Private Moscow

Chapter 32

I ran across the room as the assassin made it to a fire door. He glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of me through the crush of people. I held his gaze for a moment before he sprinted into the corridor and the fire door slammed shut. I fought my way through the noisy crowd and followed.

The corridor was capped by another fire door and when I stepped beyond it I could hear street noise and saw a fire exit, which was wide open. The assassin had fled the building. I sprinted toward the sound of an engine rumbling in the snow-filled alley. I cast around for a weapon and spotted a CO₂ fire extinguisher near the door. I grabbed it as I raced outside.

I burst into an alleyway and was immediately confronted by a Dodge Challenger racing toward me. The assassin was in the passenger seat. He was being driven by a man whose face was covered by a skull mask.

The car’s engine roared and its wheels spun on ice as it surged forward. I hurled the heavy extinguisher at the windshield and leaped back through the fire exit as the metal canister smashed the glass. The car collided with the fire door, clipped the hotel wall and veered across the alleyway before striking the adjacent building and coming to an abrupt stop.

I ran through ice and slush and crossed the freezing alleyway. The driver was trying to get out, but I grabbed the fire extinguisher that had fallen beside the car and shoved the nozzle through the open door and pulled the trigger. The car, already white with airbags and silicon dust, filled with gas and foam.

The sound of a gunshot rattled off the walls and a bullet shattered the driver’s window. A voice yelled in what sounded like Russian.

As I jumped back, the door swung open and the masked driver leaped out, gun in hand. He pointed the pistol at me, but I moved in and knocked the weapon away. The gun hit the ground and skidded across the alley, disappearing into a deep drift.

Another gunshot from the assassin’s pistol sent me dodging back. The driver rushed forward and tackled me hard. We barreled back out of control and I lost my footing when the two of us tumbled through the open fire exit into the corridor beyond. We hit the deck hard.

Outside, I saw the assassin slide into the driver’s seat, but there was nothing I could do about him. The masked driver was on me and it took all my energy to block his ferocious blows.

I heard the engine roar and glanced beyond my formidable opponent to see the Dodge speed along the alleyway, heading for Beekman Street.