Page 85 of Breached

“Drop your weapons!” I heard Cole order, and I grabbed Bruno by the back of his coat and pulled him back into the other room.

Mark clocked Bruno on the side of the head with the butt of his gun. He stumbled backward, his face still registering shock. Then he zip-tied his wrists together, pulled a bag over his head, and dragged him out of the room and into the living room.

Cole looked around at our men. “Everyone in one piece?” As we all nodded, he smiled then lifted his radio and made a call. “General Bruce? We have completed our mission, sir. If you would like to move in and do a final sweep, and do a recon of the body count, it would be much appreciated.” There was a pause as Cole listened. “Thank you, sir. You too, sir,” Cole said and disconnected the call.

“Well, well, look at all the fun you’ve had,” Keith said as he and Mike walked in. They both were breathing hard, and I knew they had run the whole way.

John grinned. “Nice of you to finally join us. Bit late to the party.”

Keith looked around at all of us and our various bloody injuries, and I knew we looked like we’d been through the wringer. “Remind me who tells you how to dress for these things.” He laughed and slapped Mike on the back. The relief in the room had our banter going.

“All right, men, let’s get this done,” Cole ordered. “Mark, go get our guest of honor.”

Mark came in with Bruno and shoved him into a chair in the middle of the room. I pointed a flashlight in his face, then Cole reached over and pulled the mask off, blinding him from seeing anyone around him.

“You’re making a huge mistake.” Bruno blinked and tried to gather himself, but the light was intense. He looked to the side, then his eyes widened at what had been hidden from him—the truth of where he actually was.

Cole caught Bruno’s look as well and drew his attention back to him. “No, there’s no mistake.”

“I have people who will come for me!”

“I bet you do,” Mark laughed, “like your driver, Armondo?”

Bruno’s face fell like he hadn’t expected that. “Yes!”

“He’s dead, along with the army you brought along.” You could hear the satisfaction in Mark’s voice. “For a high-ranking Cartel guy, you sure came into this fight with a second-hand army. The first wave was pretty good, I’ll give you that.” Mark shrugged. “What’s the saying? Oh, yes, ‘don’t bring knives to a gun fight.’”

“They were merely a distraction,” Bruno scoffed. “While my real people burrowed their way into your lives and got me closer to my real prize.” He looked around at the severe damage to the house.

“Funny, you should bring that up,” Keith said, and Bruno squinted as he tried to see who was speaking. Keith clicked on a flashlight and went over to the fireplace and reached inside to remove the lion’s head tracker. “You remember your sleeper, the woman you embedded into my life, Liza? Well, let’s just say she was a little overenthusiastic. I found this in my truck, but it was before I went back to the house.” He held out the tracker for Bruno to see. “You gave us the opportunity to lure you here with it. Drove it all around town, then straight here.”

His eyes widened, but his ego quickly recovered. “Then my plan worked!”

“Your plan to take down Blackstone,” I said in my normal voice, and he blinked and squinted to see who spoke, “or your plan to take back Nicole Winter and get your hands on the child? Or do you mean the plan to breach the Shadow’s safehouse?” I allowed sarcasm to flood my tone. “Perhaps you mean all of the above—the one where you get all the glory and make history?” He blinked at that.

“Any way you look at it, I made history!” He laughed. “I found the safehouse. I know where Nicole and the Canos grandchild are. I know everything. I killed the child’s mother so I could use her offspring to get our land back! She never saw that bullet coming did she?” Bullet?

“So, you killed Talya Canos?” Cole asked him to give me a moment to fight off my anger.

“Yes, I did. So, you can go ahead and kill me. But I’ll let you in on a secret.” He sounded smug. “The one thing that is incredibly poetic about this entire situation. There is one person you don’t know about.” He looked around wildly, because I knew he thought Eric was about to pounce and help him. I had to smile as he rallied when nothing happened. He licked his lips and went on. “There is someone who knows everything, a dangerous man, and,” he sounded like a magician about to reveal his trick, “he is the fucking father of the Canos’ child!” He raised his shoulder high and looked around again.

“Actually, I think you’re wrong,” I nodded at West to click the house power back on, and Bruno’s face drained of color as I stood in front of him with my sleeves rolled up to expose my tattooed sleeve, my beardless face, and my eyes free of their brown contacts.

“Hello, old friend,” I said as Eric, and his pale face went wide-eyed and his mouth dropped open. “I, too, have some tricks up my sleeve.” I smiled but there was no humor in it. “I wanted to see your face when you finally made the connection, and it was truly worth it.” I pointed at his face. “My name is Eric Paul, my rank is major, and I have been part of Blackstone for most of my adult life.” I gave him a moment to let that sink in. “I should also tell you that while we have been distracting you with this fight, we have sent in some people to take out the Rosarito tunnel to hell, and also your mother’s compound and tunnel in New Mexico.” His jaw went lax as my words hit him hard.

“As we speak, the Canos, the Cruz, and the Ruiz Cartel families have been taken out.” That was partly a lie, of course. “They no longer control the drug trade.” I looked casually at my nails. “By the way, I personally took part in the removal of your uncle, Martin Castillo, and it seems only poetic to do the same to you.” I stepped forward and leaned down so I was eye to eye with him to drive my point home. “It’s about time that you learned you will never beat us, no matter how close you think you’ve gotten—it’s merely an illusion.” I stepped back and pulled my gun free and pointed it at his face. “Oh, and one more thing, Bruno, I will be the one marrying Nicole, and we’ll be raising my son together.”

“¡Maldito!”

Bang!

I let out a breath as years of pent-up stress drained from me. I loaded a second bullet. This one is for Nicole, you son of a bitch.

Bang!

“Shit, look at this place.” Mark whistled at the damage. The kitchen window was destroyed, there was a hole in the ceiling above the bar, and a huge crack ran down the chimney to the fireplace. Grandpa Logan’s picture had been knocked on the floor. Cole picked it up and set it against the wall as John hobbled over to look. You could call it shell shock, but we all just stood around.

Cole headed for the door and stood on what was left of the porch looking out at the distance. We all joined him and listened to the rain wash away the sins from our land. I still had questions, we all did, but they could wait for later. In that moment, we needed to digest that we had just won our most important battle—the battle for our home.