Zhu and his men started wading through the chaos of the crowd. They had no problem using the butts of their weapons to slam into the other patrons’ heads to get them moving away. The very wealthy weren’t used to such treatment. They tried to run for the exits, and that just added to the pandemonium, allowing Gino, Draden, Diego and Rubin to follow unseen, hiding in plain sight in the middle of the panicked crowd.
The hallway leading to the bar was short, but narrow. Zhu’s guards had to go into it two abreast. Draden and Gino came up behind the last two men who were trying to keep the wealthy patrons from knocking them down in order to get out. One swung his semiautomatic toward the ceiling and let loose a burst. The screams amplified and the crowd flung itself forward, a living, breathing wall.
Gino took advantage, pulling the ex-soldier back into him from behind and cutting his throat in one smooth move, dropping him with a shove back into the crowd. He fell, blood spraying toward those coming at him. More panicked screams. More pushing. That’s fifteen.
Zhu’s guards picked up the pace, pushing toward the front, and, knowing they were followed, urging the others to hurry. They kept turning their heads, trying to see an enemy, but the GhostWalkers were too good at blending in.
“Kill them all,” Zhu snapped.
That was distinctive and Gino and the others went up the wall fast to cling to the ceiling just as several guards stopped, turned and fingers on the triggers, swept a hail of bullets across the crowd trying to follow them to get to the exits. They mowed the patrons of the club down so they fell like dominos. Gino didn’t mind in the least. They’d all come to torture others, men, women and children bought from traffickers. They frequented the club to hurt others. He had no problem with seeing their bodies drop and hearing their moans. In the end, the guards left no one standing.
When the sound of the guns died away, the silence in the club was eerie. The two guards at the rear of the line stepped into the pile of the dead and dying, uncaring that they stepped on fingers or chests. They scanned the building carefully. Inside the lit cells was the only movement. A few of the lucky wealthy were pressed tightly against the walls, hoping they would remain unharmed. The guards stalked them and systematically shot each one in the head. As far as Gino was concerned, the men were doing his work for him. He had fully intended to return and take out as many of the foul, vile people he could and then rescue the victims.
Zhu called out another order and they returned. Inside the bar, they stopped for a brief consultation. “Burn it down. Kill anyone you come across,” Zhu ordered.
The GhostWalkers had followed their prey, staying above them, moving slowly so as not to draw attention. There were enough moaning and dying of patrons to keep the attention of the ex-soldiers. Still, they were careful, not tempting fate by moving too fast.
We have to get the victims out.They couldn’t leave them to die.
Already, Zhu’s men had gone into a closet beside an office door and pulled out some kind of flammable cleaner. They began to throw it on the walls. One went behind the bar and broke bottles of top shelf bourbon and poured it over furniture.
We’ll get them out,Diego offered. You and Draden kill these bastards.
Ezekiel swore. He wanted the team to stay together, but they couldn’t leave victims to be burned alive. Hurry and get them out. We can’t leave Gino and Draden without backup.
I’m good alone, Zeke,Draden assured.
I’m better that way,Gino added. He was grateful he had Draden though. The man was a machine when it came to killing or saving lives. Either one.
There was more swearing. Gino ignored and began his move. The bulk of the guards had surrounded Zhu as best they could as they went out of the club onto the street. Three were left behind to burn the club to the ground.
Fuckers are doing our job for us,Draden observed.
One less job for us, tonight,Gino said. Let’s get this finished. You boys watch your six,he added to Rubin and Diego.
He waited until the guard finished pouring the alcohol along the bar and had lit a match. As he tossed it, the man turned, and Gino was standing in front of him. Close. The knife bit deep into his throat. His eyes went wide with shock. He tried to speak, but only a gurgle could be heard. Gino withdrew the knife, staring into the man’s eyes as he helped him down to the floor. He watched the life ebb right out of him and then turned and walked slowly after the other two who had both tossed matches into the hive where the victims trapped in the cells were unable to get out.
Sixteen is down.
The guard tossing the match laughed and waved at a naked woman banging on the cell door before he turned to leave. Draden dropped down on him and snapped his neck. The naked woman stopped screaming and stared at him. Tiny flames licked along the bar and ran up the sides of the walls, the light illuminating Draden as he dropped the body to the floor.
The third guard turned back just as the GhostWalker let go of the dead guard. Gino’s knife took him through the throat as he lifted his weapon.
Seventeen and eighteen,Gino said.
Thanks, man,Draden said, glancing over his shoulder. The blaze was fast moving toward all the bottles lined up on shelves behind the bar.
Diego and Rubin were opening cells, pulling people out and sending them toward the back door. Those that couldn’t walk, they carried on their shoulders, running to beat the flames. The fire was picking up speed, accelerating with so much fuel in the silks hanging on the walls and draped over tables. Elegant sheets were on some of the beds, because no matter how much agony their victim was in, the patron had to have all the comforts imaginable.
The sound of the fire was loud now, crackling and popping. Neither man even glanced toward it, rushing the women and children out first and then the injured men.
Gino lost sight of them as he paused just inside the door to the club, scanning the street. Zhu had to have left a guard behind, just in case. By now, he had to know the cars up and down the streets were useless. He would go into the narrow alley and make for the warehouse district located right behind the red-light district.
Gino threw a vase that was sitting on a small table in the foyer through the plate glass window. Outside, near the street, a guard leapt into view, his finger on the trigger of his semiautomatic. Gino threw his second-favorite throwing knife. A knife could fall over that distance, but what he loved about this particular blade was that it just kept going. It buried itself deep. Nineteen.
All clear. To your left, heading into the alley,Trap said. Wish we’d brought my woman along. She’d have nooses all along their way out.
It wasn’t a way out. The GhostWalkers were herding Zhu and his men exactly where they wanted them to go. Zhu hadn’t caught on yet, nor would he. Gino was certain he was too arrogant to ever conceive that a force would be able to outthink him in his own territory. He hadn’t counted on the women’s ability with computers to ferret out his every secret. He hadn’t counted on the fact that Gino was a meticulous planner and had no problem biding his time in order to exact revenge. He had patience, and he’d learned that from Ciro Spagnola.
Mordichai and Trap, get down there and help Rubin and Diego get those victims out. The fire is spreading fast. People are coming out of the other clubs and very soon we’re going to have company. I want us gone before anyone else gets here,Ezekiel ordered.
On it, Mordichai answered for both of them.
Gino ignored the byplay. He ran with Draden, feeling for his surroundings. In the seventeen-plus hours on the plane, he’d run it a hundred times in his mind, finding his way with his footfalls, making certain he could do it fast and yet remain silent. Ezekiel had taken them through every detail of their mission, over and over until every move was automatic. With the detailed information the women had gotten for them, they had put together a good plan of attack.