Danil slipped into the club, unnoticed by the others. He bellied up to the end of the bar, standing next to Sasha. His eyes found their targets, sitting in the same corner in the same booth they had for the past several days. The only difference was they had smirks and smiles plastered across their faces as more and more young women rolled into the club, because those women were followed by young men and both loved to drink. The take would be a good one tonight.
“They’re drinking right along with their customers,” Danil noted. “Stupid.”
“But they’re used to it,” Sasha said in almost a whisper. “This is their world, not ours. And, they know where the walls are. We’re guessing at everything we do. All the alcohol does is shift the odds a little in our favor.”
Sasha sipped his drink slowly as he began to think about the next couple hours. He noted Ivan and Polina in the corner, then not. They were mixing and socializing. They were trying to fit in. It worked for them being closer in age to the average person jumping around on the dance floor. Sweat was mixing with booze. He realized you could plop this club down anywhere in the civilized world and you couldn’t tell where you were. Youth was full of optimism; he was almost a lost cause.
Danil looked at his watch as the last hour began to close down. He slid his empty glass into the middle of the bar, tossed his money on to the wet surface and pulled his coat tightly around himself. He nodded to the man sitting next to him and hit the exit, the cold night air pushing through the door as he left. His car was just a brief walk down the street. The nondescript auto had everything they needed.
The end of the night was coming quickly as couples and the last of the desperate, single loners looked to walk out the door with someone in the late-night hours. The men in the dark corner booth began to stir and make their way out into the club as the last of their patrons filed out the door. Anya laid her hand on Sasha’s arm, giving a tug as one of the Russians approached.
“Come on love,” she said. “It’s time to go.”
Sasha wavered as if he had drunk just a little too much liquid relaxation. He looked up as a heavy-set Russian stepped to his side.
“Time to go.” His words were not as polite as Anya’s. “Do as your little lady asked.” He reached down and laid his thick hand on Sasha’s shoulder.
“I’m going,” Sasha replied. He looked up from the stool with a gentle smile. The big Russian smirked as he helped Sasha to his feet.
Sasha waved his hand as Anya wrapped her arm around his and she guided him toward the door. Sasha slid his hands inside his pockets, pulling the flaps of his coat around to the front. It would be cold outside. He turned and smiled as Anya pushed through the door while he held it open an extra second. The next sound was as unexpected as it was distinct, and everyone in the club knew what it was.
The round slammed into the big Russian who grabbed his chest as he fell to the side, his knees buckling instantly. He was dead before he hit the floor. Ivan and Polina crashed through the doors as the Russians scattered. They dove behind the bar and beneath tables, any place to avoid the bullets. Polina rolled to the right and shot off a burst at the table. Their targets cleared like rats. The spray was enough to tear the cheap wood trim to shards as Danil rushed through the door. Sasha and Anya grabbed the assault rifles Danil left on the sidewalk and followed him in, ducking off to the left with Ivan. Danil ran straight ahead, making for a half-wall near the dance floor. They were in!
Ivan peered around a booth as the first shots were returned. He ducked as Polina returned covering fire. Danil made the bar and slid behind it, surprising the Russian hiding there. A single slug meant two down. The bar was the most solid wall to be behind, but it was open at the end. He looked up just as a large, blond Russian raised a pistol in his direction. A blistering salvo cut him down, throwing him against a column to his right, his blood a smeared streak as his body slid down the white plaster. Anya appeared in his place and waved Danil forward.
“Up the stairs!” Sasha yelled, his first words in English in over a week. He cursed himself for his stupidity. Their prime target had fled to the second story.
A few stray rounds made their way back into the bar as three of the Russians crashed through the rear doors of the kitchen and out into the alley. Sasha was sure they were headed for the warehouse behind. ‘Three down’, he thought.
Polina crouched at the bottom of the stairs around the corner by the kitchen. Commotion from the second floor froze her. She tucked the assault rifle close against her ribs and took a deep breath. She turned quickly as a burst came down the stairs obliterating the railing beside her. She felt a sting on her right arm and knew what it meant. Ivan slid to the floor beside her.
“You okay?”
He received a nod in reply. She pointed up the stairs and then to the ceiling. People were up there. Another burst peppered the stair treads causing them to turn away. They couldn’t sit here. Ivan leaned back and pulled Polina with him. She flinched as he grabbed her arm but said nothing. She could hear herself breathing heavily, could feel the sweat running beneath her clothing. Sasha stepped over the dead blond Russian and leaned against the blood-stained column.
“We aren’t equipped to go up a stair. We don’t know who’s up there.”
“Boris is up there,” Polina replied. “I saw him.”
“I did too. That’s where we need to focus.”
“We can’t just leave the others behind. They need to be taken out.”
Sasha nodded. It was outside of the prime mission objective, but he didn’t want to leave loose ends. He waved Anya and Danil over. No one else seemed to be left on the main floor of the club. The Russians were caught off guard and fled. Anya leaned into the wall, sighing heavily.
“Everyone okay?” Sasha looked over his team. Danil stayed behind the bar keeping his rifle trained on the door. He didn’t want any surprises from that direction. “Ivan, you, Polina and I will go after the three. If we don’t engage them in five minutes, we’ll come back here.” The mission commander looked up to Anya. “Can you and Danil get up to the second floor?”
“Piece of cake,” Anya replied. “Done it a hundred times in training exercises.”
“Let’s do it.”
Sasha nodded toward the kitchen door, hiked his rifle and rolled off the bloodied column. Ivan and Polina followed closely, keeping low between the kitchen counters. No surprises. They reached the open door and stopped, peering into the darkness. The alley was nearly as black as charcoal, the strip unlit in the early morning hours. Polina looked around the kitchen as she held her rifle against her chest. The place was a disgusting mess.
“Christ, I’m glad we didn’t order any food in this dump.”
“Clear,” Sasha whispered.
They slid silently into the alley, the light from the kitchen throwing their shadows before them like specters. The path they needed was easy to follow, the door in front of them into the warehouse, wide open. They fell against the cold exterior walls with their weapons up. Sasha cocked his head, peering inside. He stepped in and slid to the floor behind the first thing he could find. Ivan and Polina jumped to his left, coming to rest behind a backhoe. They were quickly greeted with bullets ricocheting off the thick metal. Ivan’s eyes went wide at the sound.
“Damn!”
“Is our five minutes up?” Polina asked with a smirk.