Page 35 of Flames of Ruin

Drake: You act like I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.

Shado: My bad. You get distracted by pussy.

Idrop CiCi back off at her and Miranda’s apartment and then make the short drive to Vanguard Enterprises, eager to plug in CiCi’s tech to see what information it obtained.

Taking the elevator down to the basement, I descend the few steps to the bunker, throwing my ripped jacket on a chair as I pass by. Daniil and Shado are standing next to the desk of computers as I walk in.

“Surprised you two fucks haven’t killed each other.” I smirk as I walk past, inserting the drive into the back of the monitor.

Shado scoffs, “Thought about it.”

Daniil rolls his eyes. “Likewise.”

The computer hums to life as it loads countless amounts of data across the screen. All three of us stand there as I scroll, looking for anything that may hint to the shipping manifest and when the buy in is happening.

“There.” Shado points to the screen at a file labeled “Takedown.”

“Real original,” I mumble as I click the link.

“It’s happening tonight,” Daniil declares as he points to the screen.

A small box in the right-hand corner of the document is dated for today. I look at my watch. We have thirty minutes to get to the docks.

Without hesitation, I stalk over to my weapons cabinet. Pulling open the top drawer, I grab the four Semtex grenades, small plastic explosives that will easily destroy the contents of the crates. Shado walks over and grabs them, packing them carefully into his bag.

Closing that drawer, I open another. As I grab bullets to fill my Glock, I hear someone screaming my name coming down the steps.

“Drake!”

Looking in the direction of the voice, I see Miranda frantically running toward me.

“They took her!” She screams as she approaches me. Anger bubbles within me when I see red marks on her arms that resemble hand prints, and a bruise forming under her right eye.

“Are you okay? What the fuck happened?” I demand, as the same fear from earlier washes over me, accompanied with dread.

She angrily points at Daniil, “His fucking father! They took her!” She charges toward him.

Shado steps in front of her, blocking her path to Daniil. “Why would they just take her? Why not you?” He turns to face Daniil. “It’s not like your dad gives a fuck about collateral damage.”

After shoving my Glock securely in its belt holster, I say, “They’re trying to draw me out.”

Shado quickly loads his gun and cocks it, placing it in his thigh holster. He pulls his backpack on. “So, we’re headed to the docks, or what?”

“It would make the most sense. To bring her to where the buy-in is going down. They wanted to start a war, but I will finish it,” I say, pulling on my leather jacket.

“I’m coming with you,” Miranda pipes up. “Give me something to shoot.”

“Sit your ass down,” I snap. “You’re not coming. CiCi would kill me.”

Turning toward Daniil, I glare at him. “If there is even the tiniest scratch on her, I’m going to kill your father.”

“Not if I kill him first, friend.”

***

Pulling up to the docks, I park my black SUV behind two stacked 40-foot steel shipping crates. Turning off the ignition, I let out a large sigh and stare out the window for a beat, trying to gather my thoughts. Off in the distance, I can see a large rusted shipping freighter approaching the dock, with the word ‘Doblest’ painted in white letters on the side.

Russian for Valor. That’s ironic.

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