SWNOVELS Chapter 44
As we come out of the thick forest, my heart races seeing the cabin with its lights on. There’s someone in there, possibly Kira. Hope flares up, but I shove it aside. This isn’t the time for emotion—I have to stay sharp. Think strategically.
I gesture for us to split, sending Pavel to cover the back as Roman and I advance on the front. We move swiftly, surrounding the cabin on all sides. Approaching the small structure, my instincts scream that something’s not right because the front door hangs open.
Roman and I lock eyes. Is it a trap? There’s no time to second-guess. We go in, guns at the ready, the cabin’s soft lights still harsh against my heightened senses. After only one sweep of the main room, it’s clear. Whoever was here is now gone. The hope that flickered moments ago now dies a cold death in my chest.
‘Fuck!’ I growl, my voice tight with frustration. I kick open every closet, pantry, and nook, but there’s nothing. Nothing.
“In the back room,” Pavel hollers.
Roman and I join him only to find an empty bed, with cut rope still attached to the headboard.
Pavel turns to us grim-faced, his hand on the mattress. “It’s warm. We must have just missed them.”
“Let’s split up and search the perimeter,” I instruct. “Pavel, search in an east-west grid. Roman, you go north and south. I’ll head towards the water.”
I’m reaching for my night-vision goggles when a gunshot shatters the silence. Adrenaline surges, drowning everything else. Instinct takes over, and we bolt towards the sound.
My feet pound the earth, cold sweat pouring down my back as I run towards the river.
“Kira!” My shouts are muted by the thick woods, but I can’t help calling out her name, again and again, as hope battles with the unthinkable.
I won’t let my mind go there. I can’t.
The sound of rushing water mixes with the pounding of my heart, but nothing prepares me for what I find at its edge. Nadya, on her knees, clutching at her neck. And just beyond is Kira, barely keeping her head above water.
My whole world shrinks to Kira fighting against the river’s force. A howl rips from my throat, sounding more animal than human.
In one motion, I strip off my tactical vest and discard my weapon before diving into the cold, unforgiving current.
‘Kira!’ My shout pierces the night, an urgent plea for her to hear me, to know I haven’t given up on her. Despite my burning lungs and aching muscles, my sole focus is to get to her.
A light from the bank sweeps over the water, revealing Kira’s arms battling the river’s pull. Her energy is fading fast.
As I near her, she vanishes beneath the surface, out of reach. Time slows to a crawl, a nightmare unfolding before me.
Fueled by sheer desperation, I plunge beneath the surface, the murky darkness swallowing me whole. I descend deeper, my lungs aching for air, but the need to find her is more pressing.
Then my hand brushes against something soft, something like skin.
I grasp at her tightly, dragging her up with all my strength, bursting through the water’s surface with her cradled in my arms. Biting back a wave of despair, I wrap one arm around her waist and swim frantically back to the shore, her lifeless body clutched tightly against me.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to end. She’s supposed to be alive, breathing, full of energy. We were meant to watch her belly grow and raise our child together.
This is not how it’s supposed to end. I won’t let it.
As I reach the rocky edge, Roman tosses me a rope. I fasten it around my waist, and he helps with pulling us over the slick rocks, each second stretching like an eternity in hell. Reaching solid ground, I heave her out of the water, her form still motionless in my arms.
“Over here!” Pavel approaches with an armful of quilts from the cabin and gets to work wrapping her up.
The cold of her skin, the blue tinge to her lips… It’s fucking terrifying.
“Lay her down. She’s not breathing,” I rasp, the words tasting like bile on my tongue.
We set her down, and I quickly scan her for injuries. To my relief, she shows no signs of bleeding or being hit by a bullet—a minor miracle.
But we’re still not out of the woods.
I start CPR, my hands working mechanically, driven by the intense fear gripping my heart as she remains still.
I scream—a raw, primal sound that echoes into the night. ‘You’re not leaving me. Not now, not ever.” She’s mine, and I will command her soul back into her body if it’s the last thing I do.
Again, I try chest compressions, breathing my air into her lungs, refusing to give up. Because if I give up, she’ll never again tease me for being old, or roll her eyes when I tell her what to do. I’ll never hear her laugh again—a sound so pure it’s burrowed deep in my soul.
So I keep going. For my wife, and our child. I once told Kira that I’m the grim reaper. But I won’t be the one to claim her, not now, not when there’s so much left for us.
Kira coughs, water spewing from her mouth. Relief floods through me. My hands tremble as I gently cradle her face, desperate to see life in her eyes. That she is in fact alive and breathing. I scramble to check her pulse—it’s weak, but it’s there. A low, guttural sound rips from my chest. Profound relief, mixed with an underlying current of anxiety, knowing she’s not yet in the clear.
The distant roar of a helicopter grows louder, piercing through my haze.
‘It’s ours. We need to get her to a hospital!” Roman shouts over the din.
I rise, holding Kira close, her light body in my arms a reminder of her vulnerability.
The chopper descends into a clearing nearby, its rotors churning the night air into a frenzy, its bright lights out of place in the dark peace of the forest.
I glance back at Nadya, her form still and silent on the ground. ‘Make sure she lives,” I growl at my men. “I’m not done with her yet.’
Climbing into the helicopter, the noise and chaos fade into the background. All that matters is Kira, breathing in my arms.
She’ll fight—I know she will. She’ll fight for me. For our baby.
For our future hanging by a thread.