Chapter 7 - Blood and Rain
The peaceful bubble inside the compound shattered forty-eight hours later.
It happened on a rainy Tuesday afternoon while Mikhail was away in downtown Chicago meeting with his senior captains. Misha and I were in the ground-floor conservatory, planting flower seeds in small clay pots, when a sudden blast rattled the double-paned glass windows.
BOOM!
The main security gate at the edge of the property blew open in a ball of fire and smoke.
Alarm sirens shrieked through the house, red emergency lights flashing across the ceiling.
“Sarah!” Boris slammed through the conservatory doors, an assault rifle clutched in his hands. “Callahan’s men! They brought heavy mercs! We are taking you and Misha to the panic room now!”
Before we could reach the main hallway, automatic gunfire tore through the glass conservatory roof, showering us in sharp splinters. Misha screamed, hiding his head against my stomach.
I didn't think. I grabbed Misha, lifted him into my arms, and threw myself behind a heavy concrete planter just as bullets chewed up the tiled floor where we had been standing seconds before.
Boris returned fire, driving two armed attackers back into the courtyard, but more dark figures were rushing through the breached garden perimeter.
“Sarah! Run to the cellar!” Boris shouted, tossing a smoke grenade into the hallway to block the attackers' line of sight.
I sprinted through the filling smoke, holding Misha tightly against my chest. The little boy was sobbing, his small fingers digging into my shoulders.
“I’m right here, Misha!” I yelled over the deafening cracks of gunfire. “I’ve got you! I won't let anyone touch you!”
As we reached the reinforced steel door of the underground panic room, a wounded gunman stumbled through the side corridor, his pistol raised directly at Misha’s back.
With zero regard for my own safety, I spun around, shielding Misha completely with my own body.
BANG!
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A sharp, white-hot pain seared across my left shoulder as the bullet grazed my skin, slamming me against the steel door frame. I gasped in pain, but kept my grip tight on Misha, punching the emergency close button on the keypad.
The heavy steel door slid shut with a thundering CLANG, sealing us inside absolute safety just as footsteps sprinted down the hall outside.
