Chapter 36 Ari #2
My father comes at me with a snarl, and something hard smashes into my ribs. I see him lower the baton, and then he smacks my bullet wound. I don’t give a fuck, because all I can see is the blood dripping down his face from my fists, and then he says what I’ve been waiting on.
“Kill him.” There’s no emotion in his voice, not even a tremor that he just gave the order to kill his own son.
The guard shoves me to my knees and pushes his AK against the back of my head. I knew eventually my life would end like this. There’s no way you can stir up the shit that I have and not have to answer for it in blood.
“Tell them I love them,” I tell Axel calmly. “Tell them that they need to live their lives happily together.”
“Fight!” Axel yells, struggling against the hold the guards have on him. “Goddamnit, Ari! Fight!”
“Tell them I’m sorry.” I hear the safety being switched off and lock eyes with my father, waiting for the blow to come. He smirks at me, and it doesn’t even surprise me that he doesn’t care. He let Avina die without a second thought. “I hope you rot in the deepest depths of hell.”
My father gives the nod to the guard behind me when the door behind my father bursts open, and I’m jerked away from the guard.
Axel practically lays on me while gunfire echoes around the small office.
The silence afterward is eerie, and I look up at my fathers shocked eyes.
Two seconds later, his head separates from his body, and I look behind him, expecting to see Kane because of the machete, but all I see is Tivon’s very pissed off dark eyes.
“Tivon?” I croak. He has blood dripping down his face and arms, and I can’t tell if it’s his or not. “How did you get in here?”
Shadow pulls his mask to the top of his head. “We fought our way in. He wouldn’t sit still when Nolan told us what was going on.” He points to Axel’s vest. “The camera was picking up everything.”
I climb to my feet, and Tivon drops the machete, pulling me into his arms. “Neshama sheli.” I pull back to check him over, and he shakes his head. “It isn’t mine.”
“This guy is scary as fuck,” Kane says, finally stepping into the room with Blaze. They’re both covered in blood as well, and Blaze is grinning. “I like him.”
“Where are Jason and Kira?” I ask. “What about the rest of the guys?”
“Jason and Kira are safe,” Blaze answers. “We need to move to finish this to get everyone else out. We have a surprise for you when this is done.”
Blaze shoves an AK into my chest, and we’re moving. I take one last look at my father’s decapitated head and spit on it. “That’s for Avina, you piece of shit.”
“It’s time, boys,” Tivon says into his earpiece.
“Fucking finally,” Tyler breathes through comms, and gunfire erupts.
The rest of Axel’s team fall into line behind us, then Les’ team, and then the rest of the Abbs valley crew.
We work through the prison, taking out anyone that stands in our way.
We have one more problem to take care of, and then this is finally over.
I can pull my family in close and we can live our damn lives.
“Lock it down!” Les calls out, and the prison is locked up tight, with no way for anyone to get in or out.
I lower my gun when I see Tyler running my way. He leaps into my arms, and I catch him with a laugh. “Fuck, I’m so glad to see you, Pretty boy.”
“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Papi.” He slides to his feet and jerks his head for me to follow him. We walk down the hallway, and he opens a door to an office. “That’s Cryptic.”
A cute guy with the exact same description Nolan gave us nods his head. His face is a bloody mess, and he’s holding his arm close to his chest. “Nice to finally meet you. I’m sorry about your father. They beat the shit out of me until I gave them access, and they saw you.”
“No worries,” I say genuinely. I can tell this guy wants out of this mess, and I plan on making that happen. Something in the corner starts moving, and I start dying laughing when I see Abraham hog tied in the corner.
“He tried to run,” Blaze explains. “He didn’t get far.”
“Can someone explain to me how you guys are here?” I ask.
“Your father tried to ambush the plane before takeoff. I’m guessing he didn’t do his research on me,” Kane says.
“We got out of there, stashed Jason and Kira, and I called Tivon. The rest you know. That motherfucker,” Kane jabs a finger at Abraham, “tried to run. But he ran the wrong way and came face to face with Blaze. He grabbed him.”
“Thank you,” I say, my voice clogging with tears. Tivon grabs my hand and squeezes. “I need to bring down my father’s entire empire.”
“We have a plan,” Tyler says, sitting beside Cryptic. “Now is the time to release what you have on your father to our government so they can be in place when Mossad implodes.”
“I have someone in mind to take over,” Tivon throws in. “One of my guys that was also in your ranks. He’ll run Mossad like it was supposed to be. This is really over, Aryeh.”
I walk over and squat in front of a fuming Abraham. “Not yet. This asshole needs to feel the pain that he put this family through. Get him tied up somewhere.”
“There’s a basement with all kinds of weird shit,” Cryptic answers, wincing when he stands. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get out of here and see my brother.”
Axel nods. “I’ll take you to Cole. He’ll drive you to see your brother.”
Cryptic takes a shuddering breath. “Thank you for saving him and taking a chance on me. I swear to you that I don’t want anything to do with this site or Andres.”
“Call doc to come look at him,” I tell Axel. “I’ll call you when it’s done.”
Everyone calls out their goodbyes, leaving me with Tivon, Keon, Tyler, Gavin, and a soon to be dead Abraham.
We dragged Abraham to the basement to tie him up, and then stepped out. I just needed a minute to fucking breathe, knowing that this is finally finished.
We all sit down in the hallway, leaning against the wall, taking it all in.
“Is it really over?” Gavin says quietly, almost like he can’t believe it.
“It is,” I answer. “We have our lives back.”
“What are you going to do with Abraham?” Tyler asks.
“Torture the fuck out of him, and then ship his body parts back to his crazy wife.”
Tyler starts laughing. “Holy shit. I don’t know whether to celebrate or cry. When Nolan said Aharon was going to kill you, I almost gave us away trying to get to you.”
“That wasn’t going to happen,” Tivon throws in, squeezing my thigh.
“Tyler, you missed it. This crazy motherfucker comes in like an avenging angel, covered in blood, and slices Aharon’s head clean off with Kane’s machete.”
“Shit,” Tyler groans. “This is going to be a problem. I’m rock fucking hard at the image.”
“Of course you are,” Tivon replies dryly. He checks his phone and nods. “The rest of the guards have been rounded up. Cryptic is helping find the rest.”
“What happened there?”
“I heard them fucking him over,” Keon answers. “I took out the guards at the door to stop it, then the ones inside. He doesn’t deserve that.”
“Agreed,” I say and get to my feet. “Give me a minute with him, then we can finish this.”
I walk into the basement and drag a chair over to sit in front of Abraham. His eyes blaze when he sees me. “Where’s Aharon?”
“Dead.”
“What?!” He jerks against the chains. “Mossad will fall apart without him.”
I shake my head. “Mossad will go back to the way it’s supposed to be. An agency run with honor.”
“You’re such an ungrateful child.”
“I’d watch what you say to me right now.
The tables have turned, Abraham. You no longer have control over me.
My family is alive and fucking thriving, no matter how much you tried to stop it.
” I stand up and walk to the wall where I saw a nasty looking rusty knife.
I grab it and go back so he’s in my line of sight.
“I want to drag this out, but honestly, I just want you to feel what you put Jason through. I don’t give a fuck what you did to me.
You would have never broken me, but you fucked up when you had him grabbed.
” I thrust my hand forward and stab him in the stomach.
The knife is just sharp enough to penetrate the skin, so I have to dig it into his stomach further.
He screams, and chills run down my spine.
“I’m going to end you, then I’m going to go home with my family and forget you ever existed. ”
“Aryeh, we can work through this.”
“Begging? Isn’t that beneath you?” I dig the knife in further.
“You were never anything but a pawn to my father. Someone he could bend to his will because you have always been weak. That’s why he would have never given you Mossad.
He wanted to bring the son he hated back before giving you that control. What does that say about you?”
“Fuck you.” I twist the knife, and his face pales even more.
I leave that knife in his stomach and grab the one from my sheath that Tyler gave me. This one is sharp enough to get the job done. I lean forward so I can whisper in his ear. “Enjoy hell, motherfucker.”
I pull back and slit his throat. His mouth opens as blood pours from the wound. I stand there until the life drains from his eyes, and then pull the knife from his stomach. I laugh and stab it into his eye.
I wipe Tyler’s knife off on his shirt and go back into the hallway where they are waiting.
“It’s done. Let’s go home.”
We can take care of everything else later. I just need my family in my arms to remind myself that we made it out of this stronger than ever before.
I grew up with a mother who mentally checked out before she died, and a father that was cold and heartless.
I lost my sister to a senseless act of negligence but I ended up with the best family a man could ask for, and I know Avina is smiling down on me, finally able to rest now that I’ve found my place in life.
With the Beta Team.
With my true family that I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.