Ace's POV

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"What do you mean 'Ben's alive'?" I ask Annika.

"Before I left, I tried to find Hannah. I knew she was in the cells but Jack wouldn't let me go near them for some reason. I went to the late at night and I couldn't find her. However, two guys came around the corner, two guys who were carrying Ben."

"Shit." I sigh. My best friend is alive. "Listen, don't tell Sarah."

"Why? She has a right to know."

"I understand that but, if she finds out he's alive, she won't have a clear head on this mission. Plus, he won't be in good shape when she sees him. I can't have her risking her life, or anyone else's."

"Will you have a clear head?" She asks, referring to Hannah. I ignore her question and walk inside.

I take Annika to my office where the others are already waiting. They have a map of the U.S. laid out, as well as the map that Leo and Thea made of the sightings. I walk over to my chair and sit down while Annika looks tensely at the map Leo and Thea made.

"Who did this?" She points at it.

"Leo and Thea." I tell her, pointing to them.

"This is really smart."

"Thanks but it hasn't led us to anything." Thea shyly speaks up.

"Actually, it has, you just don't know where to look. Like here for example." She points to an area on the coast of Maine that's covered in the dots. "There are loading docks around this area. It's where the get most of their shipments."

"Good to know. Wheres Hannah?" I ask. This was great information and I definitely wanted to know more later, I wanted to find Hannah first though.

"Here." Annika points to New York on the map. "The compounds in upstate New York, near Albany."

"How many men are there?" Antony asks, studying the area.

"If I had to guess, I would say around 300 hundred."

"Specialty?" Vinnie asks. Some compounds are grouped by specialty. For example, you could have a compound where everyones specialty is bow and arrows. We have a few, but ours are mainly mixed.

"Mixed."

"Where are the cells?" Oliver.

"With the torture rooms on the basement level. The rooms are on hallways on the left and the cells on the right."

Breaking into a compound is a hard mission. It still happens though, so mafias always make it as hard as possible for people to find their way. They can have tons of random hallways, doors that lead to nothing, I know Cixi has a compound that has a fifty foot drop behind a couple doors.

"Do you know which cell they are in?"

"They?" Antony asks me. I look around the room, making sure Sarah isn't in here. She wasn't so I guess they took her to a bedroom.

"Ben's alive." Everyone was silent.

"Are you serious?" Vinnie was the first to speak up. I look to Annika.

"I'm almost positive." She tells him.

"Almost?"

"It looked like Ben but he was so beaten up, covered in blood. It was hard to tell."

"Okay, we need to focus right now." I tell them. "Annika, I need you to do your best to describe the compound to us, Antony call-"

"I can do you one better." Annika interrupts me. "Can I see your computer?" I nod, turning it to face her but making sure I can still see the screen. 

Annika types something in the search bar and a bunch of warehouses and abandoned buildings for sale pop up. She scrolls until she gets to a certain one, clicking on it. She smiles as pictures pop up and information about the warehouse is underneath.

"How stupid can this guy get?!" Leo asks, looking over her shoulder.

"He needed to make up for the cocaine he lost, thanks to you guys. He's decided the best way to do that is sell some property."

"On a public website?" I ask, turning the computer more towards me. How stupid can this guy get?!

"Okay, Vinnie, go over the pictures and information. Antony, call some of our Canadian compounds, I want 400 soldiers. Leo and Thea, find out if this dumbass has posted anything else on line that could give us an advantage. Annika, I need all the information you have on them. Let's get to work." Everyone immediately leaves my office except for Annika and Oliver. Annika takes a seat while Oliver just stands there.

"What do I do?" I was silent for a moment. I felt bad for giving him the worst task but someone had to do it.

"Go talk to Sarah."

"Do I have to be the one to talk to her?" He asks timidly.

"She's our best whip specialist, our only one in this side of the world. If she can handle it, I want her on the mission as well. I won't force her to go if she doesn't want to. Most importantly, don't say anything about Ben being alive."

"I think someone else should talk to her..."

"Go." Oliver immediately walks out.

"What has Jack been up to?" I immediately ask Annika.

"Schoolwork." She says, sitting back in her seat.

"I'm serious."

"So am I." She shrugs. "Ace, he's a teenager. All he ever does is schoolwork or mafia business. He's angry and sloppy. Don't get me wrong, he's a total asshole just like his brother, but he's a kid."

"I was a kid when I took this position."

"Yes, and you have been groomed for this position since you could walk. You know how it is in this life. I've been shooting a bow and arrow since I was five. My little sister? She's probably having a sleepover with her best friend or at some lame high school party. She also has to be up early tomorrow to go to her part time job.

"It's different for kids who aren't first borns. We have to be groomed to take over, trained. Our siblings get to live normal lives, sure they have security guards and an ample supply of money, but they still get to be teenagers.

"Jack was raised around this life but he wasn't raised to be involved in it. He acts tough and smart, like he's built for the position. Deep down, though, he's just a kid who lost his older brother. With his older brother, he lost his whole life and the normalcy that would've come with it."

"If he wants a normal life then why the fuck did he start a war? He could've just eased into the position."

"I asked him that but, like I said before, he's a teenager. He's arrogant, angry, and thinks he can conquer the world over night. It also doesn't help that his father is constantly on his ass."

"I know the feeling..."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Annika's a good friend, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't trust her, but I still couldn't tell her my father is here. Power does crazy things to people, especially the thought of it.

"Anyways, I don't think he has any plans. He tends to take everything day by day."

"When we go storming in there, what should we expect?"

"Jack's been suspicious of my alliance for a while. Now that I'm gone, he's probably on edge. I don't know for sure but I would expect them to already know you're coming." I was silent for a moment, dreading my next question.

"Do they do the same as us with their hostage procedure?" Now it was Annika's turn to be silent.

When a compound is under attack, we have procedures put in place to fight back or get the hell out of there. In the Sicilian and Russian mafia, we deal with our hostages the same way. Normally, you're under attack because someone is trying to get to your hostages. That's exactly why we kill them...

"I don't know." She finally answers. We were both silent when Leo and Thea came rushing into my office.

"Ace we have a problem." Leo says as Thea quickly sets a laptop in front of me.

I read the headline of a news article and look at the picture below it. 

Kai Miyazaki, Japanese millionaire, spotted in Albany, New York

"He's here." Thea speaks up from next to me.

"We need to move, now."

I stand up and leave my office. Annika follows me, knowing better than to think she's allowed to stay in my office. Like I said, I trust her, but I don't trust her when it comes to my mafia or its information.

We go to the basement and find Antony pouring a drink while he talks on the phone. When he sees us, he tells the other person he'll call them back and hangs up the phone. I take the drink he just poured, tossing it back. He shakes his head at me before pouring another one for himself.

"How fast can the soldiers be in New York?" I ask him.

"They said they can be there tomorrow morning."

"No, we're doing this tonight."

"Ace, you're not a dumbass. Do you realize how long it takes to line up and prepare 400 men?!" He looks at me like I'm crazy.

"He's right, Ace, you shouldn't be reckless about this."

"I don't give a fuck."

"Do you want Hannah to be alive when you get there?!" She asks.

"Yes, which is exactly why I'm not giving Kai the time to do anything stupid."

"Wait, Kai's there?!"

"Kai's there..."

"We'll do this tonight then."

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HOLY SHIT THANK YOU GUYS FOR 250k!!! I'm so sorry for not posting Monday, I've had a lot going on this week(and may or may not be failing two classes lol). I'm sorry but this is going to be the only chapter tonight. I'm going to do my absolute best to give you guys three or four chapters on Sunday and maybe even some before then, if I get the chance, to make up for my lousy posting. I love you guys! Comment and Vote!