Butcher tried to mouth off, but a nearby operator gave him a short, efficient reminder to keep things civil. He stopped talking.
“Let’s keep this professional,” Warren said. Then he stood and looked over the haul they’d just taken. Three mostly intact SUVs, a pile of weapons, and more than a dozen men who knew exactly how the local criminal machine worked.
“Search every vehicle,” he ordered. “Phones, IDs, flash drives, GPS units. I want to know where they came from and where their boss is tonight.”
The team got to work immediately. A few minutes later, the communications specialist jogged over carrying an expensive tablet. “Major, jackpot. We found this unlocked in the lieutenant’s vehicle.”
The man explained that Butcher had probably been checking directions on the way in. The route history showed a starting point at a country club called Empire, about twenty miles away. According to messages on an encrypted app, there was a major gathering there tonight—a birthday celebration for the boss himself.
Warren took the tablet and studied the glowing map. He had heard of Empire before from intelligence briefings. It was a fortress disguised as a luxury club: high fence, armed guards, cameras, dogs.
It was where the region’s criminal elite, crooked officials, and well-connected businessmen liked to gather. “Birthday party, huh?” Warren said. “Would be rude not to stop by.”
He glanced at the old bus, where Sam’s pale face was visible in a broken side window. Then he looked at his men. They were tired, muddy, and still very much ready to work.
There was a spark in their eyes now—the look of hunters who had finally found the den. “Stone,” Warren said quietly to his second-in-command, “think they’ll welcome us?”
Stone grinned. “Maybe not warmly. But they’ll open the door.”
Warren made the call almost instantly. Handing these lower-level men off and calling it a night was not enough. The boss would hear about the failure, disappear, clean house, and start over.
No. You cut the head off now, before it slips away. “Listen up,” Warren said, his voice turning hard. “All prisoners go into the bus luggage bay. Tight fit, but they’ll manage.”
“We leave five men with them. Sam drives straight to the regional field office. I’ll send word ahead.”
He paused and looked at the rest of the team. “Main assault element—thirty-five operators—loads into the captured SUVs.”
The plan was to use the gang’s own vehicles to get through the gate. Their heavy support truck was already on the way. Objective: seize the head of the organization and shut down the compound…
