Chapter 35 Beast
BEAST
I watch the house through the pocket binoculars.
It’s in a fancier part of town, overlooking most of the city.
The kind of place I'd expect a bad guy to be hiding.
Not one of those super mansions for an evil billionaire, but definitely a defensible home for someone with some money to spend.
Honestly, it's a little fancy for somewhere I'd expect the Bloodmoney gang to hang out, but Sandra’s phone is in there somewhere.
"See anything?" Piston was a little annoyed that I was the only one who thought to keep binoculars in my saddlebag, and is waiting impatiently for me to hand them over so he gets a turn.
"A lot of people moving around inside, but the curtains are thick enough to hide faces and details.
Armed guards all over the outside areas, like they're expecting to be assaulted at any time. This has gotta either be Kozlov’s place or someone else higher up the food chain from Bloodmoney.
No fucking way this place is theirs." I sweep the binoculars across the facade again, hoping to catch something useful. I almost miss it. "Fuck, hold on."
A little twist to focus, and then I catch him through a gap in the curtains. His back is to me, but it's gotta be him. And then he turns around, dispelling all doubt.
"Gotcha. It’s definitely Kozlov. No wonder there are guards all over the fucking place. Fucking numbnut goons led us straight to him."
"Not even surprised." Zero squints as he examines the property, probably looking for good ways in. "It makes sense that they'd be working for him. The question is, where is Sandra? Kozlov's gonna go down no matter what, but she's the one we're here for."
"Still looking. One of you guys wanna call Eagle-eye? Bet he'd be real interested to know where we are right now." I keep scanning for signs of our girl.
Piston pulls out his phone. "On it."
"There's someone moving in a window on the top floor. To the right." Zero's eyesight is good enough that he basically has his own fucking binoculars.
I follow his directions, and while they're obscured my more of the damn curtains, I swear those curves look fucking familiar. "That might be her."
"Might be? You're the guy with the fucking binoculars."
"I'm ninety percent sure that I've gripped those hips without clothes on. But the curtains are just thick enough that I can't be certain. Here." I pass the binoculars over. Maybe he'll see something I don't. Piston glares at being skipped over, but he's still on the line with Eagle-eye.
Only takes Zero a moment before he nods. "I think you’re right. Should we try to call her?"
“No. Not without knowing who has the phone. If they were stupid enough to leave it with her, then we should wait for her to contact us when it’s safe. If we call, we might just be letting them know about it.”
He nods.
"Got it. We'll be waiting." Piston taps his phone and looks back at us.
"Spike’s lost a lot of blood but Doc got him stable, and Eagle-eye's getting all the able troops together.
I think our luck is about to turn around.
Trying to take our territory is one thing.
That's just business. The ambush just made this shit personal. You guys found something?"
Zero hands him the binoculars and points. Piston nods.
"Looks like her to me. I wanna go in guns blazing and get her the fuck outta there right now, but it’s safer to wait on reinforcements. Have to admit I'm finding it real hard." He cracks his knuckles, cupping his fist with the opposite hand, and then the reverse, before loosening his neck.
"She looks safe for now. We can keep an eye on her." Zero's voice is tight with tension. Having her in sight, and not charging right the fuck in there feels fundamentally wrong.
"But if that changes, then we reassess, right?"
There's movement by Sandra. A man's shape. She moves away fast, but he grabs her and throws her into the wall.
“Motherfucker!”
"What's he doing?" Piston squints.
"Just attacked," Zero growls.
In some ways, that makes me happy. Whoever that fucker is, he just gave us reason to go in there now, instead of waiting.
We can't risk Sandra's life just to kill Kozlov.
At least that's a good enough argument for me, and honestly, if I ask Eagle-eye what he would do if that was Miriam or Faith that he saw in the window like that, with some asshole manhandling her, I think he'll call it fair.
"Boys, we're going in. That fucker is dead, whether he knows it or not."