Page 52 of Cartel Viper (The Cartel Brotherhood #2)

Tell me exactly when they arrive.

Pablo

I’m watching the trackers right now. They pulled onto tía’s old street. They’re about to go through the gate now. How far out are you?

Me

Five minutes

Pablo

By the time you get there, they should be neutralized.

Me

They better be.

Pablo

Just get there in one piece.

I unmute the call. “O’Sheehan, if you had Madeline by now, you’d be crowing like a fucking rooster. But we’re cock blocking you. You know you’re not alone anymore.”

“You don’t know whether she’s already dead.”

“She’s not because there’s no way you would have her without making sure I know.

You’d boast about it and make her beg while I’m listening.

Supposedly, you have men in that house. If you do, I’m sure they’re nothing but corpses now.

And why aren’t you leading this mission?

You sitting like a little bitch in some van two miles away, making sure nobody can get you rather than leading? ”

There’s noise in the background, and I hear a couple of voices. They’re definitely not any of our men. I know this for two reasons. One, I can hear them. Our men would never draw attention to themselves like that. And two, the accents. None of what I hear is coming from native Spanish speakers.

We have guys from other Latin American countries besides Colombia.

We have several Puerto Ricans and Dominicans as well.

They have that unique accent that’s a blend of Spanish and New York.

That’s not what I hear right now. These are the folks who barely speak English since they’re fucking knuckle draggers. They definitely have Upstate accents.

All the noise goes silent, and my chest tightens.

This could be very, very good or very, very horrible.

I don’t know which one yet. I point to a spot on the side of the road a block away from our tía’s old house.

Jorge pulls over as I take the call off the car speaker, then we move silently as we head to the back of the vehicle.

He pops the trunk, and we pull out the tactical gear I have in our go bags.

We slip off our suit coats to put on our bulletproof vests and shoulder holsters.

We each slide a gun under our left and our right arms. We have one holstered at our lower backs, and we have knives in each pocket.

We slip the suit coats back on as we run back to the front of the car.

Jorge has it in drive before either of us gets our door closed.

It’s convenient that our uncle developed the community our new aunt used to live in.

Even though not every guy who works for the security company that patrols the neighborhood is one of ours, most have been there long enough to know everyone.

My aunt and uncle met when Tío Enrique was on a run in Tía Elle’s neighborhood.

Fortunately, it’s one of our guys at the gate. He recognizes Jorge and me immediately. His eyes widen with a sense of urgency as he hits the button to open the gate. I know he has cameras for various parts of the neighborhood. Jorge winds down his window as we pass the guy.

“I haven’t seen your ladies, but something’s happening right now.”

That means he hasn’t seen them on camera or coming out of the neighborhood. That does nothing to reassure me they’re safe. But at least it means they’re not dead on the ground or been kidnapped. There aren’t that many cars near the house, but there are three large SUVs along the street.

They must be ours, but we’re not close enough yet for me to see the hubcaps that have our distinct markings.

Because all of the Four Families use the same body shop to customize our vehicles, it’s considered Switzerland.

The only way for us to tell our vehicles apart in a hurry are the unique hubcaps the shop owner makes for each family.

I scan the street and look for cars that might have brought the O’Sheehans.

I need to get a sense of how many men there are.

Normally, we’d park somewhere away from our destination, but there’s no time.

Jorge pulls straight into the driveway. He barely has it in park before we’re both opening our doors.

He hits the ignition button and is outside before the engine is off.

I pull the gun from my lower back, ready to shoot first, ask questions later. Years of practice have Jorge and me moving together, taking turns looking forwards and behind us, twisting to ensure no one can sneak up on us.

“ Capitán .”

I nod to one of our guys who hurries to open the back gate for us. Just as I pass through, I see a head of long blonde hair step out onto the back patio. I expect to see someone following Maddy, but she’s alone.

What the fuck?

Nobody follows her out.

She steps onto the grass, looking around. I don’t know if she saw me or not, but I spot Drew stepping out of a shadow.

“Bitch, if you don’t want me to shoot you or your fucking bulldog, then get your scrawny ass over here.”

“I’ll come, just leave Elle alone. Leave all of these men alone. You win, Drew.”

“Bull-fucking-shit. I don’t win until they’re all dead. But you might survive this after all. Get over here.”

He points to the ground in front of him.

He raises his gun and aims it toward the house.

There’s no noise coming from it, but I wouldn’t expect there to be since their men will have silencers just like ours.

I wonder for a moment where the fuck the new homeowners are.

How have they not walked in on this shitshow?

I may never get an answer to those questions, but I sure as fuck am glad they’re not here.

At least I’m assuming not. If they were, I would know about it from Pedro, the guy who opened the gate.

“All right, all right, I’m coming.”

Maddy runs toward him, her hands hidden at her side.

The loose-fitting pants conceal what she has in them.

If my heart was racing earlier, it’s surely stopped now when I realize what she’s about to do.

I sprint toward her just as she draws back her right hand, then thrusts it forward, a knife going through Drew’s belly.

He roars with pain, and his hands go around her throat.

I see her twist and try to pull the knife free.

It keeps him distracted. I know she only has moments to go before he strangles her.

Her left arm rises, and she puts the gun to his right temple and pulls the trigger.

Blood sprays across her, and he drops, pulling her on top of him.

His sightless eyes stare at the sky as he loses his grip on her neck. She scrambles to get off him and turns around. There’s no surprise when she sees me, so I know she was aware I was there. She’s lost her ever-loving mind if she thinks I’m okay with this.