Ding!
The oven finished heating.
Jason opened the oven door, and the rich aroma of pizza immediately filled his nose.
“Pizza’s ready. While I’m eating, go say goodbye to Lisa and the kids. And put on that Armani suit of yours.”
Paul looked up in surprise.
As far as he remembered, Jason had never been the sentimental type.
Jason slipped on a pair of oven mitts and pulled out the tray.
“You’ve been with me for six years. Before you go, I want you to leave with some dignity.”
“Thank you.” Paul wiped the tears from his face and slowly walked toward the bedroom.
Go on.
You’re still hesitating now, but your family will give you the courage to face death.
Watching Paul’s retreating back, Jason sneered and took a huge bite of pizza.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
In the master bedroom, Lisa leaned over the crib, softly humming a lullaby.
The two babies smacked their lips in their sleep, completely peaceful.
Paul sat on the edge of the bed and gazed reluctantly at their tiny faces, his heart filled with regret and anguish.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Lisa immediately noticed something was off with her husband.
“Nothing. I have to head out in a little while. Boss and I have some business to take care of.”
Paul reached out with one large hand and gently stroked one of the babies’ heads.
“Is it dangerous?”
“I can handle it. Until I get back, I’m leaving the kids with you.”
Something about the words sounded far too much like a farewell.
Lisa frowned, about to demand an explanation.
Before she could speak, Paul suddenly pulled her into his arms.
He inhaled deeply, trying to burn her scent into his memory.
Several minutes later, Paul finally let her go.
“Honey, could you get that suit out for me?”
Lisa was completely baffled by his behavior, but she still went to the closet and brought out the suit.
After changing into the brand-new outfit, Paul looked at himself in the mirror.
“Do I really look like a monkey?”
Lisa had been about to give him the usual sarcastic answer, but at the last moment, the words caught in her throat.
She stepped forward and adjusted his bow tie.
“No. You look handsome.”
Paul smiled.
Then he lowered his head and kissed the woman he loved deeply.
When their lips finally parted, Paul slowly walked to the bedroom door and stopped.
He had been thinking of all sorts of things he wanted to say before leaving.
But now that the moment had actually come, he couldn’t think of a single word.
All he could do was look at Lisa with affection.
“Goodbye.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
In the living room, Jason was sitting on the couch eating pizza.
“That was quick. Don’t want to stay a little longer?”
Paul’s expression had become completely resolute.
“No. Let’s go.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After leaving the apartment, Jason climbed into Paul’s Ford sedan.
“Yeah. You took me there once. Food was good, just way too spicy.”
“You have no taste. There isn’t another Chinese restaurant in all of New York that serves Sichuan food as authentic as theirs.”
Paul checked his watch.
“The restaurant’s probably closed by now.”
“We’re not going there to eat. Drive into the alley behind the restaurant.”
“Got it.”
Once the car started moving, Jason pulled out his phone and dialed a number from memory.
The owner of that number was a black-market dealer.
And not just any dealer, but one with a fearsome reputation and connections throughout New York.
Guns.
Ammunition.
Weed.
Women.
Real estate.
Cars.
Intelligence…
As long as you had enough money, there was almost nothing you couldn’t buy from him.
Jason had been one of his loyal customers for years.
The standard-issue firearms and military grenades in his Manhattan apartment had all come from this man.
The phone rang five times before someone answered.
“Hey, Mr. Moran. Hope I’m not interrupting you in bed with some girl.”
An elderly voice came through the phone.
“Heh heh heh. Jason! I knew you bastard wasn’t dead.”
“You money-grubbing, horny old Jewish dog are still alive. Why the hell would I die before you?”
“Dear God. Kingpin really ought to sew that filthy mouth of yours shut. All right, what are you looking to buy this late at night?”
“Hmm… how much C4 plastic explosive do you have left?”
Paul’s body gave a slight tremor.
“C4? Jesus Christ, have you lost your mind?”
“Cut the crap. Give me a price.”
“Uh… I’ve still got five charges in the warehouse. If you take all of them, I’ll call it three hundred grand.”
“Deal. I want all five. We’ll meet in the alley behind the Chinese restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. Things are a little unusual this time, so I need you to deliver them personally.”
“What? Give me one good reason I should crawl out of a beautiful woman’s arms in the middle of the night.”
“Come on, man. There’s a three million dollar bounty on my head. I can’t trust anyone I don’t know.”
“You really are a pain in the ass. Fine. This once, and never again. What signal are we using?”
“Three long, one short.”
“All right. I’ll bring it personally in an hour.”
Jason suddenly added, “Oh, one more thing. How’s Miss Moran doing?”
“FUCK YOU!”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jason hung up with a wide grin.
Paul finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
“What exactly do you want me to do? Why do you need C4?”
“Blood for blood. I’m going after the Russian mob.”
Understanding dawned on Paul.
His face immediately turned grim.
“A human bomb.”
“What? Scared?”
“…”
Jason tried to reassure him. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“Compared to being tortured to death, this way is completely painless. I really don’t understand what you’re afraid of. Think about your family.”
Paul sighed.
“I’m not afraid. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Good. In a little while, call Vladimir. Tell him you found my hideout and have him gather every Russian mobster he has.”
“And then what? How am I supposed to get inside their base?”
“Tell him yesterday’s failure made you question his ability to lead. So this time, you insist on commanding the operation yourself.”
“Vladimir’s an arrogant idiot. He’ll never agree.”
“Relax. If it means getting revenge for his brother, he’ll agree.”
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Fifteen minutes later, the Ford entered Hell’s Kitchen and stopped at the mouth of the alley behind the restaurant.
The engine shut off.
Paul had already rehearsed exactly what he was going to say.
He dialed Vladimir’s number.
Beep…
beep…
beep…
“Hello?”
“Vladimir. It’s Paul.”
“Who? Oh, right. I remember you. You’re that dog who used to follow Jason around.”
Paul frowned and replied sarcastically, “Sounds like Mr. Vladimir isn’t in a very good mood. Can’t say I blame you. Jason killed more than twenty of your men and blew your own brother away. Anyone would be upset.”
“Paul, was it? I’ll remember that name. Once Jason’s dead, you’re next.”
“Heh. Kill Jason? Do you even know where he is?”
“…”
Vladimir was left speechless.
“What the hell did you call me for?”
“I used to be one of Jason’s most trusted men. I know where he hides.”
“What?!” Vladimir’s voice immediately became frantic.
“Give me the address. Name your price.”
“I don’t need money. I just want to ask you one thing. Once you have the address, what are you planning to do?”
“What do you think? I’m taking my men over there and killing that son of a bitch.”
“What, so you can lose another few dozen men?”
“Last time was an accident. This time, I’ll kill him.”
“Sorry. I don’t trust you. If you really want Jason’s location, if you really want revenge for your brother, then you and every one of your men follow my orders. Otherwise, if he gets away again, we’ll have a real problem.”
There was no answer from the other end for a long time.
Vladimir was obviously reluctant.
Jason merely smiled and gestured for Paul to stay calm.
A little while later, Vladimir’s voice finally came through the phone.
“Fine. I agree. What do you want me to do?”
Paul secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Gather every man you have immediately. Bring all your weapons and ammunition, including your heavy weapons. Once everyone is assembled and you’re completely ready, contact me.”
“Understood. One last question. You used to work for Jason, so why would you—”
“What a stupid question.”
Paul sneered.
“Who do you think betrayed him?”
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