A Blued Steel Wolfe (17 page)

Cammie sat huddled in the safe room with Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe and Doctor Martinez. They heard the men outside as the Russians tried to breach the door electronically. When that failed, they once again heard Salvatore demand that they exit the safe room.

She looked at Linda, crying as her husband held her close. Anthony Wolfe had never looked so… human to her before. Gone was the charming businessman. Gone was the implacable Mafia Don. Only a loving husband and father remained.

Except that according to Salvatore, Anthony was no longer a father and Cammie no longer had a boyfriend. He claimed that Justin Wolfe died in a raid on his headquarters, and he laughed about it.

That was when Linda started crying. She sobbed as a stricken Anthony Wolfe held her. She even saw a tear form in his eye.

Cammie refused to believe it, though. She
knew
that Justinian Wolfe still lived! She
knew
it in her heart and soul!

Then they heard the gunfire from outside the safe room. The thick door and walls couldn’t fully hide the sounds of automatic gunfire and grenades exploding. Doc Martinez shared a look with her, and he saw the determination in her eyes. For just a second she faltered in her belief in Justinian’s survival, but then she heard his stentorian voice, muffled as it was by the door and impenetrable walls.

***** ***** *****

“Salvatore Lupo!” Justin shouted. “Surrender now and we’ll turn you over to the police! If you throw down your weapons, you and your men will live!”

“Who are you?” Salvatore shouted back. He spared a glance for the burned body of the hacker beside him. The localized explosion of the laptop battery burned the slightly built man badly. He didn’t last very long after that. His body went into shock and he died within minutes.

“My name is Justinian Wolfe, and I hear that you’re my uncle,” he replied as he stepped out from behind the makeshift barricade and raised his arms.

Ray and Deck had already retreated. They moved back around the corner so the former Green Beret could climb into the ventilation ductwork. The three of them had their earbuds on Channel 1 for this, so they could all keep in contact.

“You know that my men could kill you where you stand, young Wolfe,” Salvatore said in an amused tone.

“I’m sure they could,” Justin retorted. “However, if they do, my men will lob a few grenades down the hallway. You and your men will die when they explode and the shockwave causes the C-4 charges on the door to detonate. That door won’t even get a dent.”

Salvatore laughed. “Why would you even feel the need to negotiate with me, then? Your father wouldn’t bother himself. He would just kill me. He tried once before, you know.”

“I’m not my father,” Justin said with a shrug. “I don’t believe in unnecessary bloodshed.”

“
Twenty feet to go,
” Deck’s voice whispered in his ear.

“
Roger that,
” Ray replied. “
Keep it slow and steady.
”

Salvatore wondered what he should do. For the first time in seemingly forever, he felt unsure of himself. He knew that his situation only had two ways out. He could leave in handcuffs or in a body bag. Part of him wanted to surrender, and live to fight another day. He fought that notion down, though. He was the last Lupo. These “Wolfes” were not of the once vaunted Lupo Family anymore.

“What assurances do I have that you won’t renege on your word?” Salvatore asked, stalling, for time to think.

“You have my word as a Ranger and an officer in the United States Army,” Justin replied, almost biting his tongue. “Surrender now and you all walk out of here alive.”
Please don’t surrender!
He thought darkly.
Give me any excuse, douchebag!

“
Ten feet,
” Deck said quietly, updating them on his forward progress.

“
Copy Deck,
” Ray responded.

Salvatore didn’t want to die. He knew that he would probably go to prison for what he’d done so far. Everyone had thought he was dead, until he’d begun his quest to track down his brother. If only things had gone as he’d planned! Instead, here he was outside an impenetrable door and faced with certain death in a hail of bullets.

“
Ready on your go sir,
” Deck said through Justin’s earbud.

“The deck is stacked against you, Salvatore,” Justin said grimly and dropped into the prone position as he drew the silenced pistol from the back of his belt.

Then all hell broke loose as Deck Shepard kicked the vent out of the ceiling and it crashed to the floor between two of the Russians. Despite their training, they jumped for a split-second. That gave Deck all the time he needed as he dropped down and landed in a crouch. He came up quickly, delivering quick strikes into the solar plexus of the first Russian. He then grabbed the man and spun him around to use as a human shield. Once his arm was firmly around the man’s throat, Deck brought up his pistol and started shooting.

Others joined in from down the hall as Justin aimed and fired too. As soon as Salvatore stood up and drew his weapon, Justin’s next round hit the Lupo traitor in the side.

Snapping the Russian’s neck, Deck dropped him and rolled close to one of the last remaining Russians. He drew a long knife from his boot as he rose from the crouch, and plunged it into the man’s heart. He then withdrew the blade and slashed it through the thug’s neck twice, decapitating him. As the head rolled free of the body, Deck looked down into the green eyes with the red flecks in the irises.
I kill ‘em where I find ‘em.
He thought wryly. He then saw that the rest of the Russians were busy returning fire at his team. Trusting the men up-range not to shoot him, he grabbed the four shaped charges from the door and pulled the detonators. Then he aimed and fired his silenced pistol, killing four more of the Bratva enforcers.

Ray popped up from a barricade alongside Trina and fired twice, double-tapping an enemy in the chest and head. Trina’s rounds took the thug beside him down, as she put two center-mass.

***** ***** *****

When silence descended outside, Cammie looked at the others with a mixture of fear and hope. Their gazes reflected hers, with the same emotions warring within them.

Three light taps sounded from the other side of the huge steel door. “Everyone alive in there?” Justin asked.

“Yes! Yes, baby!” Cammie almost screamed, elation filling her heart.

“We’re here, son!” Anthony Wolfe nearly shouted as he moved to open the door.

The sight that greeted Justin and his team as Anthony Wolfe threw the door open caused more than a few of them to do a double-take. Anthony Wolfe, smiling broadly, grabbed his son in a bear hug. He looked at the men and Trina beside them, and grinned even wider if that were possible. Then his expression grew serious.

“How many did we lose, Justinian?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet, Father,” Justin replied as he shook his head. “I lost five men on my team during the assault to retake the mansion. I saw eleven of ours dead outside, too. Jared and four of our wounded from the raid against their HQ are back in Jared’s office.”

“Thank you son,” Mr. Wolfe said solemnly. He looked around at the battle weary veterans. “Thank you all for this. Thank you for saving my family.”

As the team nodded in reply, Cammie burst from the room behind Mr. Wolfe and threw herself into Justin’s arms. No words passed between them as she kissed him hard, her tongue invading his mouth.

As she broke the kiss and looked deep into his eyes, the tears began to fall. “That asshole said you were dead! I didn’t believe it, though! I knew you’d come back to me!” Cammie said rapid-fire.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured her, holding her close as she cried against his chest.

“Um sir?” Deck piped up. “What do you want me to do with these?” He grinned as everyone turned to look at him holding a large glob of C-4. He’d taken the four shaped charges and molded them into a blob slightly larger than a softball.

“I’ll take that Deck,” Gonzo said with a chuckle. Deck handed it over and shrugged.

Then they heard the moan from the wall behind Shepard. They turned and looked at a still alive Salvatore Lupo. A thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes filled with hatred as he looked upon his hated brother.

“Salvatore,” Anthony said flatly.

“Antonio,” Salvatore said with a nod in reply. The gasp from behind Anthony drew the traitor’s attention. Linda stepped out from around her husband, and she looked in disbelief at the man. Then her gaze hardened.

“Salvatore, I hope you rot in hell for what you’ve done,” she snarled, the firebrand known as Linda O’Hara returning to wreak vengeance.

“You fucking whore,” Salvatore laughed. “You were always a damned Irish whore, Linda!”

“Justinian, give me your sidearm please,” said Anthony, holding out a hand to his son. Justin drew his weapon and reversed the grip, handing it to his father.

Fear flashed for a brief instant in Salvatore’s eyes. Then he sneered. “You can’t do it again, Antonio. You can’t kill your own brother again!”

“Justinian, take your team, your mother, Dr. Martinez and Cammie and go. This is between my erstwhile brother and me.”

“Yes Father,” Justin replied sharply. He motioned for everyone to follow him, and led them all back to Jared’s office.

***** ***** *****

“Why, Sal?” Anthony asked, crouching in front of the traitorous black sheep of the Lupo Family.

“Why what?” Salvatore replied, coughing weakly.

“Why betray your own flesh and blood? It could
not
have been because of mere sibling rivalry!” Anthony demanded.

“Your precious alliance was holding us back!” Salvatore spat. “Those mick bastards and your redheaded
whore
! We could have been the undisputed kings of New York, but
no
! We just
had
to share our power with the fucking Irish!”

“The Alliance made us stronger,” Anthony replied calmly. “It’s a shame that you couldn’t see that much for yourself.”

Salvatore laughed bitterly. “You fool. I heard that you’re trying to go legit. It will
never
happen! Beneath everything, you’re still a Mafia Capo! You can’t bring in the money with legitimate business the way you can with our way of life!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Sal,” Anthony said with a sigh. He stood up and aimed carefully. Salvatore grinned weakly, just as Anthony Wolfe squeezed the trigger twice in rapid succession. Both bullets hit the disgraced Lupo in the forehead.

Anthony dropped the pistol on the floor and walked away. As he strode down the corridor, a lone tear traced its way down his otherwise stony face.

***** ***** *****

Doc Martinez usually loved his job. He loved the cushy work and great pay that went with it. Until that moment, his work usually consisted of stitching up the occasional stab wound or digging one or two bullets out of a patient. This time it was a whole new ballgame.

They’d laid Jared out on the operating table for him. Doc went to work with a new determination. The attorney was also his friend. It hit home to Doc that this wasn’t his usual job. Nonetheless, he went in and did it with his usual competency and professionalism.

“Don’t worry Manuel,” Jared joked as his friend operated using the local anesthetic. “I got that hero complex out of my system.”

“I should hope so brother,” Manuel said back as he dropped the 9mm slug into a metal dish with a clank. “Your wife would kill you if you died.”

They talked like the old friends they were as Doc stitched him up.

Meanwhile, Cammie and Justin watched the operation. It seemed like not that long ago, Royce had sat right on that table while Doc stitched him up after he and Justin rescued Tam.

“Is it almost over?” Cammie asked quietly. Justin put his arm around her and held her close. She laid her head against his chest, and he hugged her reassuringly. They shared a look and a smile.

“Yes it is, sweetheart,” he replied softly. “Not much longer, and we won’t have to worry about things like this anymore.”

He realized that the criminal aspect of the Family Business had never hit home like this in the past. His father always kept it as far away from the house as possible. This hadn’t been business, though. This was a personal vendetta by an old enemy. Justin prayed that nothing like this would ever happen again.

***** ***** *****

The cleanup didn’t take long. The Russians were good enough to leave their vans in the front driveway. The Wolfe security team, along with Deck Shepard and Gonzo loaded up the bodies into the vans and drove them out into Death Valley. As dawn broke, the security team piled into the Wolfe SUV and sped back to Los Angeles. The only trace that something happened was the smoke floating high into the sky from the Russians’ vehicles burning with the bodies still inside.