The deadliest sin series.., p.14
The Deadliest Sin Series Complete Collection, page 14
He’s also been staking out the other locations he suspected Tarek may be holed up, but the effort is futile. I know where my brother is. He’s arrogant enough to think he’s safe there. And it will be my next stop as soon as I get this place wired.
Getting in and out of here undetected is going to be a lot harder than at the warehouses. There’s always someone here. The bakery runs twenty-four hours in order to keep up with the demand of the various specialty markets it provides baked goods for. Tarek would never leave the throne of his empire unprotected.
But he did leave it weak.
I make my way to the fire escape that runs along the side of the building. I begged him to have it removed a hundred times, or at least, have it wired with motion sensors, given how easily someone can get in and out undetected this way. Again, my brother thought he knew better and didn’t take my advice, much to my benefit currently. The window to his office pops open easily from the old jamb, and I crawl in and take stock of the room I haven’t set foot in for over two years.
The same large wooden desk dominates the space, and photographs of my brother and various friends and acquaintances of high-ranking stature line the walls. Tarek is always such a whore, kissing ass and licking the boots of anyone who can get him anywhere or anyone he would look good standing next to.
One picture in the room, in particular, draws my attention.
Jade…
It must have been from the first couple of days when she came to him all those years ago, though I’ve never seen it before. I doubt it was taken with her knowledge.
Her hair billows out behind her in the wind as she leans over the railing, staring out over the vastness of the ocean. A small smile tugs at the corner of her lip, but the sadness in her eyes is apparent even in the profile view. She knew what her father had done to her even then, and my brother was too big of an asshole to let her go even though it was the right thing to do.
Well, it’s time she’s free of him. She chose her monster, and it’s me.
The small two-story bungalow sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in Trappe. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it five years ago, and I knew I had to have it, despite not really needing all that space just for myself.
It was more about the distance it put between me and Tarek, between me and that world. When I wasn’t working, I needed the empty space. My head was already filled by the faces and voices and cries of those I’ve killed—I didn’t need them crowding me in a one-bedroom apartment somewhere downtown too.
The curtains are drawn, and it’s still early enough there’s no movement at any of the neighbors’ homes. My watch reads 6:30 a.m.
He’ll be awake by now. He’s never been able to break the habit of five a.m. wake-ups. Just like me, the military drilled it into him, and it’s impossible to overcome the routine.
Before I can do anything, I make a necessary phone call.
“Hello?” The soft voice belies her dominant stature and overbearing presence.
My mother’s cousin Drita is a force to be reckoned with, and I’ve missed her dearly since we left. She became a second mother to us and has always been there, no questions asked, for whatever we need from her. And she’s not afraid to speak her mind even to me and my brother.
“Drita, teto, it’s Konstandin.”
Her audible gasp reaches through the line. “Konstandin, djalosh, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you. Your brother…” she trails off. The words don’t need to be voiced. She knows what it means for me to be making contact with her. She knows there’s only one reason I would be back.
“Drita, you and all the employees need to leave the building at precisely seven o’clock.”
A brief silence descends as she contemplates my words.
“Okay, Konstandin. Whatever you need, dear.”
“I’m sorry it has to end this way.”
She sighs. I can practically picture her resting her chin in her hand, her gray hair piled atop her head in the ever-present bun.
“Your mother would be appalled at what your brother has become, Konstandin. You do whatever you need to do.”
I didn’t expect Drita’s blessing, but it certainly sets my mind at ease with what I’m about to do to her business.
“There’s a duffel bag full of cash in the third oven from the left. Take it with you when you leave.” I managed to sneak it in there when one of the bakers stepped out for a smoke break.
“Are you never coming back after you get her?”
I sigh and scrub my hand over my face, my arm screaming at the movement. “I don’t know, Drita. But I want you to be taken care of, no matter what happens, you and the rest of the family. Take care of Adelina.”
Just thinking about my sister, at home with her husband and children, blissfully unaware of what’s about to happen, makes my eyes burn.
“Have you spoken with her?”
“No. I can’t put her in between me and Tarek. I’m sure he was hard enough on her when I left. I’ll not tell her what I have planned.”
Maybe it’s a dick move, but my sister has managed to escape all the turmoil Tarek has created and made a real life for herself. I don’t need to drag her into this mess now.
“Shkoni me Perëndinë.”
Her words have tears pricking in my eyes, the first since Jade told me she loved me. The same words my mother used to say haven’t touched my ears in almost twenty years.
“So, take care of yourself, Konstandin.”
The line goes dead.
It’s done.
I can finally focus my attention on my real purpose. Getting my woman back and setting us free.
A haze of dawn touches the horizon when I slip from the car parked several blocks down the road. Branches and bushes pull and scratch at me as I make my way through backyards to the side of my house.
Even without any signs of life from inside, I’m confident he’s here. It’s just one more way for him to have what’s mine, to show Jade he can, and will, take and possess whatever he wants.
Given the time, he will break her down until she’s nothing but a shell of herself, someone even I can’t recognize. But that won’t happen. Rivers of blood will flood Philly before I ever let Tarek destroy her.
The moment I open the back kitchen door, her scent invades my nostrils, and my cock stirs to life.
Cinnamon and sugar.
All things sweet and pure.
She’s here.
There’s not a doubt in my mind. Her presence wraps around me like a warm blanket, soothing my soul, and reinforcing my will to do what needs to be done.
Vivid memories of fucking her on the kitchen counter, against the hallway wall, and making love to her in my bed flood my mind. Fuck Tarek for tainting my home, my memories, by bringing her here.
My hand tightens around the grip of the M1911, and I move into the kitchen slowly, my eyes never leaving the doorway to the living room. When I reach the jamb, I take a deep breath and then peer around the corner.
No sounds.
No movement.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Something’s wrong.
Step by agonizingly slow step, I make my way down the hallway, passing the open bathroom door.
No steam on the mirror.
The door to the guest bedroom hangs open.
Rumpled sheets cover the bed, but no other signs of life permeate the air.
Where the fuck are they?
There’s no way she isn’t here. Jade and I only spent one night here together. The night before we left to start our new lives. There wasn’t time for her scent and presence to invade the space the way they do now.
A half dozen steps bring me to the narrow stairs up to the master bedroom. It’s the perfect place for an ambush. If Tarek is up there, there’s a good chance I’ll be under a hail of bullets the moment I set foot on the first step. But I don’t have a choice.
My heart pulls me up the stairs as much as my need for revenge does.
When I reach the top, I know the house is empty.
No sounds or signs of life.
No barrage of bullets.
No Jade.
Where the fuck are they?
Rage boils in my gut as I approach the bed.
A single sheet of white paper lies in the center.
Konstandin –
Too late, brother. Knowing me as you do, I anticipated you coming here as soon as I learned of what you did to Armend and Saban. Don’t worry, I’m taking excellent care of Rea.
While I’m impressed with your ability to make it this far, your days are numbered. There will be a reckoning, brother. Soon.
Tarek
The mattress sinks under my weight. My hand shakes, and I set my gun down next to me.
I’m too late.
They were here…
So fucking close.
My bellowed roar vibrates in my chest and bounces around the room. Something takes hold of me, wrapping around my chest and squeezing tightly. My vision blurs and before I even know I’m doing it, the mirror above the dresser is shattered into a thousand pieces, the mattress is flipped over against the wall, and angry tears are running down my face.
“No!” He can’t win. I won’t let him. I can’t let that happen to her.
Fear is an unknown feeling for me. I’ve never truly loved anyone before. Even in the darkest and hardest days of my life, I never experienced the gut-clenching sensation that’s overtaking my body now, because it is isn’t fear for me or for my life—it’s for her.
Only the ringing of my phone breaks me from the downward spiral of fear.
Lorenc’s number flashes across the screen, and I notice the time.
Shit.
“Hello?”
“Everyone’s in a mad scramble. Police are swarming over the warehouses and bakery. I sure as shit hope you have her and took care of Tarek already.”
I scrub my hand over my face and survey the destruction in the room. “They aren’t here.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I must have just missed them. And now I don’t have a fucking clue where he may have taken her.”
On top of destroying part of Tarek’s vast network, the panic and disarray the bombs caused was supposed to be a distraction to keep both the police and the remaining members of Tarek’s crew busy while I took care of him and got away.
I never thought for a second he wouldn’t be here.
“Hold on.”
The wait feels like hours.
“I may be able to help you with that.”
Hope lightens the weight on my shoulders momentarily. “What do you know?”
“Enrik just sent me a text. He’s meeting your brother at the Heritage Field airport in thirty minutes.”
The motherfucker thinks he’s getting away with my woman? Over my dead body.
Which begs the question…if he knew I would come here, why didn’t he have an ambush waiting for me? Why not leave some of his men here to take me out the moment they set eyes on me?
Unease returns as I make my way down the stairs.
“Meet me at the airport in ten.”
I’m not going into this alone. Not with so much at stake.
A few small planes litter the tarmac, but the parking lot outside the little building that houses the airport is empty.
“Where are they?”
I glance over at Lorenc. He shrugs while continuing to scan the area for signs of life.
“Probably on the way. I confirmed with Enrik that he was supposed to meet them here.”
It could be a diversion so they can get out of the city some other way without me knowing, but that only makes sense if Tarek suspected Lorenc of assisting me.
I shove open the car door and step out into the cool morning air. It may be a diversion, or worse, a trap, but I can’t take the chance of missing her.
Lorenc’s footsteps on the pavement behind me break the silence of the early morning.
“You sure you want to just walk in there?”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “Yep.”
No more sneaking around. No more stealth.
It’s time for fucking shock and awe.
The glass in the door rattles with my quick jerk, and I storm into the lobby.
A vacant receptionist station sits in the center of the room.
These small airports tend to only have one or two staff members working at any one time inside the building, but there’s no sign of anyone.
The eerie silence has every nerve in my body screaming to get out of here. But I ignore it and advance further into the building.
Bullets whiz by, and Lorenc and I dive down a small hallway to our left.
Lorenc falls beside me. “Fuck!”
“Are you hit?”
“No. You?”
I shake my head and peek out around the corner. Two shots fly past me and embed in the wall on the other side.
At least whoever is shooting at us has shit aim.
Lorenc points to a window at the end of the hall. “You circle around.”
I nod my agreement and jog to the window. The old sash sticks, but it eventually wiggles free without too much noise. I drop onto the grass and circle the building toward the direction of the gunfire, checking each window as I come to it.
The first two are just empty offices, but on the third, I hit pay dirt.
Two guys dressed in black lean out the doorway, their guns raised and ready to fire. Their backs to me are the perfect targets. All I need to do is stop them long enough to unload a couple mags in them.
My left hand tightens around the grip of my second weapon. With both guns raised and aimed at them through the window, I take a deep breath. These assholes aren’t gonna know what hit them.
Crack!
The window shatters almost at the same instant my bullets collide with the two gunmen. They jerk and twist back, firing off rounds wildly at the unknown shooter while I drop a mag into each of them. Their crumpled bodies lie just inside the door.
Lorenc appears in the doorway and examines my handiwork. “I see your aim hasn’t gotten rusty over the last couple of years.”
I climb through the now empty window frame. One man is clearly dead, but the other stares up at us, gasping and gurgling for breath through blood-soaked lips.
“He’ll…never let…you…take…her.”
Squatting down next to him, I pull my knife from my boot and examine it in the soft morning sunlight now filtering in the window. His eyes widen a fraction of a second before I bury the blade into his heart, up to the hilt.
“Why did you do that? He might’ve known where they are.”
I stand and shake my head. “They’ll be here.”
He follows me out into the hallway. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because my brother believes he’s invincible and that this ambush would be successful. That’s why he was confident enough not to try to take me out at my house. He knew he wouldn’t need to. He already had this planned.”
Tarek set this up so he could kill Lorenc too. It’s the only explanation. He knew Lorenc would betray him at the first opportunity, if I asked. I should have anticipated he would never fully trust him after I left.
But it’s irrelevant now.
Now, all I have to do is sit and wait.
Footsteps approach down the hallway and reach my ears through the cracked door.
We didn’t have to wait long. It was just enough time to race out to the tarmac, plant the bomb on the airplane, and get repositioned inside.
Ten minutes after the ambush, car doors slammed outside and we were in position.
Despite the epic importance of the next few minutes, my heartbeat remains slow and steady. This is what I was built for. This is what I pushed away for the last two years, to try to create a new life for me and Jade. But what I am, what I truly am at my core, can never be changed.
I’m a killer.
And it’s time to take lives.
The only concern is assuring Jade doesn’t get caught in any crossfire.
A quick peek through the gap in the door tells me I’m dealing with two of Tarek’s men. The first one I recognize. Emil has been with Tarek for at least half a decade. What he lacks in the brains department, he makes up for with reliability and willingness to do whatever he’s asked, without question. He’s the perfect employee for a twisted fuck like my brother.
The guy he’s talking to as they make their way closer is new. At least to me.
“…radio…no answer…”
They’ve probably tried to get in touch with the two stone-cold losers on the floor next to me. Yet, they don’t have their guns drawn.
Are they that fucking stupid?
More car doors slam and someone comments on the broken window on the front of the building.
Shit.
Just what I need…
“Tarek! Please! No.”
Her voice cuts through everything else going on around me.
A dog barks.
Bruiser? That motherfucker took my woman and my dog?
My heart screams for me to run to the window…to see her…to take out Tarek right now. But my training tells me to wait. This only works if we can ensure she’s safe, and Tarek and his men die. That only happens if I follow the plan.
And the plan starts with these two asshats strolling down the hall toward me without a fucking care in the world.
Two well-placed shots drop them both mid-step.
Lorenc rushes out and drags the bodies into one of the empty offices while I make my way down the hall toward the front entrance and duck into the first door before the reception area.
Waiting sucks.
But it isn’t long before familiar voices enter the building.
Enrik’s with him. So is Behar, his pilot.
These men I once called friends and my brother, are now the only thing standing between me and the woman I love.
“Go make sure the plane’s ready. Load the bags. We’ll be right out.” My brother’s order will be followed, leaving him and Jade unprotected. Hopefully.
