Chapter 51 Who Has A Death Wish This Time?
Emmanuel POV
The car went into the tunnel under the canal. An unavoidable part of the journey from South Hartlow back into Central Island, a thirty second stretch at most.
Not tonight.
As the second car made its way fully into the tunnel, the world went black.
SMASH.
The car took the tunnel wall at full speed, steel crumpling, spiderweb cracks racing across the bulletproof glass.
"Fuck," Dover swore, "who is it that has a death wish this time?"
I narrowed my eyes, gun in hand, looking through the cracked windscreen at the pitch black surroundings.
"A trap," I said softly. "Someone has been waiting for us..."
I kicked open the jammed, dented door and rolled out onto the concrete behind the damaged car, my eyes adjusting to the darkness.
I could hear them. Sloppy. Someone should teach these men to breathe quieter.
BANG. BANG.
Two shots over the hood, aimed at sound alone. Two thuds answered—bodies meeting concrete.
I smiled. A good start, but—
"Bullets are going to be a problem," I noted, checking my pistol again.
"I’m low too," Dover muttered. "Solid timing."
Several of my men in the second car still had light injuries from earlier fights, too. An uphill battle.
With a flick of my wrist, my knife fell into my hand.
"I’m sure reinforcements will come from the Tower when we don’t arrive back in time," Dover said under his breath. "We just need to hold them for half an hour, tops."
"A good challenge," I murmured, "what do you think of leaving them only clean-up to do by the time they arrive?"
"With only...oof, nine bullets left?" Dover cursed, checking his own clip. "I think you’re a lunatic, Boss. But that’s what I like about you..."
He was up and moving before he finished the sentence, meeting a blade with his forearm as a shape lunged out of the dark—gun traded for knife, close work now.
The metallic tang of blood spread in the darkness, shadowy figures locking together in a dance of life and death.
Finally, a bit more of a challenge.
—
Lara POV
Vienna was still on the phone, moving towards the elevator and arguing with whoever was on the other end.
"Gather a team in B1. Five minutes. We’re going to support the Boss." A pause. Her jaw tightened. "I don’t care what he said. I’m not sitting here doing nothing."
She stepped into the elevator, arguing with whoever was on the other side of the line, tapping her access card against the sensor.
I was moving before I’d decided to.
I slid through the closing doors half a second before they sealed, Vienna still barking orders into the phone—and only when the elevator lurched into motion did she turn and actually see me standing there.
The elevator started descending.
Her eyes went flat.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" The phone dropped from her ear. "Get back in your cage, whore."
"What’s going on?" I asked. "Where are you going?"
Vienna pressed her lips into a thin line, every line in her body strung tight. She looked at the descending numbers on the screen as the elevator went down into the gut of the building.
"I overheard you," I said cautiously. "You’re not supposed to leave."
"Because I’m supposed to watch you." The poison was back in her voice, thicker than usual. "Disobeying him is not my intention...But he needs me now."
"Why?" I asked. "I thought he had everything under control."
"Not Turdin’s men. Shen Kai decoded the message from the surveillance we set, but they must have been too late to get the word to him...he hasn’t responded..." Her knuckles whitened around the phone, her voice softening with worry. "He’s out in the open right now. Half his guard is already hurt."
Surveillance? On whom? More enemies from different mafia gangs?
But that made no sense.
Emmanuel Sagres ran this capital. Turdin hadn’t even been a real fight—more inconvenience than threat. The only force with teeth enough to touch him should have been the police, and he had them in his pockets too.
So who was sending killers after a man untouchable enough to buy the law itself?
The elevator kept falling. I felt it in my stomach.
The doors slid open on the underground level—guards already massing, checking weapons, voices low and fast.
"Get back upstairs," Vienna ordered, stepping out of the elevator without a second thought.
For some reason, I did not. I stepped out of the elevator, listening to Vienna bark orders, loading the van with cases of gleaming weaponry at top speed.
I stood there frozen amongst the commotion, feeling out of place.
I didn’t want to sit up in the Tower, doing nothing. But I also did not exactly share Vienna’s devotion towards Emmanuel Sagres and the desperate need to come to his aid.
"What are you still doing here?" Vienna turned around to see me just as they were about to leave.
Her expression changed to something more dangerous, her fury spiking at the mere sight of me still standing there.
"Fine. You asked for this."
Her hand shot out and grabbed me by the scuff, shoving me into the van, packed in with tall armed guards in black combat suits.
"What the—" I looked back as the van began to move, accelerating at high speeds. The inertia shoved my body into the armed guard next to me.
Vienna laughed at my panic, her expression twisted as though the entertainment of bullying me was the only thing keeping her composure together.
"I thought you were supposed to protect me!" I cried out.
"I will. I have." Vienna sniffed and checked her rifle. "I’ve given you far more training than I had the first time I was in a fight."
"You’re insane!"
"You need to learn some respect," Vienna shot back. "And if he won’t teach it to you, then I will do it for him."
I stared at her in disbelief, speechless.
"Scared, little whore?" She mocked. "You should be. If anything happens to Emmanuel, I will slit your throat myself so that he has company."
I swallowed heavily.
Great. That bode well.