09

KYLO IS STRANGE.

I already knew that when the boy was a little off when he admitted to plugging an unknown hard drive into his laptop trying to guess the password, but I'm starting to just now realize how weird this guy is as I watch him through the security cameras of my house through my phone. He's currently in the backyard chasing around the dogs, a struggling game between them as he can't seem to keep up with any of them. He's running around with their lashes in his hand shouting at them to come back but the girls aren't listening at all. It was a little entertaining, to say the least.

"I managed to get in," the sound of Maurice's voice from across the table catches my attention and I look up from my phone at him. He flips around his laptop and on the screen is a bunch of numbers and code that make me squint. "I'm getting the contact information for one of the men out of Vietnam right now. It seems they have some new type of psychedelic drug called Altox they've been working on. It sells pretty damn nice too if we get some shipped over here we can sell it tenfold."

I nodded at his words, my eyes still focused on the security footage on my phone. From the few seconds I took my eyes off of him, Kylo had someone managed to get the dogs to chase him now, the girls running behind as he ran for his life screaming.

"Must be a cold day in hell if Benavanté Bellerose is smiling." Maurice's voice rings again, and I don't even realize the corners of my mouth are pulled up until he calls me out on it. I fix my face, clear my throat, and place my phone down on the table.

Maurice sends me another look from across the table, his thick brows rising at me slightly. I mirror with a look of my own. "What?" I barked.

"Nothing," he quickly replied, hands raising in defense as he let out a half-hearted chuckle. "nothing at all." He returns his attention to the laptop in front of him, typing away on the keyboard.

I opened my mouth again to call him out on his bullshit but the doors of the warehouse slamming open caused the words to hitch in my throat. In comes about four of my men, one draped around the others as he carried him, blood staining his clothes. "Sir . . ." one of them called out, voice horsed and strained. I immediately stand to my feet making my way over to the wounded men. Maurice is behind me, the same puzzled look on both of our faces.

"What the hell happened?" Maurice is quick to ask, the both of us extending a helping hand to the men as he hurriedly carried the blood-covered worker to the table.

"We were collecting the incoming cargo with the weapons on the dock when this group of guys just pulled up and started shooting at us." One of the men explained, his breathing unstable and troubled.

"We tried to take 'em out as best as we could but they outnumbered us and they ended up hitting Marcus good too," another explained as we lifted a wounded Marcus on the table. "we barely managed to get away and they got the weapons too."

"Fuck." I growled under my breath, a fist slamming against the table. That's the last thing we need right now, stolen cargo and more wounded men. I turned my attention to the man on the table in front of me bleeding out, his eyes barely open, looking around. Maurice is crouched beside him, trying to keep blood from gushing out of his chest with the pressure of his hands but it's not enough.

He's going to die.

"Hey- it's okay." Maurice soothed, blood soaking onto his hands. Cries erupted from the dying boy on the table. He's young in the face, probably not too much older than Enzo.

"I-it hurts!" He sobbed, blood dribbling down his chin from his mouth.

"Shhh- I know.." Maurice frowned, his eyes darting to me. We both knew the outcome that was coming. Even if we could get a medic in here by the time they came the boy would have already taken his last breath.

He didn't deserve to die, no one does but death doesn't discriminate. No matter your age, race, or wealth — death has always come and collects his debt. I've always had a weird relationship with death. My first encounter came when my mother passed when I was eight and even then it was a weird experience though I don't remember much of it. From an early age, I learned how death plays and how he doesn't halt his plans for anyone.

It's funny really how death is considered a tragedy in the young and a right of passage for the old and so brings different kinds of mourning but for me, it's all the same. After witnessing so much death over my lifetime, I learned that giving tears was nothing but a waste of time. I've lost so many men, lost countless family members to death. There's no point in mourning. Death comes for us all eventually and when he comes for me I'll be ready.

"I don't wanna die!" Marcus cried loudly, blood flowing from his wound. One of the men gulped from behind us as a tear rolled down his pale cheeks.

"It's okay the pain will stop soon . . ." Maurice grabbed ahold of the boy's hand. He's always had a way with his words unlike me. It's times like this I'm jealous of his sensitive nature. Sure I could talk about cargo shipment plans, and the drug cartels with ease but when it comes to comforting someone in a time of distress words leave me. I don't know how to comfort I've never been taught the art.

The men who carried him in cried softly as they watched their brother die, slowly feeling his life get further and further away, and judging from the tears I can assume they must've been pretty close — as they should be. They took the oath, this is brotherhood after all but even still I curse myself for not being able to bring forth the emotions that they are. Being in my position I see hundreds of men every day, all of them working for me and it's hard to put names to every face I come across. We don't have the same relationship so it's hard for me to feel what everyone else was feeling at this moment and I hated that because this boy didn't want to be here on this table bleeding out in front of me and I didn't want to be here watching him beg to live. No one would.

I picked up his hand, palms cold. Blood dripped down onto the floor, soaking through his clothes. His eyelids start to fall and I watch as he slowly goes limp.

"Dors bien." Rest well, I whispered lowly, my hand coming up the boy's cold face to close his barely shut eyes. A cry ripped from one of the men's throats and he fell limp to the floor. He cried aloud with his blood-covered hands shaking over his face. Blood smeared all over his cheeks, mixing with the salt tears.

I turned around back to the men, all of them sulking with defeat. "I'll give you all time to grieve. I'll meet with you all tomorrow to plan a proper burial. He deserves that much at least." I say to them. They nodded at me, sniffling into their hands.

"Thank you, Mr Bellerose." One said through his tears and I placed a hand on his shoulder giving it a soft rub before turning back to Maurice.

"Let's give them some privacy." I nod towards the exit of the warehouse and he quickly nods and follows. I grabbed my coat from the back of the chair and started to make my way out.

Maurice caught up with me after a few seconds. "That was real cool of you to give them young boys some grace like that Stone."

"A little too cool," I replied as we exit the warehouse, and I toss my arms through the sleeves of my coat. "they fucked up one of the simplest assignments which was to go and retrieve cargo from the docks and now it's stolen. I'm letting them grieve their fallen brother for now but after that, I'm not showing any more mercy to those who can't carry out simple tasks."

Maurice made a face and I could see the words forming on the tip of his tongue but he exhaled a low breath and refrained from speaking them aloud. "So what now?" he asked instead.

"We go get my shit back," I said to him. "because it seems like as of late if I want to get anything done I have to do it myself."

••••

Later on that night, I found myself on a rooftop. I screwed the large silencer atop the rifle, finally grabbing the scope and clicking it on, finishing up the assembly of the gun. Now I only needed some live rounds, and I was ready to shoot, but tonight's target wasn't in place yet, so I refrained and instead just gently put the gun down on the edge of the building, laying down on the gravel atop the roof to check if I had a visual.

"Visual..." Looking through the scope, I could see more than a dozen living rooms from this building, the insurance office high enough to obscure me from sight yet also low enough to grant me sight into the residential area across the street where the target would be. When I finally found the window I'd been looking for, I sighed and smiled. "We definitely got visual. Maurice, how is everything looking down there?"

"Everything's squared away down here," he rings in the earpiece. "I had a tap into one of the men's phones and they should be about to enter the apartment any second now. I can't believe they were dumb enough to go get Chipotle after a cargo raid."

Maurice managed to get the tag of the guys who pulled up on my men down at the dock by hacking into the camera around the area. We found them hanging out down at the local Chipotle where one of the men's phones was connected to the local WiFi with no VPN — what a dumbass now we've had their location pinged for quite a few hours just following them around until we could get them alone.

"I'm gonna try to connect our earpieces to the same frequency of his phone so we should be able to hear through his speakers to collect intel if there is any," Maurice informs. I can hear him pressing some buttons from his position in the car below, a shrill sound, and a robot woman's voice telling me the device had been turned on reassuring me everything was working as intended.

"Have I ever mentioned how lucky I am to have you on my team?" The playful remake found its way off my tongue.

"You could stand to mention it more." Maurice counters and I know he had that stupid smug look on his face in the car. He's such a smart ass but I really couldn't ask for a better partner in crime – literally.

"I feel like I'm about to explode —" The target's voice could be heard in my ear, a thick Jersey accent flowing through his lips. I look through the scope to get a better look into the apartment. Five men came waltzing in all smiles with full bellies. I can only assume this is only a few of them who were down at the docks earlier.

I rolled my shoulders back and felt the breeze flow past me, content in this moment. One man comes into view through the window loosening his tie as he and the others in the room continue to go back and forth.

"No one told you to get all that queso on your fucking burrito."

"Aw, fuck you man!" One of them says as he walks out of view into what I assume to be the restroom while the other four stay out in the open area.

"So what are we gonna do with all this cargo? Just wait?" Another voice asks.

"He didn't give us any instructions past that so I guess that's the plan," the men start talking and I wait for a name to come about but they never utter it. "maybe we should call him. I don't want to keep this shit in my place. My mother-in-law is coming over this weekend."

"Why would you invite her over this weekend?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd be coming back this week. I thought we had more time but no we get told shit last minute and now we're scrambling over something for all we know could be a rumor."

"It's no rumor. He's coming back."

"And how do you know that? He tell ya that?"

"Yeah . . ." the one word made the men quiet for a moment and I felt myself growing annoyed by how they talked. Do they know they're wired or are they just so afraid of this guy that they're scared to say his name aloud?

I watch through the scope as the men gather around a table and pull out a deck of cards, beers, and cigarettes flowing between them and the conversations quickly shift to something else. I grew impatient.

"I'm gonna shoot them," I say into the earpiece.

"Wait, you don't wanna listen a little more? They might give out some valuable information." Maurice says.

"We've been watching them for thirty minutes. If they haven't said anything valuable as of now I don't think they ever will. Besides, I got something to handle after this so I can't stay out here all night."

Maurice signed into his mic. "What's more important than this?"

"I didn't say it was important I just have something to do," I tell him.

"And that is?"

"None of your business."

He exhales a low breath again. "Fine. Kill them but I hope whichever guy you're meeting up with tonight sucks in bed and gives you head with teeth."

"That's not what I'm doing smartass," I adjusted my position in the scope. "and that was very low of you."

I turn on the beam of the rifle, letting the red light shine its way into the apartment. I can see the red dot against one of the men's open beer bottles. I decide to play with them a little bit, pulling the trigger and letting a single bullet fly over into the apartment smashing the glass bottle into pieces on the table. The men immediately jump back, falling to the floor at the abrupt explosion.

"What the fuck was that!?"

I fire another one at another glass on the table, earning the same reaction and it's only on the second time that they decide to pull out weapons of their own. Amateurs. That should've been your first move before you hit the floor. How the fuck did they managed to take one of my men out?

"For someone in a rush, you sure are playing around." I hear Maurice in my ear and I roll my eyes as if he could see me. "Alright, alright."

I let the rest of the bullets fly out the rifle, staining the cigarette pocket of the man's button-up as he slowly slumps into the wall lifeless. Another one goes through one of the men's neck, blood splattering onto his partner's face but I don't give him time to react before I fire one right through his skull. One crawls on the floor towards the door and I get him the back, extended arm falling limp on the floor inches away from the door. I let out a low sigh as I removed my eyes from the scope and wiped the nonexistent sweat from my forehead before I gathered my things and met with Maurice.

"You good to handle the rest?" I asked him as we made our way up to the apartment where the man lay dead.

Maurice nods his head as he pulls out his phone. "I've already called a few men to come and help clean this place up." We enter the apartment and it's a mess through and through but that's to be expected. The cargo is in a pile on the other side of the room stacked up against the wall. There's one man left, the one who went to the restroom. He's on the floor bawled up, eyes darting to the fallen men around him.

"And what about him?" Maurice asked.

"Keep him around for integration." I shrugged.

The man turns around to us, completely distraught. "I won't tell you monsters nothing!" he spat out standing to his feet, preparing to charge towards and I rolled my eyes at the theatrics. Maurice pulls out his own Glock 26 and fires off into the man's knee making him tumble to the floor just as quickly as he got up, curse words flying from his lips.

"Anyways," Maurice continues turning back to me. "I'll let you know how it goes and if we can get anything out of this guy."

I place a hand on his shoulder, an appreciative nod following soon after. I look down at my watch seeing the time. "Shit," I cursed. I need to hurry. "I'll catch up with you later, alright?"

"Yeah, whatever. Go have fun with your butt stuff."

I sent him a look. "That's not what I'm doing."

Maurice sent me a knowing look and it brings me back to a time when we were kids and would bicker in my room as we played with toy trucks and action figures."Sure." There's no point in arguing so I let him have it and make my way out the apartment.

••••

When I get home it's dark. The sun had set and it was nearing 11 pm. I didn't expect to be out as long as I did but then all that shit happen and time seemed to escape me. When I make my way into the house I'm met with a still silence in the foyer which means the workers must've have already left and my father must already be fast asleep. I hear a bark followed by the sounds of paws hitting against marble flooring. Buttercup comes running first, barking aloud once she realizes it me at the door.

Blossom and Bubbles come shortly after. I rubbed their heads, letting their warmth heat my chilled hands from being outside all night. I hear more steps coming and that's when I see Kylo stumbling into view. He looks completely disheveled, a complete change around from how I left him earlier. His curly hair is a tangled mess with grass and a few sticks in it, shirt is stained with grass and mud.

"You bitch," he breathed the words at me so harshly I was sure steams was about to come out of his ears. He marched towards me. "You told me to watch your dogs which I did and then you left me here alone with them for nearly three hours? These beasts you call dogs have turned me every way but loose, and you have some nerve naming them after the Powerpuff Girls who are made with sugar, spice, and everything nice. There's nothing nice about these three—"

I hand him a bag with what I bought shutting him up. He looks down at the bag and then up at me with a questioning brow. "What's that?" he asked.

"It's for you," I tell him.

Kylo hesitantly takes the bag from my hands, a puzzled look still on his face as he opens it. When he pulls out the brand new laptop the looks completely disappear from his face and in comes a look of surprise and then confusion. I barely made it to the store in time but I paid one of the workers there a little extra and managed to grab a laptop for him since I broke his last one. It's only right.

"You got me a laptop . . ." he says the words slowly, looking back up at me. "why?"

"I broke your last one remember." It's my turn to make a face at him. He nearly tore my head off when I did it, does he not recall?

"I know but . . ." he looks down at the laptop flipping the package over. "GAWT DAMN THE PRICE," his big eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He's so dramatic it wasn't that expensive.

"This is more than I make in a two-week pay period." He admitted before turning his attention back to me, a question pondering on his face but he quickly wipes it away with a smug look. "you know what? I deserve this after fighting three beasts all day while you were off doing God knows what." He stuffs the laptop back into the bag and dusts himself off.

"Am I free to go now or would your royal highness like a foot rub?" He asked smartly, arms folding across his chest. He has such a smart mouth for someone with sticks and grass in their head.

"Your ride is outside. One of my men will take you home."

Kylo adjusted the backpack that barely clung to his shoulders, gripping the bag with the laptop in it as well. "I'll be going then," he simply says and I nod making my what towards the staircase with the girls following behind me. "oh and Stone . . ." he calls out for me again once I'm halfway up the stairs. I turn around and look down at him in the foyer.

"Next time you have your men scoop me up out of nowhere at least have the decency to let me know beforehand, okay," he said and I raised a brow at him. "Is that all?"

"And one of the dogs peed on the floor. Bye!" he quickly blurted, before making his way out the door and shutting it behind him.

••••

EXCUSE ANY MISTAKE OR ERRORS

Shit is starting to get serious . . .