Screams erupted from the casino and blurry forms began to run or drop to the floor. Zoya brought the hand with the gun down to shield it behind her thigh, ducked low, and skittered through the doorway to shelter near a bank of slot machines. The combat card drew her attention to a man running toward her holding a shotgun. She let the panic show on her face and shouted, “Through there!” while pointing at the arched doorway. The man didn’t hesitate but headed straight for the doorway. As he drew level with Zoya, she whipped the gun up and shot the man in his side. He stumbled against one arch, a shocked look on his face. Zoya erased the look with a carefully-placed second shot.
The screams in the casino became louder than ever. Zoya scanned the room, looking for any new dangers. The card identified several probable guards, but they were all taking cover where they could find it. Zoya realized she was smiling. Ira was right; I’m not myself anymore. I think I’m actually going to enjoy this.
The first shots woke Marcus from a deep sleep. The world was blurry. Somewhere nearby a woman wailed and repeated the word ‘no’ again and again along with a name he recognized—Zoya! He snapped fully awake and sat up from the leather seat. Everything came back to him in a rush. The air car. Irina. But where was Zoya? Irina looked back at him from the front seat with a tear-streaked face. Marcus was about to ask her where Zoya went when he heard two more shots. He scrambled out the open door of the air car, crouched down, and peered around the bumper of the car toward the source of the shots. He saw bodies and pools of blood. The bodies were too large to be Zoya. He breathed a sigh of relief and crept toward the doorway.
“What are you doing? Don’t follow her!” Irina said, leaning out the door of the air car.
Marcus waved at her to get back inside the car. “Go on! Get out of here while you still can.”
“Everyone is crazy!” she cried, before telling the car to shut the doors.
Marcus pressed himself close to the wall as the air car lifted behind him. At least someone will survive this, he thought. When he drew close to the doorway, he forced himself not to look at the bodies. A gun lay on the ground near the outstretched hand of one of the corpses. Marcus considered picking it up, then decided against it. The sick terror he had felt while trying to shoot Tavik had taught him that he wasn’t cut out to use guns. He peered through the arch at an astonishing scene. There was Zoya, crouched and running down the middle of the casino floor. Dozens of people lay prone on the carpeting or hid behind gaming tables and slot machines. Zoya pointed back in Marcus’s direction and cried out, “He’s crazy! He murdered those men. What are you waiting for?”
Someone Marcus couldn’t see replied, “There’s just one?”
Zoya shrieked at him, “Yes! Do your job before someone else gets hurt!”
Three men emerged from their hiding places, guns at the ready, grim looks on their faces. They signaled silently to one another and began to converge on the arch. Crap! Marcus thought. She’s sending them right to me!
He was about to duck away when he saw Zoya turn as if to follow the men. She shuffled after them a few steps, stopped, and lifted her weapon. Three quick shots and the men were down. One flopped about and screamed until Zoya dispatched him with another shot.
Madre de Dios! She’s slaughtering them! Marcus watched in horrid fascination as a tube lift arrived and two men with Uzis emerged. It took a moment for the men to take in the scene, and by then it was too late. Zoya had ducked behind some slots, emerged around the other side of the bank, and blew both of them away before they could even turn in her direction. She looked around the room once, stepped over the bodies, and entered the tube lift.
“Wait!” Marcus shouted and began running toward Zoya. She can’t leave me here alone! Zoya looked back at him and shook her head. Marcus couldn’t tell whether she was amused or disgusted. He was out of breath as he joined her in the lift.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” she said.
“I’m…” He panted. “…the idiot?”
She ignored his rejoinder and examined the lift. “There are no controls.”
Marcus was finally able to catch his breath. “You just tell it where you want to go. Look…” He pointed at Cyrillic lettering on one wall. “…it tells what each floor is for.”
Zoya smiled. “What do you think? Straight to the top…or start at the bottom and work my way up?”
“You’ve lost it,” Marcus said. “Completely out of your mind.”
“I know,” she replied. “Fun, isn’t it?”
“Murdering people?”
She stared at him, the seconds stretching out for what felt like ages. “They’re the murderers, not me.”
Marcus shook his head and said to the lift, “Nearest restroom, please.”
Zoya scowled at him.
The lift replied, “The nearest restroom is on this level, just to the left.”
Marcus shrugged at Zoya. “What? I need to go really badly.” To the lift he said, “Nearest restroom on a different floor please.”
A dim light flicked on and the lift began to rise.
“Jesus, your face!” Marcus said. The left side of Zoya’s face was swollen and bruises ranging from yellow to deep purple ran down her jaw line and circled her neck.
Zoya turned the left side of her face away and looked down at the floor. “You sure have a lot to learn about women.”
Marcus felt himself flushing. “Sorry…it’s just…I really think we should get you to a hospital.”
“It’s a little late for that,” she whispered.
Moscow
Sunday, June 8, 2138
10:48 p.m. MSK
The proximity alert beeped on the dashboard and Tavik’s air car slowed to a crawl as it entered the parking bay. Panicked-looking people swarmed everywhere, trying to push through the crowd or jumping into cars. More congregated around the tube lifts to the hotel towers.
“What the hell is this?” Tavik said. “Quick, get to my spot before all these cars take off.”
Tavik’s car spun and skimmed toward its normal parking space seconds before dozens of other cars took off and crowded toward the exit.
“Just in time,” Tavik said. He grinned. “They must have met Zoya.” He patted the door and it slid open. Tavik snatched up his stun rifle from the rack. People pressed around him as he climbed from the vehicle. He jabbed a man in the ribs with an elbow and raised the ugly snout of the stun rifle. “Out of my way, assholes!”
The crowd thinned as he approached the entrance arch. The three corpses there looked like toy dolls that had been used as soccer balls. There were skid and slide marks all over from the pools of blood. The smell of gunpowder lingered in the still air. Christ! Zoya did this? Tavik had trouble imagining the little waif having the guts to blow away hardened gangsters. The thought wouldn’t compute. But who else could have done it? The general? And she did just come this way…
He crab-walked by the bodies so as not to slide in the gore. His eyes slid away from the faces; he had no desire to recognize colleagues at the moment. There were three bodies ahead and two more by the lift to the left. Good. That lift doesn’t go all the way up. If she went that way. He headed across the room toward the central lift that went all the way to Viktor’s office at the tip of the pyramid. The only time he’d seen this room deserted was on the rare occasions it was shut down for renovations. It was eerie to see it like this. Chips were left stacked on most tables and scattered on the carpet. He wished he had time to scoop them all up, but what mattered now was getting to Viktor before Zoya managed to figure out how to reach him. He looked back at the carnage and felt a swell of pride in his chest. That’s my girl!