Chapter Twenty-Nine
Pablo
I hate leaving Flora immediately after arriving at my parents’ house, but there’s little choice. I need to make it to the rendezvous the Boston Mexicans were going to have with this nameless man. I’m certain she’s safe withMamá. The woman lives and breathes protectiveness for her children—even when she couldn’t protect them from themselves. She always has, and I know she considers Flora her daughter already. She hasn’t said as much to my girlfriend, but she’s told me.
I want this meeting over as fast as possible. We barely arrive in time since we had to take Flora all the way to Jersey before turning around and coming back to Yonkers. My cousins didn’t even hint at sending Flora with any of them or our men. They knew there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d let anyone else oversee her movements until we got to my parents’ house. They don’t live in a gated property or community like mytíosandtías.My father’s reputation is enough to keep most people away.
Also, the fact they’re in Jersey while all the other syndicate families live in parts of New York City helps too. Some wouldsay the remoteness of their home andTíoEnrique andTíaElle’s would make them easier targets, but it hasn’t.
“Alejandro, you follow me in but hang back.Tres J’s, take men and go around the back. See if you can find a way in.”
I hate arriving somewhere without time to scout, but it’s tight. We noticed an SUV similar to ours at the house we raided, so whoever’s waiting for the Iglesias men won’t question the black SUV pulling up in front. Alejandro and I dropTres J’soff half a block away. Alejandro takes over driving, so my attention’s fully on the building we approach. We don’t have our guns drawn as we walk inside, but they’re ever at the ready. He and I have a knife in each hand ready for us to flick open the moment we need them.
“Puta de madre.”
I mutter it at the same time Alejandro does. We recognize the man standing in the center of the warehouse. Light shines in from the bay door that’s open behind him. There are men hanging out back there. The guy waiting for the Iglesias men is a mercenary my family’s used many times. After Robert Simms died a few years ago, Mason Harrison filled the void.
Simms had been the world’s top mercenary for decades. He ran an intricate network of men and women who hired themselves out. Like Simms, this man has loyalty only to himself. One day he’s your ally. The next day he’s your enemy. It all depends on who’s paying him.
That’s what I need to find out.
“Mason, you weren’t expecting me, were you?”
“No, you’re certainly taller than the person I’m supposed to meet.”
“Who ordered you to takeSeñoritaBautista?”
“Oh, Bautista is it now? I could’ve sworn she was only going by her father’s name while she was in Colombia.”
“No, that may be what people called her, but her name has always been Bautista. Who hired you?”
I refuse to get into an argument over semantics—especially since I was guilty of thinking of her as only an Aguilar. I want everyone to understand her ties to her father’s family are over. If Mason survives this—that’s ahugeif—then he can tell everyone else that Ernesto no longer controls her and doesn’t dictate shit about her life. Until she becomes a Diaz, she can be just a Bautista.
“If you were going to kill me, Pablo, I’d already be dead, so what do you want?”
“Your death is yet to be determined. I can make that happen if you’re asking.”
“You won’t kill me until you know who hired me.”
“Then you can decide between receiving an even larger payment or your death. Which do you want it to be?”
“There’s no way you’re carrying enough money in your pockets to pay me more than the person who hired me. If I have to, I’ll take my secrets to the grave.”
“Dead men don’t earn money. I know that’s the most important thing to you. You always wanted to prove you were better than Simms by earning more. You’re not a man with integrity, so why pretend?”
I watch his reaction for a moment, but how he’s positioned also allows me to see outside to the back loading dock without shifting my gaze.Tres J’screep forward and take out one mercenary after another. The silencers on their weapons do the job they’re supposed to. In an enclosed space, the silencers muffle the sound, but don’t eradicate it. However, with little for the sound waves to reverberate off when you’re outside, they truly are irreplaceable in our line of work.
Alejandro pulls his gun at the same timeTres J’senters the warehouse. I don’t reach for mine. Instead, I’m in a standoff withMason. He barely flinches as my cousins kill the men here who work for him and might have even been his guards against the Mexicans. It only takes a couple minutes, then it’s the five of us surrounding him.
“Decide now. Speak or you can die by firing squad.”
“After you torture me, of course.”
“You decide how it’s going to be. You could live to work for us again and agree to never accept another job against my family, or I can torture you until you beg for the relief death brings. You choose.”
“I know I’m not walking out of here alive. You offer me that compromise, but I’m certain you won’t follow through.”
“You don’t believe I’ll allow you to live, but you believe I’ll torture you. Do you want to have this over quickly, or will we be here all night?”
