
So I choose to focus on Maksim and Yuri, still feeling grateful that they’re safe. I don’t know how I would’ve dealt with all this if something had happened to them.
Soon after, the others join in and we catch up on the mission and the aftermath.
What seems like an hour passes by before a solemn-faced Viktor appears at the threshold of the entrance.
The captain follows behind, eternally calm and unaffected. He’s nothing more than a monster dressed in human clothes.