“Kill everyone. Leave the leader to you. Simple enough.”
“They won’t expect it.”
“You’re sure he’s here, ja? After this, we will not have surprise on our side.”
“I’m sure.” I called Luca last night and he confirmed it: Rastus is definitely in his country home, hiding out from the worst of the troubles in Athens. That Italian bastard is starting to grow on me. “Good luck out there.”
“Ja, you as well.” He grins at me, the crazy bastard, and guns the Rover harder.
The lead Rover slams through the gate surrounding the property. There are shouts from the gate guards, but no gunfire goes off. We keep going, faster now, the Rover rattling all over the rough road as the house comes into view. Men are out front, three of them, all armed but none of them have their guns unslung from their shoulders yet.
They have no clue what’s coming.
The lead car slams on its brakes. The doors open.
All hell breaks loose.
The three Filo guards out front die before they can shoot back. I jump out the passenger door and storm forward as the front team goes around the left side of the house. Dieter joins me at the main doorway and throws a flashbang grenade into the entryway. We wait for the loud pop and burst of light before we kick inside and kill the guards waiting for us in there.
It’s an ugly, bloody slaughter. Screams and shouts of pain echo all through the building. Some of the guards try to escape out the back but the lead team and the follow team mop them up, slaughtering them like cows in an abattoir.
Reina joins me as we stand outside of Rastus’s study. Downstairs, Dieter and his men finish with the last remnants of the Filo army, killing anyone with a gun and capturing all of the house staff. She nods to me, lips pursed, cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. She’s drenched in sweat and blood.
I crack the door and gunshots go off. I pull back before I can get my face blown to jelly and Reina rolls her eyes before tossing a flashbang into the room. It goes off with a huge pop and we rush in behind it.
Rastus is behind his desk, groaning and rubbing at his eyes. A gun’s on the floor beside him. The fireplace is crackling and there’s a half-finished glass of good whiskey on the mantel. I stride forward and kick the weapon away from Rastus’s groping hand before putting a boot on his chest and knocking him onto his back.
He blinks up at me and I wait for his vision to return.
“How?” he rasps, trembling beneath my foot. “How did you do this? There’s nobody left to help, you were abandoned.”
“You shouldn’t have underestimated Le Milieu. And you shouldn’t have underestimated me.”
“You prick. You bastard. You traitor. You tried to kill your father—”
“And I’ll do it again if given the chance. Your family is finished, Rastus. The Filo name will be burned and forgotten from here on out. All because you were too proud to take the fucking deal.”
“Bastard. Weak little prick.”
I smile and lean forward. “Adrienne says hello.”
He curses me in Greek, some very nasty stuff. I press my gun against his head. “See you in hell, you little—”
I don’t let him finish. I pull the trigger and break him. When it’s done, I step back and wipe my shoes on the carpet.
Reina’s standing by the fireplace, finishing Rastus’s drink. She gives me a stare with pursed lips. “Did youhaveto make it so dramatic?”
“I didn’t like him.”
“Yes, I see that, and yet I do value efficiency.”
“What do you care? We’re finished. Filo’s done and all the other crime lords are going to line up behind Balaska. From here on out, the deal’s going to fall into place. How’d you do it, Reina? How’d you convince Le Milieu to send the Germans?”
“I didn’t,” she says, scowling at the fire. She finishes her cigarette and lights another before sending a quick text. “I have a patron.”
“A patron?” I ask, bewildered, but I don’t have time to press. Dieter appears in the doorway and wants to talk logistics. We finish a sweep of the house and leave the staff on their knees in the front yard, some of them weeping openly. Poor people are going to be scarred for life, but that’s what happens when you work for monsters.
Car headlights appear in the distance coming toward us. Dieter starts barking commands in German and his men line up, but Reina waves them down. “Friendly, friendly,” she says in both English and German. She gestures as a red Jeep trundles into the front perimeter and stops.