Chapter 5 - The Siege Begins"They're early," Rachel said, her breath catching. The calm facade cracked slightly, revealing the raw terror beneath. "The flight isn't until six. Why are they here now?"
"Because Marcus told them I was still in Moscow," Viktor said, his mind shifting instantly into tactical combat mode. He drew the Makarov, racking the slide with a crisp, mechanical snap that echoed in the stone room. "They didn't expect me home tonight. When they checked the main bedroom and found my coat damp, they realized I was here."
He turned to Rachel, his eyes cold and assessing. "Can you handle a firearm?"
"I can shoot," she said, her voice dropping all pretense of domestic subservience. "If the target is standing within twenty yards."
Viktor reached into a hidden wall panel behind the electrical box—a dead drop he had installed the day he bought the estate. He pulled out a suppressed MP5 submachine gun, checked the magazine, and shoved it into her hands along with two spare mags.
"Stay behind me," Viktor ordered. "If someone comes down these stairs who is not me, you empty the magazine into their chest, not their head. Center mass. Do you understand?"
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"I understand," Rachel gripped the polymer stock of the submachine gun with a familiarity that instantly dispelled any remaining illusions Viktor had about her being a simple maid. Her stance widened, her weight balanced evenly on the balls of her feet—the classic isosceles stance taught in elite private military contractors' academies.
Who the hell is Rachel Chen? he wondered briefly, before the heavy oak door at the top of the basement stairs splintered inward with a deafening crash.
