“And why the fuck not?” I snapped back. “Don’t you dare tell me that because this isn’t me. Guess what?” After tossing Steven against the wall, I took a deep breath while he slid to the floor. “Now it is.”
Gabriel groaned, but backed away from me after I threw my head in his direction. He held up his hands and I didn’t need to have any decent light in the room to know he was glaring at me with concern.
“What the fuck do you mean about the witness being sold?” When he didn’t answer, I leaned over, yanking him up and prepared to smash my gun against his face.
“Goddamn it. Just stop,” Gabriel snarled, moving to where I could see him. “He can’t answer you. You broke his jaw.”
As if I should feel bad about it.
Then I stood over him one last time. “Maybe you’ve learned your lesson but trust me. We’ll be watching.”
With that, we left his house, only I had one last thing in mind. His prized Corvette, a recent purchase made and impossible on his salary, sat in his driveway. All pretty in red.
“You have the can of spray paint?” Kendrick asked.
“I’ve got it,” one of the other men said as he approached, handing it to him. With a grin on my face, I watched as my buddy spraypainted the front of Steven’s house.
Our new mantra.
After opening the garage door to Steven’s home, I found what I needed. Just enough gas to douse the car. The others stood on the sidewalk and I could hear Maverick chuckling.
I’d brought a pack of matches with me. As I walked toward them, I pulled out the slender pack, striking a couple. Then I tossed them behind me.
As the car went up in flames, a feeling of limited satisfaction hit me.
But this was just the beginning.
The warehouse had been well hidden, creatively disguised by the fact it housed seafood that had just come off ships. Given Delgado had never been involved with the seafood industry, no one had picked up on the location.
It was true that having a trusted informant was helpful. Only if they were right. We were also doing Chase and the entire DEA force a favor by exposing one of four hidden warehouses. If what the informant had said was true, there were millions of dollars of cocaine and fentanyl locked inside.
The catch was there were four goons playing security.
Fortunately, they didn’t see us coming.
As we advanced through the darkness, the only light coming from a streetlight over two blocks away, we had the advantage thanks to our night vision goggles. I’d been grateful to see the four men I’d barely met but who’d pledged their oath to the cause obviously had some form of military background.
That made tackling this head on that much easier.
We’d chosen this one given easier access and fewer security measures. Since we were close enough to the four men to hear what they were saying, I’d say we’d chosen wisely. We were yet to be a well-oiled machine. Mistakes would be made and the last thing any of us wanted was for there to be any innocent victims.
They’d brought two cars, both souped-up older Cadillacs.
I whipped out my hunter’s knife, keeping low to the ground as I approached. It took me less than thirty seconds to drive the blade through four of the tires. Now we were ready.
We crowded one outside wall. The four guards were all standing outside the main entrance, two smoking cigarettes. They were certainly arrogant in their beliefs no one would dare attack them. They’d learn the same lesson Steven had just learned.
Getting cocky would mean facing demons.
I scanned the surrounding area to ensure we were alone before nodding to the team. One group moved around the other side of the building to catch them if even one tried to run. We couldn’t have one of the assholes providing Delgado with an earlier warning until we moved onto the next phase of operations.
Hunting down Bruno Carvelli.
He didn’t know it yet, but he was going to become our star witness. After he assisted us with bringing down the cartel.
The four of us moved quietly, this time with weapons in our hands. We were little more than a foot away when finally, one of the assholes noticed us.
“Nosotros tenemos compañía,” one growled in his native tongue.
