Crossed Paths ii

It was late at night when Paul visited Sam at the hospital. Sam was in his ward, sitting in a wheelchair while the doctor carefully removed the bandage from his face, revealing stitches and bruising.

As Paul entered, he told Sam he had something crucial to share about the gangs that were responsible for his attack.

Paul revealed that the notorious Lotus Organized Crime Group was founded by Matt Balsey in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This was during a period of rapid economic growth in the city of Tennessee,

Originally from Italy, Matt had an extensive criminal record dating back to the 1970s, with convictions for housebreaking, car theft, burglary, handling stolen goods, and forgery.

What had started as a street gang dealing weapons soon turned into a massive global criminal network worth millions under Matt's cunning leadership.

After Matt died in a violent gang rivalry, his son Ramsey took over as the boss of the organisation. The courts had concluded that the Lotus Group was involved in the lucrative but dangerous international trafficking of bioweapons, firearms, and even murder for hire.

The three key members at the top were named Ramsey Balsey himself, his wife Elizabeth Balsey, and Ramsey's younger brother Aaron Balsey.

Ramsey and Elizabeth had cleverly created the legitimate-appearing Balsley Corporation as a front to launder their criminal proceeds and conduct business dealings.

Paul revealed to Sam that the Lotus Group controlled five major crime syndicate branches around the world that carried out its brutally violent agenda in various regions. In Africa, they operated through the Baba Group, a notoriously fierce cell. In Europe, the Goslings Enterprise acted as their powerful arm on that continent. The Tinolos Group in Asia, the Angolos Group in Australia, and the Yega Gangs in Central America completed their web of illicit operations worldwide.

Before leaving the hospital, Paul furtively passed Sam a small hard drive loaded with comprehensive data and intelligence about the Lotus Group's operations, which he had acquired through his undercover work.

He warned Sam to guard it with his life, as the information could take down the entire criminal empire.

Paul left hurriedly, looking over his shoulder constantly.

Later that night, as Paul wanted to enter his home, his instincts proved accurate as he was suddenly ambushed by two masked men lying in wait. One struck him brutally in the face with the butt of a rifle, smashing his nose and dropping him to the ground, unconscious and bleeding profusely.

When Paul awoke sometime later, he found himself tied tightly to a tree trunk in a remote wooded area, his face throbbing with pain from severe bruises and cuts.

One of the men revealed himself to be Andre Cain, a high-ranking enforcer who works for Aaron.

"You're a dead man walking," Andre snarled as he raised a heavy hammer high overhead and brought it crashing down onto Paul's skull with sickening force.

Paul's brains and gore splattered out over the tree as his shattered remains crumpled to the ground. The two men wasted no time, swiftly stuffing his body into a large plastic drum and prying off the license plates from their van to ditch as well. They drove to a deserted lake on the outskirts of town, rolled the drum into the murky depths to dispose of the evidence, and then sped off into the night. As they drove, Andre pulled out a burner phone and called his boss Aaron Balsey to report the job was done.

Back at the aaron estate, Aaron was just about to retire to bed when his trained senses picked up the sound of faint footsteps and a scuffling noise coming from the backyard. His dog Butch started barking wildly until the barks abruptly cut off into a deadly silence that made Aaron's blood run cold. He grabbed his tactical flashlight and his mother's antique Japanese tanto knife from its display case, then took up a defensive position hidden behind the bedroom door.

Not a moment too soon, as several armed intruders dressed in black breached the house. When they saw the rumpled bed was empty, they started fanning out to sweep the space. Aaron waited until they had their backs turned, and then he exploded out from his hiding spot, employing his extensive training in Muay Thai, Krav Maga, and other deadly martial arts disciplines.

The first man caught a savage elbow strike that shattered his jaw. The second took a bone-crunching knee to the gut before Aaron grabbed him in a choke hold, squeezing until he passed out cold. A third managed to draw his pistol and get off a shot that whizzed past Aaron's ear, but he deftly disarmed the man, snapping his forearm like a twig, then knocked him out with his gun butt.

The last two intruders realised they were up against someone highly skilled and came at Aaron together with knives slashing. Aaron parried their attacks with the antique blade in expert defensive moves, severing one man's Achilles tendon and then slicing open the other's carotid artery in a crimson spray. In mere seconds, the highly trained hitmen were all down, dead or dying at Aaron's feet.

Checking their gear, Aaron confirmed his suspicion they were from one of the rival gangs feuding over territory and business dealings with him. No time to waste, he called his associate Isaac who worked in a local mortuary, ordering him to bring an incineration crew to swiftly dispose of the bodies and sanitize the scene of any trace evidence.

Around 11 pm, just an hour before midnight, Aaron made a coded call to Andre Cain and tersely explained the situation with the attempted hit at his home.

They agreed to meet soon with the rest of their core team at one of their secure warehouses near the docks. As Aaron hung up the phone, it immediately rang again - it was the ever-cautious Andre calling back to confirm.

"Boss, you got everything under control there?"

Aaron growled an affirmative that yes, the situation was contained, as he reloaded his firearm. He had a strong hunch this wasn't just a random robbery, but part of a bigger coordinated attack from a powerful enemy. The game was afoot.

Meanwhile, across town, Sophia sat on her bed, hugging a tattered old family photo album to her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The album was open to a picture of her late father Lopez taken years ago before his untimely death, his strong jaw set in a proud smile as he held a young Sophia in his arms. There are so many bittersweet memories contained in these photographs spanning decades of her childhood and her parent's marriage.

A tentative knock sounded at Sophia's bedroom door, and her mother entered looking distraught and exhausted, her eyes red-rimmed from fresh sobs of her own.

She sat beside her daughter and pulled her into a warm embrace, Sophia burying her face in her mother's floral-print blouse to let the tears flow freely. "I know, honey, I know. It's not fair," her mom said soothingly, gently stroking Sophia's long hair.

"But we'll get through this together one day at a time.

The funeral is being held in two days, so we can... we can say our final goodbyes properly." She choked up, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat as her voice broke.

Mother and daughter held each other tightly, united in their profound shared grief.

Eventually, Sophia disengaged, managing a faint nod and a watery attempt at a brave smile for her mother's sake. "Thanks, Mom. I'll be okay, I just... I just miss him so much. Every single day."

her mom kissed her daughter's forehead, patted her hand, and stood to leave, quietly closing the door behind her. Sophia closed the album reverently, tracing a finger over her father's image one last time, then lay back on her bed and cried herself into an exhausted slumber.

The next morning, Jared was in the kitchen, meticulously slicing vegetables and sautéing them in a large skillet with garlic and olive oil for an omelette.

Leo was in the living room grunting with exertion as he pumped out set after a set of heavy deadlifts and overhead presses with the free weights, his muscular frame glistening with sweat.

As the mouthwatering aroma of the cooking food wafted through the house, Leo paused his regimen and started drilling practice forms on the freestanding wooden Wing Chun dummy tucked in the corner.

He smoothly executed chains of rapid punches, locked-in elbows, and powerful kicks against the force-absorbing wooden arms in a rhythmic dance of combat perfection.