Page 7 of A Game of Survival

I shoot back another glass of whisky and slump heavily into my chair. You would think under normal circumstances the first port of call in situations like this would be to go to the feds. But fuck is this anything but normal. They have laws to stick by, for us, all bets are off. Besides, whatever they can do. I know I can do it better, faster and more effectively. I have no reservations when it comes to getting what I need. The memory of charring my fathers body flashes before my eyes, the smell of burning flesh invading its way into my nostrils. I have to shake my head to get rid of it.

I open up the surveillance tabs on my screen and drop a pin into Max’s residence. I’ve run through this footage a hundred times already but I can’t ignore the feeling that I’m missing something, just like with Lucille's tampered documents. This is the only place they could’ve taken Teddy from before he ended up at the warehouse with Vinny. The unease in the pit of my stomach has manifested itself to something of a monster that is slowly eating away at my insides. Felix has already noted that the footage covering the front of Max’s house has been altered. From the moment Max got home with Teddy, there’s a very subtle but noticeable glitch when you know what you’re looking for. But all previous attempts at regaining the footage have been unsuccessful.

I need to look at it from a different perspective. I've been so distracted with both Lucille and Cole in the hospital that I haven’t even thought of any other ways around it. My mind has been churning, constantly with too much to focus on. I curse myself for being so fucking stupid. At least my brain seems to be keeping up with my gut feelings now that Lucille is back home with us where she belongs. As for Cole, I sigh heavily, unable to even begin to comprehend what he’s dealing with in his own mind, I’ll just have to deal with him later. I'm just glad he’s alive so that, providing Silas hasn’t already killed him, I can throttle him myself when this is all over. I click play on the live feed from that day and watch as Teddy skips happily through Max’s front door and out of view, followed by Max himself. Everything seems completely normal. The only movement that follows for the rest of the video are the cars and people who pass by unaware of the situation that unfurls at some point throughout the night. I continue watching until I see Silas and Lucille appear on the screen and, already knowing what happens next, I rewind it back to the beginning to start it again. I notice the glitch and make a note of it on the notepad next to me. The time jump is an hour exactly, making it harder to notice. Whoever altered this footage knows what they’re doing.

I run my hands across my face feeling frustrated that this is taking me so long. My eyes are already burning and I think the lack of sleep might be slowly driving me insane, so much so that I’m almost convinced that I’ve hallucinated once I see it, what it is I’ve been searching for. I have to blink my eyes and will them to adjust as I narrow in on a truck, stationary in the traffic opposite Max’s front door. The truck is a flatbed, usually used when transporting heavy goods, and what this is transporting makes my heart leap into my throat. Mirrors. Tonnes of mirrors. I pause the footage and zoom in on what I think is, no, I’m sure it’s an ATM in the reflection of the mirror opposite the house. “FUCKING JACKPOT!” I shout, slamming my fits into the desk. I switch over to the satellite map and locate the ATM. Quickly loading the location coordinates into the bar at the top of the screen. My screen instantly floods with code. Times, dates, transactions, and what I’m really looking for; the fitted camera feed. I override the security codes after a few moments and access the archived footage, setting the time a few moments ahead of the erased CCTV footage. I hold my breath and zoom in on the front of the house as far as the camera will allow, willing this to work, because honestly, it just has to. The seconds speed by and my stomach bottoms out as a blacked out custom Cargo van pulls onto Max’s driveway.

My ears are loud with the sound of my own blood pumping through my body as I watch four men dressed in all black, including the balaclavas covering their faces, jump out of the van and creep towards the front door. It’s late enough that they’re under the cover of darkness but they still aren’t stupid enough to reveal their faces. Two of the group stand either side of the front door and draw out their guns before the third in the group moves forward and kneels at the door and the fourth takes up the rear with their body facing the road incase of any interruptions. The guy on the floor must be picking the lock as moments later he stands and opens the door before pulling his own gun and stepping into the house while the rest of them follow, closing the door behind them. The thought of Teddy being woken up, scared for his life like this makes me so angry I want to spill blood. Not just any blood, but theirs.

Not even ten minutes has passed and the front door opens again, but this time instead of four bodies, there are six. I lean towards the screen narrowing my eyes as I notice an unconscious looking Max being dragged by two of the intruders as another runs for the drivers side of the van, the last man runs from the house with a small limp body swinging from his shoulder. Teddy. My heart breaks as I watch Teddy and Max get thrown in through the back doors of the van and all three remaining men haul themselves in before the driver takes off. I click back through the feed and watch it repeatedly, letting the knowledge sink in that Max was as innocent in this as Teddy was. I internally vow to apologize for ever doubting the Irish prick if he makes it out of this alive, as a disgustingly sympathetic veil clouds my judgment. His father is as much to blame for this as mine was, and he will be punished. Slowly and painfully.

It takes me the rest of the evening to follow the van, tracking it through multiple archives of traffic camera footage until it eventually leaves the city and I lose sight of it heading towards Mountain Springs. The sun is barely piercing the sky as I lose hope. I know I need sleep to be able to function properly and no doubt a fresh set of eyes might be able to pick up on something I may have missed. I just can’t bear the thought of seeing Lucille’s face when I tell her we still don’t know where Teddy is. Although I’ve been able to regain the missing footage which lets us know Max definitely wasn’t involved, we’re still no closer to finding out what the fuck happened after. All we know is that Teddy was taken to the warehouse to Vinny, after that, we have nothing. We need to get word on Ronan’s next delivery pronto. I grab for my phone and ring Felix. It’s early but I know he’ll already be at the casino, that is, if he left at all.

“Boss,” he answers after the second ring.

“Felix, where are we with the incoming shipment for the Irish?” I question, rubbing my thumb and finger into my eyes.

“I have it on good word that there will be an incoming delivery tomorrow night, Boss.”

“How good?”

“Well, he lost two fingers and half of the third before Sully got him to squeal so I’d say pretty good, Boss.” I can practically hear his satisfaction dripping through the phone. “I will send you the location now.”

“Thank you, Felix. There’s something else I need you to do for me before I put my head through the wall.” I desperately need to get some sleep if I’m going to be any help at all.

“Anything, Boss.”

“I’ve managed to hack into the ATM across the street from Costello’s house and gained access to the archived camera footage. It shows the whole night, the erased footage, all of it. It’s grainy using the full zoom but it’s all we’ve got. Whoever did this was smart but not smart enough to check there, too. I’ve managed to follow the van through the city to the outskirts but I lose it heading towards Mountain Springs so I need you to see if you can get me anything as to the whereabouts of that van now or the men who were inside it. It’s all we’ve got to go off right now and we can’t fuck it up.” I breathe heavily down the phone, exhaustion suddenly weighing down my eyelids. “I’ll send you everything I’ve got, the footage, the make and model of the van and the coordinates of the last camera sighting of it before heading out of town.” I say already attaching everything to an encrypted email before clicking send.

“Sure thing, don’t worry, Boss. The email has come through. Get some rest and I’ll call you if I find anything.” Felix reassures me before I hang up. I contemplate waking Silas, but the thought lasts only for a second as I’m no further forward with any new information on Teddy, and Felix has given me his words that he will ring if he finds anything. I drag myself over to the couch and collapse, letting the weight of the last few days drag me under.

Chapter 6

Max

The entire room is encased in darkness when I finally come round. I’m not even sure my eyes are fully open, or if I’ve possibly been blinded in my attack, I can’t see a fucking thing. I roll my head back stretching out the tension in my neck and groan at the tightening of every single muscle in my body as I try to move. The ache through my arms feels mind-bendingly numb, almost like the entire upper half of my body has been dropped into an acid bath. I can feel my skin burning so much it's like a thousand wasps going rabid on my flesh. I can tell from the awkward angle of my shoulders that my hands are strung up above my head, but the circulation is well past gone as I struggle to wiggle my fingers against the chains holding me upright, this may explain the numbness and tightness across my upper body if I’ve been strung up for however long. I try to tug on the restraints, testing the strength of the chain as well as myself but a blinding pain down my left side and a sharp inward breath lets me know I have most definitely acquired some internal damage too. Probably a couple of broken ribs, definitely some bruising at least, but hopefully no punctures. I blink a few times, desperately willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness that surrounds me so I can figure out where the hell I am and try to get out of here. My legs feel as if they're barely there, having been suspended for too long. I’d be sure to collapse if it weren't for the chains keeping me up.

I try to compose myself and ignore the constant throb of pain throughout my body, the smell of damp and decay thick in the air leads me to think I'm maybe in a basement of some sort, or a cellar perhaps. I strain myself, listening out for anything that may give me some sort of clue, distant traffic, trainlines, footfall outside, anything to narrow down my location, but there’s nothing for what feels like hours as I dangle, just blackness and a deafening quiet that's so loud it’s practically screaming at me, rattling inside my skull. I must slip back out of consciousness for a few hours for when I rouse again, I can hear muffled voices from the floor above. They’re quiet, definitely male from their tone but I can’t make out what they’re saying or who the voices belong to. It’s undoubtedly the ones responsible for what happened to me. I just wish I could remember. How the fuck did I get here? I try to think back now that I’m in a higher state of consciousness, willing my brain to push past the pain, but the last thing I can clearly recall was putting Teddy to bed...OH SHIT! TEDDY! A feral inhumane scream punctures the air before I realize it’s my own. I pull harder against the chains wrapped around my wrist to no avail as the pain splinters across my chest, it becomes too strong to handle and I have to give in. “FUCK!” I gasp, unable to break free, trying to regain my composure and get my breathing under control. I need to get to Teddy, I need to know who’s behind this. Jesus Christ, LUCILLE! I hear the scraping of chair legs across the floor from above, but there is nothing that could prepare me more for who walks down into the darkness to join me.

The lights snap on, blinding me before my vision filters back through to reveal what I suspected, a damp and disgusting cellar. There really is nothing else to it, the walls are the same color as the cemented floor and the only things decorating them are thick dusty cobwebs falling corner to corner across the walls. How the fuck am I going to get out of this? I can feel my heartbeat in my eardrum as the footsteps begin their descent but I am completely blindsided by the man who steps into view a mere four feet in front of me. “Hello, Son.” he smirks, pure acid dripping from every pore in his venomous face. The ringing in my ears increases and I’m sure something has popped deep inside my brain. His lips continue moving but I can’t hear a fucking word that he’s saying as my vision momentarily blurs over. Everything in my body burns, the pain, the anger, the betrayal. There are no words that I can conjure in this moment to express the fucking hatred I feel for this snake. My brain has short circuited, and completely fried out. A sharp strike across my cheek snaps my head to the side a second later and I have to blink away the shock before it registers on my face. “ARE YOU FUCKING LISTENING TO ME!?” my father snaps as I slowly turn my face back towards him baring my teeth as if it were to deter him from hitting me again. “That’s better,” he nods as he begins his speech again, only this time, I focus myself, cutting out the pain, and listen to every single word he says, to make sure that when I kill him for what he’s done. I can list one by one all of the reasons as he begs for mercy before I drain the life from his eyes.

I watch in silence as my father stalks back and forth across the damp space in front of me, his three piece suit flawlessly cut across his broad shoulders. Most men age horribly and lose their strength but not him, at the age of fifty-eight he could still put most grown men on their asses before they even knew what was happening. However, I knew he didn’t like to be the deliverer and on most occasions gave the orders to his enforcers, Fionn and Cillian.

“You’ve been such a fucking disappointment to me from the moment you were born. Do you know that? All I ever wanted was a son to carry on the family name. An heir to be proud of. For people to fear whenever they heard talk of him. To run the business, to eradicate those fucking Italian pricks and bathe in their blood while we held the entire city in our hands. But you, you went fucking soft the moment you let a woman become the priority, you wrote your own fucking death note. And what makes it worse is that it was your own fucking whore of a sister that you let bring you down.”

“Where is she?” I snarl through gritted teeth, barely holding onto the anger that threatens my vision once more. His laughter rattles in his throat as he stops pacing.

“Oh, so you can speak? For a moment there I thought Cillian had fucked you up so much he’d left you mute.” He laughs again and shakes his head. “Shame really,” he pouts, tilting his head while he glares at me.

“I said, where is she?” I bark, refusing to break his eye contact.

“Dead, hopefully. I have what I need, there was no use for her anymore so I let her psycho husband do whatever fucked up revenge shit he was planning for her. She was no longer a concern of mine. I didn’t care to know, so I didn’t ask.”

“She’s your fucking daughter, you sick bastard! What did Vinny do to her!?” I snap, lunging forward only to be reminded that I’m still strung to the ceiling. Ronan chuckles, a deep demonic sound, at my attempt to get to him, stepping closer with the knowledge that I'm unable to reach him. I can’t contain the onslaught of images that stampede their way through my mind at Lucille having to face Vinny after what he did to her. I only hope that she found a way to save herself before it was too late.

“She was nevermy ownblood, Son. She was just an unnecessary add on when I regrettably married her slut of a mother. Nothing more, nothing less.” He continues to pace once more until he comes to stand before me, his face mere inches from my own. “That was until I realized just how much of a fucking liability you were and how much better of an opportunity my beloved grandson would be to me.” His smile is cruel, laced with greed and something else I can’t quite decipher when the reality of his words fully etch themselves into my consciousness. I know he notices the moment his words finally sink in, the realization and anger carved into my features.

“You took him? You took Teddy?” I gasp, almost choking on the words as they settle into the air.

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