From Bullets To Billions

Chapter 722: On My Own

Max headed off to the coordinates where the Stern family, Jett, and Darius were being kept captive. He was going through with his plan completely alone.

When he stepped out of the vehicle, the taxi immediately drove off into the night, leaving him standing at the hilltop overlooking a secluded port.

”This really reminds me of the time Sheri was taken, and we had to rescue them from the Black Hounds,” Max muttered, a bitter smile touching his lips. ”And now, here I am, rescuing the Black Hounds themselves.”

This port was slightly smaller than the main commercial one in the city, mostly used for private yachts and ferries. It was the exact venue where the Black Hounds usually hosted their exclusive underground events. Looking out into the distance, Max could see the outline of the massive luxury cruise ship floating near the docks, but from this far up, he couldn’t make out any individual figures on the decks or see if there were guards patrolling the perimeter.

Before he even started walking down the trail, he stopped and took a deep breath.

”A part of me honestly wonders why the hell I’m even doing this,” he said to himself. ”Sticking my neck out for a bunch of people I don’t even care about. If something terrible happened to the Stern family or the Black Hounds, I wouldn’t be all that broken up about it. But I have to free them so they can’t use the university hostages against us. Those students have absolutely nothing to do with any of this.”

He stared at the dark docks below. ”Still... I promised myself after already dying once, that if there was ever a chance of it happening to me again, I would just walk away. And yet, here I am. There’s a pretty good chance I’ll find myself right back at death’s door tonight.”

For a brief second, Max found himself wishing he had at least one ally standing by his side. If this ambush had something to do with the force that took down Hercules, even the giant would have been a massive help right now. Shaking those thoughts from his head, he walked forward and started his descent down the hill.

Entering the docks, Max kept his guard up, waiting to be ambushed at every single corner. It was only logical for the enemy to try and take him out easily before he could even reach the ship. Since he had lost his very first life to a sudden ambush, he was being more than cautious tonight. Though, he had to admit, his new superhuman body could probably take a stabbing or two with a lot less trouble than his old one.

As he continued to walk through the labyrinth of the port, he noticed that several of the massive shipping containers had been pushed out of the way. The cleared path made it much easier for him to see the large luxury ship docked right on its side. When he finally reached a clearing about fifty meters away from the vessel, his eyes locked onto the very top deck. Standing right by the handrail was the entire captive group.

Looking at the center of the deck, he spotted Chad, Bobo, and Karen tied up side by side. Right next to them were Darius and Jett. Compared to his three family members, the champions’ bindings were a lot more severe; they were wrapped tight in heavy chains and ropes, while the Sterns only had loose plastic zip-ties securing the back of their arms.

”I can’t believe it,” Bobo whispered, her eyes widening as she peered over the railing. ”He really came. And is he actually on his own?”

”What the hell is that fool doing?” Chad muttered in utter disbelief, his jaw dropping. ”He runs a whole organization of elite fighters, and he decides to show up here completely by himself!”

”Hey,” Karen interrupted, her voice sharp as she stared down at the lone figure on the docks. ”At least he actually showed up. And that’s a hell of a lot more than what most members of our family would have done for us.”

Chad and Bobo looked at each other, genuinely starting to wonder when their mother had started growing a soft side, or at least when she had decided to let up on Max a little bit.

Down on the pavement, Max wasn’t paying attention to his family’s bickering. His gaze was entirely fixed on the line of enemies waiting for him at the bow of the ship.

”I see how it is now, Dud,” Max mumbled to himself, his expression turning ice-cold. ”My guesses were entirely correct. You really did gather a whole team of people who want nothing more than to get rid of me.”

Dud obviously had his own personal reasons for wanting Max dead, and standing right by his side, completely free, was Donto. The sight confirmed their theory that Donto was the financial sponsor behind the entire breakout. Looking at his arrogant cousin, Max really wished he had found a way to strip him of every single penny he owned back at the university, just like he had done to the other branches of the family.

Lastly, his eyes landed on Dipter—one of the very first key threats he had dealt with when this all started.

Well, it’s a shame Joe isn’t here with the rangers, Max thought to himself, a dark sense of humor flashing through his mind. It would have been a pretty great reunion between the two of them.

He noticed there were a few other powerful fighters standing in the line, though none whose faces he recognized from his old files. One was a rugged man wearing a thick eye patch. This was Popper, the inmate who had helped Dipter coordinate his moves while they were locked up in prison together. Standing right beside him was a quiet man with long hair draping over his shoulders.

”Oh, Max!” Dud shouted out from the top deck, his voice booming over the water. ”Is this really the choice you decided to make? After you took out the Chalkline Boys and completely dismantled the Rejected Corps, I honestly thought you would have been a lot smarter than to turn up to a war all on your own!”

The moment Dud finished speaking, a massive clanging sound echoed across the port. From behind the shipping containers, a swarm of men began to pour out into the open. The heavy steel doors of the containers slammed open one after another, and an absolute flood of bodies filled the clearing.

These were the violent prison escapees Dud had broken out, mixed with the elite mercenaries Donto had hired with his family funds. They quickly surrounded the docks, cutting off the exit path completely. There had to be at least one hundred of them closing the gap.