Chapter Eighteen

Zach

After inspecting the borders and locating the hiding spot of the thugs, there was nothing Zach could do, so he decided to go back to the compound.

After dinner, he needed some time for himself to get some rest. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night, so he went to bed early to get as much sleep as he could.

Halfway through the night, he was woken up abruptly when someone burst through his door.

“Boss! They’re back!”

Zach was up in an instant. This was what he was waiting for—those thugs were so predictable.

Julian stood in the doorway, out of breath, waiting for Zach’s orders.

“Are there just as many as this afternoon?”

“No, sir, there are about twenty-five, but they are highly skilled. And the boss is among them too.”

Zach burst into Ethan’s room.

“Ethan, get your ass out of bed we’re under attack.”

It took Ethan a moment to respond. “Seriously, they’re here now? I was having such a good sleep. I’ll ring the alarm and then I’m on my way.”

Zach called his captain and his advisor. “Ron, Darian, get everyone in the safe room. I need you two to get everyone in there as fast as you can. We are under attack.”

After he got their responses, he turned to his head soldier. “Julian, get everyone together at the front of the house. I’ll see you there.

Just as Julian left, Ethan stormed in. “Zach, what do you want me to do?”

“I need a plan to stop these attacks as soon as possible. I don’t want any other attack coming from these annoying thugs. Help me think about one while we gather everyone at the front of the compound.”

Ethan and Zach headed outside, where a large group of soldiers and other family members already waited for further instructions.

When Julian saw his boss coming, he immediately informed Zach of the latest developments. “Boss, they are winning terrain. The soldiers at the borders can’t hold them back! We need to do something right now!”

Zach nodded. “Thank you, Julian.”

“Let’s close them in, just like the last time. We separate into four groups. Ethan will go left, Jackson—where’s Jackson, damn it!”

“Over here.” From the other end of the group, Jackson called out to Zach.

“Alright, Jackson, you go right. Then my group comes with me to the middle. Julian, you take your group and try to get around them so we can close them in. We’ll get these bastards once and for all!”

The guys Zach had addressed all nodded. Zach took off, and the rest of the family followed right behind him.

Zach was surprised when he noticed they were awfully close, way too close to the compound! Julian hadn’t exaggerated when he’d told him they were skilled!

Looks like this was going to be another close-quarters fight. Zach stepped up, lunging for the first thug he saw with his knife and ripping him open.

When he looked around, he saw his fellow family members giving everything in this fight. The fight was messy, truly ugly. Blood, saliva, dirt—everything flew around.

Another of their soldiers came for him, but he was quick to dodge the attack. He turned around to face him. Once he noticed he’d missed his target, the soldier turned to face Zach and came at him again.

Zach braced himself and waited until he was close. He bent down, head low, to leap up when the attacker’s head was above him. This way, he had easy access to his neck from underneath.

He only needed a quick slash to end his life.

Again, Zach scanned the area to see how his family members were doing. He saw Ethan on his left and knew Ethan was having the time of his life. Ethan just loved having this revenge.

On his right, he looked for Jackson, who at first wasn’t to be seen. But after a second, he found Jackson fighting two of the nasty thugs, having the upper hand, so Zach continued to look around.

He saw Julian, lying on his back, with the biggest soldier on top of him. This was not good; Julian looked to be in deep trouble. He couldn’t seem to get the guy off of him.

When Zach looked more closely, he saw deep wounds on Julian’s chest. The man was bleeding severely. The other guy was much stronger than Julian, probably the boss.

Zach wasted no time and ran over, crashing into the attacker. Yep, Zach was right, this was the boss. The one he’d scared off last time they met. His face was covered by a bandana again, but his eyes were exposed.

When he looked into his eyes, he noticed the green, almost yellow, eyes again. He had seen them somewhere else, but where?

He didn’t have much time to think about it, because he saw him get up and storm his way. He didn’t have much time to dodge the attack and he felt the boss crashing into him, almost like in slow motion.

His back landed against a tree, the bark scraping his back, tearing it open when he slid down. The thug approached with a baseball bat. He was right in his face, daring him to react.

Zach moved slowly, to not set this guy off anymore.

From his left, someone rammed into the thug, crashing him into another tree.

“Zach, are you alright? How could you let that happen?” Jackson, of course. Who else would make him feel like a fool?

“I’m fine, thanks. Leave the boss to me. I can handle him.”

“I can see that,” Jackson said, the sarcasm evident in his voice. “Being smashed was part of a strategy of some sort?” Jackson turned around and went to aid some of the other soldiers.

The boss looked at Zach again. It seemed like he was grinning weirdly at Zach. Zach got up fast. He circled the boss, looking for the right moment to lunge.

But the boss thought otherwise and lunged at Zach first, aiming for his head. Zach felt the bat skim against his head, barely dodging a serious injury.

He saw an opening and slashed at his chest, cutting him open a little.

The thug howled in pain and let go for a second. Zach took this opportunity to get himself free and took a step back to catch a breath. The boss was strong.

Zach was taking some serious hits; he had to look out that he didn’t take too much damage. The thug didn’t give Zach any time to recover; he came from behind and slashed with a knife over Zach’s back.

But before Zach could turn and reciprocate the attack, the boss was flying backwards.

When Zach looked over his shoulder, it was Ethan, together with Jackson. They had slung the boss against a tree.

“This is seriously getting bad. Should I worry? This is the second time in five minutes I’ve had to save your ass,” said Jackson.

“Thanks, Jackson.” Zach didn’t know how he could handle this boss.

Like before, the boss knew when he had lost and cowered back. All the other soldiers that were still alive did the same, retreating.

That was strange. Usually, when they attacked someone or something with a purpose, they would go on until they’d reached their goal.

Unless… Zach thought hard. Unless the goal was not to take over the family but to weaken it. That was it! They were weakening the family, but why? What did they want to achieve with this?

Zach had to have a chat about it with Adrian; maybe he knew more. He wondered how he was doing; it had been some time since he’d last spoken to him.

“Boss, are you alright? Your back is bleeding.” Ethan looked worried.

“I’ll be fine, Ethan. Nothing that won’t be healing quickly. How are the rest doing? Could you make sure everything is cleaned up?

“And afterward, let me know if Joanna is alright. I don’t know how much she noticed about all this, but she could be seriously shaken up by the noises alone. Take care of your destined, alright?”

“Will do. Will you be fine? You should go to the clinic and let someone look at that. Take Jackson with you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Ethan, I’ll be fine.” With that, Zach turned and left for the compound to check on everyone who had stayed behind.

Once Zach was sure everyone was fine and the wounded had been treated, he headed for his room. He pulled off his shirt and winced. That hurt more than he anticipated.

Earlier, he had put some clothes on so he was decent, but with the adrenaline still flowing, he hadn’t felt anything. Now all the adrenaline was gone, and it hurt a lot.

When he stepped in front of the mirror to see how his back looked, he gasped. He couldn’t see a lot, but what he saw was not good.

There were other serious gashes, and he was still bleeding. Their boss had gotten him good. Maybe he needed to have someone professional have a look at it, after all.

He walked through the compound to visit the clinic. He couldn’t take the pain, so he didn’t put his shirt back on.

A wave of nausea hit him as he walked down the stairs. He clasped the railing and winced. He took a deep breath and continued on his way. Outside, he saw Jackson smoking a cigarette.

He took the steps of the veranda as another wave of nausea hit him. He couldn’t reach the railing and tumbled down the rest of the veranda steps.

“Zach!” Jackson sounded alarmed and ran to his aid. He caught Zach just before he tumbled over.

“I don’t feel so good,” Zach barely managed to whisper.

“I can see that.” Jackson looked concerned and grasped one of Zach’s arms to throw over his shoulder, so he could support his brother. “Taking care of everyone but himself, like always. Let’s get you to the clinic, alright?”