Page 89 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

They jogged through the tunnel until they reached a bunker door where Ayaan entered a code they’d been given. Jozef and Cooper were on the other side waiting for them. The group was now directly beneath the palace.

We heard the explosion, Cooper signed.

It was so fucking awesome! Ayyan replied. You should’ve seen them running like chickens. They don’t even realize what hit them!

These people have been terrorized for weeks, their loved ones dying all around them, show some fucking respect, Jozef said to Ayaan, who dropped her gleeful expression for a more somber one. Jozef shot a pointed look at Havel, you’re late.

Havel wanted to remind Jozef that he was no longer in charge, but his respect for Jozef stopped him. Instead, he answered, we got held up on the street. Couple of rebels taking potshots.

Jozef nodded and handed them each a white T-shirt with red crosses emblazoned across the front and back. After they replaced their jackets with the shirts, Jozef opened the hatch that would lead to the interior of the building. Havel, Ayaan and Cooper raised their weapons, preparing for resistance on the other side.

They made their way through the palace toward the presidential suite. Each time they encountered a guard, they took out the threat. Three shots to the head, three men down. It was unfortunate, but their job was to get the president out of the palace, it didn’t matter that these people were on his side. There wasn’t time to stop and explain their mission and hope the president’s guards would agree.

Their mission was a smash and grab. Break into the palace, take the president and his family to a safe place.

The family suite was empty.

Check the panic room, Havel signed to Jozef who nodded his understanding. They’d been given a blueprint of the palace, which included the escape tunnels and the president’s panic room.

Jozef returned, nodding at Havel that he’d found the family.

Havel spoke to the President through the screen on the wall outside the panic room. “We were sent by your brother to get you out of the country. Open the door and we’ll be on our way.”

Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. The stressed president balked and why wouldn’t he? They could’ve been hired by the rebels, not his brother.

Havel gave the President details his brother had given Havel, anticipating this moment. “You’re first pet was a dog named Chippy who died when he was run over by a taxi. Your favourite treat as a child was strawberry flavored ice. Your third-grade teacher was a woman named Martina.”

The President still hesitated. “How do I know you didn’t torture my brother for this information?”

Frustrated, Havel barked, “We’re leaving in two minutes. Either you come or you stay. We get paid regardless.” He raised his phone to the speaker, hit record, and said, “I need you to leave a message for your brother stating we did exactly as instructed, but you refused to leave.”

The door to the panic room slid open and the President stepped through. He was disheveled, barefoot, wearing only a pair of sweatpants and a stained T-shirt, his hair a mess, his forehead shining with sweat. A woman and a young girl followed him though.

The woman said something to her husband in a language Havel didn’t understand. The President replied angrily. Her eyes grew large and filled with tears as she argued with him, her soft voice an urgent plea.

Ayaan looked at Havel. She’s pleading with him for the life of their son. The kid despises his father and refused to go into the panic room.

“Where is he?” Havel demanded of the President. Time was precious. Very soon the military would realize no one had been injured in a rocket attack and turn their attention back to the palace.

“He’s in the house,” the President said, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter. He chose his side, let’s go.”

Havel’s hands shook with the desire to snap the president’s neck for his callousness. It wasn’t like Havel to care about family politics, or any other kind of politics, but now that he was a stepfather, this man’s disregard for the life of his own son annoyed the fuck out of him.

He gripped the President by his T-shirt and shoved him at Cooper. Take him and the others out. Follow the plan but wait the helicopter another two minutes. If I don’t make it, you leave.

No one argued. They were used to Havel making quick decisions in the field. Jozef took point with Cooper directly behind him, leading the President, his wife and daughter back to the tunnel, Ayaan falling in behind.

Havel glanced over the blueprint on his phone and took off at a run, hurtling toward the boy’s bedroom. He figured the kid would either be in his room or the kitchen.

He encountered one guard on his way, who stared at him in frozen shock. Havel grabbed the guard’s gun, tossed it away and gripped him by the head, twisting until the neck snapped, He dropped the body and moved on. Normally he would be more careful, moving slowly and checking for targets, but there was no time. He intended to be on that helicopter and the boy was going to be on it with him. The President’s brother was paying for four family members and he was getting four.

Havel tried the kid’s door, but it was locked. He kicked in the door to find a kid, about twelve years old, standing on his bed, pointing a rifle at Havel. Havel ducked to the side as the kid pulled the trigger, burying a slug into the wall across the hall.

Havel hurled himself at the kid, knocking the weapon aside.

“Do you speak English?” he demanded, picking him up by his collar and dragging him back out the door.

“Y-yes,” the boy replied, tripping over his feet as he twisted in Havel’s grip.

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