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CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
It didn’t take long for Ezra and Atlas to get the information we needed from The Zombie. For someone so enamored with torture, he sure didn’t last very long. It couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours between the time they arrived and the time they left.
Forty-eight hours later and here we are, with a location in hand and a room full of people ready to give that bastard exactly what he deserves. Most of the faces I don’t recognize, but the ones I do, make my heart really happy. Melanie’s here and she brought Charles along with a group of four guys I can only assume are her brothers. Alex is here too, seated in a booth with The Mercenaries, and she’s decked out in all kinds of tactical gear.
“Thank you all for coming to meet us on such short notice.” Atlas says, walking out into the center of the empty dance floor to address the room. “As you know, Dimitri Evanoff has become The Organization's most wanted fugitive, and we summoned you all here tonight because we have some important updates.”
He slowly paces across the room and it’s as if every eye in the building is entranced by him. God, he was born to be a leader.
“We know where he is,” he continues, “and we know he isn’t alone. So I need to warn you now that this will be a dangerous mission. He’s hired one of the meanest motorcycle clubs in San Francisco as his muscle and we have it on good authority that he’s sleeping like a baby in their club house as we speak. Right now, he’s a caged animal and rest assured, he will do whatever it takes to evade his punishment. The five of us,” he says, pausing to let his eyes linger on me, “are going after him tonight. For us, this is personal and we can’t let his transgressions against The Organization slide. Now, I’ve asked you here, because all of you are people I trust most, but if you aren’t prepared to risk your life tonight, I ask that you leave now. No one in this room will judge you.”
Atlas turns away, giving everyone a chance to do just that, but when he turns back and finds the same faces staring back at him, I see a flicker of emotion reach his eyes.
That’s right.I think, nodding my head as he locks eyes with me.All of these people will follow you into a fucking fire and so will I.
* * *
We meet up at a parking structure located two blocks away from Dimitri’s hideout. As soon as he throws the car in park, Ezra kills the engine and the five of us slip out on silent feet. Atlas leads our pack to the rendezvous point at the edge of the structure and we wait there for everyone else to convene before moving forward.
As soon as we’re sure everyone’s there, Tristan slides out his phone and pulls up a diagram of the building’s blueprint.
“How are we on the alarm system?” Atlas asks to no one in particular.
“Disabled.” Cy says, with a firm nod. “And the camera feeds are looping. No way in hell they’ll see us coming.”
“Good. Okay, everybody listen up. There’s five emergency staircases to this apartment building, here, here, here, here, and here.” Atlas says, pointing out the doors on the map. “Those will be our points of entry.”
“That gives each of us our own path. Mel, you and your guys can take the North entrance. Creed, your team will take the South-West while Alek and his team take the South-East, Marcos will take the West, and We’ll take the East.”
“I’m taking the front.” Ezra bites out. “Alone.”
“That’s fucking suicide.” Cyrus retorts with a scowl. “You can’t. It’ll be the most heavily guarded, not to mention you’ll have no backup if something goes wrong.”
“It’s the most direct route, and it’ll be easier to go unseen alone.” Ez offers, shrugging his shoulders. “We all know the second Dimitri gets wind of our presence, he’ll try to run. We can’t let that happen again.”
We all stand quiet for a few seconds and take in the weight of what he just said.
He’s right.
“I’ll do it.” Atlas says. “If you’re right. Then we’ll need someone that can keep him there and keep him talking. He’s spent his whole life in a one-sided competition with me. I doubt he’ll be able to resist the opportunity to throw everything he did in my face.”
“What do you think we’re walking into?” Tristan asks, glaring up at the monstrous three story building. “
“It doesn’t matter.” Ezra hisses, taking on a sinister grin. “Anyone who stands in our way is dying tonight.”
* * *
Once we breach the first few floors, all hell breaks loose. I tried to stay close to The Reapers, but once we got ambushed on the third floor and the bullets started flying towards us, I had no choice but to head in the opposite direction of them.
Fuck.
I wanted to be there when they found him, but the guys made it clear that if Mel, Alex, or I got separated from the pack, we had to immediately head back to the rendezvous point and wait for them there. I wasn’t about to do something stupid and put them all in jeopardy again, so as soon as I realized I was alone, that’s exactly what I set out to do.
I scale the stairs with my gun drawn and my eyes wide, listening for any signs of someone else approaching. Most of the noise sounds like it’s coming from further upstairs, but I can’t be too careful. All it would take is one lone straggler to catch me off guard and it would be lights out for me.
I make it down to the first floor without incident, but the second I hear the distinct sound of a woman’s scream coming from above me, I don’t think. I just act.
I race up the steps two at a time as my adrenaline shifts into overdrive.
