XXX
Atlas Lucio
M y fingers tap impatiently against the desk. I’ve been sitting in the warehouse, working away at my laptop to find some way we can find Andros. The tech team is completely useless without him leading, so we can’t rely on them to find their Capo.
Hazel’s words swirl around in my mind like a plague, determined to bury itself deep into my thoughts. When Andros did the background check on her, there was no indication that her father was connected to the Russian mafia. In fact, there was no evidence of her being Russian.
She certainly doesn’t have the accent.
I’ve been keeping my guard up with her since I found out. It would be irresponsible if the Don were to get too close to someone connected to the enemy. Luckily, I’ve barely seen her and the other two haven’t mentioned a word about her.
They’re both probably feeling the same way.
“You wanted to see me, boss?” Sean hovers by the doorway to my office. I beckon him inside and he sits down in the desk chair opposite.
“Have you found anything?” I ask him, closing my laptop screen and leaning my hands on top of it.
“Nothing,” he shakes his head, looking as irritated as I feel by our lack of progress. Andros has been missing for two days now, and we are no closer in finding him. He runs a hand over his ginger buzz cut in frustration.
“How did you find out that he was taken by the Russians?” Sean asks, frowning.
“Hazel,” I mutter, standing and walking to the small bar in the corner of the room. I pour two bourbons before handing one to Sean and retaking my seat. “She identified one of the men in the footage.”
“What men?” He asks as he takes a sip from his glass.
“Her father,” I growl, my hand clenching around my drink. My jaw sets in anger as a wave of red fills my vision.
Did she betray us?
I down the rest of my bourbon as Sean lets out a string of curses. His reaction was not dissimilar from mine. In fact, I stormed out of the room practically as soon as she had whispered the words of her family connection.
When Andros is back, I need him to do some more digging into her.
“I need you to guard her at all times. You and Theo will take it in turns but you are to remain outside her door whenever she is in her room. Don’t let her leave,” I instruct. He nods and stands up, leaving the room whilst still shaking his head in disbelief.
I know Theo is the better option to share the role with Sean. Sean is one of our best men, and one of the inner circles that I would trust with my life. Theo can easily separate emotion from the job, whereas Dawson is so pussy-whipped by Hazel that she would enchant him with one look.
As I scroll through my emails, one particular one pops out to me. It’s a confirmation of the sale of one of our abandoned warehouses. Clicking on it for further information, I read that it was exchanged to the seller last month.
I pick up my phone from my pocket and dial Dawson’s number.
“What’s up, Boss?” He asks as soon as he picks up the call. He sounds out of breath, and the loud music from the gym speakers seeps through in the background.
“I think I’ve got something. I need you and your team to scope out a location. I’ll send it over now.”
There’s a rustling on the other side of the phone as I send the message, and he pauses before responding.
“We sold this warehouse, didn’t we? I told Theo we should have just burnt it down.”
“I’m starting to think we should have. I have a gut feeling about this place.”
“Leave it with me,” he suggests and I agree, ending the call.
Next, I work on sending a brief across to the tech team, hoping they can still access the small cameras we left in the building before we sold it. The interim lead responds almost immediately, confirming they do have access.
A few hours later, we have a solid plan to invade the warehouse. Dawson and his team successfully scoped it out and, along with floor plans we still have, we now have a definite route to take that will leave us protected and secure.
The drive to the warehouse has my anxiety coursing around my body. Something deep inside me tells me it’s too easy for us to find him there, but on the other hand, I have a gut feeling they only took him for a warning.
As I join Dawson’s team, mine pulls up with the weapons and armoured van. We all gear up, grabbing our guns and gathering at the different building entrances.
“On my count,” I call through my earpiece, “One, two, three, GO!”
One of my Team Members kicks the door in and we enter, heading into a dark hallway. We manage to make it downstairs to the basement without anyone being shot at, which sets alarm bells off.
“Check each room,” I gesture with my gun to the interrogation rooms that we converted to offices before we left. Everyone spreads out, checking the small, one-way windows in each door until Dawson calls out.
“In here!”
Running down the hall, I stop next to him and peer inside the room, sighing in relief when I see a figure sat in a chair. Although closeted in the dark, the body language of the man tied to it tells me it’s Andros.
Dawson kicks the door open and we fall into the room. I manage to locate a light switch despite being in complete darkness, and the lights loudly flicker on.
“Knew you’d find me,” Andros chuckles before going into a heavy coughing fit. He spits out blood onto the floor, making Dawson grimace.
Circling around to stand in front of Andros, I survey his injuries. A pool of blood surrounds his feet, and his body is littered in bruises and wounds.
“Your team are fucking shit,” I mutter as I untie the ropes that are burning into his torso. He chuckles again before breaking out into a fit of splutters. Between Dawson and I, we manage to support Andros to walk out of the building. We hand him off to our medical team who take him into the back of their ambulance and begin working on his injuries.
“Why was it empty?” Dawson ponders as we take off our combat gear.
“I have no idea,” I shake my head, “But I want to fucking find out.”