Page 2 of Stand: Part One

He scoffed. “They hardly count.”

“Dan, do you still have eyes on Spade?” I asked through my earpiece. He’d been quiet for too long.

“He’s on to his third mistress,” Dan answered gruffly. “Asshole has some stamina, I’ll give him that.”

“As long as they keep him busy,” Scott added as he adjusted his scope.

“He could have picked a better hotel, though. Guess he likes fucking around cockroaches.”

Dan didn’t bother hiding the disgust in his tone. He was anxious to engage with Javier at the hotel he currently resided in, but my team and I needed to take the compound first. Then the real fun would begin.

The only person I hadn’t been able to locate yet was his brother. And that was going to change tonight.

“Are you guys ready yet? We’re baking on this fucking roof,” Dan complained.

“Don’t worry, cupcake, you’ll get your chance in a minute,” Scott answered as he continued his focus on the compound. Waiting for the visual confirmation from the rest of the team was annoying the fuck out of me as well.

“Alright, we’re in position. Visual confirmation on the targets,” Conway said from the other end.

“Good. Let’s make this quick and clean. I have a wife to get home to,” I said, descending from my post. As much as I wanted to avenge the death of my youngest, dumb-fuck of a brother, my little spitfire of a wife would never be dethroned from my list of priorities.

Scott and I made our way through the thick brush and trees, stopping just outside the gates to observe through our scopes.

“Hit the signals,” I ordered as I focused on the guards while the area's cell phone and internet signals were disrupted.

“Fire on the count of three … two … one.”

Bullets sprayed across the compound as each guard dropped simultaneously, the yard now littered with their bodies. Only the guards in the house were left protecting our three targets. It was so easy it was hardly enjoyable.

“Dan, your team is free to engage,” I told him through my earpiece.

“Finally,” he replied, his tone full of anticipation.

Scott tossed a grenade under the gate surrounding the property, those ten seconds of anticipation building in my blood before the gate burst open in a loud, fiery eruption of chaos. Our two armored trucks on standby burst through what was left of the gate, mowing down the black metal and creating a clear path for our entrance. The sound of a few more gunshots quickly silenced the men shouting from inside the house as we made our way across the lawn, joining the rest of the team inside.

Organized chaos screeched through my earpiece as Dan finally engaged with his target, the amusing whirlwind of cursing, gunshots, and screams giving me all the playback that I needed.

I continued to listen, smirking to myself as I waited patiently in the sunroom of the home. Scott and two more of our men held steady as the rest of the team hunted down the targets hiding in the upstairs bedrooms. I casually strolled around the room, observing family photos as more gunshots rang throughout the house, followed by terrified screams, shouting, and crying. I sighed as a woman and two teenage boys were dragged down the stairs and forced to their knees in the middle of the sunroom.

Javier’s wife clutched their two sons to her body as she stared up at me with hateful tears in her eyes. I instantly recognized that kind of hate, the familiar heat of that emotion coming off her in vicious shock waves.

That strategy had never saved Jaden. And it certainly wouldn’t save this bitch or her family either.

“Dan, do you have him?” I asked.

The continued scuffling and shouting on the other end of the audio feed was my only immediate confirmation until Dan’s exacerbated voice came through.

“Fucker tried to jump out the damn window,” he finally growled as he huffed into the speaker. “But we got him.”

“You sound winded,” I commented.

“Well, he is a massive piece of shit.”

“Not for much longer.” I pulled out my phone to video chat with Dan so Javier could witness the show I had planned for him.

When the video finally connected, Dan turned the camera in Javier’s direction, his sweaty face swollen and beaten to shit as blood dripped down his nose and mouth. I made sure he could see the look of victory in my eyes as I stared him down for a few moments, relishing the fear that began to manifest. A smirk formed on my mouth before I silently turned the camera back to his family, who were huddled together as they crouched on the floor. With a simple nod, the show began.

Drawing the machetes from their backs, my men wasted no time as they hacked away at Javier’s family, their guttural screams filling the room, mixing with Javier’s as their blood sprayed in all directions, splashing against the camera lens. It was only a few seconds, but they had been some of the most satisfying seconds I’d experienced in the past few weeks. I didn’t even want to kill Javier yet. His suffering was far too enjoyable to end so soon. But at some point, all good things had to come to an end.