CHAPTER FORTY
Rich
The meeting with Rinaldo hadn't gone well. Az had filled us in the minute they returned to the manor. Victoria had sat silently beside me as the realization that buying her freedom wasn't an option sank in. Leighton, on the other hand, had stormed from the house as soon as Az was done speaking.
"How long until he comes for me?" Victoria asked, breaking the tense silence left in Leighton's wake.
"I don't know, Princess." Az answered honestly.
"Let us worry about that, Babygirl. You have a charity event tomorrow to worry about." I said, grabbing her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Seriously?" she asked with a laugh of disbelief. "You were just stabbed and shot last night. This Rinaldo guy won't let you guys buy me from him. He threatened all of you to get me, and you want me to worry about a charity event my father already made a donation to?"
"Yes," I replied. "The event tomorrow means networking with potential donors for the center. When all this is over, you need to be able to go back to your normal life. That means hobnobbing with elitist pricks who shell out insane amounts of money for the tax write offs like nothing is wrong."
That had been nearly thirty hours ago. Victoria had argued with me long enough that I pulled the injured card to get her to agree to attend the event. Now, I was standing in the kitchen with Joey, Craig, and Leighton, all of us wearing tuxes, while we waited for her and Az to be ready.
"Any news on the hunt for our mole?" I asked them.
"Nothing. Which actually gives us something." Joey answered. "Whoever it is knows enough to know how to rat on us without us getting wind. There's only about a dozen or so horsemen with that kind of access."
"I plan to go through them one by one until I have the mole." Leighton spoke up. "When we find out who he is, I'm going to take my fucking time cutting him into little pieces while he cries for his momma."
"I expect you'll have the chance soon enough." Craig piped in. "Phil is already working through the list that Joey put together based on what we know. With him and us working on it, we should know who the mole is in the next couple of days."
"Good," I said absently, glancing at the watch on my arm. It was nearly eight, and neither Victoria nor Az had emerged. We were going to be unfashionably late if they weren't ready soon. "Someone should go grab–"
I was cut off by the kitchen window shattering, a black canister sailing through the air before bouncing across the floor.
"Flash bang!" Leighton bellowed.
The world around me transformed into a brilliant white void. The intense radiance seared through my eyelids, penetrating every fiber of my being. My vision was obliterated, leaving me momentarily disoriented and vulnerable. I was plunged into a disconcerting state of sensory deprivation.
Simultaneously, a deafening explosion reverberated through the air, pounding against my eardrums like a physical force. The concussive blast rattled my entire body, disorienting me further. My ears throbbed with the pressure, temporarily rendering me deaf to the world around me. It was as if the world had been engulfed in chaos, with the cacophony of the explosion drowning out any other sound.
My equilibrium wavered, and I struggled to maintain balance as I gripped the island to steady myself. I blinked rapidly as I struggled to reorient myself and find the others.
"Joey, Craig, Leighton." I called out, my voice sounding muffled as if I were hearing myself through a bucket of water.
A tap on my shoulder from behind caused me to swing wildly around with my fist raised to strike. I let out a breath of relief when I found Joey behind me and dropped my hand to my side.
"Where are the other two?" I yelled, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear me over the ringing I knew was in his ears.
Joey shook his head and tapped a finger to his ear while pulling his phone from the inner pocket of his tux with his other hand. He tapped out a message to Az, allowing me to read over his shoulder before hitting send. 911. Giving him a curt nod, I glanced at the busted window, checking for movement, before crouching low and creeping around the kitchen island. Craig was sitting on the floor, leaning against it, while Leighton crouched in front of him. I waved my hand to get Craig's attention, and he jerked his head in my direction to let L know I was coming up behind him.
"Cameras." I heard Leighton saying as the ringing in my ears began to subside, and my hearing returned. "We need to know how many we're against and where they all are. Nobody followed that flash bang through the window, so I can only assume it was meant to disorient us while they went for la petit démone ."
I nodded my agreement and turned toward the cabinets under the sink. We'd hidden guns damned near everywhere in the manor after someone gutted Jace. As much as Joey had bitched that it was irresponsible, I knew we were all happy that we had. Grabbing the two pistols we'd stored in the cabinet, I handed one to Leighton before signaling for us to move back around the kitchen island.
Joey was leaning against the counters, peeking around the entryway into the breakfast, a gun already in hand. Glancing back at us, he motioned for Leighton to cover him, barely waiting for L to get into position before he stepped out into the open. The rest of us filed in behind him when nobody shot at him.
I kept to the wall, my eyes trained inside the kitchen in case an intruder finally decided to come through the window there. Leighton moved to the breakfast windows, carefully shifting the curtains aside to scan the back patio. At the same time, Joey and Craig grabbed whatever weapons they'd stashed in the breakfast nook.
"It's clear back there as far as I can see," Leighton spoke in a hushed whisper. We still need to be careful in case they're hiding outside the motion lights reach, waiting for us to drop our guard again."
"If we can get to the stairs, I can post up at the top and drop anyone who comes in through the foyer." Joey said. "Someone needs to get to the cameras and see what we're dealing with, and we need to secure the Princess."
"We move as a unit until we're sure we can get to the stairs without issue," I started, just as the lights in the house cut off.
"Pretty sure that means they cut the power, boys." Leighton's voice was grim.
"Cameras aren't good without power, Rich." Craig added. "We need a new plan."
"We should probably figure out where the fuck the rest of our men are. Nobody else should have made it this close to the manor. Not again." Leighton growled.
"What about the walkies?" Joey asked.
"Still in the camera room." Craig replied.
"So, the plan hasn't changed. Get to the camera room, get our fucking men on the walkie and find out what the hell is going on. Don't die in the process. Easy." I whispered.
"Yeah, just a normal Saturday. No sweat." Leighton chuckled.
We moved cautiously and silently, using our familiarity with the manor's layout to our advantage. The house was eerily quiet as we cleared the rooms off the gallery. I struggled to keep my mind focused. The lack of movement or sound in the manor caused me to worry about Az and Victoria. There had been enough time between Joey's text to Az and us reaching the great room that we should have seen them by now.
Carefully moving to peek into the great room for any sign of intruders, I motioned for Joey and Craig to move to my side. The space was as still and silent as the rest of the manor, but I refused to take chances. On a silent count of three, we moved into the room as a unit, Leighton trailing behind to provide cover fire if needed.
"What the fuck is going on?" Craig whispered. "There's nobody. If this is an attack, we should have taken some fire by now."
"Count our fucking blessings and arm up." I replied.
The four of us crept through the great room, uncovering every weapon we'd stashed until we were all armed to the teeth. Joey had retrieved a pair of night vision goggles while Craig and I stuffed guns anywhere we could in our tuxes. Leighton, ever the lunatic, pulled a machete from beneath the couch before signaling that he was finished. Shaking my head at the ridiculous grin on his face, I turned to face the foyer.
"We move as one, watch each other's backs." I ordered. "You have your marching orders, lets find out who the fuck decided it was wise to try us."
We started to move faster as we covered the short distance between the great room and the foyer, making sure we cleared the corners and nooks as we moved closer to the camera room. Joey split off as we approached the staircase, heading for the second-floor balcony. Craig, Leighton, and I continued on toward the dining room.
We'd almost cleared the archway into the room when the door to the office behind us burst open. We spun in surprise, and before we'd had time to react, five gunshots rang out in quick succession as armed men began to pour out of my office.
"Go!" Joey shouted above us as the five men he'd shot hit the floor.
"Move, move move!" I yelled, ducking inside the dining room with Craig.
Leighton didn't need any encouragement. "Leeeeeroy Jenkins!" He screamed, charging headlong into the crowd of adversaries.
Muzzle flashes filled the foyer, and gunfire echoed through the house. I jerked my head toward the camera room for Craig to get inside and grab the walkie as I started laying cover fire.
"You shot me, you asshole! That wasn't very fucking nice!" I heard Leighton bellow just as he was silhouetted in muzzle flashes.
He charged the gunman closest to him with his machete raised, thrusting it forward into his attacker's face.
The sounds of gunfire and chaos had exploded from the calm so quickly it was difficult to process the madness. I gritted my teeth, grabbed the edge of the large dining table, and flipped it onto its side, creating a makeshift barrier. I felt a couple of stitches pop, which only irritated me with the adrenaline pumping through my system.
"Leighton, don't get yourself killed, you psycho!" I shouted over the gunfire.
Leighton's laughter responded, and I could hear the sickening sound of his blade against another attacker. "Oh, come on, Rich! Where's the fun in that?!"
He dodged one of his attackers, who was attempting to use his gun as a melee weapon. He used the momentum to deliver a devastating blow to another assailant while punching the one he'd dodged in the face.
Meanwhile, Joey maintained his vantage point on the balcony, picking off enemies as they attempted to come up the stairs toward him and lying down suppressing fire on the group forming in the foyer. His precision shots were crucial, providing us with the cover we needed.
I ducked behind the table and fired a few shots into the grouped invaders that seemed to never-endingly come out of the bottleneck of the door to my office.
"Craig! Where are our men?!" I yelled as he appeared in the door to the camera room.
"They're dealing with a massive assault at the gate. It's a full-blown fire fight out there. They're not coming." He yelled as he started to make his way back into the room.
"Fuck!" I felt a rock settle into the pit of my stomach at the news, but I couldn't dwell on it. Just then, one of the large dining room windows exploded inward, sending shards of glass across the room. Craig started toward me and the two new combatants.
"Go help Leighton, I've got this!"
Craig hesitated for a second before pivoting toward the foyer. He'd barely disappeared into the fray when a dismembered arm flew toward me.
"Look what I found!" Leighton cackled.
The arm landed on the floor with a thud, skidding across the hardwood between me and the two new intruders. I barely had time to note the red spider lily tattoo before I was under fire. Grabbing the corner of the dining table, I dragged it with me for cover as I stepped backward toward the camera room, firing back. My first shot went wide, shattering the other window, but my next two hit their marks. Both men dropped one after the other as I nailed them between the eyes.
As I turned back to the foyer, seeing that most of the herd had been thinned, I moved to join the fight. My shoulder burned, and my shirt was sticking to me from where the stitches had already torn open, causing me to bleed again. I gritted my teeth as I leaned around cover and shot one of the assailants that leaned out from behind the office wall.
A yell from the gallery hall was all the warning we had as another wave of men filled the foyer. An easy guess of their numbers put us right back at square one.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Leighton's exasperated yell cut through the chaos as he tossed down his machete and pulled out a shotgun from seemingly nowhere.
"Where the fuck did you get a shotgun, L?" Joey yelled down from above us in disbelief.
"Oh, you know. Around." Leighton grinned mischievously as if his apparition of the large weapon was just another day at the office and always readily available.
The Jackals' soldiers charged at us as the renewed firefight erupted around us. Bullets whizzed through the air, and the echoes of gunfire reverberated throughout the manor. Instinct had kicked in some time ago as we moved with tactical precision, taking cover and returning fire. But it was quickly becoming tiring. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Craig stumble as he cursed and glanced at his leg. Even with the minimal light coming from outside, I could see he'd been hit in the thigh.
Joey cursed loudly from above us, and his cover fire ceased. "I keep telling you guys to store the guns properly !" He yelled, frustration evident in his voice.
He reached into his tuxedo jacket and pulled out two small guns. He fired a couple more shots, taking down two more assailants.
"Really, Joey, .22s? Aren't those a little underwhelming?" Leighton's laughter was punctuated by the boom from his shotgun as he fired into a grouping of Jackals at the base of the stairs.
Joey turned, aimed one of the guns toward Leighton, and dropped a man who had been closing in on Leighton's flank. "It's not the size of the gun that matters; it's the skill of the marksman!"
"Will you two focus on us getting out of this alive, please?! You can have a dick-measuring contest later!" I yelled, moving to a better vantage point and taking down another Jackal.
"I think I have just the thing for this situation!" Leighton yelled, backing up toward the office before ducking inside. The sound of his shotgun blasts inside the room, announcing he'd found another attacker still inside it.
Suddenly, pain ripped through my shoulder, and I staggered backward, my focus threatening to shatter. Pain seared through my leg immediately after, and I found myself on one knee despite my resolve to keep standing.
"Get down!" Leighton yelled, but my vision was temporarily blurred; I couldn't see what he was doing from the doorway.
I felt hands on my arm, pulling me backward before another sharp pain bloomed in my abdomen. Fuck.
"You better get your ass down here, Joey. My baby is about to send these fucking Jackals straight to hell," Leighton called out amidst the continuing gunfire.
"Come on, Rich. Help me get your big ass back here." I heard Craig's voice behind me as he pulled, but it sounded strangely distant as I tried to focus on anything besides the agony in my gut.
He threw one of my arms over his shoulder while shooting wildly into the group of Jackals advancing toward us. I did my best with my good leg to help him move me from the foyer.
A deafening explosion rocked the foyer. I felt the force of the shockwave throw us the final few feet into the dining room and slammed my wounded shoulder into the overturned dining room table. I couldn't stop the yell that tore out of my throat as the spasm of anguish ripped through my upper body.
I blinked until my vision cleared, seeing the smoke and debris filling the air as Leighton exited the office. He moved gleefully from one pile of bodies and rubble to another, shooting anything perceived as a movement.
By some miracle, I managed to get to my feet with Craig's help. I noted the number of bodies and the damage to the manor as I pressed a hand to my stomach wound. We'd survived, for now. The sound of a gunshot pulled my eyes to Joey. He had his .22 aimed down the hall toward Victoria's rooms.
"Looks like he was the last one." Joey said with a shrug before turning toward me. "Fuck, Rich, you look bad. We need to get you to Harrison right now."
"I'll be fine." I gritted out. "Right now, we need to find Az and our girl."