Page 38 of Dark Alleys

“Park is busy this time of year, boss. Lots of people will be there, night swimming or at the food trucks and there might be a concert going on.”

“Is this confirmed?”

“Not yet. I’m sitting in my truck waiting to see if the Blast head over there. A lot of them are ganging up here in their watering hole. Dozens.”

“Bad sign.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll send Farrell and the night squad over to the park right now just in case.”

Copy, boss.”

I waited another hour. Smoked half a pack and dozed off a couple of times. Then the Blast came running out all at once—a small army in motion. They jumped on their rides and started their engines.

The noise was deafening.

They took off in a big rumbling convoy and I figured it was game on.

As soon as they cleared the parking lot, I drove into the street and followed them. Not that far upriver to Festival Beach Park on the shore of Lady Bird Lake.

The bikers were going in exactly that direction, and I figured Farrell and his guys on the gang squad would be already there. If Blacky called them when I called him, they’d be there waiting. No question.

Trailing along behind when the convoy in front of me got to the parking lot, I pulled in and watched the Blast set their kickstands and check to make sure their weapons were loaded and ready to fire.

This was a turf war.

A fuckin’ huge one.

The first wave of the Blast ran to the gate—about forty of them—and saw the entrance was barricaded by the SWAT team. Behind the SWAT guys I could see Farrell and his guys in their tactical gear.

If the Bandidos were in the park, they couldn’t get out—unless they swam out—and the Blast couldn’t get in.

Blacky had set this up and it was working. So far.

More of the Blast showed up in the parking lot and they joined the first forty or fifty milling around near the entrance.

The second wave contained the boss of the Tango Blast, Javier Perez, and he was yelling at his guys to ignore the SWAT team, charge the barricade and enter the park.

His men were not that stupid, and they weren’t blind. They could see the solid wall of SWAT guys right in front of them. Shields up and MP5s pointed at them.

They didn’t follow Perez’s orders.

Couldn’t.

It was a suicide mission.

Tired and in need of more meds, my mood had deteriorated considerably. I needed to wrap this up and go home.

I hopped out of my truck and sauntered into the midst of the Tango gang and got close enough to the barricade to hear what was going on.

“Perez, take your men out of here before I arrest all of y’all,” hollered Farrell. “The park is closed, and if you come over that barrier, I’m gonna shoot the first guy over. You listening to me?”

Farrell raised his shotgun.

Didn’t faze any of the Tango Blast.

Perez moved forward and all of the Blast held firm behind their leader. They weren’t going anywhere with the boss heading for the barricade.

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