Page 69 of Cruelest Contract (Storm’s Eye Ranch)

JULIAN

T his is likely meant to be a trap. The plan was probably to set off an explosion that will send us all outside to fight the blaze and then open fire.

How fucking uncreative. I’m almost insulted.

My chief hope is that the blizzard has probably complicated their strategy. Our quick reaction might also be in our favor.

After we’ve neutralized the threat, we can worry about where it came from.

It’s not looking good for Angelo right now.

I didn’t think he and his grandfather were quite this foolish but there’s no way to deny the Grimaldis feel slighted.

Men have a history of doing stupid shit when their pride takes a beating.

If it’s them, we’ll find out. And then I’ll be in the crappy position of eliminating my wife’s grandfather and brother. Worse, if Gabriel participated then his fate will also be sealed.

This is not the time to think about the Grimaldis. That conversation can wait.

We use the tunnel to get out. Hardly anyone outside of immediate family knows of this emergency exit that starts in the library and ends fifty yards away in the garage. Sonny argues when I insist on going first but this is my battle to lead. The biggest risks are mine to take.

The tunnel is all clear and the garage is untouched.

All of our pickup trucks are undisturbed and even Cecilia’s car is peacefully parked.

It’s a damn shame only the personal vehicles are kept here and none can navigate snow this deep.

The second garage where we keep ranch vehicles, including the ATVs, is about a quarter of a mile away.

But from here we’ve got a better view of the burning shed. A hole has been ripped through the roof.

“What do you make of that?” I ask Sonny.

He takes a turn at the small square window and squints. “Probably used C-4 with a remote detonator. They were going for the effect, to draw us out.”

“That’s what I figured.”

There’s also no way to know if any other buildings are rigged to blow, including the one we’re currently standing in.

I have a panicked thought about the house where I left my wife but realistically, planting explosives at the house would be much tougher to pull off.

And if the Grimaldis are to blame, they wouldn’t risk blowing themselves up.

The floodlights are still working, which is a relief. Quickly, I scan the area and make a decision.

“I think we’re better off staging from there,” I say, pointing to a lonely livestock trailer that was left out near the big barn. It’s covered in snow and looks undisturbed.

Sonny nods. “Let’s head out.”

The short wave radios used by the ranch crew would come in handy right now but they’ve been left in the cowboy clubhouse. Just as well. The frequency is too easily intercepted.

My brothers stand behind me, awaiting instructions.

They are so heavily covered in winter gear that I can barely tell them apart.

A stroke of luck is the change in weather.

The winds have died down and the snow falls in flurries now.

The cold is still bitter enough to be a frostbite worry but if the blizzard was still going strong then it would be too easy to get disoriented and lost.

“How do we know if someone is waiting to attack?” asks young Caleb and I hate that we needed to bring him out here at all. If we had more men I wouldn’t have considered it. But the kid swore he’s familiar with guns and volunteered.

“We don’t for sure,” I reply, which is the grim truth. The entire security network has been down for hours, leaving us without a single camera. “We’ll know if they start shooting.”

A thunderous bang is accompanied by another fireball that bursts from the shed and climbs toward the sky. There’s plenty of flammable material in that shed to keep lighting it up. All it would take is some wind and a few sparks to spread the fire.

The stables are closer than the barn. They are also closest to the shed and the most at risk.

“You cover me while I make my way over to that livestock trailer. The fact that the gap is open ground can’t be helped. First priority is to get the horses loose.”

Getty yanks the fur collar of his jacket away from his mouth. “I’m coming with you.”

“No you’re not,” I inform him. “You’re the sharpest shot in the bunch. I need you to have my back.”

He exhales loudly, his breath a frost cloud. “I’ve always got your back, Julian.”

I know this already. With a spasm of distress, I think of Cecilia back at the house. The terrified look on her face twisted my insides so badly that I nearly couldn’t leave her. But the best way to protect my wife is to fight those who dare to attack our home.

Whoever they are, they’d best say their fucking prayers. There will be nothing left of them on this earth by the time I’m finished.

There’s no time to waste. Sonny’s two remaining men, Johnny and Artie, are proven fighters who have been with us for twenty years. There aren’t enough windows in the garage so they fan out outside the building with my brothers.

“What should I do?” asks Caleb, looking petrified.

“Stick with me for now, kid,” says Sonny. “And if something shoots at you, shoot back.”

With the rifle slung over my shoulder, I set out and hold my breath for the first few yards, half expecting to face a volley of gunfire from unknown assailants. But there’s nothing. Only drifting snow flurries and the crackle of fire coming from the shed.

When I’ve covered half the distance between the garage and the livestock trailer, a faint rumbling noise reaches my ears.

I stop walking to listen more closely.

Definitely vehicles approaching from town.

If Vigilance was responding to reports of a fire out here, they wouldn’t be all stealth about it.

Between the storm and the fact that it’s Christmas Eve, it’s highly doubtful anyone even drove close enough to the ranch to spot the shed fire anyway.

Faster vehicles such as snowmobiles wouldn’t be able to clear three feet of accumulation, so that’s another dose of help from the blizzard.

Whatever vehicles I’m hearing are lumbering along far more slowly.

Impossible to tell how many. I’d say there’s maybe ten minutes tops before they get here.

With a curse, I double time my pace, which is not easy in snow that reaches mid-thigh. The trailer door is blocked by a snow drift and frozen shut. I give up on it quickly and keep my gun ready as the others make their way over here.

Another loud crack comes from the shed, accompanied by another flare from the blaze.

Over in the stables, I can hear the horses going wild in their stalls.

Getty and Tye immediately climb up on the roof of the trailer and lie on their bellies with their weapons ready.

Without much time to think, I send Fort and Caleb to the stables to release the horses while keeping my eye fixed to the gun scope.

“They’re coming,” I say to Sonny as he huffs over here.

He glares in the direction of the road and catches his breath. “Hope they like the taste of metal.”

Omerta is the first horse to come charging out into the snow.

He panics at the sight of the fire and tries to rear up on his hind legs in the deep snow.

Fort risks getting trampled by running out after him but no one is better with the horses than Fort.

There was no time to deal with reins so he’s stuck with shouts and hands gestures.

Still, he successfully diverts Omerta, propelling him toward the trees.

One by one, the horses are freed and follow Omerta to the tree line. The sight of them all traipsing through the deep snow in silence would look beautiful under different circumstances.

But not now. Not when multiple dark shapes have just breached the ranch gates and head steadily in this direction, ending any speculation this is anything other than a full deadly assault.

“Don’t show them where you are until you have to,” I shout up to Getty and Tye.

There are four vehicles, all bulky snowcats that proceed slowly but steadily up the lane. They aren’t the smallest models but far from the largest. I’d estimate no more than six riders can squeeze into each one.

They still have a manpower advantage but this is our land. OUR HOME. As familiar to us as our own reflections. We’ll fight to the death. And the deaths will be all theirs.

They’ve made a mistake coming here. It will be their last one.

With the horses all safely released, Fort and Caleb run back over here. The shed fire still burns but so far nothing else has gone up in smoke.

No sooner has this thought crossed my mind when a blast comes from the sprawling single story residence where the cowboys live. Mercifully, the building is empty right now but this new development means nowhere is safe.

Yet it’s also true that we cannot all remain clustered here at the trailer. There’s no telling what kind of firepower these fuckers brought with them and it would be unwise to concentrate all our forces in one place.

With a fresh surge of dread, I look behind me at the hulking shape of the house. It’s too easy to imagine Cecilia trembling in fear as she listens to all the noise and thinks the worst. It’s a physical ache, this overwhelming need to be with her.

There’s too much I haven’t said to my wife.

There’s so much I need to give her.

This day can only end when I’m holding her safely in my arms again.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” I tell Sonny. “Let them think their plan worked and we’re sitting ducks.”

Yes, I’m offering myself as a decoy but I also value his opinion.

Sonny has so many notches in his Mafia war belt, nothing that’s about to happen could possibly surprise him.

He helped my father liquidate every rung of the Delfino family criminal ladder after they murdered my mother.

He participated in the big war after the Grimaldi massacre.

Our best Capo mulls this over and decides the idea has merit. “I’ll be right there with you, boss.”