Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

G age

I wasn’t prone to shit falling into slow motion but as I sped through my office, I heard Jeff barking orders and every sound was muffled.

Except her second scream and the horrific thud as if furniture was being tossed around.

I had no idea how I made it up the stairs so quickly but at that point, I could hear footsteps on the roof and glass being shattered downstairs. I had to leave it to the men I trusted to fulfill their duties.

As I sprinted down the hallway, I was met by two assholes dressed in all black jetting from the shadows of one room then another with assault weapons in their hands. I had to act quickly, punching one asshole in the jaw and nose with enough force he was pitched backward, which allowed me to grab his weapon.

But the second guy grabbed me around the neck, trying to wrangle me to the floor. I wasn’t allowing that to happen, using wrestling moves I’d learned in high school and wrapping both legs around his neck, clamping them together.

While I was choking the life out of the second guy, the first reappeared, still silent. There was no other choice but to fire off the assault rifle. His bullet-ridden corpse was pitched backward off his feet.

I heard a horrific crack indicating I’d broken the second jerk’s neck.

“No. No!” Evangeline huffed, the noises coming from the room even worse. I struggled to free myself from the tangle of limbs, managing to do so and lunging into the bedroom. The dresser had been turned over, lamps pitched against the wall.

A single assailant had easily gotten in through the window. Now he had Evangeline up against a wall, strangling her with both hands. I could tell she was losing the battle.

With a single swing of the borrowed assault rifle, the man was down but I knew not for long. “Get to the bathroom. Lock the door.” While it didn’t mean the bastards couldn’t come in through that window, I had to trust Jeff had a hold on the defense.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

The screams coming from outside matched the shots from rifles coming from all directions. I could not believe this fucking cult had managed such a calculated attack. It was insane, the shit reminding me of the OK Corral.

She crawled her way into the restroom just as another asshole came in through the window. The bastards had scaled the roof and the location of the bedroom window was unfortunately easily accessible. They’d simply climbed onto the balcony and taken their time to break in.

“Fuck this.” It was getting old. With one hand, I pulled out my Glock, shooting the one lunging toward me from the window with two bullets, both direct hits to the face.

I didn’t have time to shoot the other guy, instead using the strap attached to the rifle and strangling him just as he’d been trying to do with Evangeline.

We pitched and rolled, the man grunting as he tried to slap me with his hands. It was no use. I had enough martial arts to know just how much pressure to use and when to back off.

Only I didn’t back off, my rage so significant.

I could taste blood, the coppery substance covering my lips. I was pretty certain my clothes were a tattered mix of blood and brain matter.

When the asshole finally went limp, I heard two sets of footsteps, boots pounding down the corridor. I pushed the dead asshole off, fighting to get to my feet. I aimed the weapon at the door just as Jeff and one of his men came bounding into the room.

Jeff flicked on the light and I’ve never seen his eyes opening up so wide.

“Goddamn it, boss,” he said. “You are a one-man killing machine.”

The second man jogged toward the set of French doors and immediately headed outside.

I glanced at the bathroom door. “Is everything secure?”

“Yeah. They’re all dead. Definitely ops or rangers. I cannot believe they’d accept a job like this.”

“It’s called mercenaries for hire. I need to take Evangeline to safety. I’m taking her into the other room and packing a bag or two.”

“I have a place near the private airport no one knows about. I don’t use it all the time. We’ll go there.”

“I appreciate that, Jeff. More than you know. Now we know what to expect when we get there.”

“Yeah. We do.”

I headed toward the bathroom door and knocked. “Baby. It’s all over. Okay? Open the door for me.”

“For what it’s worth, Mr. Royal, I’m sorry. I should have been more prepared.”

The exhausted side of me, the one with no patience left, wanted to bark at him, which would be not only ridiculous but counterproductive. But as I heard the lock disengage, I tipped my head. “Don’t worry about it. You can get a cleanup crew together?”

“Already in the works. You won’t see anyone in a couple hours and don’t worry, they won’t be found.”

“Find out as much as possible about them as you can.”

“Will do but you know how these things go.”

Yeah, I did. No markings. No affiliation. No identification. No indication of nationality. Unless Jeff and his team could get something off the weapons, which I doubted. The serial codes were no doubt filed off, no link to where they were bought off the black market. That was the way of crime syndicates, worldwide mercenaries and worse.

It was tough to believe the lengths Dreyfuss Winston and his cronies would go to. Then again, at this point, I’d buy anything.

There was no time for anger or for second guessing. This was some freaking battle. As soon as I opened the door, I had to catch her before she slowly dropped to the floor.

Evangeline was the strongest woman I’d ever met, including my mother, but to see the weakness in her, the will to live and her spirit ripped out tore at my heart.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry.” I wrapped my arm around her waist, holding her close. I’d never felt so goddamn helpless in my fucking life.

She clung to me, sobbing into my shirt. As of yet, she hadn’t noticed I looked as if I’d stepped out of a horror flick. Then again, I doubted at this point she would care.

“Where were you? I was scared. He… He came into the room and covered my mouth and…” Her sobs were getting worse, now turning into hiccups. I had to get her the fuck out of this room and down the hallway. At least the room I’d given to her was on the other side of the hallway, far removed from the carnage.

“I’m sorry, baby. We thought the security we established would be enough.”

She pulled her head away before I could stop her, her mouth dropping open. “Your face. It’s covered in…”

“Come on. We’re getting out of this room.”

When she looked away, I could tell her eyes were glassy. “I told you they were crazy as fuck.”

I almost laughed as she was being so serious. “Yeah, I buy it. Now, close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you it’s okay. Alright?”

She had a strange smile on her face. “You did it. Didn’t you? You crossed the beautiful line.”

Beautiful line.

Yeah, I had and would gladly do it again. The funny thing was that it hadn’t been tough in the least. In fact, I’d felt damn good about killing someone in cold blood. Compared to destroying a business or a livelihood by using a pen and media activity it seemed… more real.

What did that make me?

I pulled her head against me and at least she didn’t attempt to fight. As I led her from the room, I had to take a deep breath. The stench was already building and to have the sanctity of my home violated was an egregious offense.

One the bastards would pay dearly for.

As I guided her from the room, she fought my hold. “I want to see.”

Her words were laced with defiance.

“It’s not wise.”

“I don’t care any longer what’s wise, Gage. I’m no stranger to guns or violence and I want every bad thing to happen to the people they hire and every single one of them living in that fucking community.”

She was dead serious, which troubled me, but I understood.

So I allowed her to witness what I’d been required to do.

What I would do again to save her, the future. And so we would have the chance to get her boy back.

But what she didn’t know is that I’d do much worse. I planned on it. I had images in my mind of exactly what was going to happen.

And it didn’t bother me in the least.

Planes.

Private jets.

Private hangars.

Yachts.

Hell, I’d grown up with them, not really thinking about how lucky my family was in comparison to others. I hadn’t cared. Now I was thankful because it made traveling easy during a time when there didn’t need to be any additional hiccups.

Given the number of people going at this point, we needed the two jets, which was fine. I didn’t want her sitting with but so many soldiers at this point. They were all already dressed as if prepared for battle. The number of weapons they had with them could start a war.

It felt odd, surreal, as if I wasn’t living my life any longer.

Needless to say, there hadn’t been any sleep for either one of us after the attack. We’d been taken to a lovely cabin where we’d felt safe, but it was different. Everything had changed. Maybe nothing would ever be the same again.

My brothers and some of their men were on the plane, Jeff and Ron from my end. We were landing at another private airport few knew about. Guards had already been hired by Jeff not only to watch the place but to guard it when we landed. SUVs had been rented and would be waiting, although they certainly weren’t bulletproof.

Jeff was doing exactly what he’d suggested. After the night before, I wanted the group hit in every single way.

I held a drink to my head, rolling the icy glass back and forth. I had to keep a cool head but a couple of drinks en route weren’t going to kill me.

Valerio leaned forward, glancing over my shoulder to where Evangeline was sitting. I’d arranged for her to have her favorite music. At least she had earbuds in her ears and could relax without hearing our conversations. I’d even turned her to face the other way. This plane had a bedroom in case she felt like lying down, which I knew she’d never do. Besides, the flight was relatively short.

“At least she looks peaceful after everything that happened,” he said.

I lowered the glass, nodding before glancing out the airplane window. “Peaceful. I don’t know what that means any longer. She’s unnerved yet vigilant and she will do anything to get her boy back.”

“I can’t believe you killed four men,” Braxton added softly, as if the woman could still hear us.

“I had no choice. It was kill or be killed. One asshole was strangling her. They want her dead, gentlemen. They couldn’t care less about getting her back.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to tell you when you called last night but we had a reply from the crazy boy.” Valerio’s eyes were twinkling.

“And?”

“He said we’ll never beat him or his family. That we weren’t the chosen ones and couldn’t understand.” Braxton shook his head. “There was something odd about the phrasing he used. He rambled on a little bit more but that was the gist of it.”

“It’s like they’ve been drinking some poisoned Kool-Aid.” I sat back in my seat, wishing I could be amused.

I glanced at Valerio. “But they want to run the world and are building the perfect followers. Highly intelligent. Well educated. The top leaders of industry. What do they really believe they can do?”

“Life without conventional rules for one thing.”

Braxton made some sense but at this point, it didn’t really matter. I couldn’t give a shit why they wanted to be controlling and just plain… weird. They were murderous individuals who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. It was just that simple. It had become our job to stop them.

“Incidentally, I had a buddy who rents out a house near the community. It’s secure, large, and has its own security system. We can start there.”

Valerio had always been the take charge kind of man. At this point, as exhausted as I was, I was grateful.

“Good.”

“I do have some news, but I don’t want you to say anything to Evangeline as of yet.”

As soon as he made the statement, I was sitting up in my seat. “What?”

“Damien has been spotted.”

I almost jerked up out of my seat completely. “Where? Is he okay? That bastard didn’t hurt him. If he did…”

“No. the good news is that it would appear our email had the effect we all wanted.” Valerio glanced over my shoulder to ensure Evangeline wasn’t paying attention.

“How did you find this out?”

Braxton now leaned in. “There were other ways to fry a fish.”

“What?”

“We not only sent in men as service workers who were qualified, but we also found a decent place where a good portion of the community could be watched, including the entrance. I have pictures.” Valerio seemed hesitant to pull his phone from his pocket. As soon as he did and had popped in his security code, I grabbed it, scrolling through his photo album.

When I pulled a closer view of the little boy, I took a deep breath and held it. He had little cherub cheeks and eyes the color of his mother’s. In truth, he looked almost exactly like her. What I could see was the same sadness in his eyes throughout the various photos, including one of his fucking grandfather holding him. The bastard of a man that her father was still floored me.

What I hated seeing were the horrible sobs as the kid acted like he was reaching out for his mother. Seeing Joseph in the background, the horrible scowl on his face was enough to push me over the edge.

“Now take a look at the meeting that’s going on. One of the guys was lucky enough to catch it.”

Valerio still had a lilt in his voice, as if he’d discovered something significant.

Perhaps he had.

The group of guys going into what had to be the community clubhouse was interesting. “Wow.”

“And from doing a little sleuthing, it would appear they use the location on and off, often with the golf club they all belong to.”

“We’ve made arrangements to have the power grid cut to the entire community tomorrow night.” Braxton was more than pleased with himself.

“You guys really went all out. So did I.” I motioned for Jeff, who sauntered closer immediately.

“Jeff. How close are we are blocking the accounts?” I asked, keeping my eyes on my brothers.

“It’s done. Within fifteen minutes, they won’t have access and won’t be able to figure out who did it. I took another step and the funds are currently being drained.” He was beside himself.

My brothers glanced at each other, smiles increasing on their faces.

“How much money are we talking?”

“Two point eight billion.”

Now I was grinning. “Perfect,” I told him. “That’s all I needed.”

When he walked away, Braxton almost choked. “You stole their money?”

“I did. Why the hell not?”

Valerio lifted his glass. “Little brother, you’ve learned more than we thought you had. You just might be the most merciless brother of all. Now, we have a war on our hands. And we will win.”