Dubrovnik — Abandoned Freight YardMidnight soaked the ruins in mist. Rusted shipping containers stacked like tombs. Broken cranes groaned in the salt-thick wind.Bain stood silent at the observation post, high above the trap they had set.Through infrared scopes, he could see the false shipment waiting: crates marked with old cartel brands, the bait perfect down to every forged invoice.Petrov’s men were hidden among the shadows, snipers positioned, ground units ready to collapse the yard at a single word.All they needed was Valeria’s dogs to bite.And they did.Three blacked-out SUVs rolled up, tires crunching gravel.Bain’s mouth curled into a cold smile. Punctual.Sokolov’s voice crackled through the comms. “Visual confirmed. Second wave incoming.”Another convoy approached, but it wasn’t like the first.Armored. Heavily armed. Professional.“Not just mercenaries,” Viktor muttered. “These are wolves.”Bain stiffened as the lead vehicle door opened—and he saw him.The Jackal.Olde
The engines of the private jet rumbled low and steady as it sliced through the night sky, heading back to the Vulture’s domain.Bain sat by the window, his jaw locked tight, one hand curled into a fist on his knee. Across from him, Petrov and Sokolov traded grim looks. No one spoke much.The failed ambush against the Jackal had left its mark.They needed a new plan.And they needed it fast—before Valeria and her new ally tore their world apart.The Vulture had already called ahead, telling Bain to come straight to his estate.“I’m handling something. Will join you soon,” was all he said.The absence of their old guardian weighed heavier than the jet itself.This war was getting out of hand.And Bain could feel it — like stormclouds pressing down on his chest.Meanwhile — Vulture’s DomainCassie stood in the living room, their baby boy fussing softly in her arms.She’d been on edge all morning, the walls of the fortress pressing too tightly around her. Even with Luca and Ryder nearby,
The heavy doors slammed open with a violent crack against the stone walls.Vulture stormed in, his boots echoing like gunshots across the marble floors. His black coat whipped behind him, his scarred face darkened with fury as he took in the grim faces, the tight silence, the desperate, restless energy swirling through the room.He saw Bain standing rigid, fists clenched, jaw locked.He saw Petrov and Sokolov, looking like they’d aged years in a few hours.He saw Luca and Ryder, pale and jittery, shadows of themselves.“What the fuck is going on?!” Vulture barked, his voice like a whip crack.No one answered immediately.Bain turned slowly, and the look in his eyes could have turned iron to dust.“Cassie’s gone,” Bain ground out, voice low and lethal. “Taken.”Vulture’s face hardened into something ancient.“How?” he demanded.Bain didn’t even need to finish before Vulture rounded on Luca and Ryder.“You incompetent little shits!” he roared, his voice making the chandeliers rattle. “Y
The house was graveyard silent.No one spoke. No one moved.Only the distant, restless sound of the baby’s soft hiccuping cries stirred the air — each one a dagger to the heart.Luca sat slumped on the arm of the couch, his face buried in his hands. Ryder paced back and forth near the door, running a trembling hand through his hair again and again.They blamed themselves.No one had to say it.It was carved into the hollow, broken way they breathed.Vulture didn’t say a word to them.He didn’t trust himself to.Instead, he moved with deadly purpose, the baby strapped securely against his chest in a carrier, close to his heart.He refused to let anyone else touch the boy.Not because he didn’t trust them.Because the weight of Cassie’s absence was suffocating, and the only thing grounding him — grounding all of them — was the small heartbeat pressed against his ribs.Bain stood near the wide windows, staring out into the blackness beyond the walls.His fists flexed uselessly at his sid
The days passed like a slow-burning fuse.Strategic. Calculated. Silent.At Vulture’s domain, the air was heavy with unspoken urgency — but no one rushed.They trained harder. Thought sharper. Moved quieter.It was the only way.Bain remained grounded in the fortress, splitting his time between brutal training sessions with Vulture and shadowing him on his business runs.Always silent. Always watching.The baby was always with them — strapped securely to Vulture’s chest or resting in a carrier close by.It was a reminder. A promise.Luca and Ryder, still bleeding guilt from Cassie’s disappearance, threw themselves into their own mission — studying security patterns, blind spots, potential extraction sites. Mapping and memorizing everything.Failure would not happen twice.Meanwhile, Viktor was sent back to Bain’s New York mansion under the cover of business.His task was simple: Check the pulse.Investigate Bain’s acquaintances. Test his allies. Look for any signs of betrayal, weaknes
The pieces were finally moving.Each day inside Vulture’s domain was spent sharpening the blade — mentally, physically, tactically.Bain, Vulture, Luca, and Ryder sat around the long oak war table, maps and photographs spread across the surface, lines drawn, locations circled in red.Every possible route. Every possible enemy.Petrov and Sokolov checked in through encrypted channels, feeding Bain fresh intel — whispers from Valeria’s network, movements of Jackal’s known associates.The silence was ending.And they had their first real lead.Not enough to storm in yet — but enough to start drawing the noose tighter.They just needed one more break.It came in the form of a small boy with dark hair and solemn brown eyes.Elias.Valeria’s son by blood, but abandoned emotionally since the day he was born.He shuffled into the war room, barefoot, clutching a threadbare stuffed rabbit in one hand. His lip wobbled like he wanted to say something — but he stayed silent until he reached Bain’s
The war room was dim, lit only by the cold glow of multiple screens.Bain sat at the head of the long table, Vulture pacing nearby with the baby sleeping against his chest. Luca and Ryder hovered close, silent, tense.The encrypted video feed flickered once before stabilizing.On the first screen, Petrov appeared — grim, sharp-eyed, the scars on his knuckles visible even from here.Beside him, Sokolov, ice-cold and composed, like a man already counting bodies.And on another window, Viktor leaned forward, his expression as serious as Bain had ever seen it.The room was dead silent until Petrov spoke.“It’s worse than we thought,” Petrov said in his heavy accent.“Valeria’s network is not just drugs. It’s not just oil. It’s not just guns. It’s not just children. Teenage girls, pregnancies forced in captivity, babies sold to black markets. Slave trades. Sexual abuses across continents.”No one breathed.Vulture’s hands tightened around the baby unconsciously, his jaw flexing with pure,
The Spider moved like a shadow along the rooftop, eyes locked on the street below where the Jackal’s black SUV idled.Beside her in the darkness, the Widowmaker adjusted her sniper scope, her breath even, calm.“Target moving,” Widowmaker whispered through their comms.Below them, Valeria, the Jackal, and a handful of men exited a seedy club that Spider had tracked them to three nights ago.So far, it had been one dead lead after another.False safehouses. Dummy networks. Every thread they followed either led to empty buildings… or traps.“They’re too careful,” Spider murmured.“Or too cocky,” Widowmaker replied.They needed more. They needed something real.Something that would lead to Cassie before time ran out.The two assassins melted into the night after them, invisible watchers.But hours later, after another fruitless chase ending in another dead end warehouse, Spider found something odd tucked into her gear — a small, hand-written note.No one had gotten close to her. No one.
VALERIAShe stared into the mirror, eyes hollow, pupils dilated from too little sleep and too many pills. Her knuckles were red from the last time she hit Cassie. That girl had smiled—smiled—through the blood. Like she knew something Valeria didn’t. Like she wasn’t afraid.Valeria slammed the pill bottle down, sending a ripple of pills scattering across the marble counter.Her hands shook.“Why are they so quiet?” she growled to the Jackal, who stood in the corner like a statue.“They’re pretending,” he said. “Strategizing. But it means nothing. We still have the girl.”“I’ve had her for weeks, and nothing!” Valeria hissed. She turned sharply. “No retaliation. No threats. Not even Bain. Why isn’t he coming for her?”The Jackal said nothing.Valeria stormed out, down the hallway of the Alexandria compound, past guards who wouldn’t meet her eyes. She used to command fear. Now she was unraveling. Everyone could feel it.She shoved open the surveillance room.Cassie was asleep, head slump
The world outside Vulture’s domain was moving.And Valeria was moving too — but she made one mistake.She thought no one was watching.Victor had been running discreet surveillance loops through Bain’s old network in New York. It was mostly routine — watching for moves, shifts, suspicious activity tied to Valeria’s surviving assets.Then she appeared.Cloaked, disguised, but unmistakably her.Victor didn’t waste a second. He transmitted the footage straight to Vulture’s encrypted server.Within minutes, Bain, Vulture, Luca, and Ryder were huddled in the war room, the baby resting in a sling across Vulture’s front, as always.The footage played on the projector — grainy, black-and-white, but sharp enough.There she was.Valeria slipping through an underground dock in New York. Meeting shadowy men. Exchanging briefcases.“Oil bunkering,” Vulture muttered, frowning deeply.“Black market fuel deals. That’s big.”But it didn’t stop there.As Victor continued uploading more footage — days’
The Spider moved like a shadow along the rooftop, eyes locked on the street below where the Jackal’s black SUV idled.Beside her in the darkness, the Widowmaker adjusted her sniper scope, her breath even, calm.“Target moving,” Widowmaker whispered through their comms.Below them, Valeria, the Jackal, and a handful of men exited a seedy club that Spider had tracked them to three nights ago.So far, it had been one dead lead after another.False safehouses. Dummy networks. Every thread they followed either led to empty buildings… or traps.“They’re too careful,” Spider murmured.“Or too cocky,” Widowmaker replied.They needed more. They needed something real.Something that would lead to Cassie before time ran out.The two assassins melted into the night after them, invisible watchers.But hours later, after another fruitless chase ending in another dead end warehouse, Spider found something odd tucked into her gear — a small, hand-written note.No one had gotten close to her. No one.
The war room was dim, lit only by the cold glow of multiple screens.Bain sat at the head of the long table, Vulture pacing nearby with the baby sleeping against his chest. Luca and Ryder hovered close, silent, tense.The encrypted video feed flickered once before stabilizing.On the first screen, Petrov appeared — grim, sharp-eyed, the scars on his knuckles visible even from here.Beside him, Sokolov, ice-cold and composed, like a man already counting bodies.And on another window, Viktor leaned forward, his expression as serious as Bain had ever seen it.The room was dead silent until Petrov spoke.“It’s worse than we thought,” Petrov said in his heavy accent.“Valeria’s network is not just drugs. It’s not just oil. It’s not just guns. It’s not just children. Teenage girls, pregnancies forced in captivity, babies sold to black markets. Slave trades. Sexual abuses across continents.”No one breathed.Vulture’s hands tightened around the baby unconsciously, his jaw flexing with pure,
The pieces were finally moving.Each day inside Vulture’s domain was spent sharpening the blade — mentally, physically, tactically.Bain, Vulture, Luca, and Ryder sat around the long oak war table, maps and photographs spread across the surface, lines drawn, locations circled in red.Every possible route. Every possible enemy.Petrov and Sokolov checked in through encrypted channels, feeding Bain fresh intel — whispers from Valeria’s network, movements of Jackal’s known associates.The silence was ending.And they had their first real lead.Not enough to storm in yet — but enough to start drawing the noose tighter.They just needed one more break.It came in the form of a small boy with dark hair and solemn brown eyes.Elias.Valeria’s son by blood, but abandoned emotionally since the day he was born.He shuffled into the war room, barefoot, clutching a threadbare stuffed rabbit in one hand. His lip wobbled like he wanted to say something — but he stayed silent until he reached Bain’s
The days passed like a slow-burning fuse.Strategic. Calculated. Silent.At Vulture’s domain, the air was heavy with unspoken urgency — but no one rushed.They trained harder. Thought sharper. Moved quieter.It was the only way.Bain remained grounded in the fortress, splitting his time between brutal training sessions with Vulture and shadowing him on his business runs.Always silent. Always watching.The baby was always with them — strapped securely to Vulture’s chest or resting in a carrier close by.It was a reminder. A promise.Luca and Ryder, still bleeding guilt from Cassie’s disappearance, threw themselves into their own mission — studying security patterns, blind spots, potential extraction sites. Mapping and memorizing everything.Failure would not happen twice.Meanwhile, Viktor was sent back to Bain’s New York mansion under the cover of business.His task was simple: Check the pulse.Investigate Bain’s acquaintances. Test his allies. Look for any signs of betrayal, weaknes
The house was graveyard silent.No one spoke. No one moved.Only the distant, restless sound of the baby’s soft hiccuping cries stirred the air — each one a dagger to the heart.Luca sat slumped on the arm of the couch, his face buried in his hands. Ryder paced back and forth near the door, running a trembling hand through his hair again and again.They blamed themselves.No one had to say it.It was carved into the hollow, broken way they breathed.Vulture didn’t say a word to them.He didn’t trust himself to.Instead, he moved with deadly purpose, the baby strapped securely against his chest in a carrier, close to his heart.He refused to let anyone else touch the boy.Not because he didn’t trust them.Because the weight of Cassie’s absence was suffocating, and the only thing grounding him — grounding all of them — was the small heartbeat pressed against his ribs.Bain stood near the wide windows, staring out into the blackness beyond the walls.His fists flexed uselessly at his sid
The heavy doors slammed open with a violent crack against the stone walls.Vulture stormed in, his boots echoing like gunshots across the marble floors. His black coat whipped behind him, his scarred face darkened with fury as he took in the grim faces, the tight silence, the desperate, restless energy swirling through the room.He saw Bain standing rigid, fists clenched, jaw locked.He saw Petrov and Sokolov, looking like they’d aged years in a few hours.He saw Luca and Ryder, pale and jittery, shadows of themselves.“What the fuck is going on?!” Vulture barked, his voice like a whip crack.No one answered immediately.Bain turned slowly, and the look in his eyes could have turned iron to dust.“Cassie’s gone,” Bain ground out, voice low and lethal. “Taken.”Vulture’s face hardened into something ancient.“How?” he demanded.Bain didn’t even need to finish before Vulture rounded on Luca and Ryder.“You incompetent little shits!” he roared, his voice making the chandeliers rattle. “Y
The engines of the private jet rumbled low and steady as it sliced through the night sky, heading back to the Vulture’s domain.Bain sat by the window, his jaw locked tight, one hand curled into a fist on his knee. Across from him, Petrov and Sokolov traded grim looks. No one spoke much.The failed ambush against the Jackal had left its mark.They needed a new plan.And they needed it fast—before Valeria and her new ally tore their world apart.The Vulture had already called ahead, telling Bain to come straight to his estate.“I’m handling something. Will join you soon,” was all he said.The absence of their old guardian weighed heavier than the jet itself.This war was getting out of hand.And Bain could feel it — like stormclouds pressing down on his chest.Meanwhile — Vulture’s DomainCassie stood in the living room, their baby boy fussing softly in her arms.She’d been on edge all morning, the walls of the fortress pressing too tightly around her. Even with Luca and Ryder nearby,