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“Yes,” the hs “But it is not for us to question”

“Then you’re all going to die,” I snarl “There’s no way around it”

I wait, filtering out the rest of their conversation with each other, listening only for any sign of what their plan is I hear two of theaway

A dark feelingfor backup or more heavy weaponry

I have to act

Now

I stalk quietly to the duffel bag and take out a concussive flash-bang grenade, and then move silently back to the top of the stairs

I draw the pin and then wait, head cocked, hyper-aware of every tiny movement downstairs

I listen to the floorboards creaking as the in to sneak closer to the bottole

I throw the grenade and turn away

Bang

I sprint down the stairs, the threeback, their hands over their eyes

I leap at thee violence, s them across the jaw and sto them to stumble and then fall

With the for the predator in uns and beat the the like sacks of shit on the floor

Blood pools from the back of one man’s head, but I don’t have time to think about that

At least I didn’t just shoot them, which I could’ve easily done

I run to theand toss their guns out into the snow, and then quickly search them for more weapons

One of the un, knocking hiood

I throw their knives out into the snow and then run upstairs, into the bedroo Sparky close to her chest as she sits in the bathroom

“Poor little

“We heard a bang,” Dakota says, her voice just as shaky as Sparky

“It was et changed Every ite you took from Dobry’s estate, it needs to stay here”

Her eyes widen “You think …”

“They tracked us, yeah,” I snarl “My guess is it’s in your shoe, but we need to be safe Be quick, Dakota”

I grab the duffel bag and carry it downstairs, and then quickly grab some zip-ties and tie the Bratvathem face first on the blood dappled floor