Page 115 of Dirty Hearts

Little did anyone know that those men weren’t from the gas company. They were Antonella grunts who’d been stationed there with Goliath lying in wait with the dupe nukes they were going to swap the real things for.

That was what I’d heard live and in living color on Cora’s recording. They were going to take the nukes, and since plans fell through for the shipping company, they were going to find some other way of smuggling the nukes out of the country.

They planned to do that and deal with me and mine later.

Deal with me, as if I was some kind of disobedient child.

The setup was similar to seven years ago.

Below me were three guys on bikes who were going to decoy the envoy truck. Guys like me seven years ago. Ahead on the road adjacent were three more bikers. They were the lookouts.

I had Dante down below, ready to take on the decoy bikers, and Gio several roads ahead, ready for the other guys. Pa was my eyes and ears. He was with Cora back at the office watching and listening from the setup she’d done. The secret squad and my other men would be ready for action on my word.

The plan was this: Goliath was after the nukes, and we were after him.

To get him, to draw him out, we’d piss him off the best way I knew how.

Mess up this little plan of his.

That’s how.

Right now, he was in the sewer waiting for the truck to come by. The bikers were supposed to stop it, and he’d get to do whatever it was he was supposed to do.

Like hell.

That fucking bastard was about to get a rude awakening.

I tightened my grip on the handles of my bike when the military truck came into view on my left. It was right on schedule.

“It’s on the way, son,” Pa said.

His voice sounded raspy on the little device in my ear that allowed us to communicate with each other. We each had one.

“I see it.” I pulled in a breath. “Dante, Gio, you ready?”

“Ready, boss,” they both chimed.

It was time.

The truck rumbled down the street, and the bikers geared up to go. The truck proceeded on its way, and there, just as it was about to turn, the bikers made their move.

The three of them pulled out at once with the type of skill I’d only seen on extreme biker shows. But they were no match for my guys.

The bikers thought they had the truck where they wanted it when it stopped, and the bewildered driver looked like he was about to shit himself. There was a beefy-looking guy next to him who would have gotten out but stopped when Dante charged out of nowhere like a demon from hell. I couldn’t resist the urge to smile.

With a steady hand on his bike, he maneuvered his way out and pulled out a machine gun and fired it. He didn’t have to aim at anyone to show he meant business. He just held it up and fired into the air, making the men scatter like mice.

There were another two trucks behind the truck carrying the nukes. Trucks with soldiers, possibly guards. Our little action had just alerted them to the trouble that could have happened.

The three bikers on Gio’s path tried to intervene, but he had them before they could even pull out.

I smiled when the envoy passed on by with the nukes.

Dante and Gio wreaked havoc, and the bikers scattered. That left Goliath and the two idiots dressed in the gas company suits, who’d cowered when they saw shit going down.

It was my turn now.

I rode down there, hopped off my bike, and made my way to the manhole.