Rise of the Street King

Chapter 10 – The First Warning Call

The ringing cut through the warehouse like a blade.

Harsh. Relentless. A sound that didn’t belong in a place this hidden.

Jayden stiffened where he sat by Hassan’s cot, his hand instinctively tightening on the briefcase. Every ring echoed louder than the last, vibrating in his chest, gnawing at his nerves.

Kade didn’t move at first. He just stared at the dusty landline mounted on the wall, its cracked plastic trembling with each shrill call. His jaw clenched, scar flexing.

Finally, he exhaled through his nose and muttered, “They shouldn’t know this line.”

Jayden frowned. “Who’s ‘they’?”

Kade didn’t answer. He strode across the room, boots heavy on the concrete floor, and snatched the receiver off the hook.

“This is Kade.”

The voice on the other end was smooth. Too smooth. It slithered through the wire, oily and calm, the kind of tone that carried danger in every syllable.

“Well, well. The ghost soldier himself. Always hiding in shadows, always thinking you’re one step ahead. But tonight, you bled. And we were watching.”

Jayden’s blood went cold. Whoever this was, they had seen everything.

Kade’s expression hardened, though his voice stayed even. “If you know who I am, then you know calling this line is a mistake.”

A chuckle answered him. Low, deliberate. “Mistakes are for the weak. We wanted you to know: Razor may roar, but you are the real problem. You and… the boy.”

Jayden flinched. His chest tightened. He mouthed silently me?

Kade’s eyes flicked toward him, sharp, but he gave no reaction into the phone.

“You’ve got something that doesn’t belong to you,” the voice continued, its calmness more terrifying than anger. “And things that don’t belong to you have a way of killing their keepers.”

Kade’s knuckles whitened around the receiver. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll have to do better.”

“Oh, soldier,” the voice purred. “We’re not trying to scare you. We’re sending a message.”

A click. The line went dead.

Silence.

Then the warehouse lights cut out.

The hum of electricity vanished, plunging the space into darkness. Rain hammered the roof, and for a moment the only sound was Jayden’s ragged breathing.

Kade cursed under his breath, ripping open a drawer to grab a flashlight. The beam cut through the dark, sweeping across crates and shadows.

“Backup generator?” Jayden whispered.

Kade shook his head. “No. This isn’t random. They cut us.”

As if on cue, the heavy iron door at the far end groaned. Slow. Deliberate. Someone was pushing it open from the outside.

Jayden’s pulse spiked. He reached instinctively for anything a weapon, a stick, something. His fingers closed on a crowbar leaning against a crate. His grip trembled, but he raised it anyway.

Kade leveled his rifle at the door. His voice was a low growl. “Stay behind me.”

The door screeched wider. Wind and rain spilled in, carrying the stench of smoke and gasoline.

But no one stepped through.

Instead, something rolled across the floor.

A canister.

Jayden’s eyes widened. “Smoke!”

The hiss filled the room, a choking cloud spreading fast. Kade fired once, a deafening crack, but whatever shadow had tossed it was already gone.

Jayden coughed, eyes burning, vision swimming. He staggered toward Hassan, shielding him with his body.

Kade’s voice cut through the chaos. “Out the back! Move!”

Jayden hefted Hassan’s weak frame onto his shoulder, the briefcase still clutched tight. His lungs screamed, the smoke thick as tar, but adrenaline pushed him forward.

They stumbled through a narrow corridor, Kade covering the rear with bursts of gunfire. Muffled shouts echoed outside the warehouse more masked men, moving with precision. This wasn’t Razor’s sloppy army. This was different. Sharper. Deadlier.

At the back door, Kade slammed it open, rain and night rushing in like salvation. They spilled into an alley lit only by a dying streetlamp.

Jayden gasped for air, his chest burning. Hassan groaned weakly against him, barely conscious.

Kade slammed the door shut behind them, his jaw tight. “They know where we are. We can’t stay. Not for a second.”

Jayden’s mind raced. His whole body trembled with exhaustion, but the reality was brutal: there was no safehouse anymore, no shelter. They were prey being hunted.

He looked at Kade, rain plastering his hair to his forehead. “Who the hell was that on the phone? They knew about me. About the case.”

Kade’s silence was worse than any answer. His eyes burned in the dim light, and when he finally spoke, his voice was iron.

“They’re called the Syndicate. Razor’s leash-holders. The ones who built his empire from the shadows.”

Jayden’s stomach dropped. “And now they’re after me.”

Kade nodded once. “You stole their crown jewel. Razor will tear the streets apart to get it back, but the Syndicate? They don’t threaten. They erase.”

Jayden swallowed hard, the briefcase suddenly heavier than it had ever been. “So what now?”

Before Kade could answer, a car engine revved at the mouth of the alley. Headlights flared, blinding in the rain.

A black SUV.

The driver’s side window rolled down. A hand emerged, clutching a pistol with a silencer.

Jayden froze. His muscles screamed to run, but the alley was too narrow, too exposed.

The silencer coughed

thup, thup, thup!

Concrete chipped inches from his feet. Hassan cried out in pain.

Kade shoved Jayden behind a dumpster, returning fire in controlled bursts. Glass shattered on the SUV’s windshield, but the engine roared louder as it gunned forward, barreling straight at them.

Jayden’s chest tightened. There was no way out. Nowhere to run.

The briefcase slipped in his grasp, but he clung to it with white-knuckled desperation. Hassan’s blood stained his shirt, heavy and warm.

The SUV bore down on them, headlights blinding.

And in that instant, Jayden realized something chilling:

This wasn’t just Razor’s war anymore.

This was a game where he didn’t even know the rules

And the Syndicate was already three moves ahead.

The SUV screeched closer, bullets pinging off the dumpster. Jayden shielded Hassan as Kade reloaded but then, out of the blinding headlights, a second figure appeared, stepping into the alley with a shotgun aimed not at Jayden, but at the SUV.

The blast roared, and the chapter ends on the moment of impact.

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