26. Dax
DAX
The door to the safe room lay on the ground, bent and scorched from the explosives.
Inside was a swanky sitting room with everything a person could possibly need to spend time comfortably inside.
There was even a toilet and sink available if the need should arise.
Finally, my eyes settled on Diego De León sprawled on the floor, having been knocked on his ass from the blast.
“You are a hard man to find,” I commented. “Here I am stopping by for a visit, and I have to demolish an incredibly lovely panic room. Gosh, it makes me think you didn’t want to see me, but that can’t be the case, not after you practically invited me to come.”
“I did no such thing,” he spluttered, his words thick with his Latin accent. “You’re the one who broke into my home, coming after me.”
Coming to a stop right in front of the man, I looked down at him.
“No such thing? Oh, Diego, they didn’t tell me you were losing your memory in your old age.
How frustrating that must be for you. Here let me jog it for you.
” I offered, taking a seat in the other armchair that was still upright.
“Should we start with how you’ve been trying to cut me out of the business since the day I got started?
Oh, then there is the fact you blamed me for killing a son I knew nothing about just to get my people not to trust me.
Hmm, I feel like I’m forgetting something.
Ah yes, the assassins were a nice touch, but the real clincher was the fucking with family. ”
Diego slowly picked himself up, brushed off his clothes, and righted the chair so he could sit, ignoring the six men with guns trained on him.
“You started it all when you cut off access to Mexico along with any ports on the West Coast. It was bad for business having to bring it all the way around into the gulf or New York itself.
The customs are so much stricter, and I had to bribe the whole customs office here.
Taking you out was the smart thing to do, but like a cockroach, you just won't stay dead.”
“Oh, am I supposed to apologize for that?” I asked, pressing a hand to my heart like I was truly worried about offending him. “Goodness, I seem to have lost my manners. Let me give it a try.”
I sat up straight, cleared my throat, licked my lips, and folded my hands primly in my lap.
“I’m so incredibly sorry that you feel so victimized by little old me.
My heart is just broken over the fact that you will never be able to beat me.
In the end, you’re just a sad, old man, who had been led by the balls because Marco didn’t think you’re man enough to rule your own empire.
Seems you needed a good woman to show you how it's done.”
Diego’s face turned purple with rage as he flew out of his seat to attack me.
I didn’t bother to sit up. Instead, I grabbed my gun, swung, and hit him in the head with the butt of it.
He dropped like the sack of shit he was, falling into my lap.
I patted him on the head. “That’s a good boy.
You sleep for now. We need you to be well rested for your performance tomorrow night. It’s going to be a real showstopper.”
Shoving him off my lap, I stood and faced the guys who were all trying to stifle their laughter.
“Sorry, did I miss something?” I asked, cocking my head.
“Oh fuck, loba, that apology needed to be recorded and saved for all time. I’ve never heard someone sound so sincere as they verbally obliterated a person with an apology before. It was priceless,” Cognac said, giving it a chef’s kiss of approval.
I bowed low with a flourish. “Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all weekend.”
“Okay, but here’s the real question,” Wes said, looking at the man at my feet. “Who’s carrying his ass back to the car?”
“Ah yes, and we need to swing by the sitting room on the first floor and grab his wife,” Cam interjected.
Jaxson’s jaw dropped open. “Dude, I know you have some weird fucked-up history with Dax, but you shouldn’t be talking about another woman like that. She might love you, but if you step out on her, she’ll kill you, I have no doubt.”
“Do you think I would announce it to her and all of you if I were going to cheat on her?” Cam asked, giving Jaxson a deadpan look. “Besides, the only reason I give one flying fuck about that woman is she’s Marco’s sister.”
Now everyone had matching shocked expressions. “Okay, yeah, that’s a good reason,” Jaxson admitted.
“I’ll take the rotten bastard,” Cognac stated. “It will make me feel better to bash his head into the wall as I walk for all the shit he’s put us through.”
“Yeah, I would have offered, but I have the rocket launcher,” Ghost said, pointing to the duffle bag on his shoulder. “We’re still going to blow up the house, right?”
Magnus grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him along. “After we all get out.”
“I’m excited, not stupid, Mag,” Ghost grumbled.
“Just trying to make sure we all get back to our people in one piece,” Magnus added as we emerged back on the first floor.
Cam grabbed my arm, drawing my attention. “I’ll be right back with her. Meet you by the pool.”
I gave him a thumbs up and swiped the dish with the nuts on our way out.
They were damn good, and I hated for food to go to waste.
Besides, all this double-O-seven spy shit has me hungry.
I was so anxious to eat before we left. It took Cam about ten minutes to join us with an incredibly drunk Mariana in tow.
She was in a dressing gown of sorts that only rich women seemed to wear and no shoes, not that she needed any, just adding to the strangeness of this whole event.
“How far back should we be for this?” Wes questioned as Ghost lifted the rocket launcher to his shoulder. “I feel like right now we are way too close.”
“Let’s head back into the golf course, then go for it,” Jaxson suggested. “That way, if shrapnel comes at us, we can get out of the way or duck.”
“How the fuck is this my life?” Wes mumbled as we got a good fifteen feet back from the house.
Ghost got into a wide leg stance, dropped his head to look in the scope, then pulled the trigger.
I’d expected more of a recoil, but Ghost hardly moved an inch as the rocket shot out, then there was another burst as the rocket sped up and slammed into the second-story window.
The explosion that followed had us all cheering like kids on the Fourth of July.
The plume of smoke rose into the air marking our signal to get the hell out of dodge.
Cam had to hoist Mariana up in his arms so we could run without her stumbling over her feet.
Our trek across the course was well-lit by the fire that burned behind us.
Apparently, a rocket-induced fire spread incredibly fast, but that would keep law enforcement off our trail until we were well enough away.
Cognac chucked Diego in the back and shut the door while Cam got Mariana situated in the front seat and buckled in.
Magnus didn’t wait for us to get seated before he was peeling out of the parking lot.
The gate opened for us since we were exiting and off we went into the night with our cartel boss and his wife.
Fuck, I had the best life. Let’s hope once this was all over, I wasn’t too bored with no one attacking me or trying to kill me. On second thought, it was probably better not to put that into the atmosphere.
Tommaso had a secure place where we could keep Diego for the day.
It wasn’t as fancy as his panic room, but it had a toilet, sink, and cot for him.
We left him water and a few protein bars in case he got hungry when he woke up.
I might be planning to kill him in ten hours, but that was no reason to deny him the basics every human deserved.
Even mass murderers got a last meal before the needle.
It seemed only fair, well as fair as I was willing to be.
Mariana was tucked away in a motel with guards in New Jersey so we could keep her close but not too close.
Eagle and his crew were putting Axel in a separate location, not wanting to risk having him and Diego in one spot.
Magnus had called Harper to check in, and she reported that everyone was fine.
Their job had gone as well as could be expected, and they were finishing up their loose ends.
This meant we could all head back to the apartment and know everyone would be coming home safe and sound.
I’d put all those emotions aside during the job, but now relief flooded through me, knowing that all my men were safe.
When we got back to the apartment, I knew exactly how I wanted to celebrate, and it had nothing to do with keeping our clothes on.
After fights like this, it drove my already healthy libido through the roof, and right now, as we drove back, I felt like an addict who needed her fix.
Cognac was sitting next to me, and I grinned, knowing he would let me tease him and enjoy it.
I slid my hand to his thigh, letting it pause there a moment before resting it right on his cock.
He grunted as I rubbed it slowly with a good amount of pressure to make sure he got the point.
The look he gave me out of the corner of his eye told me he got the message loud and clear.
While tactical pants were thick so they protected you, it didn’t block me from knowing just how into this idea of mine he was.