Page 78 of Inez

14

THE LAST FIREFIGHT

LORENZO

The mood in the room is morose, bitter, and angry. We took a block of rooms at a Best Western just off the freeway in the eastern outskirts of suburban LA. The women, wisely, sensed the collective mood and retreated together into one of the other rooms where they're eating carryout and watching TV, opting to let the men stew in our anger without them.

I scan the room: Sol, Sax, and Si are sitting together with their backs to the wall beside the TV stand; Chance leans in the bathroom doorway, massive and hulking and brooding; Rev and Kane take up one of the beds, Kane with his back to the headboard while Rev perches on the edge, long legs stretched out; Lash and I are on the other bed in similar arrangement, and Scarlett is by herself with her back against the door.

Solomon's phone buzzes, and our attention turns to him all at once as he answers it. “Yeah, hey there, bud…you did? Fucking killer, where? Fuck, that's tricky. Okay, thanks. Bye." He tosses the phone down between his thighs. "So my friend at the NSA was able to track the boat out into the Pacific. That's the good news. The bad news is Rafael's no dummy. He joined up with five other yachts that look identical, from the sky at least, and they're constantly rotating positions and breaking away andrejoining. Playing an ocean-going version of the shell game, essentially, so we have no idea which yacht he has Inez on."

"Sneaky fucking bastard," Rev grumbles. "So now what? Sitting here with our thumbs up our asses ain't doin' her any good."

Kane rubs his face with both hands. "Y'know, I've kinda forgotten why any of this is happening in the first place, other than Rafael is a prick and Pugli is a bastard."

"Sophia and Rafael's son," I answer. "That's why. And also because Rafael is a vindictive prick who won’t rest until we've all paid for making a fool of him."

"As for Pugli," Lash says, "he is a sadistic psychopath. He needs no greater purpose than to cause pain."

"Why is he after the Big Boss?" Silas asks. "What's he got to do with anything?”

Lash shrugs. "Who knows? Perhaps to get at us, perhaps Pugli knows our employer, perhaps just out of some perverse sense of vindictiveness. It doesn’t matter."

"So we know Inez is on a boat somewhere in the Pacific,” Saxon says, eying me. "Why not hit all the boats? I'm done fucking around. Oath be damned, I'm about to start murdering some motherfuckers." He lurches to his feet, scraping his hand over his scalp, mussing his hair. "Fuck this. Fuck Mercado, fuck Pugli, fuck the oath. The gloves are off. Rafael wants to play games? Fuckingfine. Let's play games." He produces a small folding knife from his pocket, slices open his palm, and paints his face crimson. "The rest of you can do whatever the fuck you want."

"Saxon!" Solomon snaps, shooting to his feet. "You can't just—"

Saxon, his hand on the doorknob, whirls on his brother. "Watch me, brother. Those fucking bastards have chased us all over the goddamned globe. They've kidnapped us. Tortured us.Killed innocent people. And what have we done? Not a goddamn thing but react. And now they have Inez—a-fucking-gain. The boss can take care of himself, whatever. Sure, I owe him. And I’ll pay up, whatever he asks. But I'm fuckingdonepussy-footing around, missing on purpose, wearing kid fucking gloves while these turd-licking cockroach motherfuckers rape and murder with impunity. Inez is one of us. She brought us all in. Gave us this family. Shed blood for us. Took lives for us. You all wanna sit here and come up with some PG kindergarten cop version of a rescue plan? Be my fucking guest. I won't be part of it. You wanna know why? Because I'm the Bloody fucking Viking."

He goes to jerk the door open, but the chain lock is engaged, and the door yanks against the chain with a loud crack. Snarling, Saxon grips the edge of the door in both hands and rips it open, tearing the chain free of the post, leaving a bloody handprint on the white wood.

We all watch him stride out the door, dripping blood from his hand, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

Rev stands up, scans the room, looks at the open door, and then swaggers out after Saxon without a word.

Chance follows Rev.

Kane goes too, pausing in the doorway to look back at the rest of us. "I'll carve the brand out of my own arm if the boss asks me to, for breaking the vow. We are who we are. This is what we do. And Sax is right. Enough is fuckin' enough. I'm done bein' a victim. And Inez has been through more than enough."

Sol raises his arm and looks at the broken arrow brand on the inside of his left arm. He stands up, next. "I took the vow because I was sick of the life. I'd seen too much, done too much. Been through too much. I know you're all the same. I wanna get back to a life where the worst thing I have to do is toss a drunk outta the club. Sax is right—sometimes violence really is the only way to get through to people."

"We are going after Inez, I assume?" Lash asks. "Pugli is in the wind, for the moment. In pursuit of our employer, I should think. Or merely recuperating.”

Sol shrugs, nods. "I'm guessing the Boss can handle himself. Inez needs us."

Lash nods, rising to his feet. "There is no question. I am with the brotherhood."

Silas stands as well, rolling his shoulders. "Let's end this shit."

That leaves only me. I get to my feet, gritting my teeth against the blaze of pain in my hip, and the three of us file out together.

We find the others two doors down with the women, saying goodbye. Toro, Taj, and Fonz are clustered together by the window, watching.

Taj clears his throat, and the room falls silent. "Toro, Fonz, and myself, we understand that the battle you fight is yours. We will remain here with the women and keep them safe until you have safely returned with Inez."

"You're good men," Solomon says. "Thank you."

Toro just nods, Taj says nothing, and Fonz laughs. "Good men? I dunno about that, but we got you covered. Ain't nobody gettin' no hands on no bitches." Six pairs of eyes turn to pin Fonz in place at his choice of words. "You know what the fuck I mean, don't get your titties twisted."