“Let them through,” I tell mysoldatoand hang up.
“He’s a fucking prick. You sure we can’t riddle him with bullets right now?” Caleb seethes.
“Trust me,” I say, getting into position behind my mounted rifle. “I’d love nothing more, but we need him alive to get the answers we need. We’ll get creative torturing him. Make him suffer before he dies a slow and painful death. That fat fuck doesn’t deserve a quick death.”
Caleb moves into position a few feet away from me, lining his eye up to the scope the same time I do. Zumo and the bulk of my men are hiding in the trees near the front door of my house while the rest of mysoldatiguard the gate and the perimeter in case Dominic has grown a strategic brain overnight and has covered all bases. I doubt it, but it pays to be on the safe side. It’s why I called in extra reinforcements this morning. Men I can trust to keep this confidential until I’m ready to approach the board.
I train my gun on the van as it rounds the bend in my driveway, knowing Caleb is doing the same. The vehicle rolls slowly up to my house before stopping a few feet from the front door. Dominic and his men are cautious as they climb out on both sides of the van, and we don’t waste a moment. Zumo and Dino shoot out the tires on the van the same moment I take aim at Valentina’s prick of a husband.
Dominic goes down screaming the instant I shoot his kneecaps out. His men look all around, unsure where the bullets originated from, shooting haphazardly in all directions. Dominic is roaring at them in between screams of pain. The instant a gun appears in his hand, I shoot it from him, taking half of one hand with it.
Oops. My bad.
He’s howling now and clutching the bloody stump to his chest. If my guess is correct, Valentina is watching this on the screen in the panic room, and I hope she’s enjoying the show. Dominic should be ashamed to call himself a made man. He’s a pathetic piece of shit who deserves everything coming to him.
“Now,” I tell Caleb, and we open fire. He aims left of the van while I aim right. It’s ridiculous how quickly we shoot the weapons from their hands. A few of Dominic’s men produce backups, but we shoot them from their fingers before they can use them to target my crew. Zumo and his team swoop in, surrounding and outnumbering the ten men as they tackle them to the ground, inject them with the sleeping aid, and cuff them.
Zumo’s team carries them to the van while two of my men search Dominic for other weapons before hovering over him with their guns pointed at his head.
A low buzzing sound pricks my ears, and my head tips back as I look up. Caleb spots the drone the same time I do, instantly shooting it out of the sky. We watch as it hits the ground and auto-detonates. We peer over the ledge of the roof, watching as any and all evidence goes up in flames. “Fuck.” Accardi drags a hand through his hair. “Will you be able to get any intel from it?”
“Can’t do anything with charred remains.”
“He must have brought it with him,” Caleb surmises.
“I don’t think it’s his style. Dominic is old school, but we’ll ask him.”
“If he’s important to the cartel, it could be theirs?”
“It’s possible,” I agree, packing up my stuff. “Let’s worry about it later. We have more pressing concerns right now.”
By the time we make it downstairs and outside, the van has left to take the unconscious men to the safe house, the drone remnants have been boxed up and stored in the shed for me to examine later, and Dominic is waiting in the underground dungeon built under my guesthouse.
“That went smoothly,” Zumo says when we reach him.
“Except for the drone,” Caleb says.
“It’s a complication, but we didn’t kill anyone. I’m not overly worried. How’s our guest?”
“Furious and bleeding from his wounds. We stripped him and tied him to the chair. He’s already pissed himself.”
“Good. Check on Valentina. Let her know it went well and we’re interrogating Dominic. Tell her it could take a while, but I’ll come to her as soon as I can. I want her to stay there until Dominic has been fully dealt with. We’ll keep the extra men here for a couple days. I want eyes and ears on every part of my property in case he had contingencies.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Call Ziti in Miami,” I add. “See if he’s got eyes on Cesco. I’m wondering if he’s behind the drone.”
“I’m on it,” Zumo says before taking off.
“He’s a natural underboss.” Caleb smiles proudly at his friend.
“He’s taken to it like a duck to water,” I agree as we make our way toward the guesthouse. “He’ll make a good successor when my time comes to retire.”
“Look at you, old man. Talking retirement now.”
I flat-out punch him in the face. “Less of the old man.”
He chuckles, dabbing at the blood trickling from his nose. “I forgot you’re only as old as the woman you’re feeling.”
