Chapter 6 - The False King’s Assembly

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Forty massive stadium halogen lights ignited simultaneously along the perimeter walls, blinding Jason’s men in an overwhelming sea of white luminescence.
From behind the container rows, thirty elite Moretti tactical operators stepped forward, laser sights painting Jason and his mercenaries in an intricate web of crimson dots.
On the overhead catwalk, I stood looking down at my nephew, dressed in a dark wool overcoat, with Elena standing beside me holding the digital recording console.
“Drop your weapons,” Marcus’s voice boomed over the warehouse megaphone. “You are completely surrounded.”
Jason panicked. “Kill him! Shoot the catwalk!”
Before a single mercenary could raise a barrel, six high-velocity disabling rounds cracked from the rafters, shattering the weapons from the lead gunmen's hands. The mercenaries immediately threw their hands in the air, dropping to their knees on the concrete floor.
Tom spun around, raising his pistol toward the stairs.
Crack.
Elena fired a single precision shot, piercing Tom’s right shoulder. He screamed, dropping his weapon and collapsing into the dirt.
Jason stood completely alone in the center of the warehouse, his chest heaving, his face drenched in cold sweat and rain.
I walked down the metal industrial staircase, my polished leather shoes clicking with slow, rhythmic authority against the steel steps.
I stopped five paces from my brother's son.
“Uncle...” Jason gasped, his voice cracking into a desperate whimper as he dropped his rifle. “Uncle Victor... listen to me! It was the Falcones! They kidnapped my sister! They threatened to kill everyone if I didn't help them take the docks!”
I didn't answer him. I held out my hand, and Elena handed me the titanium tablet.
I pressed play on the audio file recorded nine years ago in Raymond’s kitchen.
Jason’s own youthful, cold voice echoed through the vast warehouse:
‘Make sure the digitalis powder dissolves completely in his Macallan, Tom. If my father lives another month, he’s going to transfer the shipping shares to Victor. I’m not waiting twenty years to inherit a fraction of this empire.’
Jason’s jaw slumped open. His knees gave out, and he crashed onto both knees on the wet concrete floor, staring at the screen in pure, unadulterated horror.
“You...” Jason choked out, tears mixing with the rain on his face. “You knew...”
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“I didn't know, Jason,” I said softly, looking down at him. “Your father knew. And he made sure the truth would wait for you at the end of the line.”
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