Chapter 7 - Anton

“Joyce, please,” I said as she stormed to her room. I went after her, but after slamming the door on me, I heard it lock. Glancing down, I noticed the key was gone. She had locked herself in. I knew to step back; she wanted some space.

Walking across the room, I stared out the window into the dark; I wondered what I was thinking. This was now the second time I fucked up. Pushing my hands through my hair, I felt like slapping myself.

I was irritated and felt guilty. With all these new emotions and feelings, I felt like a ticking bomb. Heading out, I decided to take a drive around town to calm down a bit. As I drove, trying to clear my mind, I considered ways of making things right.

My mindless driving landed me before a gift shop. Staring at the signs and carts lined up outside the store, I made up my mind. I bought her some flowers and two boxes of chocolates..

Driving home, I felt an urgency and stepped on the pedal. I wanted to get back to her as soon as possible. Something in me had shifted, and I felt a drive I didn’t know I had.

Pulling into the driveway, I killed the lights. I was bubbling with excitement and wanted to surprise her. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Ignoring it, I rushed inside. I headed straight for her door, armed with the flowers and chocolates.

I was about halfway across the floor when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket for the second time. It had to be important if they kept calling. Pulling it out of my pocket, I glanced at the screen. It was Alexandr. I was surprised to see him calling. He only contacted us directly if something was going down.

I placed the flowers and chocolates on the table next to the couch and answered my phone. “Yes, what’s happening?” I asked in a rushed tone. It felt like my chest was closing in on me. I didn’t want to worry about the family right now. I wanted to see Joyce. But I had responsibilities.

Alexandr’s voice sounded slightly raised as he replied. I felt sure, I could hear some distress in it. “We need you to join us at the main warehouse downtown. There’s been a break-in. We must get our stock back tonight before it’s too late!”

My skin suddenly felt cold as ice. I felt the blood draining from my body and stood in utter silence as I tried to absorb all he had said. “Right,” I mumbled, turning on my heels and returning to my truck. “I’m on my way, be there in a second,” I added, getting in.

As I raced through traffic, stopping nowhere, I felt sweat forming on my brows. This was serious. We have never had a breach. This was a first for all of us. Pulling up to the warehouse, I noticed the double doors were wide open. Stopping, I jumped out and went inside to find Alexandr.

Alexandr and Abram were standing where the new gun shipment was supposed to be. More than half the containers were missing. There were guards all over the place. “What the hell?” I hollered as I got closer to them. “What did they manage to take?”

Alexandr turned to me as I came to stand beside them. “More than they should have. We have scouts out searching. We should be able to retrieve everything in a couple of minutes. Abram,” he said, turning to look at our other brother. “Fill Anton in; get him up to speed quickly.”

I watched as Alexandr walked to one of our heads of security. Turning to Abram, I looked at him questioningly. “How could this have happened?”

As he opened his mouth to say something stupid, as I could see he had no idea, we heard Alexandr calling. “Let’s go, they have a location.” We briskly headed through the warehouse to the cars.

We had two cars with three guards ahead of us and two behind us. We stopped down the street from the location. It was a large warehouse I knew belonged to Jason. I had been here once with him, settling a deal.

Alexandr told six of the guards to move around back. The other six would be entering from the front with us. The four guards out patrolling who were supposed to be watching the place were nowhere to be seen. As we proceeded, I wondered what had happened to them. But there was no time to waste.

In my opinion, we were too few men for this mission. If I remember correctly, this was Jason’s main warehouse, and he had a small army guarding it. Jason had become a thorn in our sides. I was sure we took care of him. But looking at the building, I knew I was wrong. Our run ins in the past weren’t over. He wanted to take us down.

Even though we used to deal with us as well, he has become an alley to our enemies. Loyalty meant nothing to him.

“What did they take except the guns that are so important?” I asked as we neared the front.

I looked at Abram as he spoke. “This is our second hit.”

“Our second?” I huffed. I couldn’t believe my ears. “Why are we only taking action now?”

“The first one was two days ago. But they only took three guns. We thought it was one of the workers and were still investigating. But this time, they took three shipments of weapons and the chip.” Abram shook his head as he lowered his gaze.

“The chip?” I enquired, not sure what was happening.

“It’s a virus chip Tasha had created for a client,” Alexandr spat. “Can we get moving now?”

I shook my head, furious that I was only now hearing about all of this. Yes, I was busy extracting vital information for the Morozov family, but this could have been prevented if we had hiked up security after the first time.

“Alright,” I replied, trying to keep my anger from surfacing. “We can talk about it later. But be careful; I think this place is heavily guarded.”

Alexandr nodded as he pulled out his gun and cocked it. “Slow and steady, we move as one,” he spoke into his jacket microphone. Abram and I had trained in close combat; I pulled out my hunting knife from its sleeve, ready for action. Abram used knucklebusters and his hands to fight.

With our guns and fists ready, we proceeded. Crouching, we moved along the side wall to a small gate. Inside stood two men chatting about a club they wanted to go check out. Alexandr quietly cut the lock, and we snuck up on them. Abram and I took them out silently so as to not alert the rest of our presence.

We pulled the bodies out through the gate and covered them with leaves. Our guards on the other side also managed to enter undetected, taking out two more. We had a team of six men waiting at the front gates. Once we knew the sides and back were secure, they would enter.

Moving towards the back, we took out another four men. But it was getting harder to say quiet and not get seen. I lifted Abram so he could peek through a small window into the warehouse. “There they are,” he whispered. “I see the crates and the box holding the chip.”

“How many men do you see?” Alexandr asked as I lowered Abram.

“Maybe about ten,” he added, grinning. “We’ve taken on more than this, so it should be a breeze.

“Wait,” I huffed, grabbing his arm as he reached out for the door to our side. “Something feels off. This was one of Jason’s places. There could be a lot more men inside.”

“Nope, don’t think so,” Abram replied cockily. “It’s quite empty, only our crates and a couple of barrels with a handful of men guarding it.”

“Move in,” I heard Alexandr order. His words had barely filled the air when the door opened, and Abram stormed in. Following him, I heard gunshots outside towards the front. Our men had entered.

The warehouse was reasonably empty. I noticed our other men entering from across the floor through the other side door. The guards surrounding the crates were surprised to see us. They scrambled left and right as bullets started flying.

We took down about half of them as we closed the gap between us and them. Once closer, Abram and I could join the fight. Alexandr reached out to grab the case as the last one went down. But a hidden door to our right flung open, and the room imploded with men.

We were quickly being surrounded. Tapping Alexandr on the shoulder, I shouted to be heard above the gunfire coming from all directions. “We have to move, or we will get caught.”

Our men also came barging in from the front. I felt a slight wave of relief seeing them. We were outnumbered, but there was hope. Not all of the enemy had weapons some were like Abram and me, and they came at us, fists flying.

Throwing myself into the fight, I heard more gunshots coming from the side. Glancing at Alexandr, as I grabbed a guy's arm and punched him in the side, I saw Victor. He was one of Jason’s top dogs.

Being distracted caused me some pain as I felt something colliding with the side of my head. My knife dropped and skidded across the floor. Swinging around, I was met with another hard blow to the face. The brute of a man beside me was pounding his tree stump fists into me.

Lifting my leg, I hit him where it mattered most. As he grabbed his jewels, bending over, I delivered a massive uppercut, sending him sprawling backward. Scanning the room, I noticed Victor was gone.

Alexandr and three of our guards were shooting at the enemy from behind barrels and crates. Abram was just off my left side, fighting two men with bats. He was also taking a beating like me.

Kicking and punching at two more men, I moved to collect my knife. With my weapon in hand, I moved to assist Abram. I was about two feet from him when I felt the blade slicing my side. Swinging around, I lifted my leg for a roundhouse kick.

I felt the hot liquid running down my side, and a sharp pain spread inward. But there was no time to ponder on it as my blade connected with another guy's chest. Turning back to Abram, I felt a throbbing in my side. I had to get to my brother, and we needed to move out.

My mind went blank for a moment as I looked at him going down. My animal instincts took over, and I bombarded through the men between us. Swiftly swinging my blade left and right, a strong metal odor filled the air.

Bending down, I grabbed Abram’s arm and pulled him to his feet. The next wave was upon us, and there was no time to make sure he was okay. I felt a fist digging into my side. My breathing had become labored, and my body was aching, but I turned and stuck my knife out. I slipped into the man’s chest, and I felt his hot blood run over my fingers.

“Retreat,” I heard Alexandr breathing out hard beside us. Turning, I saw he had his arm around Abram as four of our men started clearing a path out. He was shooting at the men to his side as he moved.

Glancing around, the place was a mess. Bodies were lying all over, some still moving and others lying still in a pool of their own blood. We got out through the side gate. Heading around to the back, we entered a dark alley. Looking back, I let out the breath I was holding. It appeared they had returned to the warehouse and weren’t following.

Stepping out into the street on the other side, our car pulled up. I assisted Alexandr in getting Abram in before getting in myself. As we pulled off, Abram looked up at me as he spoke. “You were right.” He took a deep breath. “We will need help to get rid of Jason, his men, and his associates for good.”

Alexandr nodded and pulled out his phone. “This was a big loss,” he said as he dialed. “I’ll ask Piotr if he can find out if the Morozov family can assist. We need to get the alliance in place now.”

“Agreed,” I replied. I knew I would have to move quicker now that I was gathering the information.

“Piotr,” Alexandr said as Piotr’s voice boomed through the phone. “Can we have a meeting in the morning? Also, could you reach out to the Morozov family? Find out if one of them could join us. Even if it’s only on call.”

I watched as Alexandr listened and nodded. “Thank you. See you in the morning,” he said and hung up. “ I’ll get that sorted in the morning.” He looked at me, turning his head sideways. “Are you okay to get home, or would you like to see the doctor first?” he enquired, lifting his eyebrows.

Looking down, I pulled up my shirt to examine the cut. It was long but not too deep. Flinching a bit, I grinned at him as I replied. “Nope, just drop me by my truck, I’ll be fine. I need to get home.”

“Stitch it up and get some rest. We’ll talk in the morning,” he said as the car slowed and stopped.

Getting out, I groaned a little, feeling a new wave of blood flowing from my side. Turning back, I smiled at him and Abram. “Get him sorted,” I breathed out.

Alexandr nodded, and I closed the door. I stood watching them pull out before getting into my truck. The drive back to the safe house felt longer than usual. But I assumed it was due to the loss of blood as I was feeling weaker than usual.

Pulling up to the gate, I was grateful for electronics. I wasn’t sure if I would have had the strength to get out and open a gate if I had to. Pressing the button, I watched as the gate opened. I pulled in and pressed it to close.

Parking close to the door, I got out and headed in. In the kitchen, I grabbed a clean cloth, and some disinfectant and poured it over the cut. I clenched my teeth as it burned my side. I removed my shirt and dropped it to the floor before getting another cloth and dabbing the blood from my side.

Holding yet another clean cloth to my side, I moved to the lounge. I was stiff and sore and wanted nothing more than to fall over and sleep. As I collapsed on the couch, I saw the chocolate and flowers still on the small table.

My mind flooded with how I had left things. Rising, I picked up the items and headed to the room. If I wanted to get the last information, I would have to make things right with Joyce. I felt the doorknob. I pushed the door, slowly peeking in. It was dark, and I couldn’t see if she was in bed. Walking in further, I noticed the bed was empty. My heart skipped a beat as I thought she had left.

Then I heard something to my side. Turning quickly, I saw her standing behind the door on the chair. Her hands were lifted in the air. She was holding something in them. Dropping the flowers and chocolates to the floor, I lifted my hand protectively as I spoke. “I come in peace bearing gifts.”

My voice sounded alien as it was filled with emotion. Joyce seemed to have frozen in her stance.