BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1)

by Philip Duncan

  They decided to speed back to the house as quickly as possible and brace for what was about to come. Until now, they were only anticipating an attack but weren't a hundred percent sure Vladimir would ever make the move. Now, all bets were off, and Vladimir would be coming for them both. Back at the house, they quickly ran inside and started getting prepared for war, because a war was inevitable. Decklan went upstairs to his safe to retrieve every firearm and round of ammo he had. If they were to stand any chance, they were going to need all the firepower he had. Langley did the same with his giant duffle bag that he brought the first day he showed up. As if that wasn’t enough, Langley went outside to his car, popped the trunk, and pulled out a small armory. He kept this in his car in case shit ever went south out on the road and he needed to hit back, hard.

  Between the two of them, they had over a dozen guns and probably fifteen hundred rounds of ammunition. Shotguns, 9mm handguns, a few high-powered rifles, two fully auto assault rifles, and several knives just in case they found themselves in hand-to-hand combat. They weren’t sure how many guys Vladimir was going to show up with or if he would even show himself.

  “You know him better than I do—you think he will show up with his guys?” Decklan asked Langley.

  “After what you did to Victor, he’s coming,” Langley responded.

  “Good! We can put him down with the rest of them,” Decklan said.

  “Agreed. But I need to be the one to do it,” Langley replied. “Ever since I lost my son, my entire life has been consumed by this man. The only way I will get true peace is if I get to look into his eyes as he takes his last breath.”

  This sent chills down Decklan’s spine, and there was no way he would try to take that from Langley. “Roger that!” Decklan replied.

  Decklan looked over at the clock in the kitchen that showed it was five minutes past midnight.

  They sat patiently—locked and loaded, of course—waiting for the first shot to ring through the night air. Decklan kept peeking out of the living room window to see if anyone was trying to make a move on the house. But so far, nothing.

  “They have to be coming, don’t you think?” Decklan asked.

  “Trust me, they are coming,” Langley responded.

  Another hour ticked by, and still nothing. Then…

  “Did you hear that?” Decklan asked, as he looked out the window again. “Shit! Right there! Three guys coming up the front with two splitting off and one staying straight on.”

  Langley, who had been sitting this whole time, almost acting like he was at peace with the situation, stood up and headed for the kitchen door to look outside.

  “I see one sneaking up on my side,” Langley said, as he slowly unlocked the door.

  “Langley, what the hell are you doing?” Decklan asked.

  Langley cracked open the door just enough for his barrel to clear and fired two silenced shots into the guy’s chest. The guy hit the ground and Langley opened the door a little more to get a better visual and fired one more shot directly through his skull to finish the job. He slid back inside and locked the door.

  “Got that asshole,” Langley whispered.

  He quickly ran across the kitchen to the other side of the house where the dining room was. This was where the second guy split off, trying to find a way to flank them.

  “You got eyes on your guy?” Langley asked.

  “He’s right outside my window,” Decklan responded quietly.

  He could see the guy checking if the windows were unlocked, but he mistakenly stood directly in front of it. Decklan took a couple steps back and fired a quick three-round burst from his silenced rifle directly through the glass. He went to check and saw the guy on the ground, lifeless in the grass.

  “Make that two assholes down,” Decklan said.

  “Nice job,” Langley responded. “We still got one more, but I don’t see him anywhere.”

  They had managed to take out the first two guys with no problem and without having to exchange fire, but the third guy seemed to be lurking in the shadows. He was nowhere to be found, which left them both feeling uneasy.

  “Son of a bitch! The basement!” Decklan said in a panic. “I forgot about the side door down there. It’s not locked.”

  They both made for the basement door. Decklan went first, slowly walking down the stairs with his rifle at the ready, with Langley right behind him. As soon as they made it to the bottom, several shots rang out, nearly missing them both. They came from the side door, just as Decklan had suspected.

  The basement was pitch black, but Decklan had a tactical flashlight on his rifle. He switched it on and quickly scanned the room. He didn’t see the guy, which meant he was hiding somewhere, waiting for his next opportunity to attack. They moved farther into the basement and Decklan went for cover behind the deep freezer that one of Vladimir’s guys was still in. He turned off his light so the guy wouldn’t know where he was.

  “Go back upstairs and keep a lookout. I’m sure more are coming,” Decklan said to Langley. “I’ll take care of this guy.”

  Langley made his way back upstairs before any more shots were fired in his direction. Decklan knew he needed to kill this guy quickly, before more showed up and Langley was left to fight them alone. Luckily, he had one huge advantage. He knew his basement inside and out so he could make a good guess where this guy could be hiding. He flipped his tac light back on and quickly shone it over near the giant wooden shelf that held all of his power tools. He caught a glimpse of the guy’s feet.

  Gotcha!

  He swung out from around the freezer, staying crouched so it was harder to be hit, and fired a single shot toward the ground, hitting the guy’s foot. The guy fell to the ground and now Decklan could see his whole body. He fired three more shots, two to the body and the kill shot to the head. He walked over to make sure the job was done. No pulse.

  “Fuck you,” Decklan said, despite no one being around to hear him.

  Just as he was gloating in his head, he heard a barrage of gunfire.

  “Shit! Langley!”

  He made sure to lock the basement door and then sprinted as fast as possible back upstairs to provide backup.

  “Hey Langley, you all right?” Decklan shouted, trying to regroup through the ripping gunshots that were tearing apart his house.

  He looked over and saw Langley posted up against the back of the couch, trying to stay as low as possible to avoid being hit.

  “I’m good,” Langley shouted back. “Did you get him?”

  Decklan nodded his head. “Yes, but it looks like we got a few more to take care of. Any idea how many are out there?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but I would venture to guess it’s more than one,” Langley replied jokingly.

  “We need to get to a window and try and get a visual. We need to know how many we are up against,” Decklan said. “I’m going to try and get upstairs; can you cover me?”

  “Hell yeah!” Langley replied.

  They waited for a break in the action, and Langley stood up with his fully auto AR and started unloading his clip out through the window while Decklan made for the stairs. The plan worked and Decklan was upstairs safely and Langley was back to the defensive position behind the couch. The best window to get a visual from would be his baby girl’s room. This would be the first time he stepped foot inside since her death, but he didn’t have a choice. He made it over to the window, trying his best to ignore the baby dolls and stuffed animals that were left out from her playing for the last time. He pulled the curtain back just enough to see outside.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. There are ten of you idiots,” Decklan said, out loud to himself.

  He stepped back to avoid being seen and tried processing the insurmountable odds they were up against. Then, he decided to take another look to see if he could spot Vladimir. It didn’t take long for Decklan to spot him.

  “I see you actually showed. Big mistake,” De
cklan whispered to himself.

  This was exactly what they wanted. They needed him to be here, hoping that he would go against his better judgment and show up. Of course, neither one of them really knew what Vladimir was capable of in terms of combat. All Langley ever saw was the work of his henchmen, but never anything from Vladimir directly. This would be the night that they found out what he was truly made of.

  Decklan needed to get back downstairs to update Langley on the situation. He managed to get back down to the living room without being peppered with bullets, and for some reason, all the noise had stopped. He took position behind a wall parallel with Langley, who was still behind the couch.

  “Why did they stop?” Decklan asked.

  “No clue. They must be reloading, or perhaps they are about to burst through the front door,” Langley replied. “So how do you like our chances?”

  “It’s not good. There are at least ten from what I could see, and they were lined up like a damn firing squad prepared to execute prisoners. I don’t see how we get out of this one,” Decklan replied.

  “What about Vladimir—is he here?”

  “I saw him in the back, just standing there watching,” Decklan answered.

  “Perfect. We must find a way to take him out. This has to end tonight, no matter what,” Langley said.

  “I agree, but it is going to be hard to get a clean shot off on him while trying to avoid the hundreds of bullets that will be pouring in here any second,” Decklan replied.

  “Leave that to me,” Langley said, surprisingly calmly.

  Decklan didn’t like the sound of that. It appeared that Langley’s plan was to embark on a suicide mission, and they both knew it, but neither one of them said a word. Then they heard someone yelling. It was the unmistakable voice of the heartless Russian, Vladimir Ivanov.

  “My friends, it doesn’t have to be like this. Just put your guns down and come outside. You have no way of escaping. It’s over.”

  Decklan and Langley exchanged looks. There was no way in hell either one of them was about to give up. They would fight to the death if that was what it took. First and foremost, they were soldiers. Surrender was never an option, especially not to this guy.

  “Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit!” Langley yelled back.

  Decklan smiled and yelled his own response. “This is your last chance to walk away while you still can!”

  They knew they were at a disadvantage in every way possible, so they figured why not piss Vladimir off and have some fun in the process.

  “I have to hand it to you, Mr. Jennings. You are much more capable than I gave you credit for. I underestimated you, but I can assure you that will not happen again,” Vladimir responded. “I have a proposal for you. Come out alone to face the consequences for killing my nephew and I will let your partner walk away.”

  Without hesitation, Langley yelled back, “I have a better deal. We kill all of your guys, one by one, and then I put a bullet between your beady little eyes.”

  Decklan looked over at Langley. “I like your plan much better. Let’s go with that one.”

  They both laughed, which was probably something that only two former military guys would do in a situation like this. They had a way of feeling comfortable in the most hostile situations. There was no response, which only meant one thing. Vladimir was done negotiating and the firestorm was about to start again.

  “All right buddy, one more time. We can do this. Let's take these bastards down once and for all,” Decklan said.

  “Roger that,” Langley replied.

  Boom! A loud, thunderous sound echoed through the house as they watched the front door kicked in. They heard the clinking of something being tossed and rolled across the hardwood floor. Two smoke grenades went off and all visibility toward the front of the house was gone. Vladimir’s men started moving in and dispersing to take control of each room.

  “Langley, slide me that shotgun,” Decklan said.

  Langley quickly grabbed the 12 gauge and slid it over to Decklan. He assumed guys would have split off through the dining room and would be trying to sneak up from behind. Meanwhile, Langley unleashed a barrage of bullets into the smoke, hoping to get lucky and land a few shots. He heard one guy scream and drop to the floor.

  Decklan cautiously moved toward the dining room with his gun facing forward, ready to blow someone's head off. He decided to post up behind the table that sat in one of his back rooms. He stared toward the front, waiting for someone to show themselves. He could hear some noise but didn’t have his sights on anyone yet. Then he caught a reflection in his china cabinet glass. It was facing him, which meant the reflection was showing someone posted up against the wall right at the opening of the room. Decklan turned his shotgun and ripped a shot into the wall. One of Vladimir’s men propelled forward from the force and landed face down on the floor.

  He saw another figure trying to pull the body away, so he jumped up from behind the table and tactically moved forward until he had a clear shot. He let two more pump shots out, one to his body and the second one taking half his face off. He quickly moved over to them to make sure they were dead. No pulse.

  He moved himself back to cover so he could prepare for the next wave when he saw giant flashes of white light up the house through the windows, followed by the sound of rolling thunder. The wind began to howl and the sound from the increasingly heavy rain was getting louder by the second. This was good news for Decklan and Langley because that meant that all of Vladimir’s guys would have to deal with the storm on top of avoiding being one of their latest victims. For the first time since all this shit started, it seemed that something was finally playing in their favor.

  With the storm growing stronger, it was only a matter of time before all of Vladimir’s men, at least what was left of them, worked their way into the house. They knew being outside put them at a disadvantage. Several minutes passed with no action. The only thing he could hear was the rain, so he decided to work his way back to Langley. Staying low and ready to fire, he made it back to the same wall that separated the guest room from the kitchen, but he didn’t see Langley.

  “Langley,” Decklan whispered loudly. “Are you okay? Where are you?”

  No response.

  Shit! That can’t be good. Maybe he just couldn’t hear me.

  “Langley! I need to know you are okay,” he said again, louder.

  Still no response, so he decided to move closer to see if he could figure out what was going on. He knew he didn't have much time before he would be suppressed with fire again. He got in position to be able to see the whole living room, hoping to see Langley posted up somewhere, but he was nowhere to be found.

  Son of a bitch! Where the hell did you go?

  He switched out his 12 gauge for his AR since it allowed him to move easier and would give him more range on his shots. Plus, it was the gun he had grown accustomed to in the forces and felt most comfortable wielding. He slid over to the couch and took position in order to scan for any threats. He needed to find Langley and it needed to be soon. Right as he was about to move for the kitchen door, he heard that sound again… Tink, tink… bang!

  A flash bang grenade. These guys knew what they were doing and were clearly packing some serious heat. Decklan knew Vladimir was Russian ex-special forces, so he would absolutely have access to this kind of equipment. Fortunately for Decklan, he had tossed his fair share of flash bangs, so he recognized the sound as it rolled across the floor and managed to cover his ears and turn away before it went off. This didn’t completely make one immune to the effects of it, but it was better than the alternative, which was temporarily blind and slightly concussed.

  As soon as Decklan turned around to the front where the flash bang was tossed, three heavily armed men came charging in, unleashing complete hell into the living room and kitchen. Glass was shattering, coffee mugs and cups were getting obliterated, and the couch was being ripped apart like a Great White
tearing into its prey. Only by the grace of God did Decklan manage to avoid being hit. Once all three of the men’s clips were empty, after just unloading over a hundred bullets, they disappeared as quickly as they entered.

  What the hell are they doing? Do they think they got me? Why not keep shooting?

  Decklan took this opportunity to move closer to a window and see what was going on outside. He made it to the same one that he shot the guy through at the start of this shit show, only this time all the glass was gone. It had all been blown out and the curtains were filled with bullet holes, but still hanging. He managed to get a look outside, and what he saw was something he wasn’t prepared for.

  “Mr. Jennings, I believe I have something of yours,” Vladimir’s cold Russian voice said as he held a gun to Langley’s head.

  Langley! How did he get you? This is my fault. I never should have left you alone.

  “Let him go!” Decklan yelled out through the window.

  “I don’t believe you are in any position to be handing out demands, Mr. Jennings. You see, I have your partner and I have you outnumbered. I know you can’t hold my guys off forever. Eventually, you will have to die.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong! I can do this shit all night!” Decklan snapped back in anger.

  Vladimir laughed, clearly not impressed by Decklan’s bravery and determination. “Be that as it may, one of you will die here tonight, and it looks like your partner is the lucky winner.”

  Decklan took a deep breath, trying to figure out some way to get out of this that didn’t result in Langley dying. He thought about trying to get to his sniper rifle and posting up in a window upstairs, but he knew that was a long shot. Even if he managed to kill Vladimir, one of his guys would shoot Langley. Then he thought about calling his brother and trying to stall until the police showed up, but that would probably turn into a shootout and Langley could get caught in the crossfire. Maybe he could surrender himself in exchange for Langley’s life. But Vladimir would probably just kill them both, which would mean he wouldn’t have to pay for any of his actions.