Page 14 of Dirty Empire

Chapter Four: Operation Kidnap

Maverick

I hadn’t wanted to fuck her, but she’d come to me. I want to believe that it was just sex. But it wasn’t. We shared something deeper. Something I don't want to touch on. Something my heart has no business feeling. The sexy dark-haired woman has gotten under my skin. She’s a strong woman, but I can tell that Miles has broken her down. She’s confident and ambitious, but she’s scared to show it. Such a powerful woman probably threatened Miles, and that was why he treated her like shit. Only a weak man feels threatened by a powerful woman.

I lay in bed, the darkness of the bedroom surrounding me. I didn't stop her when she got up and left. It was probably for the best that we put some distance between us. My phone rang on the bedside table. I grab it and turn it over before realizing that it’s not the phone that was ringing.

Shit, shit, shit. I jumped out of bed and grabbed the flip phone I keep hidden in my drawer. Only my security team has this number. It’s for emergencies only as it can’t be tracked.

“What’s going on?” I snap, grabbing my sweatpants off the ground and pulling them on.

“We got incoming air traffic,” Mike tells me.

“Fuck! I’m coming. Prepare to go to war.” I hang up the phone and slide it into my pants pocket. My t-shirt still lay on the bed, and I quickly put it on.

I open my bedroom door to see chaos has already erupted. Isabella rushes past me, but I grab her arm to stop her. “Get Hazel and go down to the safe house.”

Isabella’s eyes are wide with fear, but she nods her head and runs to Hazel’s room. If I can get my staff and Hazel to the underground safe house, the security team and I can focus on taking out Miles’s army.

I walk to the front of the house, where Mike has everyone gearing up. My team stores an arsenal of weapons, and they would do what they could. It feels eerily like a scene from a twenties mob movie. Everyone’s armed and dangerous. I’d known that Miles would come, and he was smart to attack in the middle of the night like this. I lock and load my assault rifle and handgun.

“Sir, we have incoming hostiles! They are approximately seven minutes away. Our team is in a position to attack. We will get you and your guest along with staff to the underground safe house immediately,” declares Mike.

I would laugh if the situation weren't so dangerous. “I’m not running.”

Only a weak man hides while his men risk their lives. Adrenalin pumps through my veins. I want to get my hands on Miles and take care of him myself. The house shakes, and we can hear the helicopters coming in hot. I already have an army of men stationed outside. Looking out the window, I can see military-grade helicopters, equip with machine guns and missile launchers.

Damn! They’re probably using this little display as a distraction. A full-scale attack rained down on my compound. My team fires back, taking down one of the choppers. Miles’s men rush out of the two helicopters that successfully lands. My men fight hard, exchanging bullet for bullet, but when I see multiple army-grade vehicles pull onto the property, I know we’re outnumbered. My body shakes with the urge to fight on the front lawn, but I refuse to move until I see Miles. Mike yells orders so fast I can barely keep up.

Son of a bitch.

“How many men do we have at the other entrances?” I ask Mike.

He grabs the walkie talkie attached to his shoulder and speaks into it. “South wing?”

“Check,” someone answers him.

“West wing?” he asks. He lets the button go, waiting for a response. Nothing. “West wing,” he repeats.

Fuck! I take off running.

“Maverick, wait,” I hear Mike yell behind me, but I’m not waiting. The west wing holds the tunnel that goes straight down to the underground safe house. The assault rifle around my body is heavy, but I don't allow it to weigh me down. I whip around the corner and come face to face with the barrel of Miles’s handgun. A million thoughts should have been running through my head, but all I can think about is Hazel. If I’m dead, Miles would find her and kill her.

Time seems to slow as a small smile spreads across Miles’s oily face. “You thought you could come onto my property and take what’s mine?”

“She’s not yours,” I seethe. I could correct him and tell him that she hopped on my boat, but what good would that do?

He lifts the gun as if he’s going to slap me across the face with it, and that’s when I jump into action. I charge at him, grabbing him around the waist and wrestling him to the ground.

A shot rings out, the sound echoing off the walls. I look around trying to find who got hit, and that’s when I feel it. Warm liquid oozes from my body. Miles throws me off of him like I’m nothing more than a fucking rag doll. I lay on my back. One of his men aims a handgun at me as if I’m still a threat. I can’t feel anything. My body is weak.

If the bullet hit a major artery, I’m fucked. My breathing is ragged as I hold my hand over my wound to stop the bleeding. I’m fading in and out. In and out. My head throbs. I need help. I can’t die like this.

Miles stands above and shakes his head. “Pathetic.”

He turns to the man that shot me.

“I know that bitch is here somewhere! Find her!” he shouts.

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