The Omega Team: Precious Cargo (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Brenna Zinn

head.
    “I assume you are not with this man.”
    “No,” Duke somehow said. His heart hammered in his chest. His arm burned like the devil. He cut his gaze to his gun. The weapon was too far to consider lunging for. The hairspray in his boot and the gun in Mila’s pocket were also just beyond an easy reach. He was defenseless.
    But beneath him, Mila still breathed. Her choppy inhales and exhales were beautiful music to his ears.
    The bearded man shifted the end of his gun toward Mila.
    “You are Mila Bartosh, no?”
    Duke felt Mila suddenly still. He looked down. Mila’s questioning gaze bore into his.
    “Who wants to know?” Duke asked, turning his head back to the man.
    “I am Dmytro Kozak. Yure Bartosh sent me.”
    Yure?
    The hell?
    “Yes,” Mila said on a pant. “Yure is my father. He sent you?”
    A slight smile tugged on the old man’s lips.
    “Not so much sent, per se. He informed me how I might locate Alik Ivanov. He believed Ivanov was looking for you. Find one, he said, and I’ll find the other.” He gestured his head toward the hotel. “I’ve been tracking your personal phone for the last fifteen minutes. I had hoped to get to Ivanov before he got to you.”
    Kozak lowered his gun and reached out a hand to Duke, helping him up, and then Mila. “Are you hurt?”
    Mila quickly examined herself. “I’m fine.” She glanced to Duke and her eyes grew large. “Oh my God. Duke, you’ve been shot.” She raised his arm and spread the torn, bloody material of his shirt. A deep gash cut through the skin, but there was no penetration. The bullet had only grazed him.
    “I’ll be fine. I’ve had much worse, I promise you.”
    “I need to clean this wound and dress it before it becomes infected.”
    He gently removed her hand. “No. Right now we need to leave.”
    “Yes,” the old man agreed. “Before anyone else comes. My men will take care of things here.”
    “At least let me put something on it to help stop the bleeding.” Mila removed the maid’s coat. Ripping the thin material in the back, she fashioned a long strip that she tied around his arm.
    “Now can we go?” he asked as she knotted the makeshift bandage. Although Yure might have sent Kozak to remove Ivanov as a threat, Duke certainly didn’t know this man, or any of the men in the truck, particularly the one in the back with the machine gun. The faster he and Mila made tracks, the better.
    “Okay. Let’s go.” Mila placed her hands around Kozak’s arm. “Thank you.”
    A sparkle flickered in the old man’s eyes. “Tell your father my debt to him is paid in full.”
    She smiled. “I will.”
    Favors and debts. Two ways friends were tested and things got done, even in Ukraine.
    Without a backward glance, they ran the length of the parking lot to the rusted pile of junk Dupree called a car. Duke pulled the key from his pocket, unlocked the passenger door and settled Mila in. When he got situated in the driver’s seat, he placed the key in the ignition and turned.
    The engine made a slight whirring noise.
    Duke tried again.
    The whirring noise sounded again. This time a fraction stronger.
    “Come on, baby.” He caressed the dashboard. “We’ve got to get the fuck out of here. Now is not the time for dicking around.”
    He cranked the engine a third time.
    A loud bang popped from the car’s tailpipe. Mila let out a small shriek. Another hit of adrenaline shot into Duke’s blood. Instinctively, he reached for his gun, but it wasn’t there. The weapon lay across the parking lot where he’d dropped it. His mind nagged to retrieve it, but the man in the back of the truck with the machine gun looked as through he was itching for something else to shoot.
    Everything is okay, buddy. Let’s roll.
    He put the car in gear and sped out of the lot, promising himself to never lay eyes on the shitty hotel ever again.
    “You okay?” Duke turned his head, checking her expression with her answer.
    She only nodded, but her face held