128

As they moved through the forest, Zane kept an eye out for movement between the trees and one eye on the app that told them where traps had been placed. He liked his mansion being surrounded by woods, it had always created the sense of it being a hidden oasis. But trees gave cover to people who shouldn’t be there. And despite having patrols walking the forest, they had learnt that it was an even better deterrent to have random traps hidden. Some were spring traps that would mamie the one triggering it, others were small explosives and they even had som pits. The men that regularly patrolled the forest had memorised the traps locations. For people like Zane, who didn’t trample through the forest on a regular basis, they had made an app. Suddenly Jax stopped in front of him and as one the group sank down in a lower stance. Ahead of them they could hear the muffled sound of people trying to move unheard through the forest, and failing. Through the trees Zane saw a group of six men in suits making their way towards the wall.
“Stop!” someone shouted from the other side of the group. “This is Velky property! Get on your stomach and put your hands behind your head!” The intruders had crunched down and had their weapons drawn. One of the patrols must bee on the other side of the intruder group. Zane realised there was a good chance it would lead to guns being fired and the group he was in would be in the direct line for any stray bullets. They didn’t have the time of manpower for that kind of thing.
“You are surrounded on both sides!” he shouted. Half of the intruder swirled around and aimed their guns to where they thought Zane was. There was a moment of silence when everyone tried to get their bearings. Then one of the intruders fired his gun and from the darkness of the woods a huge dog came flying. It barked as it charged the man and growled as it bit down on his arm. The man dropped his gun as he shouted and tried to get the massive, brown, dog to release him. There was chaos amongst the intruders. They had no idea what to do. Some were trying to keep their guns pointed towards the trees while giving their friend side glances. Others were trying to aim at the dog, but hesitated. Then one of them made a decision and fired his gun towards the dog. He missed and instead hit his friend in the leg. This seemed to make the dog bare down even harder and the man was trying to protect his arm and stem the bleeding in his leg whilst shouting like a mad man. At the same time a scrawny man steped out from the cover of the trees, aimed his gun and shot the man that had fired at the dog.
“Mother fucker! Did you try and shoot my dog!” the small man shouted. Again, there were chaos in the invading group as they had a new enemy to focus on. Zane had enough. He raised his gun and shot three of the intruders as they had their focus on other things. Jax and the other followed suit and soon the only living member of the invaders were the man that the dog was still using as a chew toy.
“Take him and make him tell you what he knows,” Zane ordered the leader of the patrol group.
“Yes, boss,” he said and gestured to the smaller man.
“Mr Meatball, release,” the man called and the dog stopped growling and let go of the man. With a wagging tail he return to his owner. “Who’s a good boi? Are you a good boi? Are you the bestest boi in the world?” the man praised the dog. Zane and Jax just stood in stunned silence and watched. Mr. Meatball? Zane thought.
“Maybe I should get Linda a dog?” Jax suggested. Zane shook his head to clear it.
“And how do you see that working out for you after you have a fight?” he asked his friend as they got ready to continue.
“Yeah, didn’t think about that. Maybe a rabbit? I could take on a rabbit, even if Linda trained it,” Jax said. Zane held back his chuckle as they again stepped into the darkness of the forest.

It took them ten minutes to reach the back gate. Unlike the front gate, the back gate was no larger than a regular doorway. A metal gate blocked it with two men guarding it. When the men saw who it was, they stood down and Jax told the rest of the group to stay by the gate. In case Zane’s father’s men would try to get in that way, it felt better to have more than two men to hold it. Zane and Jax continued alone. None of the enemy men had breached the perimeter, but there could still be snipers placed on the outside. They kept to the shadows and hurried towards the mansion. Zane send a message to the one in charge on the inside and when they approached the sun deck on the back, the door to the pool room opened and they were let in.
“Boss, it’s nice to see you,” Hamilton said.
“I wish I could say it was nice to be back, but there is a small invading force blocking my fucking driveway and the woods are crawling with idiots, anything new to report?” Zane asked.
“No, boss.” Hamilton was unfazed by Zane’s mood. All of his men were used to his charming personality by now. “We are at a stand off.”
“At least it hasn’t got worse,” Jax said as they walked into the library where monitors with camera feeds had been set up. They watched them for a while, Zane could finally see the men that were threatening his organisation. What he didn’t see was his father. Zane’s phone rang and it showed it was Spencer calling. Zane answered.
“Spencer you are on speaker with Jax and Hamilton,” Zane said. “Have you located him?”
“Yes, boss. He’s in an empty office on Himlan Road,” Spencer told him.
“Have you been able to gain any more information?” Jax asked.
“Yes, boss. He’s together with Lars, Mark, Louis and Bo,” Spencer started to tell them. Zane nodded, they were all men from his father’s inner circle when he led the organisation. They had all retired around the same time as his father. Most of them had left on good terms, but Bo had been holding out for Zane to give him a place in the new inner circle. Zane had scoffed at the idea. He had plans for the organisation and he knew his father’s men well enough to know they would not like it. When Bo had realised he wouldn’t remain in his position, he had left. Zane wasn’t surprised these were the men his father surrounded himself with. “They are discussing why none of their ambushes has payed off yet. They are expecting you to get snagged in one of them, boss. Your father is telling the rest of them that you must have slipped through, that you wouldn’t have waited for this long. The others are more tentative and still have hope. If I understand their conversation correctly they were hoping that sending your father into Mrs. A’s office would either allow them to kidnap her, or separate you from your men. Now that the second plan has worked they are trying to capture you. They wan’t access to the storage rooms,” Spencer explained.
“Well fuck me. That’s not going to happen,” Jax said.
“No it’s not,” Zane agreed. “Keep an eye on them. We are going to get rid off some vermin on our end. I want to know the second something changes on your end. If they are on the move I want to know it and I want to know where they are heading. If they are talking shit, I want to know what kind of shit,” he then said to Spencer.
“Will do, boss.” They hung up and Jax phoned Ryder.
“We are ready when you are, boss,” Ryder said as he answered.
“Good. We will do an attack from inside, when the gate starts to open, that is your signal to attack. Only attack from the side. We don’t want to shoot at each other. If some fucker can’t obey that simple fucking order, they will have a private session with me once we are done. Is that clear?” Zane said.
“Clear as fucking day, boss,” Ryder agreed.
“Good. I want the patrols to sweep the woods at the same time. I don’t want any unpleasant surprises left in those woods.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Good. Then get ready, we will be opening the gate in five minutes.” As the call ended, Zane and Jax walked out of the library with Hamilton. In the livingroom the men that wasn’t on watch were gathered. Jax explained the plan. Zane wasn’t nervous about it. As their men from the city had arrived, they had the larger group of men and the geographical advantage as well. But he was trying to figure out why his father was doing something as stupid as this. He hated the feeling that he was missing something.

Zane and Jax led half of the men each as they made their way out of the mansion and to either side of the gate at the end of the driveway. Jax raised a hand to show they were ready and Zane tapped on the door to the guard shed. The gate started to open.