Page 65 of Point Proven
Choking on my energy drink, I set it aside. “F-Fuck…What?”
“You fucked the Mafia boss, Matt?” Oren whistled. “Yeah,notvanilla. Definitely red.”
A sharpened exhale from Matt sent a smirk to my face, but it quickly vanished as his voice cut through. “Damn right I did, but I was the lucky one.”
“Oh my God!” Oren squealed, what sounded like sniffles following. “You found your person!”
“As much as I’d love to sit here and delve into my best friend’s love life, I believe we have a far more pertinent task on our hands, yeah?” Thorne prompted, his timbre shifting into the one he used in the ranks. “Simon. What are systems looking like? Anything we need to be wary of?”
Rolling over to the desk, I shifted the keyboard closer. Typing, that familiar string of letters greeted me as I angled my head to look at the cameras. With one final check, I clicked the last key, sending the corrupted file through the compound.
“About to be down. Give it like… thirty seconds, but you’ll need to be wary of the main doors. I’ve programmed enough to keep them from alerting the rest of the facility, but based on my cameras, you’ve got at least thirty guards plastered at the front. If you can angle?—”
“I can take them down,” Oren mused, the click of his safety echoing. “Just need a signal, and I’ll ignite the bastards like the Fourth of July, or whatever the saying is.”
“Lightthem up like it’s the Fourth of July,” Matt corrected, unamused.
“Then take this as your order: execute them, dove.”
“Sure thing, baby. Copy!”
“Oren. The copy is supposed to go… Oh, fuck it, copy.”
Silence followed, rolling through our devices before the unmistakable whistle of Oren’s impeccable aim sounded, bleeding through with each successful hit. Equipped with the best sniper rifle Lev couldillegallypurchase, his eye had improved since his time in the ranks. Even from the nearby building he’d perched on, his marks were perfect, no error found in his decimation of their men.
Mere seconds passed before his joyful timbre appeared once more. “All clear! Uh, might be slippery when you walk through. Make sure you don’t fall and tear your stitches.”
“Are these two always this sickly adorable?” Lev asked, his renowned grin evident in his question.
“Yeah, and they fuck like rabbits,” I muttered. “Just without the spawn.”
“Oh, fucking Christ,” Matt huffed.
A sharp jingle stole my attention as the screen blinked once with its completion. “Systems down. You’re all clear.”
Lev’s voice came first. “Copy that.”
“Oh, this is when I say copy, isn’t it?” Oren chuckled, but his nerves were obvious. “Uh… Copy.”
Rolling through the line like a haunting utterance, Thorne’s gravelly timbre snuffed out the playfulness from the group as the darkness he kept confined in his mind slowly slithered from him with one desire—to kill.
“Copy. Ground unit is moving in. Going dark.”
And with that, all my trust rested in them to bring my sunshine back to me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THORNE
As soon as my booted foot crossed the threshold, a sinister grin coated my features. It’d been far too long since I’d released my wrath with a blood bath. It was a soul-cleansing experience: an eradication with a gruesome mess that I intended to leave behind.
When dealing with sick, psychotic pieces of shit, I had no issue slipping on the mask of a murderer. If anything, it was a role I preferred—a vigilante, a man who acted without remorse.
It all stemmed from the corruption that had surrounded me for far too many years of my life, a tainted system that’d brainwashed thousands, myself included. But my time serving as General Valens’ right-hand had taught me one thing: I was a vengeful bastard molded by military confinement and psychological warfare who would do anything to level the playing field.
Any motherfucker who was idiotic enough to test my decency while partaking in inhumane acts would meet my blade, and it all would start with Stefan.
We’d taken out his guards with ease; one hollow-point to the skull, and they were onto their next life. Their bodies colliding with the ground had been the only sound to warn ofour presence, and with each death, our orders to the children occupying the space they were in had momentarily filled the resounding silence. The pace at which we moved through the compound hadn’t surprised me, considering how equipped we were, but it didn’t lessen my unease. Hell, if anything, it made me suspicious—anxious even.
