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🕑 Added 2025-03-13 07:55:17 +0000 UTCWind in the Smoke
Chapter 162 - Learning More About the Enemies
Kayce's Ranch, fifteen minutes after the attack
"Deep down, I knew it was a bad idea to leave the reservation to live on this ranch that isn't ours." Monica had gone into a panic, and all the doubts she had hidden surfaced when she looked at her husband.
Kayce, setting his weapon aside, looked at Monica and said, "This has nothing to do with what I do on this ranch. Besides, this is our home."
"The evil of the Duttons has reached our home, Kayce. We will never escape." Monica spoke as despair overtook her.
"This has nothing to do with my family. If you think we're bad for protecting our ranch from those who want to take it, then you have the wrong idea about everything we've done so far." Kayce wouldn't tolerate his wife misinterpreting the reality of what happened with his family.
Building a family—that's what Kayce wanted to say out loud.
He wasn't driven by his father's wishes, and since leaving the ranch, he had never fought to earn his approval.
Monica knew this, but ever since they left the Indian reservation, she felt it was only a matter of time before the Duttons' problems caught up with them.
After all, she carried the Dutton surname, and so did their son. Even though Kayce had always kept his promises, she knew they would never be safe while living in Montana.
"Who are all these people?" Monica looked at the men who seemed like soldiers surrounding her house and asked.
"It's the police," Kayce responded without hesitation.
"Don't lie to me."
Kayce looked at his wife, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally said, "My brother left them nearby to protect us."
"Does your brother have more power than your father?"
"Certainly, he has more power." Kayce didn't want to lie to his wife anymore, so he told her part of the truth.
Then Monica realized that certain things she once thought impossible now made more sense. "So this is your brother's ranch…"
"He gave it to me. The work I’d do in exchange for it was to train horses for his workers." Kayce manipulated the truth behind everything he had done up until now.
"That makes sense…"
At that moment, the sound of helicopter blades echoed in the distance, and Kayce, who was already tense, stepped outside to see who it was.
"Dante is here."
Hearing Crocodile’s words, Kayce looked at his brother Dante, who had traces of blood on various parts of his body.
Jamie, though visibly shaken, maintained his composure and, like a true Dutton, stepped off the helicopter, looked at the kneeling captives, and muttered, "It seems to be true—our entire family was attacked."
"How are you, little brother?" Dante, despite being the youngest of the Dutton siblings in age, was considered by most to be the elder they always turned to for solutions.
"Do you know who attacked us?" Kayce asked, noticing the blood-soaked bandage on his brother with some concern.
Dante glanced at Monica, thought for a moment, and said, "I'm still figuring it out, but your whole family needs to return to the ranch."
"Kayce…" The last thing Monica wanted was for their son to inherit the Duttons' misfortune.
"We’ll be fine, I promise."
Walking toward the mercenaries who had attacked his brother's family, Dante turned to Crocodile and asked in a clear tone, "Why are there prisoners?"
"I thought you'd want to interrogate them." Crocodile had never seen Dante so angry before, so in a respectful tone, he added, "We've uncovered some important information that needs to be addressed. At least thanks to that, we were faster than logistics in finding out where the attack came from."
"That makes sense, but my question remains the same—why are there prisoners?" Dante knew that once they had extracted all the useful information from these men, there was no reason to keep them alive.
That’s why, once the interrogation was complete, the logical course of action was to end this as soon as possible.
"I understand now, boss…"
Kayce, realizing what was about to happen, felt old war traumas resurface. He took his wife inside and whispered, "You don’t want to see this…"
"Why?"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out exactly where the prisoners were being held, followed by several more in quick succession.
Monica froze. There was no need to ask what was happening to know that a massacre was unfolding in their home.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Leave one alive for me." Dante approached the growing pile of corpses Crocodile left behind with each shot.
"Understood."
"Dante, you don’t have to do this yourself." Kayce returned after taking his wife inside the cabin.
"No, this is exactly what I have to do," Dante replied coldly as he looked at the man in front of him.
Kayce's eyes widened in surprise. Now he understood the extent of what his brother had done to become who he was. He had misjudged Dante, thinking he had no idea what needed to be done to hold power.
Now, Kayce understood his brother better.
He didn’t know what Dante was thinking at that moment, and he didn’t need to. The only thing that mattered was that they were on the same page and could trust each other since they both wanted to protect the family.
Dante kicked the captive to wake him from his daze. "Please, please, let me go!"
The mercenary begged again as he regained consciousness.
"I will—after you tell me what I want to know." Dante's voice was calm.
However, that calm tone terrified the captive even more. He couldn’t tell if Dante was being honest or not.
He had no choice.
Right now, Dante controlled his fate.
"Don't you want to?"
"What do you want to know?" the mercenary asked weakly.
"Everything about your mercenary group and its leaders. The exact location of your base and how many men you have there!" Dante wasn’t just after the ones who hired these mercenaries—he planned to hunt down the entire group.
He was furious, and this was the only way he could calm down.
"I don’t know much about who hired us, but our base is in the southern mountains, not far from here, in an open area where we’ve been camping. There are about twenty men at the base… Argh!"
Before he could finish, the mercenary screamed in agony.
Dante had cut off one of his fingers with a knife.
"Shut the hell up if you're going to spit out nonsense! Don't hesitate in your answers, or I'll know you're lying. And trust me, lying to me is the last thing you want to do."
"Tell me something I don't already know! You have two more chances!" Dante said, holding the knife in his hand and staring him down.
"I'm not lying! We're a group of mercenaries working for a private company. We do jobs like this all the time—but never here."
This was the first time this mercenary group had taken a job in the country.
The task had seemed simple—eliminate a ranch family, one by one. The money was enough to live comfortably for years without working. But who would have thought things would turn out like this?
"How many of you are there?"
"Maybe thirty…"
Pain and fear made the mercenary spill even more information.
Thirty men?
Dante narrowed his eyes. Thirty men was a completely different story. Ten more made a big difference if he wanted to attack that base.
If there had only been twenty, Dante could have handled them alone with the help of a few soldiers.
But now, he’d have to deal with thirty.
His stress level skyrocketed.
Then Dante furrowed his brow. "This is going to be bigger than expected."
"Alright, thanks…"
Bang!
Dante didn’t hesitate to kill the man. Then he turned to his brother and said, "The cleanup crew will be here soon. Once they take care of the bodies, we can take your family home."
"I’ll keep that in mind…" Kayce murmured, deeply affected by seeing this side of his brother he never imagined existed.
"But I’ll help with the attack." This was the only thing Kayce could do—stand by his brother’s side.
"Good, brother." Dante appreciated Kayce more than ever.
…
Dutton Ranch, Hours After the Attack on the Dutton Family
"How dare they do this to us, Lee?" John asked as he watched all the lifeless bodies being lifted from the ground by people he didn't recognize.
Lee, looking at the many dead bodies, replied, "I don't know, but thanks to Dante, we were able to ambush them before they reached the ranch."
"The sensors are working well—that's perfect."
John glanced at a man dressed in a peculiar manner and asked, "Who is that person?"
"Her name is Julia. She works for Dante."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Nothing is surprising anymore in the valley, Dad."
