Taken

Chapter 1

    Dmitry
Eight Years later...

Duck. Cover. Check. Cover. Inhale. Check. Aim. Exhale. Fire. Cover. Check. Clear. Move. Duck. Cover. Inhale. Check. Aim. Exhale. Fire. Done. Inhale. Exhale.

"Good job, Dmitry!" I hear from behind me. I see a boy, a year older than me, approaching. I smile at him.
"Thanks, Nik." I say. Nik gives me cheeky grin. I here a gunshot in the next room over. Both Nik and I look towards the wall. I sigh. "Lets go check on Alex."

"I hope she missed this time." Nik grumbles. I laugh.

"Alex never misses, you should know that by now. After all, she is our sister." I say, still laughing.

"Yeah, I know, but she makes us look bad." He says with a sigh.

"No, she makes you look bad." I say. Nik glares at me and sticks his tongue out at me. I start laughing so hard, it starts giving me cramps.

"What are you two doing? See, this is why I am the favorite." Alexandra said haughtily, approaching from behind me. I turned to her.

"Dream on, sis. Dad obviously likes me more." I said, finally recovering from my laughing fit.

"And who ever said that, malyutka?" Said a voice behind me. I turned to see Dad standing at the base of the stairs that lead up to the house from the training ranges. I smiled.

"You did, pozhiloy chelovek." I said cheekily. Nik and Alex laughed. Dad scowled.

"Only you can get away with something like that, Dmitry." He said then rolled his eyes.

"I know, and thats why I'm the favorite, net?"

"Yeah, why can't we get away with calling you old, otets?" Said Alex in a tad bit of a whiny voice, showing that, no matter how good she is with a gun, she is still only twelve. She even had the perfect puppy dog eyes and the pouty lip that was just out enough not to look that fake to anyone who hadn't grown up with her.

"When you can't miss a shot from a two-hundred meters, then we'll start talking." Alex scowled. She may be good with hand guns, but she was nowhere near my skills with a sniper rifle. I passed her a haughty smirk and she smacked my bicep. I just looked down at the point of impact, then back up at her with a raised brow.

"Ow?" I teased her. Her glare increased and she raised a fist and socked me in the gut, which hurt her more than me, but I played along before she really did something to hurt me, like knifing me again. That wound is still tender from the beating that I took afterward as well.  I fell down to the ground and groaned to make her feel better. She gave a satisfied smirk and 'humphed' at my form on the ground.

"Not so tough now, are you bol'shoy brat? That should teach you some manners." She smirked. Behind her, Nik and father were shaking their heads holding back the chuckle at my antics. We all knew that I'd do anything for my siblings, especially Alexandra.

"Thats enough malyshka. Get off the floor Dmitry. I came to get you and Nik. We have a meeting to attend."

"But otets!" Alex whined, "I wanna go too! I'm old enough now, I just turned twelve, otets. Please?" She gave father pleading eyes that I don't know how anyone could resist, but father held firm.

"No, Alex. I do not want you to come, not yet. I told you before, age doesn't matter. Dmitry was ready when he was nine. Nik was thirteen. I know that you're not ready." and that was that, father's word is law.

Father walked away from us Nik and I hung back for a moment. I rested my hand on her slumped shoulder.

"It's okay, those meetings are boring as hell anyways." I tried comforting her. She just sighed and shook her head.