Chapter 39
Gage
Saying Les is pissed is an understatement.
Her giving up point to Ryder didn’t even surprise me. The relief on his face when she said she didn’t blame him was. I had no clue he still blamed himself. I thought we had all moved on from that. I guess he hadn’t yet.
We meet at the hood, not even trying to hide.
It’s broad daylight, and you can’t hide seven people in all black with assault rifles.
Ryder looks around at us, then squares his shoulders.
“We go in hot. Shoot everyone on sight. If this place is empty, we can help at one of the others. Holden stays in the middle with Les. Everyone else falls in line.” He jerks his head to follow him, and I can see the little smile playing on Les’ lips.
“How did you know?” I whisper. She knew this was what he needed, just like she always does.
She shrugs. “I just did,” she whispers back. “I’ve known Ryder for a long damn time.”
I acknowledge that with a nod and fall into step with Leo.
When the fence to the warehouse comes into view, Ryder signals to stop and duck behind another little building that looked like it used to be a guard shack.
The front gate is hanging wide open. Surrounding it are at least ten guards, just from what we can see, so this is either the place or a distraction.
“We can’t go in with them that deep,” Ryder whispers. “We need a sniper.” Zane grins and slinks off toward the SUV. Ryder watches him for a second before looking at Les. “What the hell?”
She shrugs. “What do you think he used to do for Dad?”
“How did I not know that?” Ryder whispers back.
“Because no one was ever supposed to know what Zane did. That’s what made him dangerous. They didn’t know who to look for.”
Before anyone comments, Zane appears back at Ryder’s side with a sniper rifle, clicking rapidly through it, getting it ready.
“Once the first guy drops, I’ll pick them off as fast as possible.
You guys need to be ready to storm; I’ll drop down on the other side.
Boost me up.” He looks at Ryder and Dex, nodding his head toward the security shack.
They stand, each getting one of Zane’s feet, and heave him up. Zane gets in position, and we get ready to run, guns already in front of us. We watch in slow motion as the first guy drops, then another in rapid succession.
That should not be as hot as it is.
We take off at a dead sprint, spread in single file, and open fire. There’s no way to hide now. Bodies start jerking and dropping, not ready for the hell we’re going to rain down on this place. They have Micah, which hurt my Pretty girl. They’re going to pay for that shit in blood.
When the last guard drops, Ryder holds up a fist to halt the shots.
Zane runs up beside us, sniper rifle slung on his back, with his assault rifle in front of him.
We wait to see if any more guards come out; when they don’t, Ryder waves us forward.
He holds up three fingers, counting down.
When the last finger drops, he jerks the door open, and Dex rushes in.
We step into what used to be the office, sweeping through every room and walking toward the doors leading us to the main warehouse.
This is the dangerous part. Warehouses are usually big open floor plans with nowhere to take cover.
We duck into the last room, with a huge window giving us a complete view.
There are guards everywhere, more than we can handle.
“This has to be the place,” Les whispers. “Why have so many guards?”
“We can’t do this alone,” Ryder whispers back. “We need backup.”
“Is that fucking Viktor?” Leo asks, stabbing his finger toward the warehouse.
Les looks up at Ryder, and I know what she’ll say before opening her mouth. “We aren’t waiting. He dies. Today.”
“Boss, I don’t…” I start to say but snap my mouth shut when she swings her eyes to me.
“He dies. You go with me, or I go alone. Either way, I’m going.”
“Ghost is five minutes away,” Zane reasons.
“We make sure Viktor doesn’t leave. We make our move if he looks like he’s going to.
” She stares at him for so long I think she’s going to say no, then she jerks a nod.
You hear everyone take a collective breath.
There is no doubt in my mind that she would have stormed right in there to take him out.
We hunker down in the room underneath the window; five minutes on the dot, Ryder gets confirmation that Ghost is set up at all the entrances, ready to storm inside.
The whole time Viktor paced the warehouse, barking orders at his guards.
Ryder fires off another text, and we get into position just behind the main door.
Ryder counts down from three and shoves the doors open.
Viktor’s head snaps up, then tries to hightail it the other way.
“VIKTOR!” Les yells, the sound echoing off the walls. “THIS ENDS NOW!”
You can hear the fury in her voice, see it in the set of her shoulders.
Viktor gives a signal, thinking it’s just us.
He doesn’t realize we have a bunch of pissed-off gangbangers rushing in that he just shot at.
And they are officially outnumbered now.
Viktor catches sight of Ghost, with Playboy, AKA Noah, proudly at his side, creeping in on them and tries to hide behind his guards.
“Quit being a fucking coward! And FACE ME!”
God, she’s fucking amazing. It makes me want to bow at her feet.
“I have nothing to say to the Italian whore,” Viktor sneers, spitting on the ground like he’s spitting on her name. He’s full of false bravado, still half hiding.
“Where is Micah?” She takes a step closer, gun raised in front of her.
“Where’s my wife?” Viktor growls.
“Can we stop pretending you give a fuck about her?” Alexey asks, stepping out from behind Ghost. Oh shit.
“You would side with this whore over your father?!”
“You were never a father to us!” Dmitri yells, stepping out from the other side. I’ve never heard either one of them raise their voice. It’s scary as hell.
Ryder gives a subtle signal to get ready. This will end one way; we aren’t backing down now.
“I’ll ask one more time,” Les says calmly. “Where’s Micah?”
“Dead.”
That one word drops to the floor like a weight. You can hear a fucking pin drop.
Please let him be lying. Please let him be lying, I repeat in my head over and over like a prayer, wishing with everything Viktor is still a lying piece of shit.
The roar of rage that leaves Les makes the hair on my arms stand on end. Two beats later, she starts unloading her clip.
Showtime.
We step into line with her, following suit. Ghost and his crew do the same. Bodies start hitting the floor, blood flying everywhere. I can’t even spare a second to see if Viktor is one of them. The sound is deafening in the room, then complete silence when the last guy hits the floor.
Les’ chest is heaving, her hands trembling.
“Boss,” Ghost says gruffly, and her head snaps to him. He walks forward with a very scared-looking Viktor, shoving him on his knees at Les’ feet.
“Bow to the Queen,” I quip because I can’t help myself.
Les lifts her boot and shoves him backward. As soon as he hits the floor, she walks up and places the heel of her boot on his jugular, pushing down. “Where. Is. He?”
“Dead,” Viktor repeats.
Les pushes harder. “WHERE IS HE?!”
Zane grabs her arm. “Wait.” She turns blazing blue eyes on him. “Listen.”
Viktor starts struggling against her. She puts all her weight on her foot, cutting him off with a gurgle. We all strain to listen and get ready to chalk it up that Zane officially lost his mind when it starts again. Banging.
Les’ head whips in that direction, then looks back down at Viktor. “Your time here is done.” She pulls a knife from the sheath on her pants that she always carries, twirling it around her fingers.
“I can tell you where Jay is.”
She pauses and tilts her head to the side. “I don’t give a fuck.” She rolls her shoulders back. “Marciume all’inferno,” she mutters her signature line, lifts her boot, and slices clean through Viktor’s throat.
We soak it in that Viktor is finally done. I glance up at Alexey and Dmitri because that’s still their dad and they look entirely unaffected. I understand how they feel. I was glad Connor was dead; he was never a father to me. That comes with guilt, though, that they’ll feel later.
Ryder touches Les’ arm gently to get her attention. She’s just staring at the blood rushing out of Viktor’s neck. “Let’s go get Micah.”
She lifts her head slowly like she’s in a trance. “He could have told me where Jay is.”
We all exchange a look. “He wouldn’t have ever told you, Pretty girl,” I say softly. I know we aren’t supposed to call her pet names in the field, but she needs it.
“He’s right,” Zane agrees. “Now, let’s go.”
She looks down one more time, then looks back up, her eyes clearing. She finally nods and follows Ryder toward where the noise was coming from.
“Micah!” Ryder bellows, then strains to listen. The banging starts again, and we rush to a door in the back through a set of double doors. It starts getting louder and louder until we stop in front of a door labeled boiler room.
Dex and Ryder nod to each other and jerk the door open. Micah is tied to a chair in the back, with tape over his mouth.
“Micah!” Les says, running over to him. She gently peels the tape from his mouth while Leo and I get to work untying his hands and legs. When I get to his hand, I see the blood on his knuckles where he was banging on the pipe behind him.
“Hey, shithead,” Micah says gruffly, making a watery laugh leave Les.
She hugs him tight once his arms are free before pulling back. “Are you okay?”
He nods his head down. “I took one in the leg.”
“Shit.” She grimaces when she sees the blood seeping through his jeans. “You need to go to the hospital.”
“No fucking way. Take me to Gerald and Boone,” Micah says, standing up. He almost goes back down as soon as he’s standing. Zane and I catch him under the arms before he can hit the floor. Micah is pale and clammy, well on his way to passing out from blood loss.
“No arguments, Micah. That’s not something that we can handle. You’re going to the hospital.”
“What am I supposed to tell them?” Micah argues, still leaning on Zane and me. “That I got shot by the leader of the goddamn Russian Mafia?”
“Tell them I shot you for being a stubborn dumbass.” She smiles sweetly. “Let’s go.”
I snort a laugh, earning a glare from Micah. “Something to say?”
“Yeah. Your Queen has spoken,” I say, then just grin at him.
We finally got rid of Viktor.
I can feel it deep in my bones that Jay is next.