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“You’re fucking telling us this now?” Dom yells at him.
“You didn’t let me finish. It can only be opened from the inside—unless you’re me,”Franco says. I can hear his grin in his voice.
“Cocky bastard,” Dom laughs and the door swings open. Two men come out with semi-automatic rifles. Fuck.
We duck where we can, which is really nowhere. The corridor is empty, except for some pillars. Dom sprints toward one of the guys and grabs his gun with Bash not far behind him. The second guy aims his gun at Enzo, and I shoot him in the head.
“Anya!” I hear Nico yell. Dom is able to get the rifle away from the first guy, and he knocks him out with the butt of it.
“Oh, so you keephimalive?” I look at Dom exasperated, and he just shrugs.
“Jesus Christ, we’re never doing anything like this again!” Nico yells into the earpiece, and I can’t help but laugh at how stressed he is.
I sprint into the bomb shelter and freeze. The first thing I notice is the size of the room. It’s way bigger than the blueprint showed. It must’ve been expanded recently. The next is a long line of soldiers with various handguns, semi-automatic rifles, and knives pointed directly at me. The last thing my eyes catch is a man standing behind the soldiers on a slightly elevated platform, like a stage.
Andrew. My uncle.
I can hear the men behind me. We’re at a standstill.
“Shit. So much for six men,” Enzo mutters.
“How many?”Franco asks.
“Twelve,” I say.
“If you can, get down here now,” Bash says to whoever is listening.
“You all must know who I am,” I address the men.
I can see a mixture of emotions between them. Some look unsure, as if they can’t help but be loyal to me but can’t seem to defy Andrew. Others look filled with hatred, and some have their bodies angled slightly to the side, like they’d rather slit the throat of the man next to them than hurt me.
“For those of you who don’t, I’m Anya Liu.”
I scan the men again, conflict in all their gazes at my admission.
“The choice you make right now will determine your future. Choose wisely,” I tell the men.
We stand for what feels like an eternity. Then someone from behind the wall of men starts clapping. He walks forward between his men, and we’re now less than four feet apart. He looks aged and tired. He may have been handsome at some point, but the greed and evilness had started to eat at him. His eyes were cold and dead, his mouth in a permanent sneer. Andrew.
“Wo de zhí nu. Ni ràng wo yìn xiàng shen kè.”My niece.You impress me, he says with his arms crossed.
“Wo lái zhè li bù shì wèi le shuo huà.”I didn’t come here to talk,I say as I bring my Beretta up to his face.
“Bang huì zhòng shì róng yù hé lì liàng. Ba qiang fang xià. Xiàng zhen zhèng dí shìbing yiyàng zhàn dòu.”The Triad values honor and strength.Put the gun down and fight me like a real soldier, he says.
“Anya, what are you waiting for? Shoot the guy!” Nico yells into my ear. I put my gun down, but I hear several others click behind me, who are ready to shoot if I need them to.
“Zuò ba.”Let’s do this, I say, charging for him. I notice, at the same time, only some of his men go after mine. There’s chaos everywhere, but I’m focused on one man.
“Anya,what the hell are you doing?”I hear Nico yell back, but I tune him out.
Andrew dodges me and quickly retreats back. I can’t let him get the upper hand. He’s older, but I don’t want to underestimate him. Cesare is a prime example that age doesn’t determine strength. That man is a tank, even well into his fifties. He comes at me, kicking at me fast, but I’m able to bob and weave around him. He pulls out two knives, one in each hand.
“What happened to honor?” I yell back at him.
He laughs menacingly. “You stupid brat. You think you can just come in here and take everything from me!” he screams.
“You’re insane!” I yell as I land a series of punches. I land a solid kick to his chest that has him stumbling. “Youtook everything fromme!”I scream back as I charge at him, avoiding his knives.
