Otherwise Unharmed

Chapter 18—Double Cross

It was nine-thirty in the evening, and I was scouting out the best position for sniping on the rooftop near the drop-off location. I wasn’t actually planning on doing any shooting—I had no target selected, and Gavino had ordered me here just for the sake of protecting the group if something went wrong, but I already knew it was going to go to hell in a handbasket shortly after midnight, and I wasn’t going to save them from that.

Trent said he had a whole SWAT team at the ready, and they would be there just in time to catch Gavino Greco and his collection of illegally imported human slaves. He’d go away for life if he was lucky. I was at a safe enough distance that I wasn’t concerned about being caught up in the bust, assuming Trent wasn’t planning on sending someone to my location to grab me.

Of course, I wasn’t where I told him I was going to be. I was on top of a funky, S-shaped condominium complex on the other side of the river. It had a better view and a lot more cover than the building near the substation next to the rail yard, but mostly, it was a perfect location because it was not where Trent thought I would be.

The more I had thought about his obvious deception during our last conversation, the more I was convinced he planned on screwing me over. He’d go back on the deal and have me arrested along with the rest of them. Maybe he’d try to keep me under his thumb and use me again, and maybe he’d just let me rot, but he definitely wasn’t planning on keeping our agreement. I was sure of it.

I found the perfect spot and got myself set up near the railings at the top of the building. There were a few little garden areas around, as well as some tables and chairs for residents, but the area was closed after nine and no one was about. There was also easy access back down to the ground via a long flight of stairs that led to the parking lot. I pulled the Barrett out of its bag and quickly assembled it, carefully going through a complete functions check. I made sure there was a bolt in the chamber before sitting back and eating the sandwich I had tucked away in the bag.

No reason to kill on an empty stomach.

I tapped my foot against the ornately tiled roof, checked the night-vision scope to make sure everything was functioning correctly, and sat back again. I didn’t mind the waiting—I was used to it—but this little mission had a different feel than most. Assuming everything went well, it could very well be my last. It was what I wanted.

At least, I thought it was what I wanted.

Reaching out, I slid my hand down the barrel of the Barrett and wondered if I could be completely satisfied using it only for target practice at a shooting range. It was what Lia wanted, and I understood completely. I mean, what woman would actually choose to live with a guy who was a killer?

If I stopped shooting people, would that mean I wasn’t a killer anymore?

I wasn’t so sure.

Eleven o’clock. I scanned the entire area using the night-vision scope and saw nothing out of the ordinary. This area of town was becoming more and more run-down, and not a lot of people were around this time of night. Even the condos beneath me were mostly empty.

Across the river, there was a large building in the center of a huge concrete slab that served as a parking and storage area for a large power substation. There were a few other outbuildings around, a handful of vehicles, and the substation itself. Around the edge near the river were a few short trees and shrubs, as well as a fence that lined the property but didn’t disrupt my view from up high.

For good measure, I spun the Barrett around and checked out the area behind me. There were a few homeless people wandering around, but no one close enough to hear me shoot with the silencer attached. Once I confirmed there was nothing of concern behind me, I repositioned the rifle and scanned the area across the river again.

Movement.

I saw Jenna and the two goons who usually accompanied her step out of a van at the far side of the parking area near the substation. They crossed in front of the building on foot. I focused my scope on Jenna’s face as she looked up in my direction. I knew she couldn’t really see me from where she was. Like Gavino and the rest of his group, she knew where I was going to be. I had only deceived Trent on my location.

I moved the scope away from her and scanned around the building again. Each side was clear of people and trucks, which gave me a clear view of the drop-off area. I checked the other small sheds around but saw nothing. There was a small grouping of outbuildings to my left with a pickup truck parked next to them but nothing else.

As I began to scan the top of the main building in the lot, something caught my eye. Next to one of the air conditioning units, there was a slightly darker shape that had not been there earlier. I watched for a full minute, but it didn’t move. I narrowed my eyes and waited just a bit longer before I decided I must have missed it before.

That was when the slightest of motions brought me to full attention.

I focused the scope carefully on the shape I had seen. It was slightly rounded and black. It moved to the left, improving my viewpoint. With the night vision on the scope kicking in fully, I knew exactly what it was—another sniper.

He was setting up a rifle behind the air conditioner on the building across the river from me. It was the same building on which I had told Trent I would be located. Would he have sent a SWAT sniper to the same location? It would have been a shitty move if he had.

The sniper’s upper body became visible as he laid out his rifle and got into position behind it.

I shifted my stance to make myself harder to spot from my vantage point before I focused my sites on the other sniper. Male, Caucasian, setting up a Dragunov rifle—a nice, Soviet-made one that dated back to the sixties but was still a powerful gun. From what I could tell, it only had a five-bolt magazine on it, which would put him at a disadvantage from the one I used. Though Barretts usually held ten-round magazines, mine held twelve.

As I watched him closely, I knew something wasn’t quite right. He wasn’t wearing a flak jacket for starters, and all feds wore them when they went after someone. His position wasn’t quite right, either. He was on the south side of the roof, which gave him cover but not the best vantage point, considering where I told Trent the exchange would take place. It was like he didn’t know where they were going to conduct business and was going with the position that gave him the best view of the whole area.

No flak jacket and doesn’t know where to aim.

Definitely not a fed.

Who then?

There weren’t that many options as far as I could tell. Did Gavino hire another sniper? Unlikely. I was the only well-trained one in the city, and he’d have to go out of state to find someone trained on the weapon in this guy’s hands. Had the feds hired an independent from somewhere or maybe recruited out of the military? Also unlikely. Marines and Army alike preferred Barrett rifles.

Russian? He was using a Russian weapon though it was a common enough one. Was he one of Andrey’s men? Andrey and Rurik had definitely been at odds about this activity, and either one of them might have decided to send a little added insurance, but I didn’t quite buy it. If either of them had another sniper, they would have had a lot more fuel against me when we first sat down to make a deal.

It wasn’t right, and all my instincts told me to get the fuck out.

I couldn’t do that though. I had to make sure this went down the way it was supposed to so I could get Lia out of Chicago. Instead of listening to my gut, I scanned the rest of the area with the night scope and found a few other figures who were not with Greco’s organization and definitely not part of a SWAT team—six of them altogether and four of them positioned in places that didn’t make sense. They couldn’t have known enough about what was going to happen, or they would have been in better positions.

Not feds, not with either Gavino’s org or the Russians, so who?

It was the seventh that eventually made me realize what was going on, but I didn’t see him until a half-dozen SUVs were pulling up. By the time I had focused the scope on his position, one of the vehicles parked in my line of sight. If I had managed a good look at him earlier, maybe things would have gone differently.

“Fucker,” I muttered. “Couldn’t you move over three feet?”

I tried to get a glimpse through the windows of the SUV, but it wasn’t working out very well. I could see a human shape, but that was it. The tint on the windows wasn’t dark enough to block my vision entirely, but it interfered enough to make it impossible to get any detail.

Gavino, Craig, Andrey, and a half-dozen others exited the vehicles and walked toward Jenna. The drivers stayed in the cars in case a quick getaway was needed. Words were exchanged, but I couldn’t hear any of it from where I was. I could see the demeanor of my faux coworkers though. Andrey danced back and forth between his feet, showing how nervous he was about this, even from my view. Jenna was incensed because she didn’t want them evaluating her work in the first place, and Gavino just looked as cocky as ever.

I wasn’t going to miss him.

With a rumble and screech of airbrakes, a semi with a long trailer pulled into the area. Jenna and her crew moved to the driver’s side door as a guy with a long ponytail exited the cab of the truck and handed Jenna a clipboard. Gavino and Andrey joined them, looked over the paperwork, and then Gavino motioned to the back of the truck.

They all followed the driver as he opened up the back and grabbed a girl out of it. He shut the door again before yanking her over to Gavino and Andrey. She was quite obviously terrified as she was questioned by Gavino and fondled by Andrey.

Jenna had her hands on her hips and was obviously not happy with whatever was being said. She tossed her hands up in the air as Andrey led the girl over to the SUV he arrived in and pulled her into the backseat. I moved the scope away from the scene when I realized what he was planning.

I didn’t need to watch that shit.

Jenna was pointing a finger and speaking quickly to Gavino, but it obviously didn’t matter what she said. He turned away from her and talked to the truck driver for a minute before motioning to Craig, who was still by the vehicles.

As I moved my scope to Craig’s area, I saw the person I hadn’t gotten a good view of before as he moved a little closer to the building to get out of Craig’s line of sight. He was a big guy, dressed all in black and had a dark cap on his head. The clothing didn’t matter, though, because I got a clear view of his face.

Mario Leone.

Mario was Rinaldo’s bodyguard and was never far away from his boss without a damn good reason. There was absolutely no reason for him to be here at a cargo drop-off for Gavino’s organization—none whatsoever. He certainly wouldn’t be here without his boss knowing about it.

As my muscles tightened, I checked out the whole area again. Back behind the main building was another smaller structure right next to the substation. There was a familiar car beside it—one that had not been there before.

If I had been on top of the main building where I had told Trent I would be, I probably would have seen it pull up. From where I was, the scope’s vision was narrow enough that I missed it. Beside the car were three more people. Two I didn’t recognize, but one I knew very well.

Rinaldo.

“Oh fuck, no.”

I immediately reached into my jeans and yanked out my phone. I hit his number and watched him through the scope as he glanced down, pulled his own phone out of his pocket, and glared down at the display. His eyes looked up to the closest building—right where the other sniper was located—and then started scanning the other tall buildings within view.

Through the vision in the scope, it looked like his eyes found me, but I was too far away for him to see. I watched him turn away slightly and touch his hand to his ear. Then he pressed a button on the side of his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

“Answer the fucking phone,” I growled as I called again.

He didn’t. Instead, he touched his hand to his ear again and looked up toward the other sniper.

“Fuck.”

I dropped down flat against the concrete roof as a bolt whizzed right past my ear. Who was paying the sniper was now completely clear, at least. I grabbed the Barrett and quickly focused on the sniper across the way as another shot rushed past me.

He was reloading—not even looking down the scope as I pulled back on the trigger and watched his body slump. Grabbing my phone back off the ground, I typed out a quick text message, hoping Rinaldo would at least read the first bit before deciding to ignore me again.

GET OUT NOW FEDS ON THE WAY

He didn’t even glance at the phone.

“Motherfucker!”

Thinking about the consequences of what I was going to do didn’t even really enter my mind—I just knew I had to get to him and make him listen to me. If he wasn’t going to look at the phone, I had only one other choice.

Though I couldn’t hear them, I could see the increase in activity across the river. The shots from the other sniper had been heard, and people were starting to duck into and behind their vehicles as they tried to determine who was the shooter and who was the target.

I grabbed the Barrett by the carrying handle without even bothering to disassemble it first and tossed my duffel bag over my shoulder. I pulled the bipod assembly up against the bottom of the barrel and held the gun against my side as I raced to the stairwell. There were only twelve stories, so it didn’t take long for me to get down the stairs and out into the parking lot.

Now I had a problem. I didn’t have a vehicle with me. The quickest way to get to Rinaldo was likely by boat—there were several right there at the dock next to the condos. However, it made me about as easy a target as I could be. There was no way I could wait for a bus at this point, so my options became limited.

I looked around until I saw an older model pickup truck and ran over to it just as I heard another shot from across the river. Less than a moment later, I felt a hot, searing streak across the back of my shoulder.

I dove down behind the truck on the side away from the river and tried to ignore the pain in my back. It hurt like a bitch, but I didn’t think it had done much more than graze my skin. Reaching up, I grasped the door handle, but the truck was locked.

The butt end of the Barrett made quick work of the truck’s window, and I reached in to unlock it. Once inside, I huddled underneath the steering wheel and yanked open the panel. Three pairs of wires dangled below me, and I hoped the older truck had wires with conventional coloring. I started with a pair of brown wires, using my fingernails to strip the plastic off the ends and was rewarded with dash lights. The red pair of wires was next, and I knew I had the right ones when a little jolt of electricity ran up my arm as I tried to strip them manually.

I slid the stripped wires against each other, and the truck’s engine roared loudly in the otherwise quiet night.

I only had a couple of blocks to travel to get across the river and over to the rail yard, but it took me well out of the sniper’s view as I went around buildings and across the river. I ditched the truck on the street just above the tracks, taking a minute to remove the bipod and silencer from my Barrett to drop the weight a bit. It wasn’t really meant to be shot without the stabilization, but I had done it before. Carrying the heavy weapon in both hands, I made my way around the fence and through some trees. I was on the wrong side of the yard—I needed to get to the other side where Rinaldo was without Gavino seeing me.

At least I wasn’t being shot at anymore.

Racing over to the substation, I moved quickly and quietly down the length of it. Any sounds would be masked by the hum of the power grid, but I was still cautious. There had to be at least one other sniper in position, and I had no idea where he was.

On the other side of the substation was the small building where Rinaldo had been. I came around the back of it slowly and saw his car on the other side. He was standing slightly behind it and talking in low tones to two men I didn’t recognize.

Not knowing exactly how he was going to react, I kept a good grip on my rifle, but didn’t quite aim it at him.

“Rinaldo!” I both yelled and whispered all at the same time, which had the desired effect, even if the action was an oxymoron.

Rinaldo turned quickly, and the gun in his hand pointed in my direction.

“Don’t shoot!” I called out in that same voice. “You gotta listen to me. You gotta get out of here.”

“Arden, you son of a bitch,” Rinaldo growled. “I’ll save a lot of money just killing you myself!”

I raised the Barrett up to my shoulder.

“You have to listen to me!”

“You weren’t interested in talking, Arden,” Rinaldo said. “And I am now no longer interested in listening.”

He leveled the gun at me, and I had no idea what I should do. I couldn’t shoot him with the Barrett from this distance without making a huge mess. If I had the Beretta instead, I might have at least tried to shoot his gun out of his hand.

I was out of options.

“The feds are on their way!” I finally said. “They wanted you, and I couldn’t let them do that, so I gave them Greco! They’ve got me for Ashton’s murder, and it was the only way to keep you out of it!”

“You working with feds?” Rinaldo hissed. “You hate the fucking government.”

“They have my DNA from Ashton’s body,” I told him. “There wasn’t any getting out of that one. They were going to use it against me and against Lia. He wanted me to turn over enough information to take you out, but I wouldn’t do that, sir. I couldn’t. We made a deal to bring Greco down, and that’s exactly what’s about to happen here.”

Rinaldo’s eyes scanned my face for a moment, and he dropped his gun slightly.

“They threatened your girl, this Lia Antonio, and you still wouldn’t turn me over?”

“No, sir. I couldn’t do that.”

Rinaldo’s hand went up to the top of his head and ran over the length of his receding hairline. He looked at me intently, lowered his gun completely, and let out a huge sigh.

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me?”

“I couldn’t,” I said as I lowered my weapon and walked to him cautiously. “If Greco had any suspicions about my loyalty, it wouldn’t have worked. It had to look like you were after me, too. It was the only way I could protect you.”

“But now you tell me?”

“That’s why I came over here,” I explained. “The feds are coming to pick him up right now. You have to get out of the area before they show up. You aren’t supposed to be here at all.”

Rinaldo nodded.

“They have my caviar in there,” Rinaldo said as he nodded toward the truck. “They are stealing from me again. I can’t let Greco continue to make me out as the fool. I could give up the shipment to see him picked up with it, though.”

“Caviar?” I questioned. “There’s no caviar—just human cargo.”

“I have it on good authority,” Rinaldo said. “My caviar is in the back of that truck.”

“Who told you that?”

“A man who has been working with us since I lost you,” Rinaldo said, and then his eyes widened. “Shit, Evan—he’s going after your woman right now.”

He might as well have punched me in the gut.

“What?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Double-crossing little shit!” Gavino Greco marched around the corner with Craig, Andrey, Jenna, and Jenna’s goons. “Rurik warned me not to trust you, and I should have listened!”

I wasn’t sure who fired first, only that within seconds, the two men with Rinaldo were on the ground and there was a hailstorm of gunfire in the area. I took cover with Rinaldo behind his car as he began to fire toward Gavino, Andrey, and Craig.

A van pulled up beside us, and several of Rinaldo’s men jumped out, weapons at the ready. A shot to Andrey’s shoulder sent him reeling backwards, and he began to crawl toward his SUV. The girl he had dragged back there was trying to get out as he reached the driver’s side door, and she was hit by a stray bullet.

“The truck!” Rinaldo yelled as he pointed.

The driver of the semi-truck was behind the wheel trying to pull out. I pulled up my Barrett, used the bumper of the car as a stabilizer, and took aim. My ears rang with the blast, and I watched the bolt go right through the truck’s engine with a massive explosion. The wheels screeched, the cab flew off to one side, but the trailer didn’t go with it. One more carefully aimed shot from my weapon and the cab, spinning in a giant ball of fire, was disconnected from the trailer.

The trailer skidded to a stop, somehow managing to remain upright despite the gaping hole in the front of it. The screams coming from inside could be heard above the gunfire.

“Evan—get a better vantage point!” Rinaldo yelled at me.

I hated taking myself away from him in this situation, but he was right. I would be much more effective from up high. No longer caring who knew where I was, I grabbed the Barrett and ran the short distance to the main building, dodging bullets along the way. I scaled the ladder on the back side of the structure and perched near the corner.

Without the bipod, and considering the weight of the Barrett, it was a little more difficult to aim, but I’d done this plenty of times before. Using the ledge around the roof, I balanced the weapon and began to take out Gavino’s men. Before I got another shot off, I felt and heard a bolt right near my shoulder.

The second sniper.

Grabbing the Barrett, I moved over to the air conditioning unit and placed myself behind it in relation to the other sniper’s shot. I had to shove the body of the first sniper out of my way to get where I wanted to be. There were a few bolt casings on the ground near the body, and I grabbed two of them to put in my ears to dampen the noise.

My focus went back to the second gunner. Whoever he was, he wasn’t on this building, and he obviously hadn’t gotten the message that Rinaldo and I were now working together.

Where were the fucking feds?

I didn’t even want them showing up at this point—the Chicago police would be here soon enough, given the racket we were causing—but the feds should have been here long before now.

There was only one other building in the area suitable for a sniper– the one near the street where I had ditched the hot-wired pickup. Once I aimed my scope up there, I spotted him quickly. He was scanning the area, trying to figure out where I had gone.

“Sloppy work,” I mumbled as I carefully took aim. I drew in a deep breath, settled the crosshairs on the center of his forehead, breathed out, and pulled back on the trigger.

The blast shook my body, but the guy on the rooftop dropped to the ground, unmoving. I closed my eyes for a moment, tried to force my heart to stop pounding, and focused again on the main area of the rail yard.

Jenna was the first one I saw. She had a SIG in her hand and was aiming at the trailer of the truck. When I looked in that direction, I saw three of the girls who were part of the cargo trying to get out. The back door had broken open when the cab was hit, and they were trying to clamber out one by one.

Three sharp pops from Jenna’s weapon, and the girls dropped to the ground, unmoving.

“Bitch,” I growled as I took aim again. Another blast, and Jenna’s body dropped to the concrete. “You were a lousy fucking kisser anyway.”

Moving the scope to the left, I saw a tussle going on between Mario and Craig. Mario was on top, and definitely had the advantage, but Craig’s hand came up and bashed his skull with the butt end of a gun. Mario was stunned, and the next shot went through his chest and out his back, leaving a gaping hole.

Craig shoved Mario’s body off just in time to get a shot from my Barrett in the back of his head.

Gavino was running to his SUV. I tried to aim at him as he got to the vehicle, yanked the driver out of it in his panic, and got behind the wheel. Rinaldo was running up, firing multiple shots at his adversary, but they were bouncing off the bulletproof glass.

Not Barrett-proof, though.

As he slammed his foot down, the SUV lurched toward Rinaldo, causing my shot to go wide. My second shot was quick—I didn’t have enough time to aim properly before Gavino ran down Rinaldo—and didn’t hit the cab as I had intended but the back half of the SUV instead. It swerved, tipped onto its side, and smashed into the back side of the building, out of my view.

I grabbed the Barrett in one hand and the Russian rifle in the other. I ran for the edge of the building and the ladder, carefully balancing both weapons as I shimmied down. Moments later, I was on the ground again and running toward Rinaldo. Above the hum of the substation, I could hear sirens approaching.

The gunfire had stopped, but bodies were everywhere. From the gaping hole in the side of the trailer, caviar was pouring out all over the ground. There were still girls peering out of the back door, but none of them were daring to try to escape now.

Rinaldo was next to Gavino’s truck, but there was no Gavino in sight.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Took off,” Rinaldo replied. “I didn’t even see him.”

The sirens got louder.

“Time to go,” I said.

“My information was right,” Rinaldo said as he pointed to the front part of the trailer. “There’s my caviar.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be here,” I said. “I was in all the discussions about tonight—there was never any mention of caviar. How did you know it would be here?”

“My new man,” he said. “He had a contact in the Russian group—someone high up.”

My mind went back to the argument between Andrey and Rurik, focusing on Rurik’s glee when he talked himself out of being here tonight. He had to be the informant. He wasn’t working for Rinaldo—I was sure of that—but using him to get back at Andrey and Gavino.

“I might know what happened,” I said, “but we have to get out of here now.”

“Agreed. And you need to hurry.”

“He has Lia?”

“I don’t know,” Rinaldo said. “He said he knew right where you were hiding, and that’s where he was headed when we came here. You better take my car—the keys are in the ignition.”

I turned and started off, then looked back briefly.

“Who is he?” I asked over my shoulder. “What’s the guy’s name?”

“Kyle Davies.”

The name gave me a bit of a start. It wasn’t someone I knew, but the name was so close to the private who bummed a cigarette off of me a few days before we were ambushed—Keith Davies. He was the third person in the video when the reporter was executed and the one whose information told the insurgents where to find us all. He nearly faced court-martial when we returned because they were convinced he had given the information willingly. It didn’t happen, but he was ultimately disgraced and ended up leaving the Marines as a result.

Coincidence, I told myself as I climbed into Rinaldo’s car and screeched out of the parking area.

All other thoughts were pushed from my head as I focused all of my energy on getting to Lia as quickly as possible. If this Davies guy touched her, I wasn’t sure what I would do. Just the thought of something happening to her was causing my heart to thump audibly in my chest and a cold sweat to form on my palms.

I dumped the car in front of the apartment without even bothering to turn off the ignition. I pulled my Beretta out as I raced up the stairs to the second story unit, which was where my blood went ice cold.

The door was smashed in.

Nothing could have terrified me more.