The raid on three of the Clubs in the ring was impressive. The tactical response units swooped down and cleaned up. The appropriate arrests and the right girls were rescued.
One of the things that the ring used to its advantage was that half the labor or more was always legitimate as in, legal age, willing girls, appropriate age staff, super legal papers. In essence, every club had its above-board activities. And then there was the other half of the business wherein it was all about the money and making it clean through the use of extra body energy which was always just below the radar.
Girls were a hot commodity and the ring wasn't losing out on profits due to scruples. Not everyone ran clubs as clean as Tony's. Tony was the vanilla boss.
In the raids, only one of Tony's clubs was raided. Ironically, when the evidence was sifted there were only two real trails of evidence left behind and that was only on the money laundering side of things. Somehow, although some girls were saved, Tony and his hostess were missing from the night's action.
It was bittersweet for Jerome because over 100 girls were found, rescued and of them, almost 50 percent were willing to testify meaning they had hardcore evidence. The team was elated because it was the biggest, most successful sting and it had gone down like clockwork. When all the work was done and all evidence had been cataloged the team went to the base and everyone was clapping Jerome on his back congratulating him for running a team with Swiss precision.
Pieter watched his Alpha feeling that things were about to go down in a bad way. The warriors from their pack looked disgruntled. They knew the future Alpha had wanted to get his mate and they couldn't quite join in the celebrations. They hung back as the others went to the Rec Room for celebration.
Jerome looked up. Only his pack members were out on the grounds with him. He looked at them confused.
"You guys were great. You did me and our pack proud. Go on in and celebrate the victory. We'll regroup at 10h00 to go over the next phase." Jerome smiled gently at his team. They all didn't move.
"Alpha...we're sorry we failed you in getting the Luna out of this mess." One of them spoke up before Pieter could tell them to go.
Jerome's eyebrows drew towards the center of his forehead. "You were amazing. You did exactly what I told you to do. No one has ever been able to pull off what we did today. I will report back to the Alpha of your heroic efforts."
Jerome turned to two of the men, "Geldenhuys and James, you were fantastic in decoding the Silver Fox's central IT hub and getting the data off without triggering the other clubs. That data retrieval was epic."
The two men, one a dreadlocked blond and the other a striking blasian of Arabic descent smiled and puffed their chests in pride at being validated in public by their Alpha. They thanked him and told him they would bring their future luna home soon. Jerome told them he had confidence in their skills and clapped them on the back before pushing them towards the Rec Room.
Jerome turned to two of the female warriors. He grinned, "You two were badass. Those girls will always know that women can be powerful and effect good change. It's a privilege to work with two efficient warriors like yourselves. Go on, have a little fun tonight you earned it." He shook their hands and pushed them to the Rec Room.
He looked at the remaining group. "I'm damn proud of your extraction tonight. It was delicate and the minimal casualty was like a dream. I don't know how you managed it but it's very well done." He called each warrior by name and mentioned one or two things he had noted of their performance and sent them to the Rec Room.
When he turned to Pieter he saw his best friend on his knees in supplication. Jerome put his hand on his friend's shoulder and pulled him up. Pieter fell to his knees feeling Jerome's anger.
"I'm sorry 'Ro. I fucking failed you. I swear on my life-"
"Hey! Your ass needs to be alive to keep my wife from unwittingly getting men murdered in the future. You're not dying on this or any other mission. DW, you're my day one. I would have never pulled off such a massive tactical victory without you." Jerome made Pieter look him in the eye.
He pulled Pieter up. "Fuck it, DW we set a new standard. And we successfully pulled off not one, not two but three successful extractions and raids. Don't give me this shit about failing me." Jerome sternly told his best friend.
"Ro, all of that doesn't mean a damn thing when the only thing you need I failed to help you get," Pieter growled. 'What was wrong with this pup?'
"You growling at me right now bruv?" Jerome asked with a wicked grin. "Where I'm from that's a fucking challenge."
Pieter growled. "Why can't you just accept my fucking apology?"
Jerome cocked his head to the side, "There it is again. Alright, c'mon on then, Beta De Wit," he spat out the name. "Challenge fucking accepted. I've had enough of your know-best attitude."
Pieter grinned. "Well then, come on then pup. Show me what you got." He took off his shirt. His muscles rippled under the moon.
Jerome flexed his neck and took off his shirt. The tattoo on his chest danced under the moonlight. They circled each other.
The moon hid behind a cloud and rain began to fall. Thunder rolled in the distance and a responding flash of lightning lit their battlefield briefly. Jerome was mad and unhappy, he had no intention of holding back.
Pieter felt a flow of power from his Alpha and knew that this fight was going to be on an even playing field. The power was heady and it took him a moment to get over the drunk feeling it gave him. As he thought over how their plan had been executed he got even angrier. Everything had gone perfectly except getting Gaby out of the situation.
Pieter felt disgusted with himself. He should have predicted it. They'd even been so bold as to hit three Clubs to avoid this failure and it hadn't been enough. His faith in his abilities was dented severely and he knew no matter how successful this mission was to anyone outside Jerome's inner circle, it was a group failure. He had failed his alpha.
Pieter saw Jerome lunge for him and did the same. They fought throughout the thunderstorm as if they hated each other. Both fought to kill and continued to fight even after they gained an audience as the dawn threatened to come.
The team watched in horror as the two warriors went at it with ferocity. This wasn't the usual spar between brothers this was a fight to the death. For those who could hear and truly see what was happening, the two warriors were the storm. Their blows were like thunderclaps and their growls were like ground-shaking thunder.
Commander Weiss was woken from his short nap to find Jerome and Pieter on the edge of feral. The training field where they normally held training exercises was under heavy rain and while there were dark clouds in the distance, these clouds were different. The air was cooler on the field than anywhere else on the base, considering it was nearly sunrise it was off.
Frank Weiss had never witnessed Jerome in his truest form. Jerome was constantly holding back from his first fight at age seven to now. He had always wondered why and now he was beginning to understand. The storm was Jerome and Pieter, Pieter was fighting as hard as Jerome and yet keeping up. There was a constant flow of power like two ends of a battery and it kept the storm charged.
Frank Weiss knew that the boys would stop before anyone else figured out what they were doing. He just couldn't understand how someone so young was able and willing to be responsible for so much power. His Second-in-Command swore as he rushed onto the field. Weiss held him back as he was about to stop the two young men.
Both Pieter and Jerome had their hands around each other's throats. Neither was giving up and both of them looked like they were about to pass out. Commander Weiss' voice rang out onto the field, "Enough!" and just like that the two young men collapsed on their knees gasping for air.
Pieter looked at Jerome who was bloody, battered, and bruised from his head down to his toes. If their mothers were here they would be in so much trouble. He was grateful Gaby couldn't see Jerome or Pieter would be begging for forgiveness. Although he didn't want to admit it he felt a lot better being able to beat the shit out of someone to get out his pent-up frustration.
He knew he looked a frightful mess. When Jerome looked at him and grimaced he knew he looked like shit. Jerome stood up and helped him off the ground. They stumbled to the infirmary like drunken sailors.
"What the hell just happened?" One of the other team members asked.
"The boss just showed how truly unhappy he was about last night's raid to the one person he entrusted to get it right." One of the warriors from his pack said sighing.
A girl frowned as the clouds dispersed and the sun began to rise. "Wait, didn't he congratulate us all for a job well done?"
"We did what we were supposed to do. He congratulated us for doing what he told us to do right." Another warrior pointed out.
"So why are they walking to the infirmary like buddies then?" The girl asked.
"The message has been received. Alph- I mean Mr. Wilder doesn't go beyond the point unless that was his intention in the first place. When Commander Weiss told them to stop it was already over."
The dreadlocked blond shrugged. "Let's hit the sack guys. 10h00 both of those beasts will be ready to start the day as if they didn't beat the crap out of each other for three hours in freezing rain."
The crowd dispersed and everyone headed to their dorms. Everyone was still talking about the battle between the two best friends who had yet to disagree on anything since their arrival. Eventually, everyone settled down and passed out from the night's work and celebrations.