SASHA
I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
For a moment, all I see is Max. I see him standing there, gun raised, and I can’t reconcile his presence with the weapon.If this is the afterlife, and I’m already dead, why does he have a gun? Is this purgatory, and I’m trapped in some awful loop?
And then, as I feel the room tilt around me, I see Levin and Natalia appear behind him, both of them also armed, guns in hand–and I realize with a dizzying wave what’s happening.
Natalia pulled it off–almost too late.
Maybe still too late.
Levin and Natalia stalk forward with Max, guns aimed. “Shoot her,” Max says in a deep, deadly voice, “and you’ll die just as quickly. What a waste.”
I feel Obelensky stiffen behind me. “So will you,” he snarls, and I see Max’s mouth turn up on one side in a wry smile.
“I came close once,” he says grimly. “I’ll take the chance again.”
“Handle this!” Obelensky shouts, his voice raised, and I see the guards moving forward, their weapons raised too. “You’re outmatched,” he continues, pushing the gun against my head. “There’s more in the compound–”
“A good number of them are dead,” Levin informs him, his gun focused on the advancing guards. “We’re outmatched, but not as severely as you might think. Like Max said–we’ll take our chances.”
One of the guards looks towards Obelensky. “If we shoot, we risk hitting your daughter, sir–”
“Natalia.” Obelensky’s voice is cold as ice. “Come here, and we’ll talk about your disobedience later. You don’t need to die over a half-sister you don’t even know. This doesn’t have to be this way,doch.”
I see Natalia’s glance flick toward me, her hands steady on her weapon. She looks at her father, her jaw set, anger burning in her gaze, too. “You’re right,” she says evenly. “It doesn’t have to be this way. So let us take Sasha, and we can put this to rest. No one will care if she lives. You’re tying up a loose end that’s already frayed to nothing. You’ll never hear from her again–or me.”
“You are my only child.” The frustration in Obelensky’s voice is evident. “My heir. You are behaving like a fool, Natalia, and I know I did not raise a fool. There is no reason for you to throw in your lot with thismusor. You are part of a powerful family, and they are nothing.”
“They’re better than you.” Natalia glowers at her father. “I won’t be used for your power and your gain any more than I will allow you to throw away my sister’s life for nothing. So let us take her, or go ahead and send your dogs to try and kill us too, but I promise you, we won’t stop until you put every one of us down. Shoot Sasha, and we will make sure you’re left hurting.”
“You are a fool!” Obelensky roars, but I can feel the frustration in him, vibrating behind me, at the loss of control over his daughter.
“Let her go.” Levin glances towards Obelensky, his gun still focused on the guards. “Let her go and let us leave, and there doesn’t have to be any more violence. Like your daughter said, you will hear no more about this, or from any of us. Sasha can vanish from your life without her needing to die.”
“I’m going to kill her on principle now.” I can almosthearthe sneer in Obelensky’s voice as he speaks, and it sends a cold chill through me. “And Natalia–I won’t kill you, but you can be assured this won’t go unpunished. I promise you that.”
“You have three seconds to let her go.” Levin doesn’t move, his voice filling the room with authority. “Or I start shooting.”
I realize with a start that I don’t see Max any longer. It sends a thrill of fear through me, a fresh wave of wondering if this is actually just some post-death hallucination, my dying mind’s way of coping–and then I catch a flicker of movement in my periphery, and I realize what’s happening.
While Natalia and Levin are drawing Obelensky’s attention, Max is moving into position.
I hear the click of another gun, and Max’s voice from behind both my father and me, hard and deadly.
“That’s my gun against your head, Obelensky. Put yours down, away from Sasha–in fact, just fucking drop it. If you do that, youmightlive. Tell your men to let us walk out of here, and youwill.”
“I’m not an idiot.” Obelensky’s voice is a harsh snarl. “You can’t leave me alive and take her. I’d keep hunting you. You’d never be safe, and you know it. The only way out of this is a bloodbath–yours or ours. And you’re just stupid enough to think that it could be ours.”
Levin’s voice rings out through the room then, just before the first crack of the gun. “Your three seconds are up, Obelensky. And you’re on the wrong end of the deal.”
The first shot is fired from Levin’s gun, and the ringing in my ears turns every word spoken after that into nonsense as the room devolves into chaos.
Natalia is shooting, too, shouting something, and I feel Obelensky jerk away from me, turning towards Max. I fling myself to the floor, terrified of catching a stray bullet, but as I see my father lurch towards Max with vicious intent, something else comes over me.
I thought I watched Max die once. I can’t let it happen again.
I fling myself upwards, aching in every part of my body from illness, neglect, and tension–but all I can think is that I have to stop him. My hands and feet scrabble on the concrete, and I feel a nail break and tear as I launch myself toward Obelensky, but I don’t stop.