He leaned back against the leather seat, fingers tapping idly on the doorframe.He and the other leaders of the Bratya had suffered loss after loss at the hands of the Pathfinders and their allies—financial setbacks, men dead, operations burned.Tonight, finally, they had taken something back.And tonight was only the beginning.
The driver shifted nervously in the front seat as sirens cut closer.Antonov lowered the window the rest of the way, savoring the chaos, the thick smoke curling skyward like a promise.Firefighters scrambled, shouting, too late to stop the blaze.Too late to stop the message.
“Enough,” Antonov murmured in Russian.“Take me back to the house.”
The window purred shut as the Rolls pulled away, leaving behind ruin and ash.The fire would burn out, but the war he had lit was only just catching flame.
Chapter Five
The smell of smokestill hung heavy in the air, acrid and bitter, clawing at Kai’s throat as the van rolled to a stop.Seven men piled out—Kai, Hogan, and the Black Tide brothers—onto the gravel lot in front of what had once been their home.What remained of the workshop and garage smoldered in the night.The two structures had stood side by side, the garage sprawling wide with enough room for their fleet of vans and toys, the workshop a hive of benches, tools, and secrets.Above it all had been the living quarters, a space carved with laughter, food, and years of brotherhood.
Now it was gone.
Fire had gutted everything.Blackened beams jutted toward the sky like broken ribs.Glass glittered across the parking lot, reflecting the flicker of dying flames.Six vehicles—cars that had been parked in neat rows in various stages of fit out—were twisted wrecks, melted tires and cracked windshields.Fire crews still sprayed here and there, more to keep hotspots down than to save what little was left.Police lights painted the smoke red and blue, useless as beacons against devastation.
The fire inspector, clipboard tucked under his arm, met them with a shake of the head.“Faulty wiring,” he said, his voice flat with practiced sympathy.“Whole thing went up fast.Sorry for your loss, boys.”
Kai kept his mouth shut, but his jaw ached from the pressure of grinding teeth.He glanced at Kael, who gave no reaction.The others were stone-faced, silent, as the inspector droned on.Faulty wiring.Sure.And pigs flew commuter flights between islands.
When the officials finally cleared out, their flashing lights disappearing down the road, the seven men turned and filed back into the van.The air inside was thick, heavy with grief and rage.
Kael broke the silence.“Torch?”he asked quietly, eyes on Keanu.
Keanu—nicknamed Torch for a reason—shifted in his seat.His voice was low, but it carried weight.“Bullshit.Accelerant was used.You could see it in the way the fire spread.Uneven burn patterns, hotspots where no wiring ever ran.Whoever did it wanted to leave us a statement, not an accident.”
Tane leaned forward, arms resting on his knees.“We wired that place ourselves.Every connection, every fuse, up to code and checked twice.Wiring didn’t fail.Someone lit it.”
Keanu nodded.“If it had been wiring, the sprinklers would have triggered before the second floor went.Instead, the whole place blew.Cars outside caught fire, too, which means accelerant was used on them, not just inside the shop.That was no accident.That was ordnance and flame.”
Silence pressed in again, broken only by the faint tapping of keys.Kai had his laptop open, fingers flying.His eyes flicked across the screen, lines of code flashing by.“Firewalls, encryptions ...yeah, you think you’re clever.Let’s see.”He muttered to himself, diving deeper.Hogan leaned back, arms crossed, watching.
Within minutes, Kai pulled up traffic camera feeds from the surrounding streets.Grainy images scrolled across the screen, streetlamps painting ghosts in black and white.Then he froze a frame.“And what do we have here?”he murmured.
The image showed a Rolls-Royce idling down the block, chrome gleaming even through pixelation.Nearby, figures in black moved with purpose, setting charges, splashing accelerant.Kai snorted.“Guys in black.Real original.What is this, a bad action flick?”
Hogan leaned closer, jaw tight.“Can we see who’s in the car?”
