Bane Returns

by KJ Dahlen

  “That isn’t my fault and now that I know your men are here, I will kill them,” Bane promised.

  “I was just told yesterday that two of my men are missing. Someone said they quit, just walked out on me.” They all heard his shifting in his chair. “The only thing is, you don’t quit this organization unless its feet first, you understand?”

  “I understand,” Bane told him. “But know this old man, I will protect my family and that means I will hunt your men down and I will kill them like the dogs they are. But if I hear you sent them after me and my family, I will come for you as well. Do you understand that?”

  “Da, I understand that. But you will not need to do that. I have not betrayed you.” Aloysha paused then asked, “When you find my missing men tell them something for me will you? Tell them their families are dead because of their betrayal and wish them well when you send them to hell. Oh and if its Boris’s children you are hunting it would be his oldest who searches for you. Grigori has never accepted that I gave the order for you to find his father. He didn’t know everything that Boris did to us and I don’t suppose Boris told him the complete truth about what he did.”

  “How do you know all this?” Bane asked.

  “My friend, you keep your friends close but your enemies closer, don’t you know that?” Aloysha chided softly.

  “I am not your friend and I make a hell of an enemy, don’t you know that?” Bane growled.

  “Da, I do know that. Be well and stay safe.”

  They all heard the other man end the call.

  Bane wanted to throw his phone against the wall but he didn’t. He looked over at Deke.

  “So, it is this Grigori that wants revenge huh?” Deke shook his head. “I don’t know what his father did to the Russians. And I don’t fucking care really. ”

  Bane acknowledge his opinion but he pushed it, “Maybe in this instance, you need to know what I did and why.”

  “What we need is for you to lower it down a notch.” Deke stared at him.

  “We all feel what you are feeling,” Sam added with a nod. “But you need to tame your fire, so to speak.”

  Chapter Nine

  Joey shook his head at the conversation and then he blocked it out. Too much anger clouded the room. The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place. His informant had told him it was a brother driving this campaign. Now he knew it was the older brother, Grigori. He went over to a table in the back and began typing in commands.

  He ignored the rest of the room as he was focused on tracking down his informant. But that wasn’t as easy as it should have been. His informant was pretty good at hiding but then he reasoned he needed to be. They had been hiding for a very long time. He felt he was closing in on their location but he just needed a few more minutes or another message from the informant. He had his programs on alert now and with the next message, he could get their location.

  It was only when Bane pounded his fist on the table that the noise brought Joey back to the drama playing out in the room. He looked over at the men.

  Bane was staring down the rest of the room. “I repeat, I will not stand down on this issue and let some bastard out there hiding in the shadows to take a pot shot at Dusty.”

  “No one here is suggesting you do that,” Sam argued. “What we did suggest was that you lay low and let our IT guys find these bastards. That’s all. We sure as hell aren’t going to let anyone close enough to take a shot at the kid.”

  Joey cleared his throat, bringing everyone’s attention to him. He began to sweat.

  “What? What is it?” Bane growled when Joey hesitated.

  “I’ve set up a program, so that when I get another message, we’ll know where they are,” he stated quietly.

  “You can do that?” Deke asked.

  “Yeah, that is impressive,” Zipper commented.

  Joey shrugged as he just did what he did. “It’s a tracking program that I made myself. We only need three seconds and we’ll know where they are. And I think they are closer than we think.”

  “What does that mean?” Bastian asked.

  “Well, if the last message we got is true, they’re already here in Troy. They might be as close as next door or across town. This program I made will pinpoint their exact position in three seconds but we need those three seconds to find them.”

  “You find them and tell me where they are and I’ll take care of them.” Bane growled.

  “Bane stop,” Bastian told him quietly. “You cannot kill innocents and it appears that one member of that family is trying to help us stop it. That makes them an innocent.

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, what he said.”

  Bane glared at him.

  “You’re losing your objectiveness here.” Bastian shook his head. “Look around you. Do you really think these men would risk Dusty’s life? Or the lives of the other people that live here?”

  Bane just glared at him. Then he took a deep breath and shook his head. Looking up at the ceiling, he stated, “The old me wouldn’t have cared if someone was targeting the boy. Even a boy I have a blood tie to. I’ve seen him but he has no idea he’s my grandson.” He turned his head slowly to look at Bastian. “If someone gets killed this trip and that person is me, you take care of Sarah for me will you?”

  Bastian nodded. “You know I will, but if you can get your head on straight, you can take care of her yourself.”

  “You don’t understand.” Bane shook his head. “It doesn’t work the way you all seem to think it does. How do you think I killed so many people before? Cause I cared about innocents? I cared about nothing but the fucking job. Then the one time I showed compassion and allowed this thief to live all those years ago. It turns on me and my grandson pays that price? No fucking way! I have to put aside everything else and become the man I used to be. He wasn’t human. He cared for nothing and no one. You cannot just shut that down once it starts.” He turned to Joey and snarled, “You find these bastards and when you do, I’ll take them out.” He turned to Bastian and shook his head. “Thank you my friend for giving me a chance when I needed it, but my do over didn’t stick.”

  “Theo,” a soft voice called out.

  Bane turned and looked at Sarah. His eyes held hers and as she walked toward him, all he could feel was the need to protect her and the baby she carried.

  When she got close enough, she raised her hand and cupped his cheek.

  Bane flinched at her touch and the pain in her eyes told him he’d hurt her feelings. “Theo is dead,” he told her softly. “He doesn’t exist anymore.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Theo has been inside you all along. Bane was just the stronger personality, so all you ever knew was him until two years ago. We all have a little Bane inside us but he only comes out when we need him.”

  Bane just glared at her but he didn’t say anything.

  Sarah went on, “You don’t believe me do you? But you ask any man here, what would they do to protect the ones they care about. Bastian, James, Deke, Sam, Gator, Zipper... what lengths would they go to, in order to protect the women they love or their kids? They will all tell you the same thing. They would do whatever they had to do to keep them safe. And don’t kid yourself because most women would too. The pull of Bane will always be inside you and he will always suggest you go back to him, become him again, and let the rest of the world go to hell. But Theo in his own way is just as strong as Bane is. I will now remind you that your first thought when you saw that photograph was that you needed to protect a boy you never even knew. That’s only natural. Dusty is your blood, but look around you. He’s their blood too, and they aren’t going to let anything happen to that sweet little boy either.”

  The room went quiet.

  Bane shook his head.

  “It’s as natural as breathing to them, and to you.” Sarah nodded. “Bane isn’t going to have to be out there alone this time. This threat is their fight too, and you have to let them in. No one man should ever be alone.”

 
; Bane looked up and around at the faces of every man there. He could see the same look in their eyes as he had. A fierce determination to protect. Sarah was right. This feeling of protecting was the one thing he’d never understood before. Maybe there was hope for him yet. He wasn’t alone. Bane Jessin survived because he’d thought he was alone.

  Chapter Ten

  Bane suddenly realized that they had an audience, so he grabbed Sarah’s hand and took her out to the hallway. He was a private person and this wouldn’t do.

  When he shut the door behind them, he looked down into her eyes and read something in her gaze that he’d missed before. Oh, he knew she had feelings for him and she told him often enough that she loved him but he’d never noticed that love in her eyes before. Then he realized it had been there all along.

  She did love him and damn, if he didn’t love her back. He would try now. He could do this. Keep the beast under control. Use him just to get the task done. He was determined to control it. After all, he had a progeny to protect now. Not just Dusty.

  He crushed her to him and laid a kiss on her mouth that left her breathless. As soon as his lips touched hers, the rest of the world faded away. It could have lasted ten seconds or ten minutes— he couldn’t be sure. Only when he couldn’t breathe anymore, did he break the kiss.

  Sarah stared up at him and licked her just kissed lips. “There you are Theo, just like always.”

  He shook his head. “So damned unusual. I will never understand it.”

  She tapped his nose with her slim finger. “You don’t have to. Just accept it.”

  He set her to one side and turned to the door. Opening it, they went back in.

  The men all looked up.

  “Alright, I get the fucking picture, so what are we going to do about this threat to my grandson?” he snarled.

  “We find them then we crush them, but we do it together.” Sam growled. “This isn’t a one man fucking show.”

  Bane glared at him but didn’t say a word.

  “What my dad is trying to say here is...” Deke glared at Sam. “Is that if we do this together, the only ones that need to die is the motherfuckers that are setting you and Dusty up to die. Around here, we have each other’s backs. That’s how we all come home alive at the end of the damned day.”

  Bane nodded. “Yeah I get that.” He looked over at Sarah and took her hand. He squeezed it tight then released it and told her, “This is our job and what’s going to be discussed is not for your ears.”

  Sarah grinned. “I get it.” She turned and went out of the room.

  Bane turned to look at the men again. “What’s our first step?”

  James supplied the answer, “We go back to the beginning, and we find out why Aloysha watched this man Boris for twenty five years. You said he was a thief and took something that didn’t belong to him, but that you got it back... was that all there was to the story or did you miss something?”

  Bane shrugged. “All I know is what Aloysha told me. Boris took a great deal of money from the Vory V Zakone. He had two directives. He wanted the money back and an example made out of Boris. But now that you mention it, there must have been something else Boris took that the old bastard wants back. I left Boris broken and bleeding in the dirt. That should have been the end of it.”

  “So why then did he look for the other man all these years?” Gator wanted to know. “And why would two of his men come here to meet up with Grigori and the others?”

  Bane narrowed his eyes at him as he replied, “That’s what doesn’t make sense here. Aloysha runs a tight ship, he has to. His men are not exactly the salt of the earth and they are the kind that would turn on him on a dime. That old bastard lied to me. There is more to the story here.” Then he shook his head. “He fucking lied to me and thought he would get away with it.”

  Bastian came up to him and slapped him on the shoulder, “First things first, my friend. First, we take care of the threat to you and Dusty then we’ll go after Aloysha Petroff. Agreed?”

  Bane nodded. “Agreed, but Petroff is mine. Agreed?”

  Bastian nodded. He turned to Joey and asked, “Can you send whoever your contact is a message?”

  Joey frowned. “I can try but I have no way of knowing if they’ll get it or not. This site is more than a little tricky. That’s why they are using it. The message might not be there when they get back on.”

  “Can you try at least?” Bastian asked.

  Joey nodded. “What do you want me to say?”

  “Tell them no innocent blood will be shed but if they pursue this, the streets will run red with their blood,” Bane growled.

  Bastian’s head rose up and he studied him for a moment then turned back to Joey and nodded. “That’ll do for now. Let’s see if that calls up a response.”

  Joey sent the message then copied it to print out later.

  Kisa was sitting in the corner surfing the net when a message came through. She frowned as she read the IP address. It was the same IP that she had sent the photo through. She hesitated then opened the message board.

  Her eyes widened as she read what was written there.

  No innocent blood will be shed but if you pursue this, the streets will run red with your blood.

  Kisa felt her heart pound in her chest and her breathing grew labored as she read and reread the words written on the screen. She felt tears well in her eyes but she wouldn’t let them fall. She slowly closed her laptop and stared off into the nothing all around her.

  That’s when she faced the truth she’d known all along. Grigori was going to get them all killed and for what? For nothing. Poppi had told them what he’d done wrong. But he also claimed he was lucky to be alive and it was only by God’s grace that kept him alive all the years since the attack.

  Even on his death bed, Poppi had begged his children not to get revenge for something that happened in the past. Each and every one of them said they wouldn’t. Then Grigori changed his mind. Or he lied to their Poppi. She didn’t know which and now, she didn’t care.

  Then she looked over at Maksim and found him looking back at her. That’s when she finally saw the look in his eyes he’d been hiding for some time. It was the same look that had been Grigori’s eyes.

  “Why?” she whispered. “You and Grigori made a promise to Poppi on his deathbed that you would let it go.”

  Maksim sneered. “Our Poppi was once a proud man, he used to stand tall and straight on his own two feet. I was just a baby when he was beaten and left crippled. Growing up, I had to watch our mother work her fingers until they bleed just to put food on our table. She had to do everything because our Poppi couldn’t take care of himself, let alone his wife and children. Grigori and I used to imagine getting revenge on the man that destroyed our family. But Poppi wouldn’t let us. He kept telling us what happened was justified. How the hell do you justify what happened to him?”

  “Poppi wasn’t as innocent as you think,” she insisted. “He made a choice and it was his own and that put him in that chair. But at least he was still alive. He did his best for all of us.”

  “His best?” Maksim cried out. “Well, his best wasn’t good enough now was it? Our mother worked herself to an early death doing the job he should have been doing all along!”

  “What are you guys planning?” she dared to ask. She didn’t know if he would tell her or not, but she had to try.

  Maksim got to his feet and told her, “Bane Jessin killed our Poppi twenty five years ago. It just took him a long time to succumb to the beating. Jessin was allowed to grow a family in that time. He took everything away from us and we plan to take everything away from him.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked quietly.

  “We know he has a grandson. We’re going to make him watch the boy die before we kill him. We want him to know who and why the boy has to die before we end his life and send him to hell.” Maksim clenched his hands into fists.

  “And the men from the Vory? What is there role in th
is?” She had to ask.

  Maksim grinned. “We plan to kill them to send a message to Aloysha Petroff. He’s the one who ordered our Poppi to be beaten and left barely alive.”

  “For a crime our Poppi did to the Vory V Zakone! Poppi knew better than to steal from them but he did anyway,” Kisa argued with him.

  Maksim looked at the clock on the wall. “The others will be here soon. You better prepare something to eat.” He walked to the door and went outside.

  Kisa felt trapped. She knew they would never let her go anywhere without them now. But she wanted no part in the chaos that was to come. She let her tears roll down her cheeks now. She couldn’t stop them any longer.

  Before she got up, she opened her laptop and sent another message. She didn’t know who was getting them but she had to try to get through to them one last time.

  A few minutes later, Kisa closed her computer and got up to fix a meal. She had done what she could and all she had left to do was pray.

  Chapter Eleven

  No one man should be alone... Joey had heard that part as his hand had automatically went to his forearm where the names of his fallen squad were tattooed on his skin. He’d gotten the tat so he would never forget. He didn’t think he would anyway but he wanted a written reminder of them all.

  One day, he was going to prove that their deaths didn’t need to happen and then he would be able to prove the one man that ordered their deaths guilty. That was what he was hoping for. And as there were no limitations on murder, one day this man would be charged with their deaths. One day.

  He sighed and shook his head as he now sat in the corner of Zipper’s office and searched the dark web for any information on the main players in the drama happening around him. He wasn’t finding much but he kept on looking anyway.

  When the message came through, he almost missed it. Then he read it and his eyes widened as he reread the words.

  ‘I know now no matter how much I try, my brothers are going through with this plan. Our Poppi told us what he did and why Bane beat him almost to death. What he did was so wrong, but Poppi knew he had to make amends somehow. He thought that was the end of it. He even made us promise not to seek revenge and my brothers promised him on his deathbed that they wouldn’t. But they lied to a dying man. My brothers will not let it rest. They want to get whatever revenge they can and if one of them dies, then the other will continue the plot. After they kill the boy, they plan to go after the big man Bane himself. They won’t stop until someone stops them. I thought I could get them to give up but now, I know I never will. I’m so sorry. I just wanted you to know that before you kill me.’