Draden kept pace, running practically in his footsteps, yet he couldn’t even hear his breathing. Rodents scurried out of the way, but other than that, as they ran down the alley and across the next street toward the warehouses, there was no one to see or hear.
Zhu was left with six men. He’d lost them one by one and no one had seen what chased them. GhostWalkers came out of the night and took their prey. That had to spook Zhu’s elite force just a little. If he was Zhu, he would send one up high to be the eyes for him. Gino had even chosen the spot. There was a long bank of warehouses, rows of them, but the first bank had the ability, on the connecting roof, to hide a man with a weapon. He could wait up there and see if anyone followed them. The entire bank of warehouses was protected by a very high chain-link fence.
The first and second row of warehouses belonged to Cheng. The third row was exclusively Bolan Zhu’s. Intel was, he housed his own armory there as well as armored vehicles kept in the best of shape. He was definitely headed there. At the street facing the first long bank of warehouses, where Gino was certain a guard lay up on the roof, Draden and he split. One went to the left, the other to the right, until they were each at a corner. There were no lights back there; Cheng and Zhu didn’t want anyone seeing what they were doing.
Under cover of darkness, both sprinted across the street, again in absolute silence. They had to chance that the guard was watching the alleyway. It would stand to reason that if anyone was following, they would come from there. Draden went up one side of the building, Gino the other. It was Draden’s job to take out the guard on the roof.
Ezekiel and Malichai lay up on the roof across the street, eyes to scopes, waiting just in case. They wanted this operation done in complete silence if possible. Any evidence left behind was evidence damning Zhu and his men. Nothing remained of the GhostWalkers. Every knife had been retrieved, and no fingerprints were left behind. They couldn’t risk an international incident. Major General would never have sanctioned this operation and he wouldn’t be able to get them out of it if they fucked up.
Gino was up and over the chain-link fence in seconds. He heard the running beat of several shoes. His enhanced speed enabled him to fall in line behind the last guard.
Twenty,Draden said. Coming after you, Gino.
Gino took the guard as he ran, matching steps, getting close and driving a knife deep into the base of the skull. He had to swerve around the body, but before it actually toppled to the ground, he was on the next one. The others had rounded a corner, leaving the guard alone for a few steps. It was enough time for Gino to kill him.
Twenty-one and twenty-two.
He paused at the corner. It would be suicide to blindly run around it, but he needed to get inside Zhu’s warehouse with him and the rest of his elite guard. Without the one on the roof, Ezekiel and Malichai made their way to the same rooftop, setting up to take their backs and give them eyes from above.
Gino went up, scaling the side of the wall to the second bank of warehouses. Running across the rooftop in a low crouch, he saw Zhu with the remaining three men surrounding him as he unlocked the door to his warehouse. All looked back, waiting for the other guards.
One swore when no one came. “Who is doing this, Bolan? I haven’t even seen the enemy and he’s taken out just about all of us.”
Zhu shrugged and swung open the double doors. “I suspect I saw him once at the American embassy.” He said no more. He didn’t run. He walked inside.
“It’s only one man? It can’t be one man,” the same guard protested.
Gino was already in the shadows just to the side of the door. Draden had joined him. The two slipped inside just before the doors were pulled closed. Instantly the warehouse went dark. Gino and Draden both could see easily in the dark. Their DNA enhanced by Whitney gave them that advantage.
Zhu leveled a cold gaze on his bodyguard. “Does it matter if it is one man or several? We have to leave this place. We’ll get them another time, Dai.” He snapped on a single dim lightbulb that hung from the center of the very large room. That left a lot of darkness for a GhostWalker to hide in.
Dai shook his head. “We didn’t even hear him. Or them. Did anyone see or hear anything? Feng?” He looked at one of the remaining men, who shook his head.
“I never even saw a single one of our men go down, Dai.”
Dai looked expectantly at the remaining ex-soldier. “Longwei?”
Longwei shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Bolan, seriously, we’ve never come up against anything like this. I don’t like you exposed this way. Call your brother. Have him send reinforcements,” Dai said. “I can’t protect you against something I can’t see.”
“You would have me whine to my brother that we cannot protect ourselves against a single man? Or those with him?”
“There are three of us left to protect you. Every one of us was trained in all special forces under you. You know what we’re capable of. This man or men following us isn’t human.”
“I suspect they aren’t. Not fully,” Zhu said. “It would be a great thing to kill one and bring his body back to my brother so we could have these same kinds of advantages. I will not go crying to my brother. He would forever look down on us. Right now, he fears us. He would think he could make a move against us.”
That was news. Zhu and Cheng weren’t completely in sync with each other. Zhu’s bodyguards were in a tight cluster, but they would have to fan out at some point.
Clear,Diego reported in. We got everyone alive out. Some of them were in very bad condition. Found the owner of the club hiding in one of the cells. Chained him to a pole with enough evidence for the cops to prove that he was dealing in human trafficking and using them for sadists to torture and kill. Found a small group of women being held below the club. Name’s Moffat of all things. He’s good friends with Cheng and Zhu. I know this because he told me multiple times.
He see your faces?Ezekiel asked sharply.
We weren’t born yesterday, Zeke.
Just making sure you’re in the clear. Gino, report in.
Just standing around here sucking my thumb, boss-man,Gino said.
He never took his eyes off his prey. Zhu stood there, his features as impassive as ever. Looking at him, no one would ever think he could have done the sadistic things he had to the three victims. Gino couldn’t help but notice that the woman he kissed and then cut so badly had red hair. She hadn’t looked exactly like Zara, but she was probably a substitute for her. The other woman—the one he’d stabbed repeatedly and disfigured—had blue eyes and skin like Zara’s.
If Zhu didn’t die tonight, he would make another try for Zara. Gino knew that with absolute certainty.
“Bolan.” Dai was obviously the head of Zhu’s security team. “It doesn’t matter what your brother thinks. I can hire another crew. I can find the right ones, men who like the same things as us. We allow them to make life or death decisions for their sexual partners and the power will be addicting. It won’t take that long to build another force and then we can go after this man.”
Zhu shook his head.
Dai persisted. “Cheng would learn to fear you very quickly again. We visited his bedroom more than once when he got out of hand and we can easily do it again. Remember his face when he woke up to find the dead women sprawled all over him? Sheets coated in blood? He will fear us again. Better he has one moment of false triumph than something happening to you.”
“The car is armored.” Zhu had made up his mind.
Dai shook his head and shrugged. “Let’s go then, before all hell breaks loose. Our men are strewn all over that club and probably down the street as well. They’re known by everyone. We have to move before we are found and questioned.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. No one would dare to question me.”