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“Yeah,” she joined in on my sarcasm, “I appreciate that.”
Mark reached for the pitcher of beer. “It’s terribly unfair that you all pick on the prettiest one.”
“Ohhh!” Mike laughed and rubbed his fully tattooed bald head. “You are far from the prettiest one, my friend.”
We went back to playing darts and continued to give each other shit because that was how we bonded and shared the darkness we all carried on our shoulders.
That night, when we returned home from Zack’s, I was met by Frank and Daniel on the front porch. I glanced at the time and saw it was well past two a.m.
“This can’t be good.” Cole kissed Savi. “I’ll be home soon.” She left to walk down to their cabin where they lived with their kids, and Cole joined my side.
Our generation of Blackstone had changed the way Shadows was run. Daniel had wanted the best for his safe house and for his son, and that meant he had to change the way things were run here. He had since built cabins for each of the families as needed, relatively close to the main house but far enough for privacy. As the men fell in love and had kids, it filled a hole that the house had been missing.
Living here gave them a sense of real life without having to give up what we were here to do. All of us were made for this life. The children were a plus, and some of the kids were going to be kickass special ops soldiers one day. Cole’s daughter Olivia already left no doubt that she planned to take over Shadows when she was old enough. It was clear as day that it was what she intended to do with her life.
“Who do you need to see?” Mike asked with a yawn.
“Paul and Cole.” Frank looked at the two of us.
Mike high-fived Mark, and the rest of the group headed for bed while I internally groaned and followed Cole inside and downstairs to the command center.
Abigail popped out of nowhere and set a canister of coffee and some homemade burgers on a side table. “Have fun tonight, boys?”
“Better now.” I snagged a burger and polished it off in two bites. “Thanks, Abby.”
“Anything for my boys.” Her sweet face that now showed a few signs of aging smoothed out when she smiled warmly at us. “Good luck.”
“Sorry for cutting into your night, guys, but something came up.” Daniel pointed the remote at the TV. “Frank.” He waited for Frank to take over.
“At zero-one-hundred, I got a call from Chili.” Instantly, I sat straighter. “He’s fine,” he assured me, “but something’s happening in Rosarito.” Drone footage showed Martin Castillo’s old property. We had destroyed the place a year or so back, but it had been slowly rebuilt by Jerry and Elva Canos since they’d taken over. The really messed up thing was that Jerry had been Martin’s half-brother, and a long time back, they’d been building their Cartel empire together. I wondered what happened. Obviously, Jerry had other plans.
It was weird to see Castillo’s property rebuilt. A place I had spent nearly a decade visiting looked so different. I watched as dozens of Cartel soldiers scattered in all directions, and I recognized Jorje, their head of security, as he jumped into a truck and tore off down the driveway.
Frank eased onto the side of the table. “We followed the truck to Mexico City but lost them when the drone was fired on.”
“Was Talya spotted?” I had to ask. It was her parents’ house, after all, and she did work for them. Maybe I wasn’t sure if she still did, but I knew she’d always hated it.
“Truth, Paul, we haven’t seen her for almost a year.”
Really? I had purposely avoided the drones we had around Rosarito. I couldn’t take it if there was footage of her with someone else.
“Any idea what could have caused the chaos?” Cole studied the screen. “Because whatever it was, it was enough to have more than half their security team leave the property. I’ve only seen that a few times.”
“Agreed.” I pointed. “I know how Jerry operates, and he would never let that many of his men leave. Not without good reason, anyway. He was always beyond paranoid, and after the attack on Grim’s hotel, he’d be even more so.”
I shook my head and remembered the fire that had almost taken Grim Gates’ Vegas hotel. I hesitated to describe Grim as a close friend, but after his help a year ago when I was on the run, I consider myself lucky to be able to call him one. The fire that almost destroyed his hotel was thanks to Jerry. He’d been upset that Grim had left Mexico when he did. Grim retaliated, but in the end, Jerry came out of it all with his skin intact.
“Whatever it is, it’s big,” Frank commented. We watched as the drone followed the trucks and flew down the road and into the thick of the city.
“Well, check this out.” Daniel moved closer to the screen. “They stop here, then something spooks them,” he squinted, “shots are fired, two fell to the ground, and the rest race off in a different direction.”
“Wait,” something caught my eye, and a cold sensation settled on the back of my neck, “back that up, please. Okay, right there, can you zoom in on that car?” I pointed to the Infiniti SUV.
“Yeah, I can do that.” Daniel played with the controllers and was able to give me a better view of the driver. The face was blurry, but I could make out the twenty-thousand-dollar watch and pompous pinky ring. “What are you seeing, Paul?”
Frank slowly stood, and I knew he saw it too. “Fuck me.”
I leaned my head into my hand and felt my stomach drop to the seat. “He’s alive.”