27. - Kayden -
Chapter twenty-seven
- Kayden -
G etting through the city without Corey was a fresh kind of hell. For weeks, he’d been able to escape the overwhelming noise by dragging his woman around with him. Not that she protested. It was clear that she was as happy to spend time with him as he was to spend the day with her. But now, weaving through traffic on the packed downtown streets, the internal rattle from his proximity to so many people was raging in his brain.
He focused on the bike between his legs, trying to keep his overstimulated brain from replacing the bike with the thought of Corey between his legs. He followed closely behind Jase, picking up speed to get out of the city faster. The drive to Alpha Moneta’s warehouses was as familiar to him as his motorcycle. It required very little thought, which left him little to distract himself with.
Today’s transaction was big, 20 million dollars big, but most of them were. He wasn’t concerned about it. Though Jason had been on edge since the Kovack situation, Kayden trusted the position they held in the black market drug trade. They had gotten to where they were because they’d spent the last decade being as ruthless as possible, climbing the ladder and doing what no one else was willing to do, or could do.
Finally, they broke through the congested streets and had the open road ahead of them. Jason accelerated, the roar of the engine drowning out the lingering static in Kayden’s head. He changed gears and shot off after his brother.
They made it to the warehouse quickly, pulling out the truck and loading it with the metal crates, letting the automated machines do the heavy lifting.
It was the first time they had left Corey at the penthouse alone, and Kayden was feeling antsier than he had expected. He wanted to get back to her.
“Chill out, dude,” Jason said to him.
“What?” Kayden didn’t even take his eyes off the machine, loading one of the last crates into the truck.
Jason motioned to the knife that Kayden was absentmindedly spinning around on his fingertip. “You’re fidgeting so badly, I’m actually worried you’re going to take your own eye out.”
Kayden grinned and put the knife back in its holster. “Sorry. I just want to get this over with and get back home.”
“No, you want to get back to that girl.”
Kayden rolled his eyes at his brother. “Yeah, that girl you had your fingers in the other night.”
Jason didn’t answer. Kayden decided to push his buttons. “She liked it, by the way.”
“Did she? I couldn’t tell, between the cum all over my hand and her running out of my room in tears. Mixed signals.”
Kayden bristled. “Don’t worry, I dealt with the tears. I’m sure she’ll be back for more.”
“What are you doing?” Jason ground out, his anger rising with Kayden’s .
“I’m not letting you push her away because of your fucked up martyr complex.”
“I don’t need to push her away. She’s going to run as soon as she finds out what we do.”
Kayden wasn’t going to let him off the hook. “Why do you think that?”
“She was born into a drug den, Kay. Everything bad that’s happened to her is because of drugs. She said so herself.”
Kayden wasn’t convinced. He questioned whether she was truly unaware, or whether she had already put the pieces together. With everything she’d seen and the little dribbles of information he’d given her here and there, he’d be shocked if she didn’t already understand they were kingpins in the criminal underworld. She knew they dealt in pharmaceuticals. He’d literally told her that. The only information she was missing was that it was opium they were dealing.
And just how fundamental they were to the opium epidemic in the city.
“I don’t think she will.”
“You’re relying on what you want and not on reality. You want her, so you think she’ll accept what we do.”
As the machine loaded the last of the crates into the truck, the realization hit Kayden. “I’d stop for her.”
“I know. But I wouldn’t.” Jason got the first bike on the forklift. “I’d keep going for you, though. When you want out, just let me know.”
Kayden let his brother’s words settle in his blood like lead, and a fury swept through him. He would never choose himself over Jason. He didn’t want to have to make that choice. Jason and his fucking martyr complex . “I hate that you’re trying to make me choose between you and her. I won’t do it. It’s not even fucking necessary. And no other women in the house with Corey.”
Jason just scoffed at Kayden’s demand.
“I’m serious. It fucked with her head.” Kayden shoved his brother, maybe for the first time ever, but Jason’s stubbornness had grated him raw. The years of managing his brother’s trauma while swallowing his own curdling into something rancid. Something he couldn’t choke back. Not now. Not with Corey in their life. He wasn’t going to let her slip through their fingers.
Jason held his hands up, probably only acquiescing because of the anomaly in Kayden’s behavior. “Fine. If that’s what you want, fine.”
They loaded the second motorcycle up in silence. The quiet lingered as they drove the truck to their next location to meet with their hired transport security and EP team.
When they pulled the truck up to the meeting point, Kayden’s attention immediately focused on scanning through the thoughts of everyone there. Transport security assisted them in getting the bikes out of the truck and took control of the vehicle. The EP team would drive with them as a convoy to the drop-off.
“Tac Op is on standby, on location,” Archie said through their earpieces. “Everything clear on your end?”
Kayden caught Jason’s eye. He hadn’t picked up anything of concern. The team, as usual, was concentrating on their job. They were all professionals.
“Clear,” Jason confirmed through the comms.
Kayden barked out commands to the transport team. Archie already had the truck's GPS programmed to their next destination. The team pulled out from the meet point in perfect formation, Kayden and Jason close behind the truck, with their EP vehicles following.
The sky had darkened with thick black clouds since they’d made it to the warehouse, a storm brewing out in the distance.
“Are we going to get caught in the rain?” Kayden asked Archie as the wind whipped and whistled around him.
“There’s a tornado warning, but we won't see rain until later this evening. You should make it back before the storm starts.”
Great .
The sky got darker the further they drove.
The transport truck slowed, taking a turn off the highway.
“You’re about five minutes out from the main gate, down this road,” Archie advised.
“Roger,” Jason’s voice filtered through the earpiece.
When they pulled up to the iron gates, they were already open. The truck slowed to a crawl as it edged towards the entrance of the drop point.
“Wait.” Archie’s voice was sharp in his ear. “I lost contact with Tac Op.” Kayden could hear Archie clacking away on his keyboard. They both slowed their bikes, and the truck stopped in front of them, having received their own directions from Archie.
“I don’t like this,” he said to them. “I have no video feed of the area. My recommendation is a retreat.”
“Let’s just make the drop,” Kayden said. “We’re already here. It’s probably weather-related.”
Archie let out a breath in his ear. “Jason?”
It was silent for a moment longer before Jason agreed to continue. Archie must have given the transport team the go-ahead, because the truck started its crawl forward again, and the twins revved the bikes back up and followed.
Kayden scanned through all the thoughts he could hear, searching for any hint that something might go wrong, but their team was hyper-focused.
They got closer to the warehouse at the end of the long driveway. There was so much commotion in Kayden’s head already from all the people surrounding him. He couldn’t pick up anything from around or inside the building.
Tension crackled in the air. Kayden could feel the hair on his arms trying to lift under his heavy leather sleeves.
A shiver of apprehension ran down his spine.
And then it happened .
The truck exploded in front of him, shrapnel shattering out in every direction. He swerved his bike to the side, but Jason wasn’t so lucky, a section of the truck flying right into his bike.
Jason was flung from the motorcycle.
Without thinking, Kayden threw himself from his bike and ran to his brother, pulling his helmet off for better vision.
Jason was already pulling himself up when he got there, flipping up his visor and drawing his gun.
Kayden could hear Archie shouting commands in his ear, but they must have been for the EP team. He wasn’t processing what his friend was saying, anyway. The remains of the truck were in a blaze, and Kayden was dragging Jason away from the wreckage. Jason’s bike was smashed into a warped twisting of metal in front of them.
Infantry spilled out from the warehouse, firing at their team. Behind them were a few notable faces of Krieg’s inner circle.
Kayden pulled a grenade from his vest and threw it hard into the thick of the group. It went off and they scattered, dispersing.
“You could have been a baseball player with that arm,” Jason laughed, eyes dancing with the thrill, before throwing his own grenade from his vest, getting it the same distance that Kayden had.
“So could you,” he replied more somberly.
Their EP team was already advancing, using flamethrowers to burn through the front line of Kreig’s men. The second line was using GM-94 grenade launchers to fire thermobaric projectiles.
The fire was causing a thick layer of smoke to congeal around them, and it was burning Kayden’s eyes and nose. The smell of burning metal and rubber, mixing with the scent of burning flesh, was its own disgusting cologne.
“Sorry, Arch. We should have listened to you,” Kayden coughed.
“Just get out of there. ”
“We need to destroy the supply before we leave, and Kreig’s men. I’m not leaving anyone alive. Kreig has clearly lost it if he thinks he can pull this shit and walk away,” Jason countered, eyes narrowing at the mayhem.
Their EP team was already making steady advances, eliminating the first round of infantry and working their way through the second round of men who rushed from the building.
The air was heating, and Kayden was already sweating in his leather jacket. He grabbed an extra GM-94 from the trunk of an EP vehicle, tossing a second one to Jason.
“Nah, give me a flamethrower,” Jason said excitedly, handing the GM back to Kayden. They exchanged the weapons and sprinted towards the warehouse.
“Do you have any eyes on the perimeter?” Jason asked Archie.
“Nada. That’s why I want you fucking out of there.”
“Noted, but not yet. Arch, send out orders to surround the building. We need a coordinated attack to bring the warehouse down.”
Archie disseminated the plan, and their EP team quickly strode into formation, Kayden and Jason joining the fray.
It was absolute chaos—organized chaos, but chaos nonetheless.
The first floor walls had taken impacts from their explosives, and the building was caving in. It was causing its own explosions inside as the building crumbled, and the shriek of artillery echoed amongst the screams of Kreig’s men.
Kreig had severely underestimated them. The building collapsed before the EP team suffered any harm. Their only casualties had been the transport team in the initial explosion. Kayden retreated to the bonfire that was their transport truck, leaving their more-than-competent EP team to handle the rest of the warehouse.
Jason met him along the perimeter of the fire. “The supply is gone. The metal crates will have cooked all that opium already. ”
“I can send in a clean-up crew after the storm hits. The rain will put out the fires tonight. Retreat now. EP has a handle on this. There’s no reason for you to still be here.”
Jason turned away from the blaze to look at his bike, a heaped pile of metal that used to be his favourite motorcycle. “Looks like you’re taking us home, Kay.”
The heat against Kayden’s back from the fire behind him was almost enough to melt his skin. He heard another crunch of metal and the sizzle of the fire, and then a pop went off in the remains of the truck, sending metal flying through the air. He pushed Jason to the ground protecting his brother’s body with his own. Too slow—a piece of shrapnel whizzed by, slicing him across the side of his own head.
“Fuck.” It was searing pain right at his temple, and he felt the wound gush before his vision was clouded by blood. He brought his gloved hand up to his forehead and wiped at it, but he had already bled on Jason underneath him.
“Why the fuck is your helmet off?” Jason yelled at him, applying pressure against Kayden’s ravaged skin, the wound gushing between his fingers.
“Boys, get the fuck away from that truck now! The engine is going to blow!”
Kayden pulled Jason up off the ground and sprinted to Jason’s bike, where he’d tossed his helmet, while Jason took off in the opposite direction. He had Kayden’s bike spitting like a wild animal by Kayden’s side before Kayden had even clipped up his helmet. He swung his leg over the bike and gripped Jason around the waist as they sped off down the long drive and back onto the highway.
Kayden’s blood was saturating the inner fabric of his helmet, and it wasn’t long before he had to lift the visor and wipe the blood from his eyes, smearing it all over his face. His gloves were thick with his own blood, staining Jason where he held on to him .
It was only a thirty-minute ride back to the penthouse, but Kayden had started to feel woozy from the blood loss by the end of it. Luckily, with the impending storm, downtown had cleared out and Jason could make quick progress to the underground. Archie kept them updated on the last explosion, which had gone off not ten minutes after they’d left, and the plans for cleanup as they’d rode. Kreig had planted landmines throughout the driveway.
Kayden hopped off the bike as soon as Jason cut the engine in the underground. His legs felt heavy and unsteady. He pulled off his helmet, hissing in pain as the air hit the open gash. The release of pressure from the helmet pressing against the wound caused more blood to ooze out. Not a good sign .
Jason took his own helmet off and turned Kayden’s face to the side. “Shit. I think I see bone. Let’s go get you stitched up and sterilized.”
“Damn, I just got into the video feed,” Archie said, still connected to their earpieces. “You’re both covered in blood. Do I need to call Sophie?”
“No, it’s deep, but it hasn’t fractured bone. I can handle it,” Jason confirmed, guiding Kayden through the entryway and to the elevator.
In their front hall, Kayden dropped his helmet on the floor and shrugged his jacket off, sitting on the bench for a break before unlacing his boots.
“Corey!” Jason called. “Corey, get a towel from the kitchen and bring it to the front hall.” There was an edge to his voice, enough to let Corey know she should take it seriously. Whether their crazy girl would pick up on that was another story, but the quick slapping of her bare feet against the marble floor confirmed she had.
Corey ran into the front hall with a towel. She must have noticed the blood all over Jason first, because she fell to her knees before him, frantically running her hands up his arms, looking for an injury, for the source of all the blood.
“Where are you hurt?” Her eyes were wide in panic, her voice shaky. Kayden saw Jason try not to flinch away from her touch .
“Not me, Kayden.”
Corey’s eyes widened, and she turned to Kayden, slumped against the wall on the bench. “I’m fine, Little Fox. Just a head wound.”
“No, no, no, no, no…” She shimmied over to him on her knees, looking up at the gash. She brushed his wet, matted hair back and pressed the towel against his head and into the wound to stop the remaining bleeding.
She turned to Jason, her voice shrill as she cried, “We need to get him to a hospital!”
Jason reached an arm out for her, but dropped it before making contact. “Remember what I said, sweetheart. Head wounds bleed but they’re usually not deadly. He’s okay.”
She took in all the blood on Jason again before turning back to Kayden, her eyes darting between them, distraught.
“You’re not hurt anywhere else?” Kayden wasn’t sure which twin she was posing the question to.
“No,” Jason confirmed. “Not a scratch on me. Kayden was an idiot and took off his helmet, hence the head wound.”
“Did you get into a bike accident?” she asked.
“Something like that,” Jason replied, still watching her with a softness in his eyes that Kayden was sure he wasn’t aware of.
"Well, Jason's bike is totalled, but that was more a consequence than a cause," Kayden clarified. “Our deal went bad.”
Jason shot him a look, but Kayden just gave Corey a knowing smile, and some of the tension finally released from her shoulders. If Jason couldn’t recognize it before, it was now impossible to miss how much she cared for them. For both of them.
He pulled the towel away from his head to see how much blood he was still losing, and Corey brought her hand to her mouth.
“Does blood make you squeamish?” Jason asked, curiously.
“No, but I can see his bone. I really think he needs to go to the hospital and get stitches. ”
“I’m okay, Corey. Promise. Jason will stitch me up.”
She wanted to argue. He could see it on her face, but finally, she submitted. “I guess I’ll go get more towels and clean up all this blood.” Her voice was still strained.
“It’s fine. Belinda will clean it up.”
She huffed, looking around at the mess. “How come I never actually see Belinda?”
“Because she’s invisible,” Jason deadpanned.
Corey blinked at him, unsure what to do with his joke.
If only she knew the truth.