When Eric informed his people about the recent discoveries, all of them were furious.

“The Reese Cartel? The bastards! They want to pit us against the West Gangs and take profit from the conflict!” Jaime snapped. She was a hot-headed woman, and the idea of being manipulated and used was simply insulting.

“And they almost succeeded.” Eric declared coldly, cutting his daughter off. After all, most of his people wanted immediate retaliation with Jaime as a leading advocate. If they did, they would've fallen into the trap. As Jaime averted her eyes in embarrassment, he added. “That is why we have to always keep a cool head, Jaime. We are far from impervious, and a rash action today may doom everyone you care about tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.” Jaime nodded quietly.

With that settled, Eric turned to Serhant.

“Have we been able to access the tracker on the microphone?”

According to the quick-thinking hotel employee, the device he planted on one of the intruders not only had a microphone. It also contained a tracker that could broadcast its location to its owner while being hundreds of miles away. A part of Eric wondered why a random hotel employee would have a device like this...until he remembered that this was the Southern Districts. A device like this could always come in handy, especially in the hands of quick-thinking men.

Alas, this was all irrelevant. The employee gambled with his life, and it paid off. He had probably left the Southern Districts already with the giant paycheck he just received after handing Eric everything he had.

Hearing the inquiry, Serhant replied without looking up from his CI.

“Yes sir. The location we received appears to be pointing at a spot around 50 miles away from here. Our monitoring of the messages sent back to us suggests the microphone is still with them. It is no longer moving, so that is likely where the operatives of the Reese Cartel are hiding.” He paused before adding something. “Judging from the strength of the signal from the tracker, it is safe to assume it is taken underground.”

“The tunnels.” Eric quickly realized. “After the conflict with the CSF, the Cartel must have retreated back to the underground tunnels to rest and recover. No wonder few have heard from them since!”

As a metropolis of unbelievable size, Valoria had an extensive network of underground tunnels that served a variety of purposes. Some were for sewage. Others were for subways and other types of transportation. Many poor and homeless treated the tunnels as their shelters. That being said, a large piece of the network was composed of pathways constructed in the early days of the city and have then been abandoned. No one really cared for most of the tunnels. The CSF had no presence there. It was reasonable that the defeated cartel would hide there to lick its wounds and use it as a base of operation to retake the Southern Districts.

“We have to do something about this.” Jaime proposed as she examined the hologram of the map projected in the middle of the room by the Computing Interface. “We cannot allow the Reese Cartel to keep harassing our establishments and putting us on the defensive. Father, I suggest an attack on their base of operation. Wipe them out before they can do any more damage.”

“I agree with Jaime.” As the second in command of Eric, Serhant offered his opinion. “All evidence points to the fact that the Reese Cartel is still weak from its previous defeat. If we are forced to spread out and be put on the defensive, we will be picked off one by one. However, if we can track them down and focus our men in one single assault, we will be able to crush whatever forces they have left with little losses.”

This time, all the Lieutenants in the Family shared the same opinion. Strike. Find the enemies and hunt them down. After all, this was unlike when the attack first occurred. This time, everything had become clear. There were no more unknown factors. No more mysteries. The Allen Family knew exactly what was going on and who they were fighting. Now, all they had to do was make a move and end this disaster with brute force.

The patriarch of the family sat there and took a few minutes to go over everything that had happened. The Reese Cartel played their tricks. They wanted to turn the West Gang and the Allen Family against each other, and it almost worked. However, thanks to his restraints, and the work of a particularly lucky underling, their plan was foiled. Now, they would pay for their transgressions with blood.

Finally, as he didn't see anything that warranted further caution, Eric made up his mind and gave the order.

“Very well. Send the message. Rally as many enforcers as we can while leaving minimal security across our establishments.” He scanned his Lieutenants. “Serhant. I will trust you to lead the assault.”

“Yes sir.” The Lieutenant nodded. He had always been a man of caution, and it had served him well for decades. Eric trusted Serhant with an operation this important.

That was when Jaime raised her voice impatiently. She saw where this was going, and she was definitely not sitting this one out!

“What about me, father?”

“This is going to be a risky operation. The men under the Reese Cartel’s payroll are dangerous...”

“And so am I.” Jaime interrupted her father. “I am one of the best fighters in the family, father. I have a faster draw time than most of the men we employ. The bastards working for the Reese Cartel killed a lot of our people, and I want to be there when they pay!”

Eric growled inside. After Cara was arrested and imprisoned by the CSF, Jaime was his only child left, and that would likely remain the case for a very long time. He really hated the idea of putting her in the line of fire, especially given how reckless she was. That being said, if Jaime was to become the leader of the Allen Family one day, then she needed experience and accomplishments, and this could potentially be a good one.

“Fine.” He finally gave in. “You can join Serhant and the others. Just...be careful. I don’t care how good you are at hand-to-hand combat. A stray bullet can take your life. Always remember that.”

Jaime nodded and headed for the door. The Lieutenants left one by one. As he was on the way out, Serhant gave his boss a reassuring glance, promising the patriarch that his daughter would be safe with him.

Within a few hours, the entire Allen Family was sprung into action. A large portion of the enforcers loyal to the family were summoned to a series of abandoned factories that served as the rally point. There, these enforcers were debriefed on what was going on and who they were about to face.

In total, there were around 500 enforcers tasked with this mission. All of them had either numerous military training or plenty of combat experience or both. This was nearly half of all the enforcers the Allen Family had under its disposal. The rest were either stationed at the various establishments to deter random thieves and muggers or remained to garrison the headquarter of the Allen Family.

What came next surprised many of the enforcers. Several squads of men pulled out over a dozen wooden crates, which were opened and revealed entire stacks of gauss rifles and body armors.

This was highly unusual. In most of the skirmishes between the criminal organizations in Valoria, the gangsters used automatic firearms that were a lot less destructive and deadly than gauss weapons. They were also less likely to attract the attention of the authorities. However, due to the importance of this mission, Eric decided to open the armory and deploy a number of gauss weapons that were supposed to be off-limits to anyone outside of the Imperial military. The Allen Family had to bribe a lot of people to get these supplies. Many of the weapons and ammo were impossible to replenish with the recent crackdowns by the Imperials against corruption.

Still, the enforcers got themselves properly armed and armored, sounding damn excited while doing so. Many of them haven't used a gauss weapon in a long, long time. As that was done, they boarded dozens of vehicles and shuttles and headed for their destination.

Serhant knew the Allen Family had superior numbers compared to the battered Reese Cartel. They would likely have the element of surprise as well. However, as Eric said, the Reese Cartel was filled with dangerous men, and the Allen Family needed to do things carefully to minimize their losses and to completely wipe out the Reese Cartel root and stem.

Even before they moved out, the Lieutenant had come up with a careful plan after examining the maps of the underground tunnel network. Instead of marching 500 people into the tunnels in one big group, he decided to divide the small army of enforcers into 20 squads of around two dozen men each. Each squad would be led by a competent and experienced veteran, and they would each advance into the tunnel network from a different entrance.

The idea was that the enforcers would converge upon the underground stronghold of the Reese Cartel from all fronts, ensuring that the remnants would have no way to flee. In the end, these squads would come together and outflank and wipe out the defenders.

In addition, to maintain the element of surprise, Serhant also had each squad pick out one or two men who were especially quick with the draw. These men put on civilian clothing over their body armors. They would be the vanguard. Once these squads entered the tunnels, these men would move ahead of their comrades. If the Reese Cartel had any scouts or sentries along the way, these vanguards could take them by surprise and get rid of them before they could warn the others.

These were brilliant tactics, especially considering this was a battle between two rival gangs and not two professional armies. Serhant certainly had the skills to match his position in the Reese Cartel. He knew exactly how to maximize the advantages of their side and minimize their disadvantages.

Unfortunately for him, the results of this battle were set long before the enforcers even reached the tunnels. After all, the Reese Cartel was not the enemy they were going up against. Instead, it was someone much, much more dangerous.