Chapter 40 Secured
Secured
The wind whipped through my hair as I rode down the path, Elsie galloping beneath me at a quick and even pace.
When the first target appeared between the trees, I raised my Winchester lever-action rifle and fired, the bullet tearing through the little red dot in the center.
Keeping focus, Elsie blazed down the path while my attention moved to each appearing target, a single bullet penetrating the bull’s-eye each time.
Runs like these allowed me to clear my head, my body operating on autopilot and muscle memory as I cleared my moving targets one by one. With everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours, I needed a few moments of clarity, away from the demands of constant chaos.
For the first time in a long time, I did not have all the answers. And it was making me incredibly irritable and murderous.
Still one step ahead of you.
The words taunted me, something most of my enemies did not do.
They couldn’t afford that kind of game. They had to be more discreet in their attempts to thwart me, keeping silence to maintain their safety in anonymity.
But their identities didn’t remain secret for long, my retribution steadfast and absolute.
But this new adversary was different. They were deliberately trying to provoke me, taking their sweet-ass time with whatever the fuck it was they were trying to accomplish. But the attacks didn’t make sense.
First, they killed the man responsible for attacking us in Rome, then they killed my surveillance team tasked with hunting down Matt. The motives weren’t connecting.
And to top it all off, Jaden and the auction were both attacked on the same night. Had the whole thing just been some elaborate distraction to steal nearly two million dollars from our accounts while no one was looking?
Shifting my aim for the final time, I pulled the trigger, eliminating my last target of the run. I sighed as I pulled on Elsie’s reins, signaling her to slow down.
I just needed to remain patient. One way or another, my enemies always revealed themselves, whether they wanted to or not. And when this one did, they’ll wish they had never even heard of my fucking name.
Elsie trotted into a stop, snorting soundly just as Scott pulled up beside me on Zac, finishing his run of the targets. His energy was wrought with agitation as he pocketed his rifle in the saddle holster, his brow knitted together.
“The point of this exercise is to recalibrate, not antagonize ourselves,” I commented as I slid my rifle into my holster.
Scott shook his head, his eyes still brimming with frustration. “I can’t shake this feeling that we’re missing something bigger. Something right under our nose. It’s driving me nuts,” he muttered, his voice strained with contempt. I nodded in agreement.
Turning our horses around, we slowly made our way down the wide, open path back to the estate.
“Once we’ve exterminated Miguel, we can refocus our efforts,” I said, cracking a kink in my neck. “If we stretch our resources too thin, then they’ll become useless, and you know how I feel about useless things.”
Scott dipped his chin. “Miguel has to be nearly bled dry by now. All those safe-houses were demolished within hours of each other. He has no resources left on this side of the border.”
“That we know of,” I added grimly.
We were silent as we continued down the path, lost in our thoughts and theories of what was to come. Scott was right, though. We were missing something, and in my line of work, missing something was a deadly mistake to make.
I fully planned to personally double my efforts into hunting this shadow clown before he, or she, became emboldened to attempt more damage.
“The wind is picking up,” Scott suddenly commented as a heavy breeze blew through the trees.
I nodded as I reached back for my phone when the light sound of an approaching helicopter caught my attention.
“Are we expecting anyone I don’t know about?” I asked Scott.
“No,” he answered sharply.
Kicking Elsie into gear, Scott and I raced back down the path just as a loud explosion rocked the air, throwing both our horses into a fit.
Fuck!
Elsie and Zac both suddenly skidded to a stop, bucking and kicking, a shrill squeal echoing through the trees. Tightening my legs, I pulled the reins to keep myself from falling off as I tried to rope Elsie back under control.
When her front hooves finally touched the ground, I kicked hard, driving her to race off toward the noise. Scott was only a few paces behind me after regaining control of Zac, pushing just as hard as me to get back to the estate.
Two days. Two fucking days and now my private home was being attacked, with the most precious item I owned not permitted to leave it.
God-fucking-dammit.
When the sound of gunfire erupted, I kicked even harder. We were nearly ten minutes out on a steady cantor, but I aimed to cut that time in half, fueled by the wrath simmering in my blood.
Keeping steady, I managed to pull out my phone to check Jaden’s vitals, ensuring she was still alive. Her heart rate was through the roof, but she was alive. For now.
Whoever the fuck thought to enter my property today, I would end their entire fucking bloodline before the sun went down.
Finally breaching the trees, I could see a black gunship helicopter hovering next to the house, smoke filtering from the destruction as it began to rain gunfire across the lawns.
Launching myself from Elsie, I quickly descended into the dog kennel, ignoring the chaotic barking and howling as I pressed the hidden trigger release on the wall to reveal an extensive arsenal of weapons.
Grabbing the RPG, I heaved it over my shoulder, engaged the settings, then marched out onto my lawn. Taking aim, I fired it at the damn chopper, the explosion a satisfying storm of thunder as it erupted into a fiery ball of crushed metal, crashing to the ground with a loud metallic thud.
Tossing the RPG aside, Scott and I turned back to the kennel to quickly arm ourselves and made our way to the house. Checking my phone for Jaden’s location, imagine my fucking surprise when I saw she was not yet bunkered down in one of the panic rooms where she was supposed to be by now.
Both of her legs had better be fucking broken or I was going to break them myself and permanently chain her to our bed when this was over.
“You take the east. I’ll take the west,” I said to Scott as we approached the back of the house. “Jaden is the top priority.”
“On it,” he replied before separating from me to head in the opposite direction.
Creeping through my own house, I quickly maneuvered around the disheveled furniture and chunks of blown-apart drywall, following the sound of gunfire and combat.
Sliding to my knees, I knelt beside an upturned table just as a swarm of bullets burst overhead.
Shoulder to the floor, I returned fire, my aim far better than that of my adversaries.
Moving past their dead bodies, I pressed my rifle hard against my shoulder and squeezed off two more rounds, dropping two more unsuspecting bodies to the floor.
The sound of barking among the gunfire caught my ears.
“Camaro!” I called as I moved toward the sound of her bark. Jaden’s mark had placed her somewhere near the parlor, so she had to be close.
But before I could advance, the muzzles of several rifles rounded the corner. Lifting my knee, I kicked the rifles hard, throwing off the trajectory, and slammed the butt of my M16 into the face of the nearest body.
Bringing the rifle back up, I fired it at the second gunman in the throat, then grabbed the top of the third gunman’s rifle, bullets firing from the barrel as I steered it around to fire at the first of them.
Dropping my gun, I ripped my knife from my belt and shoved it into his trachea, yanking it out to cut more of his arteries than was necessary.
A body then slammed into me from behind, my momentum following the flow of energy to twist around and out of his hold. He lifted his leg to kick me, my body turning to the side to trap his leg between my arm and ribs before my elbow slammed down on top of his kneecap, breaking it in place.
Satisfied with his howling, a quick glimpse of his utility vest showed two grenades attached, prompting me to reach out and snatch the pin from one of them. I then kicked him into the next room, right into two more of his buddies, all three bodies crashing to the floor.
Picking my rifle back up, I bolted from the area just as the grenade went off, the sharp explosion activating the designated area sprinkler system and the familiar ringing in my ear.
Increasing my pace, I leaped over debris as I followed the sound of Camaro’s bark until I heard it morph into a vicious series of snarls.
Fuck!
I abruptly halted in my tracks when I came upon several more gunmen, the barrels of their rifles moving low toward the ground. Two gunshots were fired, dropping one of the gunmen to the ground while the rest advanced.
“No!” Jaden’s panicked voice screamed just as Camaro came into my vision.
Firing off multiple shots, I sprayed my bullets into the backs of two men before they crumpled to the ground. I groaned as I realized my clip was now fucking empty, and I lacked the time to reload.
Advancing quickly on the others who had now scattered, I slammed the butt of my gun into the temple of the nearest one while kicking the rifle out of the hands of the one at my right.
Retrieving my hunting knife from my side, I ducked below a swinging fist and drove the serrated blade into their side, twisting it deep before yanking it back out. Blood sprayed across my face, the smell antagonizing that demon inside me, the one that lusted for carnage.
Quickly lifting my arm, I blocked the aim of the pistol directed at me just as it fired into the ground. Kicking in his knee, the gunman screamed as his body dropped low, giving me the opportunity to shove my knife deep into his throat.