Chapter 10 - Desperation at the Gym
With Grant’s empire collapsing and federal agents sealing off the Caldwell estate, Travis Caldwell realized his life as a comfortable suburban bully was over.
humiliation, combined with a painkiller-fueled rage over his injured knee, pushed him past the point of reason.
At 6:00 PM, while federal agents were loading boxes of documents into trucks outside, Travis slipped out the back entrance of his house. He drove his lifted pickup truck straight to The Pit—the underground MMA gym on the outskirts of town where he trained.
He didn't go there to train. He went to find his trainer, a disgraced former heavyweight fighter named Viktor "The Hammer" Reznikov.
"She ruined us, Viktor," Travis slurred, slamming a stack of stolen cash onto the greasy desk in the back office. "She’s a fed. She put federal agents in my father’s house."
Viktor looked at the cash, then looked at Travis’s swollen knee. "You got beaten by a woman, Travis. You're a embarrassment."
"She’s small!" Travis yelled, his eyes wild. "She just caught me off balance! I want you and two of the heavy guys from the cage to come with me tonight. We cut her power, we take her out of the house, and we make her sign a retraction."
Viktor laughed—a dark, rumbling sound. "You want to kidnap a Special Ops veteran? Are you out of your mind, Travis?"
"Five thousand dollars each!" Travis screamed, dropping another stack of bills on the desk. "Cash! Tonight! The neighborhood is in chaos, the cops are busy with the federal raid. It’s our only chance before they lock everything down!"
Viktor stared at the money for a long moment. Greed wiped away whatever small amount of common sense he possessed.
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"One hit," Viktor said softly. "We go in, we break her hands so she can't fight, we take what we want, and we leave."
"Deal," Travis growled, a dark, sick smile spreading across his face.
