The Joy of Revenge

CHAPTER 167 Pete's Cause Pete McDowell It was half past two on a chilly Friday morning. | was outside in the cold, standing beside car, waiting near the hangar of a private airport right outside Bismarck.

The jet was was supposed to arrive at two, but half an hour later, there was no sign of it in the sky above, not even a light. And | was getting impatient.

Last Friday was a disaster. Brock and his team of Black Hawks never returned from the OI Barn. According to his partner codenamed Joker, who was watching the live feed of their assault, Brock almost had Liam, but a sn iper got to Brock first.

my It was shocking to learn Liam had hired a group of mercenaries to aid him. | had thought | had outsmarted him with my group of hired thugs, thinking he only had the Sheriff, Jack and those dumb deputies to defend him.

Again, | had underestimated Liam Cohen.

They were known as the Blue Rogues, a team of highly trained ex-military operatives led by a ruthless man who called himself the Colonel. | didn’t expect Liam had the money and the connections to hire them, nor did Brock or any of the Black Hawks, who were, unfortunately to sdegree, inferior to the Blue Rogues.

Unknown to the Black Hawks, the Colonel was the first person | contacted when | was. shopping for a private army. | promised him | would double his fee if he agreed to helptake back what was mine. However, through an encrypted email, he rejected my offer outright without even givinga reason. Now | knew why....

After Brock’s untimely death, Joker exercised self-restraint and decided against avenging his bestfriend. He said it would be suicide to attack and argued the Colonel would be expecting a retaliation anyway. He decided to keep a close watch over the Blue Rogues by hacking through the CCTV cameras in New Salem, vowing he would have his revenge when they least expected it.

| doubted he would, knowing full well what the Colonel and his army were capable of. But who was | to stop a person from fulfilling his quest for retribution when | wanted the sfor myself.

I glanced up in the sky and saw complete darkness. Not even the moon or the stars were out 11:18 Fri, Apr 5 M.

CHAPTER 167 Pete's Cause to illuminate the dark sky. | wondered what was taking them so long to arrive. Joker's men said they left Texas right on schedule.

Where were they? | kicked the pavement in frustration. Clearly, | was an underboss who the organization undermined.

I knew I should have gone to Texas with my capo. | would have, if it weren't for the steel rods framing my face. | had asked the hospital director to remove the infernal contraption yesterday morning, however, he arrived late in the afternoon, leavingno choice, but to stay in Bismarck.

The private jet, the Consigliere had sent, left with my capo on board right on schedule. According to the spies sent by Joker, he was dressed in a nice expensive suit and was carrying a small attache case with him. It was obvious he had business to discuss with Dofa Ortiz, the very thought angering me. He was my second in command, yet he was the one the Consigliere requested. It was clear as day... They were undermining my authority! | had first planned to scold the hospital director when he arrived, however, he looked agitated as he walked into my room. After he placed his bag on the nightstand beside my bed, he politely asked one of my men for a double shot of whiskey to calm his nerves, before he began the removal of the external fixation rods.

He downed the amber colored liquid in one gulp, pursing his lips as he placed the glass back on the tray. | noticed his hands were shaking, like he was scared s hit less.

“What the f uck happened to you, Doc?” | asked, more annoyed than concerned. Not only did | miss the plane ride to Texas, he had to seewhile he was upset.

*| had an unexpected visit by your, uhm, delivery man,” he answered as he took a seat on a stool beside my bed. He began to massage the palms of his trembling hands while he rolled his shoulders forward and backward, attempting to ease the tension he was feeling.

“And? What did he want?” | asked impatiently. Before he answered, he placed his right hand. over his chest and took a couple of deep breaths.

“He wantedto give you this,” the hospital director said, fishing out a small white envelope from his breast pocket. | reached over, sn atched the envelope from his hand and heaved a sigh of relief, noticing it was sealed. | turned the envelope over to find it addressed to me, nothing else.

| tore it open and found a small piece of paper with a number written on it. | flipped the small note to see if there was anything else on it. Nothing.

2/6 11:18 Fri, Apr 5 CHAPTER 167 Pete's Cause “Did he say anything to you after he gave you the envelope?” | asked.

“No. He was gone before | could react,” he answered. “He corneredas | was exiting my office. He was dressed like a janitor.” “What did he look like?” | asked, urging him for a description. The last t| asked about the delivery man, he said there was a murderous expression in the man’s eyes which scared. him to death. It wasn’t the description | was looking for, but it was enough forto stop pursuing the subject.

The hospital directors’s eyes focused on the space besideas he recalled the appearance of the man disguised as a janitor. | noticed the fear emerge in the depths of his brown eyes, as if the man was standing right in front of him.

“He was tall, muscular and tan. He had a black beanie over his head and a medical mask covering his face, so all | could see were his eyes. He had dark angry eyes... the s dark eyes of the man | saw last week...” His voice trailed off like a frightened child. At least, it was -the sman.

“Get a grip, Doc,” | said. “He's not going to hurt you. If he wanted to hurt you, you'd probably be dead already. Now take these rods off of me. | need to look like my underboss self before the Consigliere arrives. And don’t worry.

That man won't bother you ever again. He gave his number.” “Oh, thank G od!” He exclaimed, heaving a huge sigh of relief. Then he stood up, opene bag and began placing the tools needed to remove the rods. “I expect you'll payext now that I've helped you outside our previous arrangement.” | rolled my eyes and scowl! was always, always about the money.

thing off of n “Your money is in the drawer of the nightstand, | said angrily. “Now get this th before | shoot you!” It took over an hour to remove the steel rods and the rest of my bandages. Luckily, my wounds and bruises had healed quickly although one of my eyes was still swollen and bruised. | decided to wear a black eye patch over it to hide the swelling, inadvertently giving a sa distic look..

After the hospital director left, | called in a hair stylist and had him dye all my facial hair a silver white to match my hair, making myself look much older than my years.

| looked at myself in the mirror after the hair treatments were finished and | liked what | saw. | could hardly recognize myself. To complete my new look. | decided to use a cane to 3/6 11:18 Fri, Apr 5 M CATER! Pete's Cause disguise myself as an elderly gentleman.

Once | was dressed in an expensive navy blue suit, feeling like my old self again, | called the number printed on the piece of paper. As expected, the screepy voice from last week answered.

“I'd like to confirm my delivery,” he said, his voice deep and raspy. | couldn't believe someone living on this earth actually sounded like Freddy Krueger. “Midnight, after the New Salem Spring Honey Bee Celebration at the gas station along the road heading to Red River.” “Correct,” | answered. “There will be a white van parked in front of the gas station waiting for you. Tell Cris, | expect him to be there during the delivery. And remember, | want my package unharmed and unspoilt.” “I'm only a delivery man. You'll get her in whatever condition she’s in. I'm no nanny,” he replied, his tone angry.

“Sure, I'll pass your message on to Cris. We'll see you midnight.” It thought he was going to hang up, but unfortunately, he spoke again. “By the way, make sure -you have my payment with you. No payment, no girl.” “How much was promised?” | asked, irritated. | suspected Cris had trouble getting to his stash which was in a rented storage unit in Mandan. But if | had knowledge of that, it was a huge possibility Lisa did too.

“Two hundred fifty,” he answered to my surprise “That can’t be right. | only pay as much as 100 grand for a girl,” | replied.

“But this isn’t any ordinary girl, Pete. After tomorrow afternoon, she will be Mrs. Lia Cohen,” he said unexpectedly.

“What did you say?” | asked, thinking | heard wrong.

Virtue and Liam were getting married... tomorrow? “You heard me,” he said. “Two hundred fifty and not a penny less. See you... Pete.” He suddenly hung up onbefore | could ask him any more questions.

| turned to Joker who was tracing the call. “Well?” “The call pinged at a tower here in downtown Bismarck,” he replied, pointing at a specific location on a map spread out on the table. “I already sent a team to check it out.” 4/6 11:18 Fri, Apr 5 M CHAPTER 167 Pete's Cause However, instead of locating the delivery man, they found an empty, abandoned old building.

“Whoever your friend hired must be a lone transporter, a shadow,” Joker said. “These guys are trained and have the necessary equipment to bounce their signal elsewhere. If he says he’ll deliver, he will. Just make sure you have the money ready in cash.” “I want him dead after he giveswhat | want, | told Joker. He laughed.

“I've already lost my bestfriend and a team of good men just because of what you want, Pete,” he said. “And if you think I'm going to have another team of men die just because of sgirl, you're wrong. He delivers her to you, then he leaves. Right now, I'm more concerned about the Colonel and the Mayor of New Salem. | know the Colonel, he doesn’t kill innocent people. It’s not part of his repertoire. From what | know of him, he’s usually hired to kill as sholes like you or Liam Cohen. There's something going on here. Something we obviously don’t know.” “I hired you to do a job and now you're tellingyou don’t want to follow my structions?” | asked vehemently, ignoring what he had just said about the Colonel. “I should stop paying.

you if this is the case.” “Well, we can leave,” Joker said, collecting all his gear. “Good luck on trying to take down Liam Cohen. You'll be needing it.” F uck. I still needed them to helpcoerce the Consigliere to my cause.... | w dead.

Liam “Fine. Just make sure your men are at the airport before the Consigliere arriv the men in Texas reported back to you?” He nodded his head.

ve “They've followed your capo to a mansion and are waiting for him to leave,” Joke “They'll call us with more information later.” My thoughts were interrupted by several lights flickering in the sky. Finally, they wer | took a small CB rafrom my pocket.

“They're here,” | said. | waited for Ace, Joker's second in command, to reply, but all | got w static.

From a distance, a small private jet landed smoothly on the tarmac. | looked up at the sky to look for more planes possibly carrying an entourage. | smiled as the sky greetedwith pure darkness.

5/ 11:19 Fri, Apr 5 M.

CHAPTER 167 Pete's Cause After last Friday becone enormous mess, Lorenzo decided to fly to North Dakota to fix everything. He sent for my capo to help him convince Dofia Ortiz, so he could get away for a while.

The plane stopped at the hangar. | fixed my black trench coat and waited for them to disembark.

Lorenzo may be the Consigliere to the boss, but this was my territory.

Here, | was the boss.

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