Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Syrus
Ihave five Widows with me when the first signs that Silva is in trouble reach me over the comms unit in my ear.
“Kid gloves are off, ladies,” I murmur. “We’re headed to the library. Shoot to kill.”
“Silva,” Lexi whispers as she hears her scream.
“Focus,” Luna hisses. “That’s the best way to help her.”
Nodding, Lexi stands taller and pulls out her ear comm to slip it into her pocket. I suppose it’s easier as things progress than to hear everything happening to Silva and being unable to help. If I wasn’t such a glutton for punishment and a point person on this mission, I might do the same thing.
Isidro is on his own, Harlan and Kyren are in different parts of the mansion, and Sloane and Aiden left Lexi with me to help clear the areas I need to bring the girls to next.
As soon as we heard the first gunshot, we decided we needed to start moving toward Silva. Thank god for these trackers.
The Dolls are with Emmett at the vans, which is a much safer place for them than the mansion, with the heaters going. Everything was going according to plan until now.
Moving down the hall again, I’m taken by surprise when a woman with blonde hair comes running out in front of me. Raising my firearm, I stop when a hand touches my arm.
“Death is too good for her,” Aries snarls. “Viv, you fucking bitch! Stop running.”
“She’s all yours,” I reply, keeping my aim low and shooting the beta in the leg. I would feel a little worse about shooting a woman, but the Widows have shared stories about the beta handlers with me while we’ve been planning.
She’s vermin.
“Ah! I’m innocent! Leave me alone,” Viv yells, falling to the ground and clutching her leg. The beta is in her mid-forties, with rounded hips and a bad attitude.
“No one is innocent who works here,” Lexi snarls, moving with Lark to pin her down.
“Two down, one more rat to find,” Lark grunts. They all know about Ruth’s end, and it was honestly too good for her. These are the main women who kept them all in check for years. Anyone else is a puppet.
Pulling out rope from my pocket, I follow them. I also find a handkerchief to use as a gag since I loaded my pockets with them for just this purpose. I don’t want to take my ski mask off, as Harlan warned me to keep my anonymity since I’m a police officer.
He doesn’t want any record of me being here, even if the government agencies helping us are on our side. You can never be too careful I suppose.
“Oh shut up,” I growl, shoving the material into the beta’s mouth. God is she annoying.
It’s just a little bullet wound for fuck’s sake. The Widows are definitely going to do worse to her later.
Using the rope, I tie Viv’s arms behind her back, and then loop it around her ankles to effectively hog tie her. Making sure my knots are tied tightly, I add more rope around her mouth and back of her head so she can’t spit out her gag.
Lexi watches me with wide eyes, and I shrug.
“I’m really glad you’re on the right side of things,” she mutters. “I need to talk to my sister later.”
“Can I join that girl gab session?” Aries smirks.
“Please don’t force her to talk about our sex lives,” I groan, dragging Viv by her hair to check a door nearest to me.
Poking my head into the room, I find it’s a closet with a lock. I pull her inside and lock it, memorizing where we are.
“Sloane?” I ask into the comm.
“Yeah,” he replies as I keep moving.
“I left you a present in a closet to collect later. She’s got a gunshot wound, but she’ll live. Unfortunately.”
“Sounds fun. Yeah, I’ll swing by soon. She can sit for a while,” he says.
As we continue, we run into Kyren, and I swear Lexi and Luna flinch as he steps into the hallway.
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “Izzy is headed toward Silva. We put a tracker under his skin years ago. It made us all feel better on missions. Harlan’s also called in reinforcements. Stay vigilant and keep moving.”
Nodding, it takes a lot for me not to say anything to Spitfire as we walk into a shitstorm in the main house. Businessmen pull guns on us like the scum that they are, which is also how they die.
If there’s any of them left alive later, the Feds are welcome to them.
Blood spray is minimal as we shoot to wound and kill, my eyes on the library as we get closer.
I can hear Izzy’s voice once he’s there, as well as Silva’s pained sounds when she’s hit, and my heart almost seized in my chest when the gunshots go off. I can’t relax until I hear her voice through the comm.
“The men in this room are all dead, while we’re not,” she says. “It doesn’t sound like we’re the ones in danger.”
“She’s fine,” I rasp to Lexi as I stop to leave her with Aiden.
“Fine is always relative when it comes to Silva. She will always minimize her pain levels,” she says, putting her ear piece back in.
“You’re right,” I admit, deciding to check for myself now that we all have the ability to talk to her.
“Need anything, Spitfire?” I ask her, careful to watch my six as I walk toward the basement’s entrance, where they’ll be taking Gideon.
There’s hesitation on her end for a moment, which makes me frown. How can I tell her that I’ll do literally anything for her? So many of my morals are going up in smoke just by being here, because what has happened to her and the Widows makes me want to burn the world down.
These are good fucking omegas, just trying to find their way in a cruel world. Justice isn’t always pretty or fair in this world, something that’s always pissed me off.
There is too much red tape, and never enough action. Tonight, the burden of proof lies firmly on the words of the victims and the blood of their abusers will flow. I’ll make sure of it.
“Ah, how far does ‘anything’ go?” Silva asks, her voice filled with venom.
“It means the solar system is the limit, baby girl,” I say honestly. There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for her.
“I want Viv and Beth if they’re alive.”
Smirking, I let Kyren control the conversation as I see a woman with brown hair running for the back door to escape. Stretching my neck from side to side, I smile cruelly as I take off after her.
Whatever my girl wants, is what she gets.
Harlan
Gazing at the bodies strung up in front of me in the basement, I smile grimly as I help Kyren line up toys for the omegas to play with.
I found Izzy’s bag outside, and there’s a hand saw inside, as well as pliers and an electric branding iron so they can join the afterlife with their sins marked on their skin.
You can find anything on the internet, and Izzy had a field day ordering things.
The basement looks as if it’s a dumping ground for maintenance tools, and whoever gardens in the warmer months left all their shit here. It works really well when we happen to also find a car battery and cables.
Gideon is still passed out, while Beth and Viv glare down at us with venom in their eyes.
“I don’t think these women know how fucked their situation is,” I say lazily, picking up a forked pick. The gardener won’t need that again any time soon. “Who wants to show them?”
“I have some aggression to work out,” Briar murmurs, taking it from me. I noticed on the comms that she’s been very quiet and withdrawn. She’s done what’s necessary and hasn’t been chatty.
Now I can see it’s because she’s angry.
The Widows have all removed their facial coverings since the material is stifling, and Viv and Beth are breathing harder as they see Briar’s wicked smile.
“That’s for refusing us human decency,” she snarls, lifting the pick and driving it into Beth’s ribs. There’s no reason for her to be careful, and it’s unlikely that any of her tenderizing blows will be a death sentence.
“Anyone want to help?” I ask mildly, picking up a mallet. It’s light but packs a punch.
“Lexi and I can have a go at it,” Aries says, pulling Lexi aside.
Lexi hasn’t been able to stop staring at her sister. I can understand why since her cheek is beginning to bruise, and she’s favoring her ribs.
“Hey,” I murmur, tugging her to me. “Are we accepting hugs yet?”
“Gentle hugs only, please,” Silva says. “My ribs might be bruised.”
“Okay,” I say mildly, bending over to hug her carefully. I refuse to make a big deal about this when it’s clear that she’s fighting through the present Gideon left with his fists. “Will you accept painkillers to dull the pain?”
“God yes,” she says gratefully. “How else can I join in with inflicting the pain if everything makes it hurt to breathe?”
“Fuck me, baby. You make me want to wrap you in bubble wrap,” I complain.
The sounds of dull edged weapons hitting skin and flesh being sunk into by sharp objects becomes my favorite kind of music as I get Silva her meds with some water in the backpack that I have.
I sing the lyrics to Bodies by Drowning Pool in my head as I do so, because it fits perfectly and I’ve never bragged about being well adjusted.
“I’m going to leave Izzy with you, baby,” I murmur, my lips pressed to her ear so only she can hear me. “I need to steal Aiden to help with clean up, and I actually have to arrest people instead of kill them. Please have fun for me, okay?”
“You poor, sweet, man,” she teases me. It’s nice to see that she can still give me shit, even though I can see the shadows of pain in her eyes. “Go be a badass. You probably should take your mask off.”
Smirking, I pull off my mask, happy to feel the cooler air on my face as I shove it in one of my pockets.
“Do you mind if I go with you?” Syrus asks, looking uncomfortable. “I want to check Gideon’s office before the government gets there. I need to see if there’s any information on my sister there.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kyren offers. “I need to erase all information of the women we just removed from the property, as well as the Widows. I don’t want them to use any of that information to track them down, not even for questioning.”
“Sounds like we have a plan,” I say, looking back down at Silva. Since she looks kissable, I drop my head and kiss her hard. “Thank you for staying alive, baby.”
“Happy to still be here. It was touch and go for a second,” she admits.
“Should we wake this asshole up?” Izzy asks, setting down the car battery on the ground.
“I want to see this,” I chuckle, watching as he attaches a clamp to Gideon’s bare foot.
Izzy wasted no time earlier stripping the man of both his dignity and his clothes, because it’s much easier to torture a man without the accouterments of his formalwear.
The Widows step back from beating the fuck out of Beth and Viv to watch as Izzy attaches the other cable to the car battery, grinning collectively as Gideon’s body begins to shake and jerk. His eyes open wide, and his mouth drops into a scream.
“Rise and shine,” Briar murmurs.
Needless to say, none of us were very careful with Gideon, Beth, or Viv when bringing them down here. Syrus made sure Beth hit every fucking stair as he dragged her behind him by the hair. A few bumps and bruises aren’t much in the karmic debt scale that these three owe the universe.
Yet, Gideon never woke up and I had to check for a fucking pulse to ensure he hadn’t died of a heart attack. Whatever he looked like ten years ago, time hasn’t been kind. He’s going gray, his stomach reminds me of a tire hanging over his waist, and his voice is raspy from too many cigars.
There’s no more hiding. The Widows are here for their vengeance, and judging by their fierce expressions, they will not go easy as they take it.
“Hey G,” Silva says with a cruel smile, patting my chest as she leaves me to pick up a huge hunting knife. “How ya doing, ole buddy, ole pal?”
Izzy removes the clip from the car battery, but leaves the other on Gideon’s foot as both a warning and a promise that he won’t hesitate to use it again.
“You should have been put down like dogs!” Gideon yells, breathing hard as he looks around the room. He’s the only one of our hanging prisoners in the room not currently gagged, and that’s only because he would have choked on it with the electricity he had coursing through his body a moment ago.
Death would be too kind for him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Silva shrugs, digging the weapon into his chest and drawing it down so slowly it almost doesn’t appear to be moving.
The blood bubbles up and slowly begins to flow, as if his body doesn’t realize it’s been cut yet.
“We aren’t going to lay on our backs, submit, or accept anything less than our freedom. Not ever.”
“You’ll do what you’re—”
Picking up the first thing available to me, I walk over and swing a bat at his head, enjoying the way the metal bounces off his skull.
“No alpha barks!” I yell. “Bad puppy. Behave for the nice psycho omegas.”
Lexi laughs at my words, but shrugs because I’m not wrong.
“Have fun, ladies. Isidro has a branding kit he’s keen to try out.
He’ll set it up for you so you can burn all your rage permanently into Gideon’s skin,” I say.
“I have to deal with some red tape bullshit and play nice. I’m going out to lock the entrance to the basement behind me. I don’t want anyone to ruin your fun.”
I pout because I’m dramatic before glancing at my brother who nods. The basement entrance is simply too close for comfort in this estate to all the action happening upstairs. The safety of the people in this room is important to me.
Except Gideon, Beth, and Viv. They can fuck all the way off.
My brother walks over to say goodbye to Lexi, and then I’m walking out of the basement, leaving two pieces of my heart behind.
Dramatic? Maybe a little, but they’ve both given me gray hairs tonight. I’ll have to remind them that they’re not allowed to leave me alone in the world. They both tether me to my humanity, and it won’t go well if something happens to either of them.
“Harlan, is that you?” Gary Dregman asks.
Syrus taps me on the shoulder and cuts away quickly with Kyren, signaling that they’re hightailing it the fuck out of here. I don’t blame them.
“Yes, sir,” I reply as Aiden stands next to me.
“This is quite the bust,” Gary mutters, looking around him. There is gun fire still going off, as the men who attend Gideon’s parties aren’t the type to surrender easily.
Shifting to a protected alcove with them, I nod in agreement. More and more agents are wrestling people to the ground, but it’ll be awhile before the night is over for them.
“Point us in a direction, and Aiden and I will help,” I reply.
“You two cowboys are going to create more paperwork for me, aren’t ya?” he sighs.
“Ghosts can’t create paperwork,” Aiden says with a wink. His face is bare to the world now as well, his smirk telling Gary that he plans to be a goddamned menace.
“Use zip ties instead of bullets when possible,” Gary says tiredly.
Letting out a whoop, I jog out into the fray with Aiden. When in Rome, huh?
Yippee ki yay, mother truckers.