Chapter 42
CHAPTER 42
MALO
T he bikes cut through the Houston night, the roar of engines filling the air. I keep my eyes fixed ahead, on what’s to come. I know I need to have my wits about me.
We got the call from Q about an hour ago, telling us that the cartel have filled out an empty, walled compound on the outskirts of the city, and everyone has been mobilized since. I don’t know how many of us there are on the road tonight, but altogether, we make a considerable force. Beast is taking up the lead, of course, the rest of us falling into formation behind him as we make our way to Las Rosas hideout.
We have to accept that they might be ready for this attack. Unease fills my gut as I think about that possibility. I don’t know what kind of chance we stand here. I want to believe we’ve brought in enough people to bring this to an end, once and for all, but the more time that passes, the less and less sure I become.
I push those thoughts down. No doubts. No fear. Just confidence. I’m going into this with an army at my back, an army of people who want the same thing I do. Bring down this cartel, end this nightmare they’ve put so many people, including plenty of us on the road tonight, through.
I still feel guilty about leaving Maria behind, but I know it’s the right choice. She might think she’s tough enough for this, but she has no idea what she’s walking into. Hell, even we don’t have the full scope of it; Q wasn’t able to give us much more than the location, and beyond that, the place is so locked down, it was impossible for him to get any more intel without being caught.
We’re going into this blind, hoping our sheer force of numbers is going to be enough. Beast has planned the attack based on what we know, and, when we arrive at the concrete wall of the compound, he pulls his bike to a halt, and makes some signals for the rest of the people behind him to spread out. Sin leads the New Orleans crew to the left, and Thor takes the right with the Cafarellis. I stick behind Beast along with rest of our men, tossing my helmet to the ground and reaching for my gun. My jaw is tight, my muscles tense, every part of me ready for what comes next.
Beast raises his hand, and then roars into the still night. “Now!”
We rush forward just as a legion of cartel members start to spill out of the gates in front of us, spreading out to protect the area. They have a few snipers planted at the tops of the walls, and they fire off a few shots, going for the Kings who have broken loose from the pack. I keep my gaze forward, not letting the gut-churning sound of bullets hitting flesh stop me.
I flank Beast, firing off a few shots to take out two cartel fuckers who are advancing on him. They think that if they can take him out, it’s all going to be over, but they’ve got a whole heap of other things coming. Even if Beast falls, and he won’t, we’re not going to stop. We’re not going to slow down. Not when we’re so close.
Not when we can end it all tonight.
“With me!” Beast calls, and I dart in behind him, covering him as he heads for the main entrance. Behind it, there are two men waiting for us, fresh-faced, barely older than teens. One of them spins around, pointing his gun at Beast, but Beast slams it out of his hand with a closed fist, and shoves him against the concrete wall behind him, knocking him to the ground with a harsh thud.
I look around. There are three entrances to the large-walled property, and all three are in the process of being breached by our people. I can already see a few bodies scattering the ground, but right now, there’s no time to check if they belong to us. We just have to keep going.
“Clear out the rest of the guards!” Beast tells the men behind us. “I’m going in!”
“Right behind you,” I call back, and I serve as his bodyguard, clearing the way of a few of the cartel who want to take down the big man themselves. Beast has faced off much worse than them over the years, and this attack is nothing like the ones we’ve made before. This is personal. These are the people who harmed his daughter, and I know there’s no way in hell they’re going to get away with it.
The building is split up into two corridors on the inside, and Beast and I split off down one while Bronco and Storm take another. I press my back to the wall just ahead of the corner, and Beast lifts a finger to his lips to keep me quiet. We can both hear footsteps, dozens of them, rushing towards us, but they don’t know we’re here yet.
The unsuspecting cartel members turn the corner, and they’re met with gunfire from both sides, courtesy of Beast and me. We mow through a few of them, and the others scatter in panic. They’re not well-trained, probably just drug users who got pulled into this as a way to pay back their debts. I would feel bad for them, if I didn’t know who they were working for, what they were supporting in the process.
Once the corridor is clear, Beast jerks his head down the hall, and we move through quickly, guns raised, ready to take another shot at any second. But, soon, we encounter Bronco, the corridors cleared of cartel.
Beast kicks open the door to the center room of the compound, and inside, Fenix is waiting for us. Alarm is written all over his face, as though he didn’t expect it to go down like this. Beast raises his gun, aiming it at his head.
“Tell me where the fuck El Serpiente is,” he demands.
Fenix blurts out a response as quick as he can. “He’s not here,” he replies, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that he’s lying. He’s spinning whatever he can to us right now to try and get out of this in one piece, but it’s not going to be that easy.
“Yes, he is,” I fire back. “He wouldn’t have done all of this and missed the show.”
Beast flashes me a dark grin, and returns his gaze to Fenix, shoving his face close to the other man’s.
“Come on,” he orders, his eyes dark with anger. “Last chance.”
Fenix inhales deeply, clearly considering his options. He seems to be able to tell as well as I can that Beast isn’t going to give up on this. Beast won’t stop until he’s taken his revenge on El Serpiente, and that’s just how it’s going to go.
But if Fenix betrays El Serpiente, he’s as good as dead anyway. It’s just a matter of figuring out whose hand he’d rather die by.
He grits his teeth and shakes his head. “I’m not telling you shit,” he replies.
Beast shrugs and steps back. “Suit yourself.” He lifts his gun and lets off two shots in quick succession, one to his crotch, and one to his head. Blood splatters the wall behind Fenix, and he drops to the ground, his brains spilling onto the floor as I step over him.
“El Serpiente’s here, I know he is,” Beast growls as Bronco and I take up our places behind him. He leads us out of the central room, and, out of the corner of my eye, I notice someone bolting. My head whips around, and I see some young-looking Rosa shooting off down the corridor.
“Follow him!” I bellow. “He must know another way out of here.”
We take off after him, and sure enough, there’s a back entrance concealed in the concrete. We might have run right past it if the kid hadn’t given it away by bolting through it, and vanishing into the night. Beast gives chase, and just as we step out of the door, a bullet shatters the concrete next to my head.
“Get down!” Bronco yells, but Beast can’t hear him. No, he straightens up, eyes searching the horizon to see where the shots are coming from.
“He’s there,” Beast calls out, pointing toward the concrete wall around the base. “El Serpiente. I can see him!”
I rise up, trying to keep my wits about me, and look to where Beast is pointing. And sure enough, he’s right—there he is, the man who started this, flanked by a pair of guards who are sniping from their position above the compound wall.
Beast raises his gun again, and fires off two shots, one taking out the guard to El Serpiente’s left, then the other to his right. I hear the sickening thud of bodies hitting the ground as El Serpiente dives for cover to recoup but there’s nowhere to hide.
“You two, back inside,” Beast tells me. “I can deal with this.”
“Boss, you?—”
“I told you, get back inside,” Beast barks. There’s a glimmer in his eyes, as though he knows he’s got to do this, and I can tell that this is revenge—revenge for what happened to his daughter, to Bella, to everyone who the cartel has hurt.
Bronco and I pull back to take cover, and Beast and El Serpiente level their weapons at each other again. A bullet snags Beast’s leather jacket, tearing a hole in it, and he barely even flinches. He is single-minded right now, focused on one thing and one thing only: bringing this bastard down for good.
I grit my teeth, adrenaline coursing through my body, a painful restlessness in my system. Las Rosas are starting to thin out by now, the few that are left running for the streets beyond, clearly not wanting to stick around and see how this turns out. But not El Serpiente who is still here, not willing to give up, not willing to walk away from this, not that Beast would let him go now that he’s so close to ending him.
Beast’s hand is steady, and I can tell, even from a dozen or so feet away, that El Serpiente is anything but. El Serpiente is clearly used to giving orders, not fighting for his life when he has men who can fight for him. But where are they now? His eyes look wild with panic, and he fires off shot after shot, spraying bullets into the wall behind Beast. Concrete explodes beside him, but he simply steadies his gun, squints one eye, and then, finally, pulls the trigger and takes one last shot.
Everything slows for a second as the bullet leaves the gun, cutting through the air toward El Serpiente. He tries to run away, but it’s too late—he doesn’t make it. The bullet smacks into his shoulder, through his jacket, sending the right side of his body twisting back as he lets out a howl of pain. The gun falls from his hand, and he drops behind the wall, out of sight.
“Go get him,” Beast tells me calmly. “Bring him in. I don’t want this to be quick.”
I spring to my feet, and Bronco and I round the compound to drag El Serpiente to his feet. He’s nearly unconscious from the pain, and he squirms, trying to pull away from us, but it’s pointless.
“Give it up,” I snarl at him. “You’re done, puto.”
We lead him to the front of the compound, and, as soon as the Kings see that we have him in our grasp, it’s like a sigh of relief fills the air. There are hardly any of Las Rosas Negras left, killed or fled, and when Beast joins us, exhausted, he pushes his gun into the waistband of his pants and turns to Blue.
“Light the place up, Blue,” he orders him. “I don’t want a single inch of this place left by the time you’re done. You hear me?”
“Got it, boss,” he replies and takes off.
Beast grabs El Serpiente by his bad arm just as another bike roars onto the scene. My head snaps around, and, to my shock, I see a familiar figure climbing off the vehicle.
“Maria?” I mutter, taking a step forward, as she whips her helmet off. The woman driving the bike kicks down the stand, and then leaps off.
“Harley!” Beast thunders, shoving El Serpiente into the grip of his men. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Is it over?” Harley demands.
Has she been following us? It’s a miracle she didn’t get caught up in the fight. She’s lucky to be arriving this late. She’s not trained to handle everything that went down in there, and?—
Maria watches as the building explodes into flames, and falls to her knees. She lets out a cry of pain unlike anything I’ve heard before, deep, heart-wrenching agony tearing through her.
Beast and Harley are still yelling at each other, but there’s only one person I give a damn about right now. And I refuse to let anything get in my way. I push past the other Kings, and race to her side, wrapping my arms around Maria as she begins to weep.