Page 17 of Vicious Savage

“Even knowing that your fate will probably end up nothing like what you’ve imagined for yourself?”

“You know what, Attila? I think my fate was sealed the moment I was born.”

17

ATTILA

Caleph would probably have my head if he knew what I was doing. But the man is on his honeymoon, cruising on a ship in the Gulf of California, and I don’t want to disturb him. I’m his fixer and I always have been, and no amount of distance between us could change that fact. Although best friends, I’ve always been his enforcer.

I realize he’s far enough away to stay out of danger but close enough that he could easily come back and skin me alive for my actions. And he probably will once he finds out. I don’t even believe I’m doing this myself, but when TJ takes me aside, he reminds me that our whole objective had been to bring Coyin Castillo down. And now that the opportunity has presented itself, we have to take it. Regardless of the danger to ourselves.

“We’ll never get an opportunity as good as this one,” TJ says, after we enter the privacy of our own room. Luna still doesn’t know why we came looking for her; briefly, I wonder how she’d feel if she knew the real story. I dismiss my curiosity and look at TJ, knowing with everything in me that he’s right. But the thought of Luna being in danger causes a lump to form in my throat that I can’t swallow past. The thought of her sacrificing herself to a nightmare to save her friend; it doesn’t seem right.

I lift a hand to my chest and scratch at the place above my heart. TJ follows my movements with his eyes then raises inquisitive eyebrows.

“It’s wrong, what we’re doing,” I tell him. “Using her as bait to get to her father.”

“We’re not using her as bait — she’s going there anyway. And since when did you develop a conscience?” TJ looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, then shakes his head in disbelief.

“You growing soft on me, Hunter?”

“You wouldn’t know soft if it slapped you in the face,” I bite back, falling onto one of the beds and stretching my body out. “I’ll be ready to roll in thirty minutes.”

* * *

We drive through the streets,edging toward our destination, TJ riding shotgun. Luna sits in the back looking quietly out the window. No one is in the mood for small talk. When I ask, she shoots off her friend Nadia’s address and I stop the car in an alley four blocks from her home. I have no doubt that Castillo is still there waiting for his daughter to show up.

I hop out of the car and pop the boot, reaching in for the duffel bags. TJ joins me, until we’re standing side by side looking down at the array of weapons. Luna stands beyond us, watching on with interest as we tuck guns into our waistbands and load up our rifles. When I look at her, an unexpected question passes silently between us. She’s very curious as to who we are and why we’ve come loaded like an armory. This, she did not see coming.

“Do I want to know?” she asks.

“No, probably not.”

It’s answer enough for her, because she purses her lips and says nothing before she turns away and starts walking back to the car. I stop her with one word when I call her name. She turns and faces me, her expression indecipherable.

“You know this will come down to kill or be killed,” I tell her. “How comfortable are you with that?”

“Very.”

* * *

The SUV rollsto a stop a few hundred feet away and Luna points toward her friend Nadia’s house. It’s a single storey bungalow with a slanted ceiling and a wraparound porch. It’s small, efficient, and the only way to describe it is ‘cute’. There are two SUVs in the vicinity — one in the driveway and one on the road. Luna tells us that Nadia doesn’t have a car.

“Assume ten men,” TJ says, checking the rounds in his gun again. I know he feels like he doesn’t have much to live for since his wife died and he embarked on this journey of vengeance, but I doubt he’d be willing to just lay down and lie at the feet of ten men. I wonder if he has a death wish.

“Ten of them to two of us,” I mutter, bitterly. We shouldn’t have come without back up. I could have so easily called in some of our own men. Instead, we’re parked out here like sitting ducks.

We sit contemplating our entry into the house when two men walk out of the front and stand on the porch. They’re laughing and mimicking vulgar sexual actions with their hands, which tells me something must be going on inside. I hate to think what condition Nadia is in. I hear Luna shift uncomfortably in her seat, and instinctively, I know that she’s thinking the same thing.

The men light up cigarettes and inhale, and I see our opening. Luna already has one hand on the door and she’s about to lurch out of the car and cross to Nadia’s house.

“Stay still, Luna. Once they go back inside, we’ll cross the road and make our way toward the house. You’ll knock; we’ll take either side of the house and start capping.”

She throws me an unsure look, then nods. She’s on board and I release the breath I’d been holding. “One last thing,” I tell her. “The objective here is to get both you and Nadia out, okay?”

She’s stoic as she nods in my direction, then turns to watch the men go back into the house. Luna gets out of the car and walks toward the house. We run ahead and take our places on either side of the house, and I place myself under the first window I come to. The first chance one of us gets, we put a bullet in Castillo. We’ve also agreed that we won’t leave either of the girls behind. It’s a morals game now; we can’t be just as bad as he is. So it’s kill him, rescue the girls, and leave this Godforsaken town. Although I know things probably won’t go as smoothly as they have in my mind. Somebody’s bound to get hurt. Someone will definitely get killed. And there’s going to be a whole lot of damage once we’re through with the Castillo cartel.

18

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