Bad Men - Piper Stone
Prologue
The Specialists
Specializing in ROI. Operational specialists hired to perform a job using any methods necessary to fulfill their duties—legal or otherwise.
A covert operation consisting of highly trained experts from various industries: Military, KGB, CIA, Russian and Irish Mafia. All considered dangerous, ruthless mercenaries, their missions entail returning precious stolen or abducted items to powerful and influential tycoons, who pay handsomely for the completion of their tasks.
Funded by various wealthy moguls, including those in the criminal sect, their strict methods of protocol leave nothing to second guess, including termination of the perpetrator and everyone involved in the heinous act if necessary.
There is one rule that must not be broken.
No personal involvement.
Anyone who challenges their method of operation in any way will face their wrath…
Chapter 1
Jack
Darkness.
The deepening of shadows was my best friend, one of the reasons I’d become a mercenary in the first place. I enjoyed the quality time of being alone while performing my work. I’d risen to the ranks of the best and intended on keeping it that way. I was a man who enjoyed his work, at least usually. I glared at my unexpected partner before shifting my gaze back toward the compound a few hundred yards through the trees. The light breeze had allowed the sound of the rippling waterfall from the saltwater pool to float in our direction.
Other than the nightcrawlers combing the woods in search of a breach in security, all was quiet behind the thick walls. The bastard those in South American called the Serpent believed his world was impenetrable. He assumed he was God, his brutality placing him in the class of some of the worst creatures on the face of the earth. However, he would soon understand that he’d fucked with the wrong people.
After all, my partner and I were also considered bad men, the kind who’d long ago tossed away any concept of humanity. We were expert marksmen, trained in all aspects of weaponry. We also could blend in with any environment, no matter how affluent. Those were some of the reasons we’d been recruited to work with a group known only as the Specialists in the first place.
The other reason?
Because we didn’t mind taking human life if necessary in order to fulfill our mission, reacquiring valuable merchandise.
However, the package we were required to secure wasn’t the kind I was used to. A woman. Whatever she was worth meant risking our lives. That didn’t suit me in the least. In fact, I was one pissed-off mercenary. While both Diego and I had been briefed, the meeting at our handler’s house a requirement, if tense as fuck, an uneasy feeling had remained since the moment we’d stepped foot on the plane.
What the fuck hadn’t Dante told us? Why had an American doctor been abducted in the middle of the night from a location almost one hundred miles away? There were far too many questions and no decent answers. Dante Moretti had been my handler since my recruitment and while I didn’t like him, he was a man who knew better than to fuck with me. He was also well aware that if all the necessary information wasn’t provided, the assignment could go to shit easily.
The nagging remained in the back of my mind and what my instincts continued to tell me was disturbing.
One of us on this mission was going to die.
That sure as shit wasn’t going to be me.
The buzzing of insects and the slithering of snakes had gotten on my nerves.
I’d be glad to get out of the damn jungle, the area infested with myriad dangerous wild creatures. The Serpent enjoyed his games of treachery, utilizing areas of quicksand, pits writhing with snakes and sudden drop-offs to ensure no one would compromise his private quarters, a sprawling mansion that cost millions.
Only I wasn’t just anyone. Navigating the one hundred acres had been strenuous but doable. Now the danger was in human form. My favorite kind, my finger itching to pull the trigger.
People died when they got in my way.
Hunkered down, I kept a firm grip on the M4 as we waited. The timing had to be right. There would be no second chances. We knew the layout of the entire compound, including the sleeping quarters for everyone in the house. That included our target for the evening. Every step had to be calculated, every action performed perfectly. There was one hell of a paycheck to collect and I intended on doing so.
Except that I’d be forced to share two million dollars