Chapter Twenty #2
As we’d expected, the three cartel thugs were heavily armed.
When the room came into focus, Judy gasped, and I automatically flicked a glance toward her to find her pressing her hand over her heart.
She made a rapid sign of the cross, and I quickly turned back to the box showing Mickey’s helmet cam.
Three gunmen were down in the front room, all dead or dying—their blood splattering the walls, and furniture.
The captain rounded the corner and moved slowly down a hallway, using hand signals with the team and pointing to various closed doors before he passed by. He continued down the hall. More flashbangs sounded behind Candy as they cleared the offices.
“Front office, clear!” Nash shouted.
“Second office, clear!” came Alain’s voice.
“Third office, clear!” Raven reported.
The team went office by office but I kept my eyes trained on the box showing Candy in the lead as he made another turn and walked carefully down another long corridor with offices.
More rooms were cleared. One idiot thug thought he’d rush out of the room and open fire. He screamed as Patsy took him down.
The familiar sound of heavy panting from multiple coms reached my ears.
My adrenaline had kicked in, and I knew it had for these guys too.
Dressed in full tac gear, helmets, and carrying deadly firepower, they were ever on the alert as they moved in sync.
We’d done this multiple times in the Middle East and other places.
Here, my brothers were rooting out dangerous killers, just as they’d done many times before.
I darted a glance at the lower left corner of the screen as Mars spoke for the first time. “Target acquired, Captain. Repeat. Aguilar in my sights. ’E has an AR-15. I just need ‘im to move a few feet more…” His words trailed off.
Mars’ view from the building across the street where he was perched was clear. Peripheral flashes could be seen in the office windows as he zeroed his sniper rifle in on a figure who’d come into view through a big window in the largest back office.
It was clear to me that it was Oscar Aguilar.
The man was older, still dressed in an expensive suit from the day and standing stock still in the middle of the office, stance wide, pointing the semi-automatic rifle at the door.
I held my breath. The second Candy reached the door, Aguilar would open fire.
“Whenever you’re ready, Mars, Connor, take the goddamned shots!” Candy shouted over the din of flashbangs and gunfire as others cleared rooms behind him.
“Roger, taking the shot,” Sarah confirmed.
Though the words were spoken quietly, it wasn’t more than three seconds before there was a sudden spit of two sniper rifles, coming only a split second after one another.
The sound further ramped up my adrenaline.
My heart pounded as the window glass shattered with the first shot from Sarah, making a hole for Mars to shoot through.
I watched in relief as the man in the expensive suit crumpled to the ground.
Mars’ almost instant second shot had found home.
“Whoo ‘oo!” Mars shouted. “Target down. Repeat. Target down, Captain Sorensen.”
“Good shooting, Mars and Sarah!” Candy yelled back, kicking the door in.
He rushed into the room with the rest of the team, and his cam showed him walking up to a bleeding body.
He kicked the AR-15 away and squatted beside the man, reaching out a hand to check his pulse.
Blood leaked from a hole in his neck, staining the carpet red.
“Oscar Aguilar is dead,” Candy confirmed. “Target eliminated.”
The shouts of men celebrating was easy to hear in the coms.
“I hope you’re watching, Rex.”
Candy took Aguilar’s chin in his hand and turned his face to the side.
The ugly, raw bullet wound was visible now.
Mars had taken a shot that even I could be envious of.
It had most likely severed the spinal cord the second it entered his neck, dropping him instantly, and taking out the newest and hopefully last head of the Lima distribution network.
“You’ll be with us the next time, Rex!” Several of my brothers shouted.
A slow smile spread across my face. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelming satisfaction as my brothers noted my absence. My thoughts turned to Cachi. Now that the threat to his life as well as his family’s was gone, they would be free to live in peace.
I could only pray that the Policia Nacional del Peru had done their jobs and taken out the rest of the motherfuckers down in South America.
What it would mean for me and Cachi and any future between us, was impossible to tell.
It’d been so long, maybe he wouldn’t want me back…
provided I wanted the same thing. I’d done a lot of damage and knew that a hell of a lot of ass kissing would be required, if I decided he was worth it.
I almost snorted with disbelief at myself. Of course, he was. I was the unworthy one who’d broken his heart.
I glanced at Judy when she suddenly let out a little sob. She looked pale and drawn as she reached for the laptop in front of her with a shaking hand. Somehow, she managed to close the screen down with one firm click and it went black.
Judy let out another sob. I reached out to her, and she grasped my hand, holding tight as our eyes met. “My God, is that what it’s like every time?” she asked, eyes wide, awash with tears.
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She momentarily shut her eyes tightly as she shook her head before finally looking back at me. “I’m sorry for disconnecting the feed from the helmet cams,” she said. “It’s just that looking at the carnage in the light, isn’t conducive to my mental health.”
“I get it, honey. Civilians ain’t meant to see them things.
” I really couldn’t blame her. If I was a civilian like her, seeing the cleanup and identification of multiple bleeding bodies weren’t images I expected a mom like Judy would want to remember.
Much less, take home and explain to her husband and kids.
We sat holding hands for long minutes before she finally felt strong enough to let go.
She silently gathered up the laptop with hands that still trembled.
“I should go,” she said. She cleared her throat.
“Oh, and by the way, you’re expected at the office tomorrow…
Candy’s orders. He said to tell you—and I quote—‘Tell Rex to drag his happy, Texas ass into the office, come rain or come shine.’” When I laughed, she continued.
“He said you have to go to the team, rather than them coming to you, since they’ll be tied up at the office the entire day doing paperwork. ”
“Okay.” I chuckled, smiling at her. I figured Candy and the team just wanted the opportunity to congratulate me on my good news and go over the outcome of the raid now that the dust was settling.
“You’ll be there for sure then?” Judy asked as she stood in my foyer.
I nodded, smiling at her. “Yeah, Judy. I’ll get there somehow.”
She frowned. “Oh…I didn’t think about that.” She waved her hand at me. “Never mind. I’ll come by in the morning and pick you up.”
I shook my head. “Naw, honey. Thanks for the offer but Alain’ll be home later tonight. He’ll take me to the office when he goes in tomorrow mornin’.”
“Oh, that’s right. I completely forgot he’s staying here and he took you to the doc today.”
I smiled at her. “Yeah, he has one of them big 4x4 trucks. He just puts the chair in the truck bed.”
She looked at my electric wheelchair as her lips formed a silent O. “You mean to tell me that he got that heavy chair in his truck bed all by himself this morning?”
I chuckled. “It weighs just a little over a hundred pounds and trust me when I tell you, with the way Candy makes us work out, it weren’t no trouble liftin’ it.”
She nodded. “Fine. See you at the office.”
I smiled, hugging her tightly as she bent to hug me. “Thanks, honey. I’ll see you at the office. Hey…and…thanks for all this. It felt real good to know I was missed.”
She grinned back, saluting me. “Mission accomplished then. Good night, Rex.”
I followed her to the door, holding it open for her. “Good night, honey.” I shut the door, feeling more than a little bit loved.
After locking up, I pivoted and rolled into the living room.
Lola was waiting for me in her chair, wiggling the way she always did when she saw me.
It was the paralyzed poodle version of a tail wag and, as always, I thought it was the cutest damned thing I’d ever seen.
After letting her out and locking up, I pulled her out of the chair and set her in my lap.
I wheeled us back to the bedroom, thankful that Alain and I had stopped on the way to the doctor’s office to have a key made for him, so I didn’t have to answer the door when he finally rolled in.
I knew it might be late. When I’d stripped down and climbed into bed, folding my hands behind my head, Lola dragged herself up to me and laid her head on my shoulder.
I stroked her back until she started making tiny chuffing snores.
I stared up at the ceiling for a long time, pondering what I should do about Cachi. Before long, though, I closed my eyes, exhausted from all the possibilities and worries about the future, and I finally drifted off to sleep.
Alain and I got going early in the morning. As he washed the breakfast dishes, I wheeled into the foyer and used the walker to push up to a standing position. When he walked out of the kitchen and saw me standing tall, he grinned widely.