Page 15 of Suspicious

Atlas chuckles, waving it off like it’s no big deal. “Yeah, it was crazy weird. Anyway, you guys seem tense. You want to maybe unload this big boy, and then I’ll be on my way?”

The soldier glances across at Ricco, and he dips his chin. “Let this idiot open it up. Tell me what’sreallyin there,” Ricco orders, folding his arms across his chest in anger.

Atlas widens his eyes. “You think there isn’t drugs back there?” he asks.

Ricco chuckles, shaking his head. “I don’t know who you are, but my men in Tijuana wouldneverhire an idiot like you. So whatever surprise is waiting in there, I’m going to letyoufind out for me.”

Anxiety ripples through me, wondering just how long Alpha is planning to let this go on. But Atlas steps out of the truck, the camera inside doing me no good while he and the soldiers are walking around to the rear. The only thing I can see is Ricco standing right where he is—in front of the truck, with his guards on either side of him.

The pinhole cameras at the back kick in, and I switch the view to multiple screens so Alpha and I can watch Ricco at the front and everyone else at the rear. Atlas stands at the back of the truck, the soldier pressing his gun into his back and urging him forward. “Open the damn door!”

Atlas grumbles something unintelligible under his breath while I hold mine. He reaches up for the door, my stomach tightens, and I grit my teeth as he slides the door up, revealing the six crates.

Atlas doesn’t even look inside. He just waves his hands around aimlessly and laughs. “See! I bet you guys feel like assholes now,right?”

I see it in the soldier’s eyes the second it registers exactly what the crates are. I grab for the walkie, my cell in my other hand ready to go, and the crackle blasts down the line. “Deploy, deploy, deploy!”

I toss the walkie across the van. It narrowly misses South as I code in the sequence for the explosives. The light goes green, but I know it’s going to take a second for them to register. I glance back up at the video to see the soldiers begin backing away.

“Boss,run!It’s a fucking bomb!” one of them calls out.

Atlas turns to face the inside of the truck, his eyes turning somber, but the resignation on his face hits him.He has nowhere to go.He simply smiles and steps up inside the back of the truck, sitting down beside one of the crates. “Checkmate, Montana. Checkmate.” He chuckles under his breath.

I have a millisecond to see Montana smiling before I watch the soldiers and Ricco scrambling to get away from the truck. Glancing at my cell, my heart leaps into my throat when the light flashes green, and my breath catches.

The flash of light on my video feed is the first thing I see. I snap my head down to watch when, a second later, the most ferocious, ear-piercing explosion rocks through the air. “Holy shit,” my words come out as a whisper on my breath, when suddenly a hurricane force of wind slams into the side of our van, rocking it too-and-fro, the glass in the windows shattering on impact. We all duck for cover from the shockwave caused by the truck explosion.

Panting and fighting for breath as the shockwave rips through my body, making it hard for me to breathe, I glance over at my brothers to make sure they’re all right, patting each one of them to ensure they’re still alive. They all nod as we slowly rise to our feet. My ears are slightly ringing from the sound of the detonation.

Letting out a small laugh, I check my equipment. None of thecameras are working. They’ve all been destroyed by the blast radius. I clear my throat and sit taller. “Is everyone still with me?” I ask.

The guys all nod, and I pick up the walkie. “Reaper One, you good?”

Then suddenly, an urgent banging sounds on our back door. We all snap our heads to the rear of the van. It’s completely blacked out back here. We have no clue who is out there. So I pull out my gun and move forward, signaling to South and Maverick to flank me.

Without saying anything, I gesture to them that I’m about to open the door, and they nod, ready to attack if we need to. I swing the door open, instantly aiming my gun, but as soon as the person steps into sight, he pushes the gun out of his face. “Calm down, VP. It’s just us,” Alpha states.

I jump from the van, letting the rest of my brothers follow me. “That was pretty fucking intense,” I tell him.

Alpha smirks with a shrug. “You built the bombs, Loki. You should have known they were going to get the job done.”

“Well, we still don’t know how well they did. And there’s only one way to find out.”

Alpha tilts his head toward the compound. “And that’s exactly what we’re going to do next. Boys, mount up, we’re going cartel culling.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Loki

As brothers, we make our way to the cartel compound. Smoke floods the air, and the smell of burning flesh and acrid rubber burns my senses. The intense heat from the powerful fire that has taken over the warehouse sends plumes of black smog into the atmosphere, with trickles of dancing embers lighting up the afternoon sky.

Cartel soldiers run through the debris and carnage, screaming for death to greet them, some smoldering, their skin ablaze with flames. Some with limbs missing, some with all their clothes burned clean off.

Alpha steps in front of all of us, and the screams are so deafening that it’s almost hard to hear his commands. “No one survives.No one!”he reiterates, then places his left fist over his chest. “For Defiance!” he yells.

We slam our fists to our chests. “For Defiance!” we chant in unison.

Alpha gestures for us to move forward, and we take off as a group, guns drawn. I race through the entry, and a soldier rushes straight for me. Half his body is badly burned, the right side of his clothing incinerated as he lunges for me, screaming in agony. Raising my gun, I aim straight for his head and don’t hesitate. I hate these assholes more than anything, and I want to see them suffer, but this is like some kind of scene from a post-apocalyptic war, and no man should have to suffer like this. After pulling the trigger, his already badly wounded body drops to the ember and ashen ground.

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