A ruthless mob boss tried to insult me in Russian at his restaurant table, completely unaware I understood every word.

Nikolai stood in the doorway.

His shoulder was heavily bandaged under a dark coat, his face pale, but his massive frame completely blocked the exit. In his hand was a heavy, suppressed pistol pointed directly at Alexi’s chest.

Behind him stood two armed men.

"I knew the little bird would come back for her nest," Nikolai growled in deep, guttural Russian, his dead eyes fixed on Mara.

Alexi stepped smoothly in front of Mara, shielding her completely. "Saranov sent a dying man to do his dirty work, Nikolai?"

"Saranov is waiting at the docks," Nikolai replied, his finger tightening on the trigger. "He promised me your head before sunset."

Mara didn't panic. She remembered the layout of her small apartment better than anyone. Right behind Alexi was the old cast-iron radiator, which leaked high-pressure steam whenever the main valve was turned past its limit.

Without a word, Mara reached behind the curtain, grabbing the heavy brass valve rod her landlord had left on the floor, and turned it hard to the right.

HISSSSSS!

A blinding, roaring cloud of scalding white steam erupted from the broken pipe directly into the hallway, filling the small apartment with an impenetrable wall of heat and white vapor.

Nikolai roared in pain as the steam hit his face, firing blindly into the room.

Crack! Crack!

Alexi dropped low, firing three precise shots through the steam.

Nikolai collapsed with a heavy crash onto the hallway floor. The two men behind him scrambled backward out the front door, panicked by the sudden trap, right into the waiting weapons of Kirill and his team who had rushed up the front stairs.

Alexi grabbed Mara by the coat, pulling her through the kitchen toward the fire escape exit.