Chapter 17 – The Regiment
Chapter Seventeen
The Regiment
“That bastard and his crew went through our hired assassins like they were toddlers with toy guns,” General John Bastian raged. “Hell, to further insult us, they had some damn teenagers fighting alongside them. And didn’t even give us the courtesy of losing even one of their own.”
“I thought no one survived the attack,” General Chadwick Newman said skeptically. “So, how do you know how the attack progressed?”
“Commander Rodgers sent a text during the attack,” General Bastian gritted out. “He wanted us to know that their weapons were useless against them. The Petrovs. Apparently, the family blocked their access to the restaurant that Il Carnefice was having dinner in. He wasn’t sure, but they seemed to be using some special bombs or something.”
The Regiment had convened an emergency meeting after the botched attack on the mafia boss . They had sent over one hundred mercenaries after the mafia’s Godfather, and still, they were unable to even so much as lay an eye on their target.
“At least now we know that the rumors that he is one of the Petrovs has been proven true,” Grand General Xiao Zheng of China said soberly.
“I know of a few men who’ve had some experience dealing with the Petrovs,” Colonel General Bakhin offered. “They advise never to go after the members of the family directly. We have to go after their friends and associates. These men promise that they can successfully grab anyone needing to be grabbed. They also assured me that there is a special place that we can take hostages where the Petrovs have less influence and power.”
“Well, we will keep that in mind,” General Bastian said thoughtfully. “Meanwhile, my contact tells me that Il Carnefice was in the restaurant with a woman. He works at the restaurant and was able to get us a picture of the woman. For some odd reason he wasn’t able to get a clear picture of Il Carnefice .”
“Do you know who she is?” Gensui Sorato Yamada asked.
“She is a Las Vegas SWAT officer,” General Bastian told them. “Can you believe the balls on this guy? One of the world’s most wanted criminals openly dating a police officer?” General Bastian shook his head at the irony.
“Is she important to him?” Sir Richard Williams, a major general from the United Kingdom asked.
“According to our informant, he treated her as if she was royalty and barely took his eyes off her,” General Bastian confirmed. “He bought out the entire restaurant so that he could have dinner with her alone. He even flew in a renowned French chef for the occasion.”
“Well, that’s how we get him then.” Sir Richard was eager to have some concrete plan of attack. “Once we grab her, forcing him to come to us should be easy. I’m sure sending him pieces of her every day until he comes to us will do the trick.” Sir Richard’s fondness for torture was well known, and no one was surprised that he would be looking for an opportunity to dismember a perfectly healthy young woman.
“Are you forgetting something?” Grand General Zheng gave the other members of the organization an impatient look when no one seemed to know what he was getting at. General Zheng sighed in exasperation.
“We already tried this through proxies to attack his people, and he decimated every one of those proxies and then some,” he said in annoyance. “ Il Carnefice brutally killed them all and the contacts that led us to them. You remember that, don’t you?”
“That bastard is not untouchable.” General Bastian glared across the table at General Zheng.
“I’m not saying that he is,” General Zheng said coolly. “Up until now, our organization has remained hidden, and that anonymity has ensured our longevity. If we do this, go after him like this, we have to prepare ourselves for a direct attack against our organization. Make no mistake, gentlemen. We go after him, he will come after us.”
“No one has found us before. This bastard doesn’t have a chance in hell of uncovering our existence.” Sir Richard said arrogantly.
“I agree with General Zheng,” Gensui Sorato Yamada said thoughtfully. “Every time we think we know how to get to this guy, it turns out that we didn’t have a clue.”
“I don’t give a fuck about hiding anymore,” General Bastian muttered.
General Bastian’s rage permeated the room. The resolve to bring down mutual enemies in the past had always been done with cool logic. They were men who planned for all contingencies, who were always one step, sometimes several steps, ahead of whatever target they had in their sights. This was different.
This had become personal, at least to General Bastian, their leader.
“I want this asshole brought to his knees and don’t care how we do it!” General Bastian banged his fist violently on top of the hardwood round table with seemingly no thought to preserving his hand.
“I will call my contacts,” Colonel General Bakhin said to the now silent room.