Inside the dark garage of the hideout, the air was heavy with the scent of oil and gunpowder. Christopher walked with confident strides toward a deserted corner, grabbed the edge of a thick canvas cover, and with one forceful tug, pulled it away, sending dust swirling into the air to reveal the Black Beast. It was an armored car with a reinforced steel chassis, its headlights like the eyes of a lurking wolf, and massive tires designed for the roughest terrain.
Edward's eyes widened in awe as he touched the cold frame: "Where did you get this? And how does someone like you possess a car with this power and armor?"
Christopher didn't look at him; instead, he slotted the key into the ignition, making the engine roar with a sound that shook the garage's corners. Then, he said in a voice as cold as ice: "I have been preparing for this day since the moment my brother fell soaked in his own blood... twenty years I spent crafting this revenge piece by piece, building this power with the patience of a hunter. Get in... this is no time for wonder. Hell awaits us."
The car set off, piercing through the thick fog toward the coordinates of the cursed mine. They stopped at a safe distance behind a rocky hill. Chris took out military binoculars and scanned the entrances with precision; he spotted the snipers perched atop the high branches of the trees surrounding the main gate, watching every speck of moving dust.
Chris brought out a small, handcrafted crossbow made with stunning craftsmanship, along with a quiver of arrows with strange tips. He looked at Edward and said: "These arrows are not for direct killing. I have placed needles in their tips soaked in potent sedatives I manufactured myself in my lab... Edward, the snipers in those trees are your first target. Do you still have that skill?"
Edward smiled, testing the crossbow's string with force: "Don't worry, Chris... don't forget they used to call me 'Eagle Eyes' in the field. My shot will not lose its way."
Chris replied with a calculated plan: "Let us reclaim the glories of the past then... you fire the arrows silently, and I will sneak under each tree to catch their bodies before they hit the ground. We want no noise to wake the monsters inside."
Indeed, they turned into a silent machine; an arrow flies like a flash, a body goes limp on the branch, and Chris rushes like a ghost to catch the falling body and lay it on the ground in total silence. Within minutes, the trees were cleared of their watchers.
In the Heart of the Mine... Inside the Luxury House Filled with the Scent of Crime
Thomas Mortimer, the younger brother reeking of cunning, was eyeing his brother Julian with a look full of contempt while sipping his wine: "You are truly an annoying person, Julian. Your muscles are bigger than your brain, and you don't know how to tame these rabble of the common people."
Julian replied angrily, smashing his glass: "That cursed journalist was smarter than I expected. He exposed our threads, forcing me to move all the warehouses to this basement!"
Thomas pulled out a bundle of documents and placed them coldly in front of his brother: "I agreed to help you because blood binds us, but now... I want your signature on these papers immediately, and don't ask why."
Julian signed ignorantly under the pressure of his brother's gaze, while a diabolical smile formed on Thomas's face: "Thank you, my dear brother. You have paid your debt now and become powerless... come now, let me show you what you've been dreaming of."
Thomas opened a secret iron door in one of the deep mine branches, and Julian was stunned by the sight of tons of gold stacked in wooden crates. Thomas whispered: "All this gold is for you... in exchange for giving me your assistant (the hitman) to be my right hand."
Julian recoiled with false pride: "I will never sell my loyal man!"
Thomas shrugged coldly: "The choice is yours... but before we drink to victory, look at the true size of our kingdom."
He took him to see the workers who had turned into walking skeletons under the whips of the guards, explaining how he used money and power to convince the state that this mine was abandoned and empty, while in truth, it was an inexhaustible gold mine, worked by laborers kidnapped by "The Organization" to live and die here.
At that moment, an exhausted worker, covered in gold dust and blood, crawled toward Thomas and pleaded: "Sir... please, I just want to rest for a few minutes... I can no longer feel my body."
Thomas looked at him coldly as if looking at an insect, and with a swift motion, he drew his pistol and emptied a bullet into the worker's forehead in front of everyone. The body fell in a terrifying silence, and Thomas shouted at the workers who froze in their places: "No one gives orders here but me! I am the Lord in this place, and I am the one who decides when you work... and when your life ends!"
Returning to Chris and Edward
The two heroes sneaked through the narrow mine corridors, illuminated only by small flashlights. Meanwhile, Julian had drowned in his drunkenness and called his assistant: "Bring that girl (Yara) from her cell immediately."
Yara entered, her tears dried in her eyes from constant weeping, but her small heart clung to a thread of hope that her father would come. Julian began tearing her clothes brutally to repeat his assault, but Yara's muffled cry coincided with the explosion of a bullet in the outer corridors!
Chris was clearing the corridors with high skill, killing guards in total secrecy. However, a guard suddenly appeared from a blind spot and tried to draw his weapon, but Chris was faster than a blink; he drew his pistol and emptied it into the guard's head. The news spread like wildfire, and Thomas's assistant was informed of the attack.
Thomas sensed danger with his sharp criminal intuition and shouted at his men: "These are not just fools; these are demons... gather the gold and the papers immediately. We will withdraw and leave Julian to his fate!"
As for Julian, he left Yara, laughing hysterically: "It seems your father has come to be buried beside you." He told his hitman: "Go and kill that prey that escaped you before. I want his head!"
The assistant stepped out with a yellow smile, and a fierce firefight began in the hallways of the house. Edward was picking off guards from distant sniping positions, while Chris stormed the main hall until he faced the hitman.
The Assistant: "It seems you didn't appreciate the sacrifice of your friends who died for you, and you came to commit suicide here."
Chris: "I am the one who will teach you today that every crime has a price... and the price of your crimes is your life."
All the magazines were emptied of bullets.
After both had emptied their pistols, a terrifying silence reigned. The assistant drew his long, serrated dagger, while Chris stood with a frightening calmness and looked at Edward, saying: "Go... this account belongs to me alone."
The assistant lunged with lightning speed, attempting to stab Chris in the chest, but Chris moved with a fluid motion that displayed twenty years of training; he did not retreat, but rather pivoted around the assistant and drew his own dagger in one single motion.
The sounds of metal clashing against metal echoed, sparks flying in the dark. The assistant fought with the brutality of a mercenary, but Chris fought with the coldness of an avenger.
"You have killed many for money," Chris said as he delivered a powerful kick to the assistant's chest that sent him backward, "but today you face a man fighting for a soul that hasn't found peace in two decades!"
The assistant tried to turn to prevent Edward from entering the house, but Chris plunged his dagger into the assistant's shoulder, pinning him against the rocky wall of the mine, and whispered in his ear: "Your eye was on the door... and my eye was on your neck."
With one final professional strike, Chris completely neutralized the assistant, and the hitman everyone feared collapsed, as Chris coldly wiped the blade of his dagger.
Meanwhile, Edward stormed Julian's room. They exchanged fire, and with extreme intelligence, Edward fired a bullet at a metal statue in the corner of the room; the bullet ricocheted at a geometric angle and pierced Julian's body, who fell screaming in pain.
Edward lunged at him and grabbed him by his clothes: "Where are the workers? Where are Yara and the kidnapped girls?"
Julian, gasping for breath: "I won't talk... unless you guarantee me a safe exit from here!"
Edward struck him a blow that shattered his jaw: "You will pay for every scream and every tear with your life!"
At that moment, Chris entered the room, blood dripping from his clothes after finishing off the hitman. He placed his hand on Edward's shoulder to stop him from killing him: "Don't kill him now... this wretch must be led to the gallows by the law. A quick death is a mercy he does not deserve."
Julian spat out his blood, laughing weakly: "You are too late... my brother Thomas took Yara, the girls, and the gold and escaped through the secret tunnels beneath the mine!"
Edward flew into a rage and threw him to the ground, screaming his daughter's name, but Chris reassured him that the police would surround all exits. Indeed, the police arrived and arrested Julian and freed hundreds of exhausted workers, but Thomas, Yara, and the girls had disappeared into the bowels of the earth.
Chris and Edward stood far away, watching the police cars and the fires consuming the remains of the mine. Chris said in a decisive tone, his eyes gleaming with defiance: "Don't worry, my friend... we will save them sooner or later."