stand

The end is coming…

Enjoy the first unedited chapter of Stand!

Chapter 1

Let the Games Begin

Darren

Sweat dripped down the side of my temple, threatening to breach the lids of my eyes as they peered through the scope of my rifle. The humidity of the jungle in Honduras was fucking brutal this time of year and all the goddamn gear I’d strapped myself down with was not helping in the slightest.

Keeping focus on my targets, my blood pressure began to decrease with massive disappointment at the small amount of guards patrolling the compound we were currently staking out. I expected more – had hoped for more, but apparently Javier Spade was more concerned with his money financing his now struggling drug trades rather than the security of his own home and family.

“I only count ten,” Scott said as he focused through the scope of his own rifle next to me.

“Twelve,” I countered. “There’s two shooting up behind the shed.”

“They hardly count then,” he scoffed.

“Dan, do you still have eyes on Spade?” I asked through my ear set. He’d been quiet for too long.

“He’s on to his third mistress,” Dan finally answered gruffly. “Asshole has some stamina, I’ll give him that.”

“As long as they continue to keep him busy,” Scott added as he adjusted his scope.

“He could have picked a better hotel though. Guess he likes fucking around cockroaches.”

Dan didn’t bother hiding the disgust in his tone. He was anxious to engage with Javier Spade, but my team and I needed to take the compound first. Then the real fun would begin.

We’d been watching Javier’s compound for the last two weeks now, monitoring his comings and goings, the guards he employs, the people who visit, the imports and exports of the compound, the security measures – every bit of intel we could extract. And now we finally had enough to bring Javier’s world to a crashing halt.

The only person I hadn’t been able to locate yet was his brother. And that was going to change tonight.

“Are you guys ready yet? I’m baking on this fucking roof,” Dan complained.

“Don’t worry, cupcake, you’ll get your chance in a minute,” Scott answered as he continued his focus on the compound. Waiting for the visual confirmation from the rest of the team was annoying the fuck out of me as well.

“Alright, we’re in position. Visual confirmation on the targets,” came Conway’s voice from the other end.

“Good. Let’s make this quick and clean. I have a wife to get home to,” I said, and began to descend from my post.

Scott and I made our way through the thick brush and trees, stopping just outside the gates and watched through our scopes.

“Disrupt the signals,” I ordered as I focused on the guards through my scope while the cellphone and internet signals in the area were corrupted except ours.

“Fire on the count of three … two … one.”

With ten shots fired all at once, the massively sharp echo announced the death of the ten guards as they all dropped instantly, the yard now littered with their bodies. There were now only two guards left in the house protecting our three targets. It was so easy it wasn’t even fun.

“Dan, your team is free to engage,” I told him through my earpiece.

“Finally,” he replied, his tone full of anticipation.

Scott then tossed a grenade under the gate, those ten seconds of anticipation building in my blood before the gate burst open in a loud, fiery eruption of chaos. Our two trucks that had been on stand-by burst through what was left of the gate, mowing down the metal and creating a clear path for our entrance. The sound of a few more gun shots quickly silenced the male shouting from inside the house as we made our way across the lawn, joining the rest of the team inside the house.

I waited patiently in the sunroom of the home with Scott and two more of our men as the rest of the team hunted down the targets that were likely hiding somewhere upstairs. It was a mere seconds later more gun shots followed by terrified screams, shouting, and crying filled the home as a woman and two teenage boys were dragged down the stairs and forced to their knees in the middle of the sunroom. Javier’s wife clutched their two sons to her sides as she stared up at me with hateful tears in her eyes. I recognized that hate almost instantly, the familiar intensity of that emotion coming off of her in shockwaves.

That strategy never saved Jaden. And it wouldn’t save this bitch or her family either.

“Dan, do you have him?” I asked.

The scuffling and shouting on the other end was the only immediate confirmation I got until Dan’s exacerbated voice came on.

“Fucker tried to jump out the damn window,” he finally said as he huffed into the speaker. “But we got him.”

“You sound winded,” I commented.

“Well, he is a massive piece of shit.”

“Not for much longer,” I said and pulled out my phone to video chat with Dan so Javier could witness the show I had planned for him.

When the video finally connected, Dan turned the camera to Javier’s direction, his sweaty face swollen and beaten to shit as blood dripped down his nose and mouth. I made sure he could see the look of victory in my eyes as I stared him down for a few moments, relishing the fear that began to manifest. A smirk formed at my mouth before I silently turned the camera back to his family who were still huddled together as they crouched on the floor. With a simple nod, the show began.

Drawing the machetes from their backs, my men wasted no time as they hacked away at Javier’s family, their screams filing the room, mixing with Javier’s as their blood sprayed in all directions, splashing against the camera lense. It was only a few seconds, but those had been some of the most satisfying seconds I’d experienced in the last few months. I didn’t even want to kill Javier yet, his suffering far too enjoyable to end so soon. But at some point, all good things must come to an end.

When it was over, and Javier’s family was nothing but bludgeoned bloody pieces on the floor, I turned the camera back to my smiling blood-smattered face so he could remember it as vividly as possible. The rage on his face as his chest heaved up and down would be a favorite in my memory book. I ended the video chat without a needless word, my actions speaking so much louder for me.

“He’s all yours, Dan,” I said into my headset before turning back to my men. “Raid the house and then burn it down. I’ve had my fun for the day.”

Turning away, I headed back out to our convoy, the success of the day making each step lighter than the last. Of course, we weren’t quite out of the woods yet. There was still the matter of Javier’s brother that I would eventually have to deal with. Hopefully Dan would be able to get his location out of Javier before he was finished with him.

Taking out my phone, I dialed Clive for any updates on my spitfire of a wife. Suspicion was immediate when he answered on the third ring.

“So, how’d she do?” I asked, my voice tense already.

I was met with a second of silence before Clive cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, we’ve run into a slight problem.”

Rage punched straight through my chest.

“What. Problem.”

More silence. “Someone … used live rounds.”