Chapter 13
How the fuck had the Krypt gotten into their tunnel?
No one had ever breached their property before. Ever.
Xander was frustrated as hell, wondering how they could’ve found out about it, never mind gained access.
Unless… no, he didn’t want to think about a crew member or Val turning on them.
No, think. How else could it have happened? Was it possible that when they’d jammed the comms, they’d also scanned the HH phones for data? Shit. Xander controlled everything for their tech from his phone. He shifted the gun to one hand and pulled out his phone with the other. He quickly shut it down.
“Turn of your phone,” he whispered to Jesse. “I just realized how they got in here.”
“What?”
“Last night. When they jammed the comms, I’m guessing they scanned our phones and were able to somehow hack our data. Fucking hell.”
Shit. He needed to get back to his office to re-code, well, everything. All their passcodes, security cams, their whole fucking operation.
Why didn’t he realize sooner? Because he was distracted. By Jesse and Val. And that wouldn’t do.
But then there was no more time to think or worry about what had happened. Someone was shooting up their door and was about to bust through it.
When the door finally opened, two strangers stepped through. They were wearing bandanas around their face and Krypton cuts. There was no room for hesitation. Xander and Jesse fired. The men dropped to the ground like stones and Xander walked over, reaching out to grab their guns.
“Hold these,” he instructed Val as he passed her the guns.
Without question, she took them, as Xander yanked the bandanas off the dead men’s faces and stuffed them in his pocket.
“I recognize them from last night,” he said. “Two of the guys guarding the door.”
“Yup,” Jesse replied. “Grab their phones and anything else on them.”
Xander rummaged through their pockets and found their phones. Both had thumbprint locks, so he grabbed their limp hands and scanned fingers until the phone finally unlocked.
“They can’t be the only ones on site or on the way,” Xander whispered. “But maybe I can lead them to a trap. Text Sonny and see if they’re outside.”
Jesse tapped on his phone and nodded.
“They are. And they caught three of them trying to enter tunnel one.”
Xander searched through the Krypt’s text messages and found the most recent one. One with all the details about the Hellraiser’s property. They’d sent nine guys over here. Two were gone, three were caught, and four were still in the fucking tunnel. Christ. Xander tapped out a reply.
“Let Sonny know we’ve got these two and there are four more already in the tunnel.”
“What are you going to do?” Val asked.
“What do you think? They’re on their way to kill us. We have to take them out, too,” Jesse replied. “Eliminate as many of their crew as possible is our only option.”
“You talk very casually about killing human beings,” she snapped.
“People who would take you out without question,” Jesse hissed. “Kill or be killed, it’s a choice we make. This is the real world, not one of those fantasy books you read.”
“Jesse’s right,” Xander added.
Val shook her head. “You might want to think twice about insulting me while I have a gun, make that two, in my hand.”
Jesse rolled his eyes. “Don’t threaten me. And I seriously doubt you could hurt or kill anyone. Sass me again I’ll swat your ass so hard you won’t be able to walk for a week.”
Val said nothing, just glared at Jesse, then at Xander.
“We don’t have time to debate morality or deal with questions,” Xander reminded her. “We need to be prepared for the next ones coming down the tunnel.”
Val handed over the guns and leaned against the cement wall.
“Maybe you should go back to the room and wait. If you can’t handle—” Jesse started.
“I can handle it fine. I got myself into this mess, and as you warned me, I’m in it now. No looking back. Besides, if I ever decide to run away, at least I have leverage. I know where the bodies are buried. For most people that’s just a saying. Hard to believe this is now my real life.”
She glanced at the bodies on the ground.
“Can’t we move them, or cover them up?”
“Let’s drag them into room three.”
Jesse’s phone vibrated again. “Sonny said there’s no one else coming up to the entrance.”
Xander glanced at the phone in his hand. “That’s in line with the text messages. I pretended to be one of these jokers and said we were waiting here.”
They dragged the two bodies down the hallway into the storage room, then headed back to the tunnel door.
Finally, the phone in Xander’s pocket buzzed and he glanced down at the message.
“The four guys are on the move in tunnel one.”
Jesse and Xander got in position near the entrance. Everything was silent, until the soft echo of footsteps could be heard.
“Hey, Barnes, Nero, show your face.”
Xander looked at Jesse, then realized that if they didn’t respond, the guys would start firing. Four against two. He didn’t like those odds.
Then he remembered the bandanas he’d taken.
He put one on and handed the other to Jesse. Hopefully, in the dark, it’d give them time. They took the Glocks from Val and stood on either side of the door.
Xander glanced at Jesse and held up his hand. Three, two, one…
They turned towards the tunnel; guns drawn.
“Put those away, you stupid fuckers!” Someone yelled out. “It’s us.”
All four of the Krypt crew stepped into sight. And with their target in range, Xander and Jesse fired with pause. The roar of gunfire was loud in the enclosed space. Within a few minutes, all four men were dead, slumping to the ground.
“Let hope to fuck that’s the last of them,” Xander commented as he pulled down his bandana.
Jesse pulled out his phone and texted Sonny.
“That looks to be it. For now.”
“I need to get back to my office, now. I’ve gotta rework all our security.”
They walked back through the doorway to find Val on the other side, her hands covering her ears.
“Hey!” Jesse called out. “It’s over.”
She lowered her arms and wrapped them around her waist. “I’ve never heard gun shots so loud before.”
“The confined space.” Xander nodded. “You get used to it.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this.”
“We need you to help us drag the remaining bodies down the tunnel.”
Val opened her mouth, but no words came out.
“What?” Jesse replied. “You said you could handle this. So, hurry up and help us.”
Val finally moved off the wall, and followed Jesse, with Xander behind her. He was still worried she might make a run for it. Or freak out. After all, the woman led a peaceful life up until now. Anyone in her shoes would be in shock.
But, contrary to Xander’s fears, Val quietly helped them as they dragged all four bodies down to room three. They kept a large incinerator on the farm to take care of all kinds of disposals, and today would be no different.
Jesse’s phone buzzed again.
“Sonny’s on his way.”
Xander nodded, and they waited.
Ten minutes later, with Sonny and Dante taking care of the clean up, Xander, Jesse, and Val headed back to the clubhouse. The dogs were patiently waiting at the bunker entrance and trotted along with them.
“I’m gonna be in my office for the next while,” Xander murmured. “I may need help testing out the new security updates.”
“We’ll be around,” Jesse assured him. “But first, I’m gonna take Val to my place to clean up.”
“See you later.”
Xander walked down the family hallway to his office and breathed a sigh of relief. Getting away from Jesse and Val was necessary at this point. He needed to get his head back in the game and get their crew secured.
With his headphones in place, he sat down and began to type commands into his laptop. One corrected code after another, he re-arranged their security settings. Then he downloaded all the data from the Krypt crew phones and began to filter through the information.
There was good news and bad news.
Bad news, the Krypt had downloaded information from Xander’s phone about the Hellraisers’ compound. The good news, nine of their crew were eliminated. Which left twenty-one members to go. It wasn’t just about discovering the contacts in Krypt’s gambling and drug running operations anymore. The Krypton had to go. Which was fine by Xander. One less competitor was always welcome.
Three hours later, with their networks and cameras once again secure, he finally took a break. Or rather, he heard the rest of the crew in the house.
He headed out of his office to find Gage so he could give him the latest news. As usual, their President was sitting in his office, talking to Jesse, but one on one. They both stopped talking when Xander appeared.
“What’s the latest?” Gage asked. “We gonna have to go full attack?”
Xander nodded. “The Krypt gained access to our compound info via our phones the night we entered their facility. I’ve reset all our security, but they have twenty-one members left. We gotta get rid of every single one.”
Gage nodded. “How did they get the data?”
“When they jammed the comms, our phones were vulnerable. They were scraped. I honestly didn’t think they’d have access to, or knowledge of, that kind of tech. From everything I’ve researched about them, they run a pretty basic operation. The gambling ring we walked into was anything but new or complicated.”
“We underestimated them,” Jesse announced. “And now we have to clean up our mess.”
“It’s my fault,” Xander muttered. “I was too concerned with Val and Sage in there. I didn’t stop to think.”
Xander was waiting for Gage’s blowback, but he didn’t yell like Xander expected him to.
“The tech thing is a learning curve for all of us. Like us, other crews are using it to run their operations and hack into their rivals, and we need to be on guard. And increase our own measures. Given that, Xander, you need a backup, someone who can help you. I’m gonna talk to the prospects and see which ones might be a good fit.”
Xander nodded. “Now that I have the dead members’ phones, I’m gonna see where the money’s coming and going. We can also mine their contacts.”
Gage nodded. “That’d be useful and profitable. But first, we need to hit the kill switch and eliminate the immediate threat.”
“I can pretend to be one of them and text the rest of the members using one of the phones. Tell them that we gained access to the compound but we need more guys to unload the drug and gun supplies from one of the tunnels. I’ll put down our security temporarily so they think they’re all in, and boom, we hit them.”
“Be careful. They get a hint that it’s not one of their own and they might go into hiding. Then we gotta go hunting on their turf, and that ain’t always easy.”
“I’m on it,” Xander muttered. “There are messages piling up already. If I don’t reply soon, they’re gonna be suspicious for sure.”
“Get on it. Me and the rest of the crew will be ready to trap them when you say the word.”
Xander was about to leave but hesitated.
“Anything else?’ Gage asked.
“Yeah. Our cameras at the bar and the body shop in town caught an unfamiliar vehicle riding around. I traced the license plate, and it turns out to be a car rental from Mosley. Whoever it is, my gut says they’re here for Val.”