Page 51 of Rush

“Do you honestly believe we would leave guards? They’re dead. All of them, including those in the barn. The boys are on a train to Istanbul, and your men at the castle will soon be dead as well.” Grigoryan just stared at the two men, shaking his head.

“Why? Why were you so intent on stopping me? Have you run out of gangsters in America?”

“Aruf,” said Trak, his black eyes boring holes into the man.

“Don’t speak my brother’s name. You are not worthy!”

“I am more worthy than anyone. I killed him,” he said defiantly. Ari could barely breathe as he pushed from the bed, standing to stare at the men.

“No. No, it’s not possible,” he said, shaking his head. “That was years ago. You weren’t even born. You would have been a boy.”

“I was not a boy. I was a full-grown man sent to stop his disgusting ways. I killed him, and I freed those children. Just as I have done today.”

“You won’t kill me,” he smirked. “You Americans are too gentle. You don’t know how to punish properly. How to make others stay in line.”

“Like your sister?” frowned Rush.

“She is not my sister. She’s my daughter,” he smirked. “If you were listening, you heard me. Her whore of a mother fucked our father, Aruf, and me. She often did us all on the same night. She was quite talented, and her whore of a daughter was learning the trade. I had high hopes for her, but things got out of hand. She was making me angry.”

Neither man said a word, staring at him.

“Your time is done,” said Rush. “You will have nothing.”

“There will be others to take my place,” he smirked. “Others, more dangerous, more willing, more capable even. It won’t end.”

“Maybe not, but we won’t stop either. Whoever is foolish enough to take up your sick cause will find us at their doorstep.” Grigoryan reached behind him, feeling for the pistol in his nightstand, but before he could even get his hand in the drawer, Trak was upon him.

“When you see your brother in hell, tell him I said hello.”

Rush watched as the man drove the knife through his neck and then forcibly pushed the blade to one side. His head hung precariously to one side, then Trak pushed to the other side, taking his head off. When it rolled to the floor, Rush raised his brows.

“He won’t walk away from that one,” said Rush. Taking a photo of the man, they left the bodies where they lay and walked out into the cool Bulgarian night.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The tents strewn across the grounds at Castle Ravadinovo indicated about five thousand men. If there were more, they hadn’t arrived, and when they did, they would discover their leader dead.

With speed and precision, the men were able to set explosives at the perimeter, basically trapping the men within the inner circle. When the charges went off, they scrambled. Untrained for the most part, they were tripping over one another in terror. But when they saw the dark giants walking toward them, the men fell to the earth crying about some legend of the black sultan of Constantinople.

“What’s he wimperin’ about?” frowned Tailor.

“He thinks you’re the ghost of a legend. Some black sultan or something,” said Ian, staring up at the big man and nodding. “I can see you as a sultan.”

“Yea? Thanks, man. I tell Lena that all the time, but she ain’t buyin’ it.” He kicked one of the men. “Get up. Leave here now and don’t return. Grigoryan is dead.”

More than half the men fled on foot, the others still standing there staring at the small group of men. Ian could hear them whispering about how they could take the men. They were old, they were small in number. But when Eric, Joseph, and Nathan took out thirteen men in rapid fire in less than sixty seconds, the men had different thoughts. They dropped their weapons and ran for their lives.

“That’s what you call a come to Jesus meetin’,” said Tailor. “Go home!” With minimal dead, the men fled the grounds, leaving nothing except their trash, a few articles of clothing, and hundreds of tents.

“Kaan has the children,” said Nine. “They’ve arrived safely, and they’re making arrangements to get them home.”

The night was lit up with their smiles as they walked back toward the cottage where the others would be waiting. Trak and Rush were already there, washing the blood of their kill from their bodies. Neither said anything as they gathered their gear, wanting to be gone before dawn.

Rush wrote a note to Malyna, thanking her for her hospitality. In an envelope, they left her more than five thousand in American dollars. He simply signed the note, your group of boys.

No one spoke as they made their way back to Istanbul, waiting at the airport for Evie and Autumn. Lying on their bags with their eyes closed, they reminisced about all the other missions where they waited for their ride home. Sometimes, it would take the military days to get them out. Sometimes, it was immediate.

Tonight, they knew that their ride would arrive on time. Rush’s phone rang, and he looked at the number of his commander.

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