Chapter 15
Vin nervously rubbed his hands together before taking a pair of binoculars out of his bag to look out at the camp. He was positioned atop a nearby building located on the side of the camp they were going to sneak in.
The plan was coming together nicely. They had quickly and quietly worked their way through several buildings, taking out sentries and eliminating any reinforcements that might come in behind them and close off their escape route. Chainz wasn’t kidding about his military contacts.
They had come through splendidly, and because of the crime lord’s underhanded connections, they actually had a chance to pull this off.
The building Vin crouched upon wasn’t a skyscraper by any stretch of the imagination.
It was a small ten-floor apartment building with a fire escape on the side.
Once they were satisfied that the distraction team was doing its job, they’d make their way down the fire escape, and the mission would be a go.
That wasn’t to say that it hadn’t already begun.
Vin had already taken out more than a dozen enemy combatants while slowly and quietly taking over the building.
His hands were already soaked with the blood of remnant forces, but he knew this was only the overture.
The true battle still awaited him down within the confines of that fenced-off camp.
From his vantage point, he couldn’t see the prison area where Chainz believed Deb and Jimmy were being held.
That made him uneasy. He was taking a lot on faith with this mission, and a lot of that information came from a man in who he had no faith at all.
It made the pit in his stomach feel like a chasm.
Suddenly a tingling burst of prickling pain spread down Vin’s right arm, and he gritted his teeth in frustration.
Not now, he thought as a fresh stab of agony electrified the nerve-damaged limb.
It was beyond frustrating to have to deal with these occasional flare-ups, and they always seemed to hit Vin during the most inconvenient times.
Sweat was forming on his brow as he tried desperately to keep the mind-numbing pain from registering on his face. Attempting to move his arm through it, Vin unwittingly caused a second wave to strike, even more painful than the first.
Despite his years of practiced discipline, Vin couldn’t stop a small grunt from pushing through his lips as he opened and closed his fist, trying to will the flare-up away.
“Having trouble?” a deep and unwelcomed voice mocked him from behind.
Vin cursed under his breath, turning the face Chainz, who stared at him with a feral sneering grin.
“You ain’t lookin’ so hot.”
“I’m fine,” Vin growled, staring up into the massive crime lord’s face without a shred of the pain he was feeling showing in his icy stare.
“That grunt there didn’t sound fine,” Chainz replied, motioning at Vin with his strong thick chin. “Sounded like you got some hurt you’re trying to hide.”
Vin silently cursed the gang leader’s attention to detail. That grunt had been slight. It had been barely perceivable. But Chainz had still noticed it. That told Vin one very important detail. Chainz was watching him closely. He was looking for a weakness to exploit, and he had found it.
However, Vin hadn’t shown any outward sign of where his injury was. He had only grunted in pain. He didn’t clutch at his shoulder or swing his arm around, trying to will feeling back into it. So, while Chainz may have known there was a problem, he didn’t know exactly what it was.
“I ain’t hiding anything,” Vin said back, giving an icy stare back into Chainz’s face. “I think maybe you’re trying to see what you wanna see, big man.”
“Heh,” Chainz scoffed, turning over toward Maverick, who stood off to the side, twirling a butterfly knife expertly in his fingers. “You hear that, Mav? Vin here thinks I’m making shit up.”
“Not likely,” Maverick said, his voice silken and icy as the blade spun through his fingers with practiced poise. “The boss doesn’t make anything up.”
“You heard the man,” Chainz said, his grin returning.
“Excuse me if I don’t find the words of your chief flunky comforting,” Vin replied, and he watched Maverick’s jaw tighten.
“What’d you call me?” he snapped, the knife stopping in his hand as he held it threateningly by the handle.
“Easy Maverick,” Chainz said, holding up a massive hand to stop the contract killer from tossing that knife with perfect precision at Vin’s heart. “Vin here is our friend for this mission. We’ve all gotta work together for a common goal….for this mission.”
“For this mission,” Maverick repeated with a nod, giving Vin a threatening look before turning and walking away.
Chainz gave him another long, slow grin that ate up his face before turning and following Maverick across the rooftop.
Vin had undertaken high-risk missions like this many times in the past, but each time he was confident in the people he was either following or leading.
Glancing around this rooftop did nothing to fill him with any level of confidence.
In fact, one look was enough to fill his heart and mind with dread.
There were roughly two dozen of them, all criminals of some sort.
Many were Chain Gang, some were mafia, and others were members of other gangs that all fell under Chainz’s criminal umbrella.
Then there was Maverick, Legion, Jessie, and of course, Chainz himself.
Every single one of them had a scowl of contempt reserved specifically for him.
He could feel their hate and disdain with every cross-eyed glare.
He firmly believed there wasn’t a person on this roof that didn’t want to see him dead, save for Sean.
And he wasn’t one hundred percent certain on that, either.
Sean stood off on the far side of the roof, away from Vin and the rest of the rabble that composed their invading force. His strong jawline was clenched with determination, and he kept his eyes locked on the camp below.
He hadn’t even so much as glanced over while Chainz had been giving Vin the business. Vin knew Sean was in the zone. He was concentrating on what needed to be done. They both had a lot on the line, and Vin knew Sean’s determination rivaled his own. It might have even exceeded it.
It also hadn’t escaped Vin’s notice of how far Sean was standing from him.
He knew Vin wasn’t especially popular among Chainz and his cronies, and it was possible that a shot in the back was coming for Vin at some point during this operation.
Perhaps Sean’s distance was a form of self-preservation at the moment—a subconscious statement issued to Chainz and his soldiers that said while he might have brought Vin into their midst, he wasn’t with him and wasn’t associated with him.
Vin didn’t mind it so much. It was smart.
Sean had a lot to fight for here. A wife, a stepson, and a future with them on the ranch.
While Jimmy was Vin’s son and Vin would do anything for him, he knew Sean was more of a father to him than Vin ever could be.
It was a sobering thought but one Vin had come to accept long ago.
In fact, it was something Vin had thought about a lot in the hours leading up to this operation.
He wanted what was best for Deb and Jimmy, and there was no future for them where he was involved.
Sean, however, was important to both of them.
He was a provider, a protector, and the role model Vin could never be.
That was why Vin was walking into this mission with a secondary objective.
He was going to make sure Deb and Jimmy were rescued as planned.
But he was also going to ensure Sean lived through this.
He needed to. Sean’s survival was essential to the future that Deb and Jimmy deserved.
Vin had always wanted to provide for them, to make sure they had the best chance for the best possible future.
That future was Sean, and Vin would lay down his own life if it meant protecting Sean’s.
Part of that right now was keeping his distance from the man. If a bullet truly was coming for his back, he wanted to ensure Sean wasn’t going to be placed in Chainz’s crosshairs any more than he already was.
They’re taking their sweet time out there, Vin thought, looking out toward the far side of the camp.
The distraction team was going to be launching their attack any minute, firing in from a distance and keeping the attention of enemy forces.
While Vin couldn’t actually see that side of the camp, he’d definitely be able to hear it once the fighting started.
However, he had to focus his attention on the area in question. The city around him was alive with gunfire and explosions as pockets of resistance fought against remnant troops all throughout the decimated metropolis.
But those sounds were far off. And while the opposite end of the camp wasn’t exactly close, it would certainly be a lot louder than what he was already hearing.
His hands rested on the handles of the two pistols holstered at his side. Vin had left his customary twin revolvers behind for an operation of this scope, opting instead to utilize the military-issued weapons Sean had kept within his safehouse.
Before riding off to meet with Chainz, Sean and Vin had taken every weapon they could carry on their horses. Then, they had set fire to the building, burning everything within. They weren’t about to leave anything for the remnant to bolster its soldiers with.
Vin could tell the destruction of the safe house wasn’t easy for Sean. It was one of the few memories he had left in this world revolving around his family. But he had let it go for the sake of their mission, and Vin respected him all the more for it.
Vin wasn’t unfamiliar with the weapons he had armed himself with.
They were fairly standard and could be reloaded a lot faster than his revolvers.
He also had a semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, along with ammunition packs strapped to his body and three knives that could be used for close combat.
He was ready.
Now the damn mission just needed to start. No sooner had this thought crossed Vin’s mind than did an explosion rip out from the camp. A fiery burst could be seen on the horizon, and shouts of alarm could be heard, even at this distance.
It wasn’t long before the night was alive with the sound of gunfire. The attack had begun.
“It’s about damn time,” Chainz said from across the roof, holding up a massive rifle and motioning for his men to move out.
Vin slowly stretched his arm, feeling the wave of pain that had overcome him just moments ago subsiding. This was good. He knew that in order to achieve their goal here, he’d have to be at one hundred percent.
Vin swung his rifle around and checked the ammo. He was ready.