CHAPTER SIXTEEN- Don’t Let Him Win

The fire crackled in the background.

The storm kept howling.

But inside that room, for the first time in years, two broken people found something worth keeping.

And they were not ready to give it up.

The knock came just after three in the morning.

It was not loud. Just one short knock. Then silence.

Dmitry was already half-awake. He had not slept deeply. Not since Leo's message. Not since the wind changed outside. He had felt it in his chest. Something was shifting. Something ugly was coming.

He stepped out of the bed quietly. Sofia stirred but did not speak.

The knock came again. Softer this time.

He grabbed his gun. Moved to the door. Looked through the small hole carved in the wood.

It was Igor.

But something was wrong.

Dmitry opened the door.

Igor collapsed into his arms.

His body was cold. His coat was soaked in blood. His hands were shaking. His face was gray. There was a wound just above his hip. Deep. Still bleeding. He held it tightly with one arm. In the other hand, he carried a small black bag.

Dmitry dragged him inside and shut the door.

Sofia jumped out of bed. She grabbed the kettle, clean cloths, and the small kit they had found in the cabinet days ago.

Igor coughed. Blood came out.

"No hospitals," he said.

"No one's taking you there," Dmitry replied, pressing the cloth into his side.

Igor's voice was weak but sharp. "I drove through the woods. Left the car five kilometers back. I think they followed the tracks. We do not have much time."

"Who shot you?"

Igor laughed, then coughed again. "Aleksandr's men. Two of them. I killed one. I don't know about the other."

Sofia pressed the cloth tighter. "You need to lie down."

Igor grabbed her wrist. "No. First I speak."

"You'll die."

"Then let me die saying it."

They helped him onto the bed. Dmitry crouched beside him. Sofia held his hand.

Igor's eyes were wild now. His voice was dry and cracked. "Listen. Aleksandr… He's not just sending men now. He's not hunting you like before."

"Then what is he doing?" Dmitry asked.

"He's going after civilians."

The room went still.

Dmitry's mouth moved slowly. "What?"

Igor stared at the ceiling. "He is going to kill thirty innocent people. Random. Public. Children. Women. Men. All in one place. A school. Maybe a train. He has not picked yet. He wants the press to watch it. He wants them to ask why. And then he wants to say your name."

Sofia stood frozen.

Igor kept talking. "He wants the world to see what happens when his blood betrays him. He wants people to blame you. He wants you to feel it. Every scream. Every broken bone. Every child with no head. Every mother holding a dead hand. He wants to rip your name into the walls with their blood."

Dmitry was not breathing.

Sofia sat down slowly. Her hands were cold.

"He sent me to deliver the threat," Igor whispered. "He said if I survive, I am free. If I don't, then it is my punishment for failing him."

Dmitry clenched his fists. "Where?"

Igor coughed again. His voice faded. "I don't know. I tried to find out. But he is careful now. He only told the plan to three men."

"Then we find them," Dmitry said.

"They are not in Moscow anymore," Igor whispered. "He sent them to different cities. To confuse us. Only one of them knows the real target. The others are bait."

Sofia covered her mouth.

Igor's eyes were closing now. "I tried, Dima. I tried to stop it. But there are too many. And he is angry."

Dmitry leaned closer. "You did enough. Rest now."

Igor shook his head. "No. Listen. There's more."

He opened the small black bag with trembling fingers. Inside were two photographs and a flash drive. He handed them to Dmitry.

"One of the targets is a school. For orphans. In Saint Petersburg."

Dmitry blinked. "What?"

"Thirty children. All under ten. They are clean. Innocent. He said if you do not come out before Sunday, they all die."

Sofia stood. Her voice shook. "He would never. Even Aleksandr would not—"

"He already has the explosives," Igor said.

Silence.

Dmitry took the flash drive. His hands were steady now. "I will kill him."

Igor smiled slightly. "That is the first true thing you have said in a long time."

Sofia whispered, "How long do we have?"

Igor's voice was soft now. "Two days. Maybe one. Depends how angry he gets."

Sofia sat beside Igor and held his hand again. "You're bleeding too much."

He smiled again. Blood on his teeth. "I am not afraid to die. I just wish I could have killed him first."

Dmitry looked at him. "You're not dying."

Igor replied calmly. "Yes. I am."

Then he looked at Sofia.

He reached into his pocket and gave her something. A small folded note.

"Open it when you are alone," he said. "Do not read it now. And do not show him."

Sofia took it and nodded.

Igor closed his eyes.

His breath slowed.

Dmitry held pressure to his wound. Sofia wrapped more cloth. But the blood kept coming. It soaked the sheets. It dripped onto the floor.

Igor whispered one last thing. "Don't let him win."

Then he passed out.

He was still breathing. Barely.

Dmitry stood.

He looked at Sofia. "We leave tonight."

She nodded.

She held the note in her hand, but did not open it.

The wind outside had stopped.

But the silence inside the cabin now felt like the start of something darker.

The sky was dark when they reached the edge of Moscow.

Dmitry drove in silence. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. His jaw stayed clenched. His face unreadable. But inside his chest, his heart was no longer beating with fear. It was beating with something worse. Resolve.

Sofia sat beside him. She wore a black coat, hair tied, eyes lowered. She had not spoken since Igor passed out. She had not opened the note. Not yet.

They stopped near a secure building behind the Ministry quarters. The location had no listed records. Leo had sent it before cutting contact again. Sofia would stay there. It was the last safe place he trusted. Cameras, traps, multiple exits.

Sofia opened the door slowly. Her foot stepped onto the cold ground.