Slasher: Devil's Rose #10

Chapter 32: Jax Easton

Reaper and Bullet are at the ready. Carbon and Scout are behind the computers back at the warehouse, ready for action too. Whiskey stands beside me, my partner for this raid. We have the police for backup, but they won't be needed. 

We won't be putting their lives at risk tonight. The gun feels heavier in my hands than normal. My heart aching in pain. Fuck, I don't think I've ever felt this way before. For the past twenty-four hours, it feels like my heart has been ripped out of my chest, and I'm bleeding out on the floor. 

But for the past five, I've had to have my head focused on taking down Max when all I really want to think about is Iris. I know I should not be concentrating on her, at least not when we are about to raid Max's warehouse, but it's as though my brain doesn't know any better. No part of me knows better.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, and it's Whiskey signaling me back to real life.

"Look, I get that you lost someone you care about, but I need you to focus back here. I want to get home to my family too."

I nod my head in understanding, brushing Iris out of my head and connecting back to real life. My blades sit ready in the most accessible pockets of my outfit, the bulletproof chest sitting exactly where it should be. We wait for Carbon and Alpha's signal to begin the raid in the cover of darkness.

"We're all set here," Rubble says from the other warehouse next door to the one I'm at.

"Alpha, on your call," Carbon instructs, letting our boss know that he's good to make the decision.

Fuck, I would hate to be him.

Being president is such a hard job, and I could never do it. I'm grateful he wants to.

"Let's hit it boys," Alpha says.

What a fucking jokester.

I can tell that Whiskey is trying not to smile, but Carbon is full-on laughing in our ears.

We step through the parking lot, sneaking as quietly and quickly as we can. Using the access code for the door that Piper gave us, we are able to unlock the doors instantly and get inside the building without setting off any alarms. 

As far as we know, not many people are here because they don't exactly need to run their operations in the dead of night, so we are hoping we aren't confronted by too many people. However, the one person that we need, Max, it's confirmed that he's here. 

We can see right into his office thanks to the Dallas chapter who were able to provide us the key to his cybersecurity code.

Whiskey and I are silent through the halls, the only noise we hear is from Carbon who is updating us on where we are in relation to each other and where Max and other people are in relation to us. 

We are the first time to make it to Max's office door with Reaper and Buller about ten seconds after us. We can hear the shuffling of paper as we stand there in silence, quiet breaths releasing from our mouths. 

We give each other a look, Alpha gives us the go-ahead, and we open the door. Max stands there with a gun to his head. Jesus fuck, I was not expecting that. Carbon apologizes in our ears about not knowing what was going on because the screen had been too hazy for a second. I feel like that happens at the worst fucking times.

Reaper instructs us to put our guns down and back into our holsters. I do what I'm told, even though I'm not quite sure why he's wanting that, but I'm not going to disobey orders. Reaper slowly steps forward and tries to get Max to relax. But talking to him isn't doing anything.