by Addison Jane
“Who the fuck are you?” my guy asks.
“We’re asking the questions. Where are Ares and Ezra?” I ask.
Luca’s guard scoffs making us both point the guns directly at him.
He jolts back and clears his throat. “They’re not here… they’re hardly ever here.”
I glance to Luca and he furrows his brows. I’m normally pretty good at reading people and for all intents and purposes this guy appears to be telling the truth.
Fuck!
“If you came here to find those brothers you really came to the wrong place, guys,” my guard states.
I clench my jaw tight and shake my head slightly. I can’t just leave without looking inside, that would be stupid. Nodding over at Falcon, I turn toward the fishing boat. He and the others all scurry over and I hand one of his men the gun.
“Watch the guards, we have to go in. They say they’re not here, but I can’t take their word either. Have a couple guys stay out here while the rest of us scope out the inside,” I say and Falc nods.
“Good plan. Ruin, Mack, you guys take the guards, the rest… come with us,” Falcon murmurs and we all head up the gangplank.
I take the lead, Luca covers my six, Noah is behind him keeping a close eye on all the camera action. The rest follow behind in a single file. We have no idea what we’re walking into, or if we’re going to find the brothers but we have to try.
I step onto the ship and it’s nothing like I expected. It’s not like a ship at all. The inside has been completely demolished and is like one big workroom. Bollards line the room keeping the area in sections, but it’s basically been gutted. A sweatshop with tables and tables of men working on building things. Luckily, in the entrance there are piles of boxes that we can hide behind as we file in.
I take a good look around and realize that the workers are all making explosives. Over near the back, people are packing the explosives into cargo boxes as if they’re going to be shipped off out of the port. It’s a flawless plan. Build the explosives on a dock where no one would suspect and ship them directly from the port in cargo containers all around the world. No wonder they’ve been getting away with this for so long.
I look to Luca and shake my head. He grits his teeth and looks to the boxes in front of us, some marked Iraq, some China, there basically going everywhere. These fuckers are supplying shit to anyone and everyone. It’s gotta stop. This place has to be shut down immediately.
Noah comes to my side and shows me his handheld device. “I’ve hacked into their feed. I’ve checked the decks below this main room and I can’t see the brother’s anywhere, Kace…” He shakes his head. “They’re not here.”
I look back at the main room, we can’t let this slide. I glance to Luca and Noah, and Luca huffs.
“Kace, I know we said minimal casualties, and the brothers aren’t here so we could just leave, but this place… can we in all good conscience just leave it here?”
I glance to Falcon and he shakes his head as I look to Noah who’s riffling through his backpack. I grit my teeth as we continue to hide behind the boxes still hidden from the Syndicate, not even knowing we’ve invaded their turf.
Noah pulls out a stick of C4 from his backpack and grins widely at me. “Always be prepared,” Noah says sprouting off the three fingered Boy Scout salute.
I shake my head and huff. “This isn’t minimal casualties. This will go up… massively,” I say.
“The needs of the many,” Luca murmurs softly.
I look at the men in the ship sweatshop. They know what they’re doing. How they sleep at night is beyond me. How do they justify in their minds that spending their lives building weapons that take lives is okay. They know that it’s wrong. So now their lives are about to be taken for that cause.
I hope it was worth it for them. It’s all about the money and money breeds contempt.
Glancing around, I realize that there are no other civilians on the port. This is purely a business hours area, so I grit my teeth and nod. “Do it,” I say and signal for everybody to get the hell out.
Everyone bolts for the gangway. I watch Noah place the stick of C4 into a shipping container and set the timer. We both hightail it the hell out of there. We don’t have long and I have no idea what the hell kind of explosion this is going to rain down on us. But I know it’s going to be massive. We all run off the gangplank without stopping, without looking back. The two guards call out to us as we all run. We should have told them to run too, but time isn’t on our side.
I sprint the hardest I’ve ever done in my life. My legs pushing into the concrete so hard my feet start to feel heavy. My breathing becomes hard and fast, and become more difficult with every step.
Then it’s as if time stands still. All the air is knocked from me and I’m pummeled forward by a shockwave. A blast of heat flows over my body, but not flames, just the feeling of the explosion behind me. The funny thing is I don’t hear anything, not a sound. It shocks me for a moment until I realize it’s because all I can hear is a ringing sound in my ears which persistently becomes louder and louder. The noise becomes sharper and more high pitched as my body is flung to the ground with the force. I smack into the ground rolling into a shipping container. My hands come up to cover my head instinctively, and I gasp trying to gain any air possible, but it’s hard when the air is so hot and heavy. Plus my lungs are recovering from the shockwave and mad dash. Opening my eyes finally, I look to see everyone on the ground cowering, like me, but everyone is in one piece. It’s enough to snap me into action. My eyes widen more to look up and see the Syndicate ship completely annihilated and sinking to the depths of the port’s river floor. A smile creeps across my face as I try to sit up and look around to observe the damage. The ships on either side are also pretty much blown to pieces and the ones either side of those are alight and sinking quickly too. Collateral damage is not something we wanted, nor thought about, but to take out the Syndicate’s bomb making sweatshop—sometimes collateral damage is unavoidable.
The ringing in my ears starts to soften to a dull ache as I sit up along with everyone else.
“Anyone got any marshmallows?” Luca asks.
I roll my eyes and reach out slapping him upside his head.
It won’t be long before the authorities arrive, but hopefully the Syndicate members we’ve been waiting for will show up too. Until then, we’ll make our way to a rickety building opposite Pier 81 to watch what unfolds.
After about ten minutes the glorious sounds of sirens fill the dry night air as fire engines speed down the road. Luca and I watch from the shadows as dozens of police officers and firemen leap out and make quick work of drawing hoses from their trucks and connect them to the closest water hydrants.
Luckily for them, there isn’t a lot of damage these fires can do, as long as they keep it contained away from the port and the massive storage buildings that surround it. It won’t take long before the boats will begin to sink completely below the water level and be swallowed by the river.
Loud explosions continue sporadically, and I can see the police officers on the scene crowding into a group. They’re no doubt trying to figure out what the hell is on that boat that’s causing such chaos and destruction, given that this port is used specifically for rebuilds and preservation of old and unused water crafts that haven’t sailed in years.
Another detonation goes off, shaking the ground beneath us and causing the building we are settled in the shadows of, to creak and groan.
“This thing isn’t going to fall on us is it?” Luca asks, looking up at the monstrous wall.
I shake my head. “It’s solid…” then I add “…how fast can you run?”
He frowns, shaking his head to let me know he doesn’t appreciate the joke.
Everyone else is tucked away in the forestry behind us. If shit goes south, they’re nearby, but Luca and I will have to hold our own until they can reach us.
My ears perk up as I hear the groan of a heavy motor. An
old school American muscle car skids into the lot, braking only feet from where the police cars are set out in a firm barrier, no doubt waiting for the media presence who will soon catch wind of the situation.
An older man climbs from the vehicle, his face lit up with the fiery glow. The anger on his face almost reflects the scene in front of him, a burning fury.
“This looks like he could be important,” I whisper to Luca who takes a quick peek around me.
The man approaches the cops, waving his arms around wildly. We can’t pick up his words, the noise smothering the sound of his voice.
“He looks pissed,” Luca observes.
I nod.
Unfortunately, it’s not him we’re after.
We want the brothers, and I’m a little surprised they haven’t already arrived to see their family business burning to the ground. “Come on you assholes, where the hell are you?”
We watch the scene unfold from the shadows as everyone scrambles to fight the flames that continue to leech onto other boats moored inside the port area. They flicker and dance against the dark night sky, grasping hold of anything within reach, the slight breeze doing nothing to aid the firefighters in their attempts to extinguish it.
“Oh lookie lookie,” Luca comments, drawing my attention back to the crowd. “Our friends have arrived.”
My heart pumps a little faster as I watch the brothers climb out of their car and jog toward the other man who’s screaming into his cell phone.
Ezra stares on in awe, while Ares brow is creased in what seems like confusion. Two officers walk toward the three as they huddle together, the older man jabbing his finger into Ares’ chest.
Quiet words are exchanged and one officer pulls the brothers to the side while the other drags the venomous old man practically kicking and screaming in the opposite direction.
“Time to move. You got your ID?” I say to Luca, who flashes me one of the many fake badges we’re assigned, assuring us that we can work our way into many situations without being questioned. “Let’s go.”
We move swiftly along the side of the building, hiding ourselves in the darkness until we can move in from a position that won’t look suspicious, or like we’ve just appeared out of thin air.
Weaving our way through vehicles, we slip in behind the officer who’s scribbling furiously on a notepad in his hands. He hasn’t noticed us yet, but the two brothers flick their eyes up at the same time, catching our movement.
They see Luca first, their eyes shooting open in surprise, but when Ares shifts his gaze to me, I can see the instant he recognizes my face. He purses his lips and the muscles in his thick neck tighten and contract, as though he’s trying to stop himself from leaping at me.
I wish he fucking would.
His gaze doesn’t move from me as Luca slips up next to the officer and places a hand on his shoulder. He turns in surprise, opening his mouth to speak, but Luca quickly cuts him off. “My partner and I…” he gestures to me, the officer’s eyes following, “…we’re FBI. And we have reason to believe these two are linked to another case we’re working on. We are going to need to question them first before you boys get your hands on them.”
The officer screws up his nose, it’s not unusual for police working a case to get annoyed or agitated when FBI agents attempt to step in. But the reality is they hold precedence.
“Can I see your identification please?” he asks sharply.
Luca grins, handing him the identification badge. He studies it for a few moments, and Luca uses that time to look over at the silent brothers and throw them a shockingly wide smile. The officer begrudgingly hands the badge back to Luca.
“They’re part owners of one of the ships that have been destroyed. I need to get statements and information from them as soon as you’re done.”
I snap a salute. “No problem. It won’t take long, then they’re all yours.”
As the officer turns to walk away, I slip my gun from the small of my back and smirk at the brothers who still have yet to speak. “Let’s go boys. We need to find somewhere nice and quiet to talk.”
Luca ushers them forward, back in the direction we came. We slip between two of the buildings, the noise of the chaos drifting away behind us.
“You really think we’re just going to follow you and do what you say?” Ares jokes as we walk behind, directing them to the back of the building and into the dense forest. “Where the hell are we even going? I can’t see shit,” he complains as he stumbles over a log, catching himself before he tumbles to the ground.
“The lights up ahead. Head there,” I snap, shoving Ezra in the back as he stalls for a moment. He looks over his shoulder and snarls at me before continuing through the thick brush and into a tight open space where our vehicle is parked, headlights casting strange shadows over the darkness.
They spin around to face us. “We aren’t going anywhere with you fuckers,” Ezra growls, then spits at my feet in a show defiance.
“I don’t think you have much of a choice,” I throw back, my words echoed by the crunch of leaves and sticks as bodies begin to step out of the darkness and into the light. The brothers swing their heads around, their muscles tightening as though ready for a fight.
“Axel, Noah… frisk them,” I order, raising my gun and pointing it directly at Ares’ head.
“Don’t worry…” Luca grins, doing the same to Ezra, “… they have very soft hands. It’ll almost be pleasant.”
We hold our standoff as my men pull a couple of handguns and a knife from the brothers’ bodies. When they’re sure they have everything, they step back, joining the brothers of the MC that surround us.
“You guys are awfully calm,” Luca observes.
“I’d like to know why I’m standing here talking to a fucking dead man,” Ares says, his eyes watching me carefully, almost as though he was expecting me to disappear into thin air at any moment.
I grit my teeth. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
He folds his arms, puffing out his chest. “True, I heard your team was the best. Yet, our previous meeting seems to have proved that theory wrong.”
I can’t hold back, allowing my rage to fuel me. Tossing my gun to Luca I step forward, drawing my fist back and plowing it through his smug fucking face. He stumbles backward but remains on his feet. I rush forward again before he can shake off the daze, throwing low this time and connecting with his ribs.
He groans, hunching over.
“I have a man in the hospital because of you!” I try to keep my voice low, but I know I’m letting my anger get the better of me. My breathing is heavy and hot air shoots out my nose as I attempt to rein myself in.
Ezra stands off to the side, Luca right with him, ready to jump in if the other brother decides to take me down. Ares finds his composure. He’s a big guy, but I can tell I’ve caused him some pain. He swipes at his nose with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his face.
“Your fucking team killed our sister,” he huffs, pulling himself back up so his shoulders are squared.
I take a step back, throwing my arms out. “Why do you even care? What does it matter to you?”
“Because she’s like us,” Ezra interrupts, surprising me. I don’t turn my gaze away from Ares though, knowing he’s most likely looking for a moment of weakness. He doesn’t care if there are fifteen men around him, ready to shoot him at will.
“Shut up, Ezra,” he says pointedly at his brother.
“No, they need to know the kind of person that they destroyed. They came after her because of her ties to the Syndicate. Ties that were fucking fabricated,” Ezra demands. “She’s like us because she didn’t let her bloodline define her, and neither do we. We knew where we came from, but we don’t feed into it. It just makes us more determined to not be like him.”
As the words sink in, my brain starts making connections, trying to understand exactly what he’s saying and not thinking about the contradictions it’s making. My eyes move ov
er to my team, the varying looks of confusion on their faces tell me that something’s not right here. This isn’t what we’re expecting.
“Come again?” I hear Luca ask from behind me.
Ares snorts. “You think blowing up the Syndicate is going to destroy us. But instead, you did us a fucking favor. We didn’t want to be a part of that shit. We’ve wanted out for so long. Now the only thing left that would make me happy is to know that all of you were dead for what you did to Lily.”
“I’d protect her with my life. Fuck you for thinking I would ever bring any harm to her. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. You need to back down before you fuck things up more than you already have,” I sneer.
He takes a threatening step forward and lowers his tone, “She’s already dead. I don’t have a thing to fucking lose now. I’ll take down as many of you as I can before you kill me, you can bet on that.” He’s poised, calculated, ready to pounce on me at any moment and to be quite honest, I’m prepared to shoot the fucker in the head and get this bullshit over with right this second. But I can’t help but hear Ezra’s words resonating in my head, and I know that there’s something going on here that isn’t right.
I hold my ground, catching the people around us tense as he comes toward me. “This is not what she wants.”
He swings at me but I duck, throwing my body forward and driving my shoulder into his stomach. I push him backward as he scrambles to find his feet and grab some kind of traction. A couple of men jump out of the way and I slam Ares into a thick tree trunk before leaping backward. He’s only stunned for a second or so, but soon uses his hands to push himself off the tree and propel his body at me.
This time, his fist finds its mark, connecting with my stomach and forcing the air from my lungs. I don’t fault, though, curling my body and lifting my elbow up and driving it upward into his nose, which is already most likely broken. He falls back, cursing, as Axel and Eli step in between us.