Page 40 of Revenge Saints

It should’ve been a red flag. But back then, we still trusted the bastard.

Once we landed, we had a three-hour drive into some remote valley in the middle of goddamn nowhere. That’s when Roman gave the command.

“No radios. No communication. Total blackout.”

We didn’t question it. It was a black op. Deep-cover shit. We figured radio silence was to avoid compromising the mission.

We had no idea we were walking into a fucking trap.

I take a deep breath.

I promised myself I’d never think about that mission again. Swore I’d buried it in that hellhole and left it there to rot. But Roman’s just a wall away, and suddenly all those ghosts are clawing back out of the dirt.

We walked into that abandoned factory like it was any other mission: kill first, questions later. And we did just that. The four of us cleared the second floor, kicked in doors, and killed whoever crossed our path. We didn’t hesitate. Couldn’t afford to.

Then this kid… small, maybe seventeen, if that… stepped out from behind a desk.

Knox raised a hand. Steady. “Guns down.”

We listened.

But Roman came in behind us, silent, calculated. No warning. Just reached over, grabbed Knox’s backup from his holster… and shot the kid in the head.

Like it was nothing.

Before we even caught our breath, another man came sprinting in, panic in his eyes, screaming, papers shaking in his grip. “I have them! I have what you asked for!”

We didn’t understand. Didn’t have a damn clue what he meant, but Roman did.

He walked right up, snatched the documents from the man’s hands… and shot him too.

Right between the eyes.

We stood there, covered in blood, holding empty questions in our hands while Roman walked out without a care in the world.

And when we came back? When we stepped onto the base?

They were waiting for us.

Command. Suits. The kind of people that never show up unless you’re about to be erased. They threw us into a room without windows and laid it all out.

That man, he was one of ours. A senior agent trying to leak classified shit to protect people. That kid was his son. They thought we were the ones who betrayed the mission, who took money to silence a whistleblower and tie off the loose ends.

No one said Roman’s name.

No one even looked at him.

Radios were off, his call. The pilot? Disappeared the second we touched the ground. No proof he was even there.

They didn’t just kick us out. Theywipedus out. Years of service, gone. Files deleted. Records burned. Like we never existed.

They didn’t lock us up because of all the successful missions we did, but we needed to disappear.

And Roman?

He kept his title, his office, his fucking smug grin.

Told themwepulled the trigger; it was Knox’s gun.