Chapter Four
Bouncer snapped his gaze over and glared at her. “So? They can say that but it won’t happen.”
Boomer growled loudly. “I’d like to see them try. If anyone’s blood is spilled, it sure as hell won’t be ours.”
Lily looked up at Ironman and whispered, “There are still some left. Cartel soldiers mainly.”
Titus turned toward Lily and asked, “Tell us how your family usually fights when they use soldiers. We need to know everything so we can make plans to fight them.”
Lily shook her head and said, “They will cheat to win, my family has no honor. They might even come out with white flags but don’t believe them.
My great uncle had to cheat to get that shot off today and he had to wait until one of you opened that door to do it.
If Estaban, Calisto and Milo are on their way here then they probably plan to surround this place and all start shooting at a preset time.
They will either do it early tomorrow morning or just before dusk.
They are all older and crazy after growing up in Tomas’ home.
There should be maybe fifteen people coming with at least twenty foot soldiers. ”
“So possibly 35?” Titus asked.
Nodding, Lily went on with the tactics they might use.
“Then you will recognize Esteban as he has a big belly and he should be their leader.
Calisto likes to be behind the scenes, not up front.
Like he will be the one to set traps, fires, and decoys.
Milo has always been caught between the two older brothers but he is the most lethal of all three.
He will come in hard and fast, probably as a diversion for his brothers.
They think that if they can divert you, they can get closer and finish you off. T
And like I mentioned, they may even start a fire in the woods to get the front gate open and that way they can pick you off, one by one.
So watch for some sort of distraction just before dawn.
Oh, and you can bet your Harleys that Tomas told them about me and Canto.
How we betrayed my father and first uncle.
That won’t sit so well with the rest of them.
They think they all belong to an organization that has some power behind them.
To them Ricco was brave and honorable.” She rolled her eyes.
“They didn’t see the nasty little bully he has been all his life.
I think I knew when we got word that Gabriel was dead, who really killed him.
At least my father knew it was him. And the more I think about it I knew it too.
Ricco was growing bolder and bolder in his work.
” She shook her head. “My father never saw that Ricco’s eyes were growing colder and colder, but I did.
I could see the greed in those cold black eyes and it was growing more pronounced every time I saw him.
Ricco thought he would never have to answer for anything he ever did.
” She laid back against her pillow and shook her head sadly.
“But we all have to suffer the consequences for our actions and Ricco found that out the hard way.”
“You know Ricco’s army didn’t even put up a fight after we got our hands on him, right?” Titus grumbled. “And they didn’t even cry when they saw him fall.”
Lily shrugged. “I don’t expect they did.
Ricco was loud and intimidating but he wasn’t really a leader.
I think even my father knew that before he died.
He just didn’t want to admit it even to himself.
Gabriel was a better leader than Ricco and that was probably why Ricco wanted him dead.
” She paused to look up at them all. “My father made me what I am today. He trained me to be ruthless and self-serving, but I never lost my humanity. I just hid it well. I hoped I would make it out of the cartel someday, but they are the Mexican Mafia and that means there is no leaving except if you’re dead.
My father was the one that started the rumors about me.
He built me up so high that he almost believed his own lies.
Then he paired with Joel. I think he did that so Joel could control me after he married me off.
He figured Joel was man enough to control me and keep me under his thumb.
But I hated that man with every ounce of my being.
And after my father and the rest of them lay dead or dying, I had to go and make sure Joel was dead too.
If he wasn’t, I was going to send him to hell myself.
But when I found him, I saw he’d broken his own damn neck falling from that plane he cherished so damn much.
Joel was a man with no honor. He had to cheat to win by coming in the back door, didn’t he?
And he had to double his load of bombs because my father ordered him to blow you guys up and leave nothing behind that would tell the world you guys lived here once upon a time. ”
“So when do you think they will show up?” Boomer wanted to know.
“Probably no later than tomorrow night. My uncles didn’t live near enough to all get together at the same time. Each of Tomas’ sons led one branch of the family and they were spread in a wide circle. Tomas wanted his sons close by but the family was spread out over a large area.”
Boomer smiled now. “Well girl, we got time to set up a few surprises of our own. Something to let us know the moment they're close.”
Bouncer looked at his brother in awe, “You have more of those paint bombs, brother?”
Boomer nodded. “Got plenty more of those and something even better. But in order to use what else we got, we’re gonna have to seal up this place and seal it up good.”
Tracker grinned. “You got some of it with you, Dad?”
Boomer grinned hugely. “Packed some in Spider’s truck tool box. She told me to save it for something special and I think she knew we would need it for something just like this.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ridge asked with a confused look on his face.
Bouncer agreed, “And who the hell is she?”
Boomer chuckled. “Son, you ain’t gonna believe it unless you see it with your eyes. Just don’t breathe the smoke in yourself or things are gonna get RRQ.”
“What the hell does that mean?” his brother Bouncer asked.
“Ridiculous. Real. Quick.” Then Boomer let out a huge laugh at his clever phrase.
Tracker, Spider and Titus shook their heads.
Ironman turned to Lily and asked, “Where do you think the first round will come in at?”
“You’ll see Milo before you see anyone else.
He’s the distraction for his brothers,” Lily assured them all.
“But Estaban might set another distraction to separate you all as well.” She paused then looked at Boomer.
“Do you have enough of those paint bombs to cover the woods on both sides of the fence”
Boomer nodded at her, then looked around the room, “Anyone here know how to use a bow and arrow?”
When Ironman and Lily raised their hands, Boomer shook his head, “Well two is better than nothing. Maybe we can ask more of the men.”
Then Aisha raised her hand as well.
Pyrite shook his head. “I can’t allow the women to shoot any arrow, guys. I mean come on... they both have gunshot wounds.”
Bouncer frowned and asked his brother. “What the hell do we need arrows for Boom?”
“Cuz, brother you sure as hell don’t want to catch a whiff of that stuff.”
Tracker and Spider both nodded their heads.
“No sir, you really don’t,” Spider said. “It’ll put you in LaLa land in a hurry.”
Tracker agreed, “And depending on how strong it is it might even keep you there... forever.”
“So we need to send it to them,” Boomer explained. “Away from us.”
“How accurate does the arrow need to be?” Ridge asked.
“It doesn’t need to hit anyone, just to land in a general area,” Boomer explained. “For Vadoo Smoke, we need distance more than accuracy. And I doubt the Sanchez family will be expecting us to use bow and arrows to fight them.”
Lily turned her head and stared at Boomer. “Vadoo Smoke?”
Boomer nodded. “We used it in the swamp and it turned the Camero Cartel members into five year olds.”
Ironman laughed and replied, “No way.”
“Yes way.” Boomer nodded at the men. “After Shay Montross dropped a bunch of Miss Maudie’s Smoke from his copter, we waited exactly ten minutes.
Then we all simply stepped inside the gates of Camero’s compound.
Easy as you please too. I mean no one was guarding those gates, so we had no trouble doing that.
What we saw made us all blink for sure and we were shocked as all hell.
You see... the day before this compound had been full of men patrolling with guns and they looked deadly as fuck.
Well that was no longer the case. No sir, it wasn’t.
Man, all we could do was stand there and stare at something we never expected to see.
Then one of the girls that lives there told us about why we were seeing such a shocking sight... ”
Camero Compound in LA Swamps...
“You see, Ms. Maudie has skills and they aren’t always appreciated by outsiders,” Renee explained to the men.
“Some herbs can get you high and some will disorient you. Maudie combined a special mix that could do both. Like you saw yesterday. With those men in her house... the ones that had come there to kill her.”
The men all nodded. What they had witnessed at the plantation house the day before were men who’d been reduced to children. They acted like kindergarten kids. They fought over stuff in that room which had been filled with toys of all things.
When they had been told that Miss Maudie had locked the intruders in a special room, they sure as hell never thought of a romper room.
Decorated with huge flowers painted on the walls, full of things like a ball pit, games, and skeet ball.
There were even video games. Cartoons played on several TVs.
Stocked with soda machines, snacks and all kinds of things to keep them fed, they seemed happy as...
well...Children. Big Maudie had her Gree-gree special mist to keep them in their Lala place while pumping into the room at intervals, as it would wear off after about 6 hours.
So this Camero compound Boomer and his men had all just invaded by simply walking in – had once held venomous men, and killers, some mercenaries, and some criminals – but now it was just a playground.
Men were playing touch football. Some others were singing songs together.
A few were crying for their mommies.
Their weapons were all piled to the side. Not one of them were armed anymore.
Boomer looked over at his men and exclaimed, “It is literally like taking candy from a baby!”
One man was yelling, “No, you cheated!”
They all looked over.
“Well fuck,” Boomer swore. “Not all of them play nice though, do they?”
None other than the man they were after – Camero himself – sat on the steps with another guy. His face was twisted into a frown. “Brother, you cheated!”
They seemed to be playing checkers.
His brother, Milton Camero shook his head in denial. The side of his face looked scarred. “Unh- uh! I did not cheat!”
“Meet the Camero brothers,” Leeza, one of the swamp fighters announced as she waved her arm in their direction.
The two men who were no longer men mentally, never even looked up at her or anyone else. No, they were too engrossed in their own 8-year-old bickering.
The group just stood back and watched the shenanigans, singing and dancing, along with ball games and laughter. It all looked like a schoolyard playground and not a dangerous compound...