Chapter 3 - The Siege of Collinwood
(3,500 words)
"Get inside! Now!" Konstantin roared, grabbing Josephine by the arm and pulling her back into the house just as the first gunshot shattered the morning air.
A high-caliber bullet tore through the front wooden pillar of the porch, sending wood splinters flying like shrapnel.
Nora screamed, throwing herself onto the floor, her hands clasped over her head. Clara dropped her skillet and dove behind the heavy oak sofa, pulling her mother down with her.
"Keep your heads down!" Josephine screamed, crawling on her hands and knees as bullets began to rain against the front of the house. The glass of the living room window shattered, raining down in a glittering, deadly shower over the carpet.
Outside, the neighborhood had turned into a war zone.
The heavy, rapid-fire thud of automatic weapons shook the foundation of the house. Konstantin crawled toward the front window, ignoring the blood seeping through his bandages. Marcus threw himself through the front door, slamming it shut and locking it, before drawing two heavy black pistols from beneath his coat.
"They brought a small army, Boss," Marcus spat, firing three shots through the broken windowpane. "They must have had a tracker on one of our perimeter vehicles."
"Or we have a mole," Konstantin said, his voice deadly calm despite the chaos. He looked down at Josephine, who was pressed against the wall beneath the window, her hands covered in glass dust.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded.
"I'm fine!" she yelled over the deafening noise of a car horn blaring outside as it was riddled with bullets. "But my mother and sister are in this house! You brought this to our door!"
"And I will end it," Konstantin said. He reached behind his back and pulled a sleek, silver handgun from his waistband, handing it to her butt-first. "Do you know how to use this?"
"No! I'm a nurse, I heal people!"
"Today you might have to do the opposite to keep your sister alive," he said, his blue eyes boring into hers. "Take it."
She took the gun. It was heavy, cold, and smelled of oil. Her hands shook so violently she almost dropped it.
Outside, the tide of the battle was turning. Konstantin's men were seasoned, highly trained, and fiercely loyal. The three hundred soldiers had formed a defensive perimeter, using their armored vehicles as shields to push back the attacking Kovac forces. The sound of screeching tires and exploding engines filled the air as two Kovac SUVs were blown apart by tactical charges.
But the danger wasn't just outside.
The back door of the kitchen suddenly splintered open.
A man dressed in black tactical gear, wearing a ski mask, burst into the room. He raised a submachine gun, aiming it directly at Nora and Clara, who were huddled in the corner of the dining room.
"Hey!" Josephine screamed.
Without thinking, driven by pure survival instinct, she raised the silver handgun with both hands and pulled the trigger.
The gun kicked back violently, nearly flying out of her hands. The deafening report echoed in the small kitchen.
The bullet caught the intruder in the shoulder, spinning him around. Before he could recover, Clara leaped up from behind the couch, raised her heavy cast-iron skillet, and brought it down with terrifying, bone-crushing force directly onto the man’s skull.
The intruder collapsed onto the linoleum, motionless.
Clara stood over him, breathing heavily, the skillet still raised. She looked at Josephine, her eyes wide. "I think... I think I killed him."
"He's just unconscious," Josephine gasped, rushing over to check the man’s pulse. "We need to get out of here. Now. This house is a coffin."
Konstantin limped into the kitchen, Marcus close behind him. "The street is clear for now, but more will come. We have a safe house in the Cleveland Heights. We must move."
"We are not going anywhere with you!" Nora cried, tears streaming down her face. "You're monsters! All of you!"
"Mrs. Carrigan," Konstantin said, his voice dropping to a soft, surprisingly gentle tone as he looked at the terrified mother. "If you stay here, Kovac's men will burn this house to the ground with you inside it just to send a message to me. I cannot protect you here. But I can protect you if you come with me."
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Nora looked at the shattered windows, the bullet-riddled walls of the home she had lived in for forty years, and then at her daughters. Slowly, she nodded.
"Marcus, get the armored transport," Konstantin ordered. He turned to Josephine, his gaze lingering on her blood-stained hands. "Your life as a nurse is over, Josephine. Welcome to my world."
