Chapter 6 - The Corrupt Syndicate
The revelation hit me like a physical blow to the chest.
The highest elected official in our city was secretly the head of the Vanguard syndicate.
"Mayor Sterling," I said, struggling to keep the massive rage out of my voice.
"I always knew you were a corrupt politician, but I never pegged you as a cartel boss."
Sterling laughed softly, a terribly arrogant sound that echoed through the satellite connection.
"Politics is just a very expensive hobby, Leo," the mayor replied casually.
"Vanguard is my true legacy, and your shipping ports are the final piece of my empire."
"I want my brother back immediately," I demanded, gripping the phone until my knuckles turned entirely white.
"And you will get him back, completely unharmed, as soon as you deliver the signed merger documents."
"The papers burned inside my mansion," I bluffed smoothly.
"Do not insult my intelligence, Leo," Sterling sighed in utter annoyance.
"Elena recovered the documents from your desk before you blew your own house to ashes."
He paused for a dramatic moment to let the reality of my situation sink in.
"Bring the signed contract to the abandoned subway terminal beneath City Hall at midnight."
"If you involve the police, or if you are even one minute late, I will personally execute Julian."
The line went completely dead, leaving me in the suffocating silence of the safehouse.
I threw the phone onto the desk and ran my hands aggressively through my hair.
"He wants me to walk directly into a heavily guarded Vanguard black site," I told Hannah.
Hannah stood up, her expression transforming from a terrified mother into something entirely different.
She walked over to the massive weapon cache in the corner and expertly racked the slide of a heavy shotgun.
"Then we are going to go in there and kill every single person standing in our way," she said coldly.
I looked at her in absolute shock, finally seeing the lethal precision hidden beneath her gentle exterior.
"Who exactly are you, Hannah?" I asked, completely confused by her sudden tactical proficiency.
She strapped a Kevlar vest over her chest and began loading magazines with hollow-point bullets.
"Before Julian hired me as a maid to protect my cover, I was a mercenary working for a rival syndicate," she confessed.
"I was originally hired to assassinate your brother, but I fell in love with him instead."
My jaw literally dropped as I realized my brother had secretly married a highly trained professional killer.
"He gave up everything to protect me and Grace," Hannah continued, her eyes burning with pure vengeance.
"Now it is my turn to bring him home."
We spent the next three hours preparing for an absolute, unmitigated war.
I contacted an old underground associate to come and watch Grace in the secure bunker.
At exactly eleven o'clock, we loaded our weapons into a stolen black SUV and drove toward City Hall.
We accessed the abandoned subway terminal through a rusted maintenance hatch in the sewer system.
The massive underground cavern was heavily illuminated by portable construction lights.
Mayor Sterling stood on the ruined subway platform, surrounded by twenty heavily armed Vanguard operatives.
Elena stood directly beside him, holding the sixty-million-dollar contract in her manicured hands.
I stepped out of the shadows with my hands raised, holding a silver pen in the air.
"I am here to sign the papers," I announced loudly, my voice echoing off the tiled walls.
Sterling smiled greedily and signaled for two guards to bring out the prisoner.
They dragged a man wearing a black canvas hood out from a nearby train car.
The man fell to his knees, his hands bound tightly behind his back with heavy steel chains.
"Sign the paper, Leo, and you can take your pathetic brother home," Sterling commanded.
I walked forward, took the clipboard from Elena, and quickly signed my name at the bottom.
Sterling snatched the paper away and laughed triumphantly.
"A deal is a deal," the corrupt mayor sneered, gesturing to the prisoner.
Elena stepped forward and violently ripped the black canvas hood off the hostage's head.
May you like
But the man kneeling on the dirty concrete floor was not Julian Caruso.
It was Vincent.
