Chapter 16 She Did What?
SHE DID WHAT?
TEDDY
At just after eleven o’clock, Teddy slid the last bullet into its magazine, loaded it into his Glock. He secured it in the holster, did the same for his second Glock.
Body armor. Check.
SWAT gear. Check.
Helmets with night goggles. Check.
Multiple weapons. Check.
Their surprise ambush.
Checkmate.
Teddy glanced over at his brothers. Greystone and Gabriel were huddled together, staring at Gabriel’s phone as they stood in Luciano’s weapons room in his Great Falls mansion. When he and Simone had left the mansion for Italy, Gabriel had taken up residence.
Teddy turned his attention back to his phone. He’d hopped online and hacked his way into Arlington county’s traffic signal controller to shut down as many traffic-light surveillance cameras as he could within a two-mile radius of their target location.
“Are you sure they’ll all be there?” Greystone asked.
“Sure?” Gabriel replied. “I’m never sure until I put eyes on someone.”
“Good answer,” Teddy said.
They exited the mansion, trotted down the front steps, and over to Greystone’s ALPHA SUV parked near the fountain.
“Isn’t this too much house for one person?” Greystone asked.
“It’s a house,” Gabriel replied. “I’m here, sometimes.” A wicked smiled filled his face. “Most times, I’m on a sleepover.”
Teddy chuffed out a laugh.
They set their helmets in the back, Teddy did a quick check of the long guns before the brothers climbed into the vehicle. Teddy rode shotgun, Gabriel in the back.
Greystone drove down the long, tree-lined driveway, the skeleton-like branches of the tall oaks a chilling sight against the night sky.
The six men who’d tracked Gabriel down were part of the Bratva, a ruthless group of Russian mafioso who’d been at war with the Cosa Nostra for decades.
The fighting had been happening on their home turf, but when the men tracked Gabriel to the DC area, Gabriel had to stop them. They would target the people Gabriel cared about. His family. And they would execute them one by one until no one, but Gabriel, was left.
And then, they’d kill him, but not before they tortured him first.
The restaurant, located in an older section of Arlington, served authentic Russian cuisine. It had been a popular eatery until the Bratva had shown up. They’d taken over, and were going after every store and every business in the area.
“It’s too early for a hit,” Teddy said.
“The restaurant closes at ten,” Gabriel said. “But I’ve spent the last week with eyes on the place. The guys are there ‘til two or three every morning.”
Greystone glanced over at him. “Teddy, do you need to see the pics of the men we’re going after again?”
“No,” Teddy replied.
“If someone other than the six opens fire—” Gabriel said.
“We take ‘em out,” Greystone said.
Teddy did not want to kill a woman, but there was no bias in these situations. When lead started flying, no one wanted their body to be the one that stopped it.
“Teddy, when are you killing the restaurant lights?” Gabriel asked.
“Seconds before we go in,” Teddy replied.
“Nice,” Greystone said.
“Are you guys clear who you’re taking out?” Teddy asked.
“All set,” Greystone said.
“I don’t know how you two can be so damn organized about this,” Gabriel pushed back. “We go in, we take out six men. We take out anyone who shoots at us. Done.”
“If we’re all pumping the first guy we see, the others are shooting us,” Teddy said. “How many of these have you done, G?” Without waiting for an answer, he said, “This has been my life… for years. You and me, we haven’t worked together.”
Teddy loved his brothers. Out of the five—including their cousin Carrera—Gabriel was the loose cannon.
He did whatever, whenever, and to whomever.
He lived by no rules, except his own. And they changed like the wind.
He’d cozied up to the girl of the Bratva leader.
He’d had a fling with the enemy’s sister.
If he was attracted to a woman, she was fair game.
Did he not get the message? Things never work out when you sleep with the enemy.
“Gabriel, just go after the two we assigned you,” Greystone said as he and Teddy exchanged glances.
Teddy knew this hit was risky. First, it was too damn early in the evening. And, second, he and Greystone should be doing this without Gabriel. Assassinations happened when the boogeyman came out to play, between one and four in the morning.
Greystone drove past the restaurant, circled the block, then found a dark place to park in a nearby shopping center.
“Did you kill the cameras?” Greystone asked.
“I killed the traffic cams,” Teddy said. “Someone at V-DOT probably got an alert and is working to get those back online.”
They exited the vehicle. Teddy opened the back hatch. On went suppressors for their primary weapons. Next, their helmets and black gloves.
Gabriel removed one of the long rifles from the case and cradled it in his arms.
Things were about to get ugly.
Real ugly, real fast.
Of all the Santini men, Gabriel was the most ruthless. As far as G was concerned, the bloodier the massacre, the better.
In silence, the brothers made their way toward the back of the restaurant. A black cat scurried past. Teddy thought of Sydney’s comment about seeing a black cat on Halloween.
Focus up.
As they approached the back door, Teddy’s heart rate didn’t spike. His blood pressure didn’t jump either. He was laser-focused and eerily relaxed. Going on a kill was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. For better or for worse, he’d never had any issues taking out a monster.
It was the “after” that he struggled with the most. Being an assassin came with a price. Each kill wore heavy on his soul.
At the back door, Teddy unearthed his phone—
“Is it on silent?” Greystone asked.
“No,” Teddy bit out, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I was hoping Mom would call and we could catch up.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Gabriel hissed. “They got cameras.”
“I turned those off,” Teddy said.
Greystone and Gabriel looked at each other, then at Teddy.
“You never said anything,” Gabriel said.
“It’s assumed,” Teddy replied.
“Bel lavoro,” Greystone said. “Good job.”
Teddy opened the app, toggled over to the electrical grid, then activated the power outage. Seconds later, the area went pitch black.
All three men lowered the night goggles on their helmets.
Greystone pulled out his lock picks, but Gabriel murmured, “No, we shoot out the lock, go in firing. It’s an ambush, not a surprise party.”
That was not how Teddy and Greystone worked. But this was Gabriel’s mission, so Greystone shoved the small tool back in its case.
POP!
Gabriel shot out the lock, turned the handle, and entered the dark building, Teddy and Greystone close on his heels. Loud, angry Russian words had the brothers moving toward the small salon on the right.
To their surprise, the billiards room stood empty. Gabriel led them down the hall toward the main dining room.
Teddy had memorized the faces of the six criminals. Fierce-looking hitmen with broken noses that hadn’t healed straight, several with missing teeth. One had lost a finger in a fight. These professional killers were some of the most ruthless in the world.
They didn’t just kill their targets, they tortured them first.
A quick sweep of the dark room showed eight men and three women sitting around the tables in the center of the room. Of the eleven, two were standing. Swirling cigarette smoke clogged the air.
Teddy homed in on his targets, aimed, and fired.
POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP!
Down went his two.
With lightning speed, the Russians pulled their weapons and opened fire in the pitch-black room.
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!
Teddy jumped back to the hallway, his back against the wall. Greystone ducked behind a chair, but Gabriel didn’t move.
He raised the long gun and he opened fire.
RATATATATATATATATATATAT!!!
Casings flew from that gun as he unleashed a torrent of bullets. When he stopped, there was silence.
Complete and utter silence.
No groans, no pleas for help. Gabriel had done the devil’s work… and the devil was pleased.
As Teddy entered the room, Greystone stood. The brothers stood shoulder to shoulder eyeing the carnage.
“It’s a fucking bloodbath,” Teddy bit out. “What the hell just happened?”
“Jesus, G., what the fucking fuck,” Greystone growled.
“I had a problem,” Gabriel said. “Now, I don’t. I’d love to stay and chat, but we’re standing in the middle of a crime scene, so if you lovely ladies would escort me out, that would be fucking awesome.”
Gabriel headed toward the back door.
Teddy and Greystone took in the macabre scene before regarding each other. “This is why he runs Cosa Nostra,” Teddy murmured.
“He’s insane,” Greystone muttered.
Strangely, that made Teddy chuckle. “No more than you or me.”
“Yes, more,” Greystone argued. “Way, way more.”
They left out the back, but they didn’t remove their helmets, kept their goggles down too. The streets were still dark, but they didn’t want to risk being seen by someone driving by.
At the SUV, Gabriel secured his rifle in the back. They removed their helmets and climbed in the vehicle.
“Fast and furious,” Gabriel said from the back seat.
Teddy was rarely at a loss for words, but in this case, he had nothing more to say. Gabriel was the darkest Santini. A ruthless man with a quest for power and a thirst for revenge. Their grandfather would have been proud of him for taking care of business the way he did.
But Teddy and Greystone were trained assassins, taught to take out their targets and only their targets.
Greystone glanced over. “Don’t forget to power up the electricity and turn on the traffic cams.”
“Right.” Teddy waited for Greystone to drive outside the zone before he lit up the area and reactivated the cameras. “Back online.”
“I know you don’t agree with my methods,” Gabriel said, “but you gotta admit they’re effective. The Bratva will get the message and they won’t be coming back.”