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The guard grins and nods before he returns the documents to us and waves us through.
“Resourceful,” I say. “Keep it up, and you may live to see another day.”
Another forty-five minutes, and we’ll be in Tijuana. The streets are bound to be teeming with tourists and partygoers at this time of the morning, which is good for us. The more people around us, the better.
“So, this Paolo guy. Tell me more about him,” I bark at Damon.
“He runs Gallo’s strip joints.”
“Does he have muscle?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“About ten guys inside the club.”
“Is that where Emily is?”
“That’s where I left her.”
“Well, you’d better pray that I find her there, safe and sound.”
I can only imagine how scared Emily must be. What an awful place to land up in. The town itself is known for its unsavory nightlife, amongst other things. I have no idea what condition my poor Emily will be in once I find her. I can only pray that she forgives me for my failure to protect her. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if she never wants to see me again once this is over. Who could blame her?
Damon gives the driver directions as soon as we enter the city limits. We drive by the club once to check it out before we park a distance away.
“Okay,” Andreas says as the men who have joined us for this mission exit their vehicles and stand around for the briefing. “This is a diagram of the inside of the club. According to young Damon over here, Paolo’s office is over here.”
Andreas points to a spot on the diagram and maps out the route for each of the men.
“Eddie, you and two of the men are coming with me and Mr. Lucchese. We’re going to head straight for Paolo’s office. Sunny, you and the rest of the crew are in charge of creating a distraction so we can slip in unseen. Does everyone know what to do?”
The men nod.
“Good. Let’s go.”
All of us are armed to the teeth. We’re not taking any chances. This isn’t a picnic, and we’re not dealing with ordinary men here. Gallo’s men are notoriously violent and low class. He seems to troll the gutters for his minions.
Andreas, Damon, Eddie, and a few chosen men, and I hang back until the shit hits the fan. As soon as it’s safe to slip past the occupied bouncers at the front door, we head straight for Paolo’s office. Eddie kicks the door down, and we rush him.
Paolo is stunned at our intrusion. The unfortunate young woman is servicing her fat boss under the desk and screams as we burst in and raise our weapons.
“Get out!” I yell at her. “Andreas, lock the door.”
The girl scampers while trying to get her top back on.
“Who the fuck are you?” Paolo demands, zipping up his pants. “Damon, what’s going on?”
Andreas hits him in the face with the butt of his machine gun, causing the fat bastard to collapse backwards onto his chair.
“Where’s Gallo?” I ask, irritated that he isn’t here.
I was looking forward to kicking his ass, but I guess that will have to wait now. My first priority is finding Emily.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” Paolo snaps.
Clearly, Paolo’s enjoyed far too many years during which he’s been the one calling the shots. It would seem that picking on defenseless women has given him a false sense of importance. Well, I’m about to slap that illusion right out of him, the prick.