The Enforcer | Re-Written Version (18+) BOOK 3

O N E

12 years prior...

NIKOLAI crept along the embankment, mud caking against the dark material clinging to his thighs. He frowned, dusk made it almost impossible to see but as his hands began feeling warmth, a sick sensation ignited within his stomach. "Keep low," Leon whispered, looking back at the Silvetti.

"Doesn't feel good, Lee." Nikolai murmured back.

Benedict kept low, he was turned in the opposite direction, watching the trio's rear. But even he felt the unease lingering in the air, something was off, it felt eerily like a trap. "Too easy," he spoke back at the two leading the team. They'd been on countless missions, spent hours breaking into enemy territory... So how was it that they just crawled into one of China's most secure refugee facility. They had been tasked with finding a young girl, daughter to a high power. No names, just a photo and an address.

The sun had fallen across the horizon, waves lapped shorelines in a innocuous manner. Leon, Benedict and Nikolai worked well together, known for their ability to hunt, kill and obtain any target.

Nikolai inhaled deeply and the rich scent of blood met him. He stopped, "Leon," with one strong grip he took hold of his partners calve.

Leon used his scanner but there were no heat signals. It didn't make sense, initially they'd identified the facility housed just over three hundred refugees, with seventy fix staff and thirty guards. So where was everyone.

The wind picked up and soon the sky rained down on them, they continued forward and came to a stop around the back of a large cement building, Leon lifted two fingers and pointed ahead. Nikolai nodded, following instruction, he moved in front and began fiddling with the locking system, a drain pipe led from the building and out to where they'd been crawling. Without thinking, he crouched down and swiped a gloved hand through the exposed drain. Bringing his fingers up to the flickering light above the metal door, all three men froze.

As Nikolai touched his index finger to his thumb and pulled back they saw a sticky, line of blood drip from the space between. Leon and Benedict turned their backs to the Silvetti, "open the fucking door, Niko." Leon grunted.

Once more Nikolai manoeuvred the two metal pieces in the lock, ignoring the way they slipped between his fingers from the blood. With a loud, sinister click, the lock shifted and Nikolai pushed through. Stepping into the large hall, Nikolai felt his entire gut churn and the need to upheave was strong. Leon and Benedict backed into the room before Nikolai could snap out of his shock.

Small bodies, strung up by their feet with three deep cuts along their torso. It would've been a painful death, full of thrashing and agony. Their booted feet stood on blood flooded cement. He couldn't help but wonder how many minutes it took for their young bodies to finally pass, it was cruel, even by his standards. Bulbs swung back and forth as wind carried in through the rafters above, the light carried through the hall, illuminating just how many bodies dripped around them. Making it evident why no heat signatures had triggered the scanner.

"Fucking hell..." Leon exhaled.

The cold, lifeless eyes of the young children bore a hole deep in Nikolai's chest. It was a sight none of the men would ever be able to forget.

Then Benedict shouted, "get down!" Before Nikolai felt the larger man's body tackle him to the ground. The entire building erupted in flames, Nikolai saw the bodies tear apart as the explosion ripped through them. Then he felt his body being dragged back out through metal doors, but when he looked up into the eyes of his saviour, he found death itself. The bottle end of a rifle came down on his face twice and then he fell into a black void.

Benny... Leon...

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Present day...