My eyes squinted as I noticed a familiar ink on the arm of the man who tookDikaya. Only one gang in the city had those Phoenix tattoos. Richard Kane’s men. The son of a bitch was behind this. I wasn’t surprised at all.
“Where were you when she was fighting these men?” I asked my guards, frowning at them.
“We checked and found there was something in the ventilation system that knocked them out cold,” Boris replied on their behalf. “This was a coordinated attack.”
“Richard Kane is behind this,” I said, my gaze sweeping across the faces of my men. “Find out where he’s keeping her. Now.”
They nodded and dematerialized, leaving Boris and me.
“You know this is a trap, right?” he asked. “He’s using her as bait to lure you out.”
“Kane’s been trying to get my attention for the longest time.” I turned to face him. “Well, now he has it. Now he has my full attention.”
It didn’t take long before my men were able to pinpoint his exact location. I had no idea how they did it in such a short while, and I honestly couldn’t care less. We wouldn’t have been in this mess if they’d done their jobs to begin with.
We tracked him down to an abandoned warehouse at the outskirts of the city and raided the building without a second thought. Chaos erupted immediately we arrived, the sound of rapid gunfire filling the air.
His men fought back, but the idiots were no match for my gang and me. I led the invasion, holding up my rifle in front of me as I moved like a shadow in the dark. For each round I squeezed, a man dropped dead. The screams of terrified women came from behind a closed door up ahead.
The shooting ended as quickly as it began, with all of Kane’s men sprawled across the floor. My eyes squinted as I scanned the surroundings, sensing that something was off.
“Is it just me, or is this too easy?” Boris whispered to me.
Just then, a device rolled out from a corner.
“Grenade!” Boris roared, pushing me out of the way.
The blast whisked me into the air and hurled me back against the wall. Covered in dirt and smoke, I coughed, struggling to stand. I winced at my aching body and the loud ringing in my ears. Most of my men were down—some dead, others injured.
Before the dust could settle, more of Kane’s men appeared out of nowhere, pelting bullets in the air. I hid behind a pillar as it absorbed the blasts, my eyes scanning the surroundings. Through a reflective surface a few feet in front of me, I spotted a container marked as highly flammable behind the shooters.
I waited for the right moment, and when the shots ceased for a split second, I fired at the container. And then, boom!
The explosion was wild, its flames consuming the enemies. They screamed at the top of their lungs, their bodies catching on fire as they ran around like headless chickens. The air was filled with the smell of smoke and burning flesh.
More armed men revealed themselves, firing wildly.
“Go find her!” Boris yelled in my direction. “We’ve got this!”
He and a few of my men covered me as I ran toward the closed door. While in motion, bodies dropped around me, none by my own bullet. I reached the entrance and knocked the door down with a single kick.
The women in the room gasped in fear, hid their faces, and hugged each other.
“Please, don’t kill us!” one pleaded with me, tears streaming from her eyes.
I looked around the room, but myDikayawas nowhere to be found. My heart skipped a beat, and my scowl deepened. “Where’s Blair?” I asked them.
“He took her,” one of them replied, rising to her feet.
I recognized the redhead—it was Maria
“Where?” I demanded.
She lifted her eyes toward the high ceiling. “Upstairs.”
“Wait here,” I said to them, then stepped out and closed the door behind me.
I found a staircase leading to an upper floor, and I raced up the steps. With my rifle in front of me, I walked down a deserted hallway under a single flickering bulb. My boots were silent on the dusty floor, each step leaving a footprint behind me.
