Page 16 of Dirty Empire

Chapter Five: The Empire Strikes Back

Maverick

“Stop moving. You’re going to rip your stitches,” Isabella scolds me as I grab my drink off the bedside table.

“Will you stop hovering? I can get my own drink for fuck’s sake!” I snap. Isabella’s eyes narrow, but she doesn't back down.

I let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Thank you for doing all this,” I say, waving my hand around my bedroom that Isabella has set up in a way, so I barely needed to move. My doctor stitched me back together again like a broken doll. Miles had Hazel, and I couldn’t do anything besides lie in this bed. I’m fucking useless. I can’t let my mind think about what he could be doing to her or if she’s even alive.

There’s an ache in my chest, and it has nothing to do with the gunshot wound. I vow with every ounce of blood pumping through my veins to gain revenge on Miles. Although I have mobster tendencies, I care deeply for my staff and security members. The loss of lives is taking a toll on me. Another reason I wanted out of the game. The mansion resembles a war zone, but my attention is on getting Hazel back. It’s time to take Miles out by any means necessary.

Once Miles is gone, Hazel can do what she wants. Will she choose to come back here with me?

Instead of accepting my apology, Isabella simply sets the remote beside me and walks out of the room. It’s not the first day I’ve snapped at her, and she’s probably done with it. Everyone in the house is probably done with my bad attitude. It isn’t going to get better until I know Hazel is safe. While I’ve been laying useless in this bed, the only thing I’m able to think about is getting her back. I finally have a plan that might work.

I grab my phone off the bedside table and call one of the only people in this world I consider family.

“‘Sup,” Dustin answers.

“I need your help.” I made sure to call him on the flip phone. Dustin’s a federal agent. You can say we took completely different paths in life, but we have an unspoken truce between us. Dustin makes sure the Feds stay off my trail, and I make sure he and his family are taken care of financially. It’s more than a business arrangement. Dustin and I have been friends since high school. He knows all about my past and the choices that have led me to where I am now.

“Maverick! Man, I’m glad to hear you’re back on your feet,” he says. I can hear the sound of the wind through the phone as if he’s walking outside. I imagine he’s just getting to his office.

“I want to set up a meeting. With Miles.” I grimace as I sit up in bed. The meds are wearing off.

There’s a moment of silence, and then I hear a door shut. “Are you nuts? The man tried to kill you,” Dustin replies in a hushed voice.

“I have a plan,” I assure him. Miles has too many men, and we’re down people. There’s no way I can attack him head-on.

“Psh, of course, you do.”

“Just hear me out. It will benefit both of us,” I say. If Dustin’s able to bring down a guy like Miles, he’d be able to move up the ranks fast.

He doesn't reply, and I take that as a cue to go on. “I want to call a fake truce and lure him into a major arms deal.”

“Ah. I dunno about that, Maverick.”

“Trust me; you’re going to have enough evidence to put this sucker away for a very long time.”

He lets out a sigh. “Alright, what’s the plan?”

***

“Where is she?” I ask Mike the moment he walks into my office. It’s been weeks since the attack, and I’m finally healed enough that I can move around on my own. There’s still some pain when I move a certain way, but that will take time.

“She's alive,” he starts with, and I let my shoulders relax a little bit. I’ve been worried that Miles might have instantly killed her, and all this effort I’m putting in to get her back would be for nothing. “He’s keeping her in a chamber. From what my inside guy told me…it's not pretty.”

Fuck. I imagine Hazel locked up in his torture chamber, and it makes me want to destroy things. I can picture her huddled in the corner of a small room, battered and bruised. She’s probably terrified.

I have to act now. Dustin’s ready to jump into action. I just needed to make sure Hazel was alive first.

Miles is a man consumed by power and money. To capture his attention, I needed an offer he couldn’t refuse. I also knew Miles would be hesitant to meet with me directly. Therefore, the plan to bait Miles is the trump card. A five-hundred-million-dollar arms deal involving three countries ought to do it. The fake deal would make Miles the most powerful arms dealer in the Northern Hemisphere.

To have the agents arrest him on the spot would be the nail in the coffin. Given the broad scope of the deal, I conclude Miles could be charged with multiple counts of conspiracy and trafficking. He’d be marked as an enemy of the state. The agents and various others were on board with the idea; it was a two-for-one bargain. They could be the heroes who arrested the infamous arms dealer, the kicker being that they would also be paid a large sum under the table by me.

I had a message sent to Miles since there was no way he was going to pick up my phone call. I had to wait for his response.

***

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