SPARTAN WARLORD SYSTEM: CONQUERING EMPIRES AND BEAUTIES

Chapter 5: The Poison Called Brotherhood

Thick blood flowed from Nathan's right knee. It soaked the concrete roof pounded by heavy rain. The metallic smell of blood mixed with the sulfurous scent of burnt gunpowder. 

The pain was like a glowing hot iron forcibly driven into his joint. It destroyed his patella bone and tore his tendon tissues all the way to his groin. Nathan's jaw clenched tight. His teeth ground together to hold back the scream that almost escaped his throat. He gasped for air, exhaling puffs of warm steam into the freezing storm wind.

Nathan looked up slowly. His steel-gray eyes stared at the barrel of the Glock-17 pistol just six feet in front of him. Thin gray smoke still wafted from the black muzzle. It was slowly washed away by raindrops. 

Behind that pistol, Adam stood tall. The face of the partner who had shared trenches with him for seven years was now completely alien. There was no more casual laughter. There was no more comrade-in-arms panic. There was only a cold smirk and pupils dilated wildly by madness.

"You," Nathan's voice was hoarse. It was choked by the blood rising in his throat. "Why, Adam?"

Adam did not answer Nathan. His gaze shifted to Cleo, who was still kneeling frozen on the concrete floor. With steady steps, Adam walked forward. His hand snatched Cleo's wrist and jerked it roughly until the woman was forced to stand up.

"Hand over the bag, sweetie," Adam hissed while feeling for the small sling bag on Cleo's waist. "Did you think I didn't see you transfer the artifact before tossing the empty briefcase down? Cheap trick."

"Let me go, you bastard!" 

Cleo screamed hysterically. In her desperation, the woman thrust her head forward and sank her teeth as hard as she could into the flesh of Adam's left wrist.

"Argh! Damn bitch!" 

Adam shook his hand furiously. Fresh blood poured from Cleo's bite mark. Before Adam could deliver a retaliatory slap, Cleo lowered her body, crawled over the slippery concrete, and lunged toward Nathan. The woman's arms wrapped around Nathan's shoulders. She pulled his head to her chest as if her fragile body could act as a shield against Adam's gun muzzle.

"Nathan. Hold on," Cleo whispered with a violently trembling voice. Her tears mixed with the rainwater soaking Nathan's bloodied cheeks.

At the same time, Nathan's combat instincts refused to give up. His right hand crept across the rainwater puddle. He felt for the SIG Sauer P226 pistol lying just inches from his shattered knee. One bullet left. He only needed one bullet to put a hole through Adam's windpipe.

Nathan's fingers almost touched the pistol grip.

BANG!

Another shot barked from the direction of the emergency door. A nine-millimeter projectile tore through the back of Nathan's right hand. It shattered his metacarpal bones, pierced out through his palm, and embedded itself into the concrete floor below.

"Ugh!" 

Nathan's body jerked violently. Blood squirted from the bullet hole in his hand. It dirtied the puddle around him. His fingers went numb instantly. His muscles drooped helplessly.

From the ruined doorway, ten heavily armed men in black tactical uniforms and balaclavas stepped out. Their assault rifles were cocked straight at Nathan and Cleo. The man who had shot Nathan's hand lowered his pistol calmly. He stood half a step behind Adam.

"Do not move, PMC dog," the masked man said coldly.

Nathan panted heavily in Cleo's embrace. His chest heaved up and down as he endured two waves of burning pain from his knee and his hand. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the poison of inner destruction creeping through his chest as he stared at Adam.

"Seven years, Adam," Nathan hissed. His voice was heavy with sorrow that had frozen into pure hatred. "In Fallujah, in the Congo, on the Ukrainian border. I saved your life dozens of times. I considered you my own brother."

Adam laughed. It was a dissonant laugh that was cold and piercing. It overpowered the roaring storm in the New Jersey sky.

"Brother? You are so naive, Nathan," Adam crouched a few steps in front of Nathan and looked at him with a condescending glare. "You were always the best, weren't you? Nathan the sharpshooter. Nathan the strategist. Nathan the moral guy the boss loved. While me? I was always living in your shadow!"

Adam leaned his face forward. His eyes flashed wildly. "Did you think I was just a poor mercenary like you? I am the adopted son of the Supreme Leader of Black Dragon. From the very first day you signed Cleo's escort contract in Moscow, I was the one leaking every route coordinate to my father!"

Nathan looked into Adam's eyes. There was no regret there. There was only the rot of a sociopath that had been meticulously planned.

"You sold out your own comrades," Nathan muttered. His jaw tightened until his temples throbbed.

"Don't be naive! We are just disposable pawns to secure this cargo," Adam cut in lightly. "Honestly, I was hoping you would take a vacation this week, Nathan. I didn't want to kill you. But you are stubborn. You interfered in our family business, and now you know who I am. In our world, no witnesses are allowed to stay alive."

Hearing that, Cleo suddenly raised her head. Her breath hitched. Then, with trembling lips, she looked at Adam.

"Let Nathan go!" Cleo shouted over the howling wind. "You want the ring, right?! Your father's consortium wants that Persian genetic code for your biological project! Take the ring! I will give it to you voluntarily, Adam! But let Nathan live! Let him walk away from here!"

Adam fell silent for a moment. His eyes flicked to the sling bag on Cleo's waist, then back to Nathan, who was sprawled out covered in blood. A flash of hesitation briefly crossed Adam's face. It wasn't out of pity. Rather, he knew how hard it was to find a combat operator as skilled as Nathan if the man could be subjugated.

"An interesting offer, Miss Cleo," Adam muttered slowly. His finger tapped the Glock's trigger. "If you hand over the ring right now without breaking the seal."

"Young Master Adam, do not listen to this bitch!" 

A shouting voice cut in from behind. The black-masked man who had shot Nathan's hand stepped forward arrogantly. His hand held an assault rifle aimed straight at Cleo's chest. 

"The Big Boss's orders at headquarters are absolute," the Black Dragon subordinate dictated. "Tony's daughter must be executed on the spot once the ring is secured. Tony's family research must be completely destroyed so our consortium's monopoly isn't exposed to the public! Kill them both right now!"

Adam's face immediately darkened. His calm smile vanished. It was replaced by a vein of anger bulging on his forehead. For a sociopath like Adam, there was nothing he hated more than being given orders by someone else.

BANG!

Without looking back, Adam's right hand swung his Glock backward and pulled the trigger.

The bullet pierced right through the center of his own subordinate's forehead. The masked man jerked backward. His eyes widened blankly before his body collapsed into a puddle. He died instantly by Adam's feet.

The other nine Black Dragon members flinched backward. Their weapons trembled for a moment, but not a single one dared to point their muzzle at Adam. They knew all too well the madness of the big boss's adopted son.

"Shut up, trash!" Adam roared. He spat on his own subordinate's corpse with a look of utter disgust. "No one here has the right to boss me around! I am leading this operation!"

On the wet floor, Nathan watched the scene with cold, narrowed eyes. The last remnants of humanity in Nathan's heart, the sense of brotherhood he had guarded for years, burned down to ashes. 

"A man driven by unstable emotions and a thirst for validation," Nathan's inner voice whispered coldly. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "On the battlefield, an unstable monster like this is the easiest prey. If only I had one working weapon."

But Nathan had no more weapons. His body was shattered. His blood kept flowing. And death was approaching with every passing second.

Seeing Adam's madness after executing his own man without blinking, Cleo realized there was no more hope for normal negotiation. The woman's face turned deadly pale. However, her gaze hardened with the most desperate decision of her life.

Cleo released her embrace on Nathan. Before anyone could react, she stood up, jumped backward across the slippery roof floor, and climbed onto the concrete ledge of the thirty-story building!

"Cleo! Don't!" Nathan yelled hoarsely.

The stormy wind blew Cleo's soaking wet long hair. Her black dress fluttered wildly above the dark abyss of the New Jersey city. One wrong step and her body would free-fall hundreds of feet to certain death on the asphalt streets.

Adam flinched. His pistol raised in panic. "Get down from there, you idiot! What are you doing?!"

Cleo reached into the cleavage of her dress, not the small sling bag. From inside her wet underwear, she pulled out the real small black velvet box. The silver box in her waist bag was just a second decoy!

Cleo opened the box. She revealed the gold ring engraved with Persian characters that now emitted a blood-red glow in the middle of the stormy darkness. The ring pulsed faintly, as if responding to the atmosphere of death around it.

"Back off, Adam!" Cleo shouted over the roar of thunder. Her feet balanced precariously on the edge of the concrete. Her tears stopped flowing. They were replaced by a burning resolve. "If any of you takes one step forward, I will jump with this ring to the bottom of the abyss!"