“Oh yeah, and what rule is that?”
“That a son should be with his father.”
“Ain’t a father if he’s fucked in the head. More like a sperm donor.”
“Let’s skip with the name-calling. Why don’t you just go back to your compound, or what’s left of it? You can keep the girl. Fuck her or do what you want with her, I don’t care. The boy is mine. No need to spill any more blood of your own to take something that doesn’t belong to you. Something that does nothing but cause problems.”
Ollie gives up pretending not to see me and keeps eyes with me. He’s not screaming, but I see the tears running down his cheeks. Fucking hate that he’s hearing his father say this about him. No kid should hear their parent say this.
“You’re wrong.”
“Dah?”
“He belongs to us. He’s family, and he’s my friend.” I nod to Ollie, who just closes his eyes as he cries harder at my words. Shudders rack his body, but still not a peep from him.
“Friends come and go. Forget the kid and this ends here and now.”
“So, that’s it? You just want the kid? Not interested in a business relationship?” I look around once more. I can’t see faces, but I see legs from this angle. Enough pairs to let me knowthat my luck on these types of missions might just be up.
“Oh, I was. But imagine my surprise when I send out my inquiry the same day I have my boys drive by, and they see my property just sitting out front. I heard you were good, but I never thought you were that good that you already knew what I wanted.”
Ollie’s eyes open wide as they search for me, and I shake my head. No way am I going to let this kid think I would betray him so easily, especially if these are his last moments alive.
“The fact that you declined was the final nail in your coffin,” Ivan continues. “You caused your friends’ deaths, not me.”
“Hate to break it to you, but none of my boys died. Those were all yours.” I smirk at that. I’m pretty sure it’s true, but even if it isn’t, I would lie my ass off. Guy’s too confident for his own good. Ego gets you killed. It makes mistakes.
A beat of silence followed by some Russian I don’t understand. “A mistake on their part. Leave now before I tell my men to fire.”
“You fire, you risk the kid.”
“Rather him dead than with you.”
Several shots go off from above, none aimed at me or Ollie. I walk out from under the deck just as Kooper does the same, and we start picking off what we see. Their attention is on someone behind them, and I can only assume it’s my brothers. Not sure which ones, but any are better than none.
A few turn back to us, but Koop has it controlled as I get to Ollie and use my trench knife on the ropes. He stills for a second but relaxes while I cut them off. I took the damn thingfrom my house this morning, intending to give it to Casper. Didn’t want it in the house anymore. But between getting my dick sucked and the compound blowing up, I didn’t have time. For a piece of history, the fucker is still sharp, and I cut through the bindings easily.
“Got to move,” Koop says as a few bullets fly past us.
I take Ollie and push him ahead of us to the back of the room, where crates block us from direct fire. We stay behind the cover but don’t give up shooting.
We take out a few more until we hear nothing but some grunting from above. We both look out as we see Law struggling with someone by the banister.
It happens in slow motion and all at once.
A shot rings out.
Law stumbles back, then falls over the railing.
I yell. Koop does, too, or maybe that’s just still me. I fire once more as I rush to catch Law, and the guy left standing above falls over the railing too. My boss hits before I can make it more than a few feet in his direction. I push him to his back and see the blood coming out of his chest. His eyes are open, but there isn’t a pulse. Not a goddamn pulse.
“Fuck! Call General!” I scream at Kooper as I start CPR. But each time I breathe into his mouth, blood pushes out of his bullet wound. Still, I pound on him and do it again. I look over at the bubbles of blood and see little hands covering the wound and trying to push the blood back in. No matter how much I work, it just gets worse.
There’s nothing I can do. Not even when the sound of engines fills the warehouse with a roar. Not when General comes in and pushes me aside to work on him.
Nothing can be done.
Nothing.
