Page 18 of Maverick

Slate rushed into the room from his office. “Rocky here yet?”

“No, and I’m tired of waiting. What did you find?” Diesel’s brows were knitted into a deep frown that made it clear that time with his family hadn’t calmed his nerves at all.

Slate settled into a seat and let his fingers fly over the keyboard like a goddamn cheetah. “All right.” He looked up with a satisfied smile on his face. “Ricky Gomez, also known as Ricardo Gomez, Rich Gonzalez, and Roberto Gutierrez, is a trusted solider in The Black Death. And he’s the owner of a warehouse sitting on a small strip of unincorporated land that’s technically not Las Vegas and not Henderson.”

“What is it?” Diesel’s arms were folded across his chest, a dark look on his face.

A slow smile spread across Slate’s face. “A cut operation, what else? Also like a distribution center. It’s the first stop after the drugs cross the border. Gomez makes sure they’re tested again, weighed, and chopped up to go out all over the country. Has to be at least a few million worth of product and who the fuck knows how much cash.”

Suddenly, Diesel didn’t look quite so pissed off. “I’m listening.”

“Excellent.” Giddy like a fucking schoolboy, Slate turned the screen so we could all see it. “This is where it’s located,” he said with a slow smile. “And this,” he changed the image with a flick of his wrist, “is a Google Earth image so you can see how the building is laid out. Entrances and exits, windows and all that shit.”

Diesel grabbed the laptop and stared at the screen as if he could blow the building up by just wishing it. “Tonight,” he barked over the low hum of conversation. “We fuck this shit up and we do it tonight.”

***

Later that night we were lined up on all sides of the building, weapons at the ready as we prepared to breach the exits. “Slate said the drone showed six people inside. Including Gomez.”

I turned towards the metal door, easily picking the lock that had to be at least fifty years old. And then we were inside. The building was mostly dark, and where it wasn’t dark, it was dimly lit with a gold glow overhead.

“Hey!” someone shouted further ahead, likely the door where Rocky and Rebel breached. Seconds later, two quick bursts of gunfire sounded, followed by grunts and loud thuds that echoed around us.

“Two down, four to go,” Diesel said behind me. We moved ahead and approached two men with their backs to us. “I take right and you take left,” he whispered.

I nodded and crouched lower to avoid any flying bullets as we made our approach. My guy had a cigarette in his mouth, and when he flicked it to the ground, I nailed him in the back of the head with my gun. His partner turned and shot wildly, but Diesel quickly subdued him by covering his mouth and nose until he passed out.

“We have to kill them.”

“We will,” he assured me, and looked around the immediate area until he found some tape. “Let’s tie ’em to these pipes right here for now.”

Hawk shouted up ahead, “They shot Rocky!”

Diesel and I stared at each other for a beat and took off at a full sprint towards the sound of Hawk’s voice. “Where is he?”

“Fucking grazed,” Rocky grunted from a spot against the wall. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Get him out of here,” Diesel barked, and motioned for me to follow him forward. A figure jumped out and tackled my fucking president to the ground. They fought like they meant it, throwing heavy fists in quick succession, grunting and growling as they fought for control.

We didn’t have time for this shit. I raised my gun when he had Diesel pinned to the ground and pulled. Twice. “Come on.”

“Thanks,” he grunted as he got to his feet and we kept moving.

“Of course.” Eventually, we found the product, but not Gomez. “Where the fuck is he?”

“Lookin’ for me, putos?”

We both turned and found Gomez sitting down, with some chick’s head buried in his lap.

“We are,” Diesel said, his voice as calm as can be.

“You found me, white boy. Now what?”

“Now we kill you,” he answered, a slow smile spread across his face.

Gomez shrugged. “If the Lord wills it, who am I to fight it? But this won’t be the end of shit, you know that right?”

Diesel nodded. “But it’ll be the beginning of the end, and for now, that’s good enough for me.”

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