“Fuck …” Nikolai mutters.
I glare at him, “You did this without asking me!?”
“No, I didn’t get her a French Bulldog. I got a Shar Pei … she’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Mommy! Nikolai! Look!” Zoe gets up, running over to the two of us. “Daddy got me a puppy! His name is Cerberus. Isn’t he the cutest!?”
I take a look at the cute little pup, he’s a bluish gray color and is pretty stinking cute. “He’s adorable, and you wanna know the best part?” Nikolai asks her.
“No, what’s that?”
Nikolai smiles, “Cerberus won’t have to be by himself for long. I might have gotten your momma a puppy of her own, a little girl in fact and she’ll be here tomorrow.”
“Oh my goodness! Momma! We each have a puppy!” Zoe wraps her arms around me and holds on tight, and as I hear the scraping of nails against my tile floor, all I can do is just smile.
Widow comes around the corner and smirks at Zoe, darting off into the dining room with her small pup running behind her. “She told me how much she missed Bubbles. I’m sorry if I overstepped.”
I shake my head from side to side, “No, it’s okay. You didn’t. She needed this.”
It’s times like this that make me think we’re figuring out this co-parenting thing, and we’re not half bad at it if you ask me.
26
If you know you’re going home, the journey is never too hard.
-Anonymous
Widow
“Well, look at what the cat dragged in.” Kat says with a shit eating smile on her face as Camila and Boog come through the clubhouse door. Camila drops her bags and runs up to Kat, wrapping her arms around her. I’ll say, Kat has never really struck me as the lovey dovey type, but there’s something unique about the friendship she has with Camila. I reckon it’s because those two have been through a lot of similar shit.
I get up from my chair and walk up to Booger, giving him a brotherly hug. “How did the road treat you?”
He shrugs, “Not too bad. Felt like it took forever to get back home, though.”
“Are you just sayin’ that because you were excited to see us?” I fuck around with him. There’s no doubt in my mind that these two missed being here.
“Of course we did, spider!” There Camila goes again, calling me that damn nickname of hers. “While it was nice to see parts of the United States I haven’t seen before and get to know Boog’s mother, I missed being here with you all. You’re all my family, and I missed you dearly. You did too, right Boog?”
“Maybe.” Slips out of his mouth and I chuckle, slapping him on the back of the shoulder.
“We missed your snotty ass too, brother. It just wasn’t the same without ya. Now, I’m glad you’re both back because we’ve got a fuckton of shit to update you on.”
I take it upon myself to update Boog and Camila on what’s been happening these last few weeks, even mixing my own personal shit in on it. I’d have to end up telling them both soon anyway, and why waste anymore time? I even go into the fact we’ll be hitting up the last Vibora compound tonight.
“Finally, I want a piece of these motherfuckers. Y’all have had your fun while we’ve been up in Iowa farming.”
“It wasn’t that bad, Booger.” Camila chastises him in the middle of having her own side conversation with Kat. Those two for sure have a unique bond, but it’s just interesting to watch them interact. Kat is pretty quiet, always keeping back in the shadows, constantly around but always observing. I bet it has something to do with the fact she was a prisoner with the Demons of Hell for all those years, and the fact that we’re here … in the same place she was for so long. Shit, now that has to fuck with her. She may be our Prez’s ol’lady, but she’s not like any type of ol’lady I’ve ever been around.
Those bitches love cooking for us, makin’ sure we’re dandy and all that shit. Kat is mostly a fend for yourself type of woman, but when it comes to the club BBQ’s, I see her step up.
“You two better go find Damon. He’s going to wanna talk to you both about what to expect later.” Kat says to Booger and I.
I yank out my phone and see the time, agreeing with Kat, I move my head to the right and signal Booger that we need to get a move on. We’re going to strike the last compound tonight, and I know he wants in on the action. I can’t blame him for that. He’s been cooped up North for a while and just wants to get some of his own justice. After all, this fucking gang is only after us because Ricardo recognized Camila.
It’s no secret that she had a rough past and was taken advantage of, like many people are. I don’t know every detail, but I get that both Kat and Camila were in similar situations. I bet those two were able to bond over it.
I know Damon wasn’t in the club, so there’s really one other place he’d be – his house. Booger and I walk up to his house and I knock on the front door. Damon opens the door with a toothbrush in his mouth and signal’s us both to come in. He disappears down his hallway and comes back out a minute later, with no toothbrush in tow.
“Nice to see you back, brother.” He says to Booger, pulling him into a hug. “Has Widow left me the hard part, or has he explained a lot of what happened as of late?”
“He gave me the short version and filled me in. Jackal’s are teaming up with us to take down Ricardo and that piece of shit gang. Vinny is a dude who works for us. Onyx is a pimp who has prostitutes and is staying with the club for protection. She has a couple of girls here on standby for the brothers, but for the rest, they live here in their house but go out into Vegas to get work. We get a cut of the work they do. Shit, I feel like you two forgot I was here for some stuff, but I appreciate the refresher.”
“Figured you needed it with all the shit you were cleanin’ up in Iowa. I hear crap kills brain cells. Just had to make sure you were still up in there.” I smack his head a couple times for amusement. Out of the Reapers, Booger is one of the ones who I was immediately able to get along with. Lucky for me, the ones who didn’t really care for me are still up in Montana.
“Okay, enough fuckin’ around. We need to go over the plan for tonight.” Damon speaks up, an authoritative tone taking over. “We’re pretty fuckin’ lucky cause these idiots have their last compound within city limits. It makes getting to them a hell of a lot easier, but it means we have more obstacles to look out for as well. Cops will probably be hangin’ around cause they know who’s in the area, so we have to be careful.”
I cross my arms and listen as Damon continues to speak. “We’re not just gonna go barreling in through their front door. I’m gonna hit these motherfuckers at all angles, that means their front door, their back door, the fuckin’ roof and underground.”
“Underground?” Booger and I say at the same time, sharing a concerned look. There’s only one way we’d be able to get in from underground … and if he’s thinkin’ what I think he is … fuck no!
“Do you realize what kind of atrocity you’d be committing by getting shit on Cobra’s body? Fuck, man. You ask him, he’ll tell you.” I say to Damon, waiting to hear what response he’s gonna give me. He wants us to get access through the sewer lines, like we’re in some Hunger Games level bullshit.
“Cobra won’t be going into the sewers.” Damon states. I want to curse, but I don’t. Cobra is the smallest dude here. He can get in and out of places quicker than anything. Dude should’ve been chosen for that shit, no pun intended. “I’m speaking to you both about it because you two will be taking that access point. Chaz and Dixon will be taking the front with a couple of Jackals as their backup. You’ll have a couple of Jackals with you two, and I’ll be taking the back with Hawk. Amara, Pharaoh and Sphynx will be taking the rooftop.”
“So … if I’m not forgetting anyone, that’ll leave Mouser here.”
“It sure will.”
“Who the fuck is Mouser?” Booger asks.
“He’s the new Prospect, his dad is an old time Reaper. You know, the one whose family are bounty hunter
s?” I reply.
Booger nods his head, obviously forgetting about our latest addition.
I’ll ask the question that everyone else is thinking. “We really leaving that dude here to protect the clubhouse by himself?”
Damon gives me a look that tells me he thinks I’m an idiot. “Do you think I’m dumb? Of course he’s not gonna be here by himself. A few of the Jackal’s are staying back just in case shit gets real, and just so everyone here is aware, I’ve been teaching Kat how to handle herself in case she ever runs into trouble. While I understand Fist would rather the women hide in the bunker for their protection, especially when there’s ever a time where kids are involved … I don’t agree. Our girls need to be able to defend themselves in the situation that we aren’t here to do it for them.”
“Agreed, which is why I started teaching Camila how to shoot out in Iowa. She can handle pretty much everything. Just for the love of God don’t give her anything crazy like an AK-47.”
“I think we’ll just give her a couple of glocks.” I respond, chuckling as I imagine that Latina woman holding anything with that much juice.
Damon coughs, “Speaking of that, make sure your silencers are on. Since we’re going to be in the city, we need to make sure we’re being careful. I don’t want anyone raining on our parade, or to have any interruptions. This is our time to show the Vibora scum that they’re not welcome here, and I don’t plan on leaving anyone alive. Now, you two get out of my house. I’ll meet y’all outside in an hour to go over our strategy.”
I exit through Damon’s door and Booger follows alongside me. “It’s nice to know y’all weren’t sitting around with your thumbs up your ass.”
“Did you really think we weren’t doing anything?”
He chuckles, “No, brother. Just fuckin’ around with ya.”
I shake my head at our club comic. I hope he cuts the jokes out soon, though. We’re about to be goin’ in hot pretty soon, and that’s no place for fuckin’ around.
27
Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
-Sun Tzu
Widow
Damon instructed us on what we were to do, giving us each our plan of attack. He told Boog and I the gist of it when we were in his house, but gave us a more detailed plan when he met with all of us. A few Jackal’s are staying back at the club to watch over it, plus our girls have some heat they’re packing as well. We didn’t give Onyx or any of her girls guns, because they’re pretty crazy bitches, but they’re going to stay underground in the bunker until the coast is clear.
The group of us leave the club in formation, splitting up when we get to the city limits. Don’t ask me how, but Cobra was able to get a blueprint of the sewer lines, which is probably how he got out of having to do this himself. Instead, Booger and I get to walk around in the slum with a couple of the Jackals.
We head down a small street a couple blocks away from where the Vibora’s final compound is, and pull off in a back alley. The two of us park our bikes to the side while the Jackal’s park the car they borrowed from the club.
I look down on the street and see the hunk of metal that we’re going to have to pull up. “Did you bring it?” I ask Booger, hoping the bastard didn’t forget. If he did, it’s going to make our life more difficult.
“Have it right here.” He replies, holding the tool that he needs to insert in the holes of the manhole. It’s going to act as a handle so that we can lift it and get inside. He slides them in, moves it a little to the right and waves me over. I put my hand on part of the handle, pulling it up with him. Shit, this motherfucker is heavy. I didn’t think it would be this heavy, they make it look so damn easy in the movies. We’re able to get the cover off and leave it a couple of feet away.
As I look over, I see one of the Jackal’s dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt with a construction vest on. “Uh, wanna tell me what you’re wearing?”
The dude looks up at me, and I have to remind myself that the only ones who continuously wear masks are Sphynx and Pharaoh. For some reason, I can’t get it out of my head that the other Jackal’s don’t give a fuck. Or at least, they don’t look like they give a fuck. It’s more important to protect their Pharaoh’s and Sphynx’s identities.
He walks to the trunk of the car and pulls out some bright orange cones, construction tape and a couple other things. “I’m staying up here and keeping anyone from asking questions. It would be fabulous if we all went down and some motherfucker covered the manhole back up.” Shit, dude has a point.
“Alright.” I nod, looking to the rest of them. “Everyone else, we’d better get going. We have to make it through the sewers and who knows what’s down there. Remember, silencers on. We need to be stealthy about it.” Just as I speak, I see two of the Jackal’s show me their knives.
“We understand stealth. Don’t worry. I doubt we’ll even use our glocks.”
Shit, sometimes I wonder who it is that we’ve gone into bed with so to speak. Damon knows best though, and I won’t judge him for that.
I’m the first one who goes down into the sewers, using the ladder attached inside to get myself down. I pull out my cell phone and put on the flashlight so we can see, just as Booger and the Jackal’s make their way down. Booger pulls the blueprint up on his phone. “Jesus, this place smells!”
“No, shit, Sherlock.” I grumble, I don’t like the smell of this place any more than he does, but we have to suck it up and continue on.
“Okay, we head down this way.” He mutters, putting his arm in front of his face. I take a step aside and let Booger lead the way, trying to be on the lookout for some shit, or rats.
“I’m sure we were supposed to put on some type of gear to protect us against whatever germs have been festering down here.” One of the female Jackals says.
I turn back to look at her while continuing to follow Booger, “Well, it’s too late now sweetheart. I’m sure it won’t kill us. We’ve all been through much worse.”
She nods her head once, “Touché.”
I’ve seen a lot of movies where people have had to go into the sewer system to handle shit like this, no pun intended, and it looks pretty much the same. We’re in a giant pipe that has stinky ass water running through the center. On both sides, there’s somewhat of a concrete walkway, but every few steps you have to watch out because it runs over the concrete. There’s no telling what’s in that watery concoction, so there’s no way I’m going to be stepping in it.
“We go down this way.” Booger speaks out of nowhere, jumping to the other side of the concrete. We follow him on his path, leading us down the sewer system until he comes to a complete halt.
“Are we here already?” I ask, hoping we are. I can’t handle smelling any more of this.
Booger nods once, “We sure are.” He heads up the ladder and I’m right behind him as he pushes on the manhole cover. Every time he pushes, nothing happens. It’s like it’s fuckin’ stuck. “Motherfucker!” He snarls.
“What’s the matter?” I ask him, looking up. I’m seeing what the problem is, it isn’t budging.
“The cover isn’t moving, no matter what I do. I’m not a weak son of a bitch, either.” He’s right. It’s not like we go to the gym and see how much another can bench, but Booger should be able to handle getting this off.
Out of nowhere, I hear the distinct sound of a silencer. It’s interesting that while they’re called silencers, it doesn’t mean that there’s no sound. There is a type of sound that goes off, it’s just a bit different.
“Fuck! They’ve already started, and we need to figure out how to get out of here.” I hiss, but out of nowhere, the manhole cover comes off. The light blinds me for a moment, but as my eyes re-acclimate to the light, I see one bastard smirking down at me. I have a feeling we were being fucked with the entire time.
28
Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon
-Nelson Man
dela
Widow
“It’s nice of you to show up and join the party. Fuck, y’all get lost down there? I just had to fuck with you a bit.” Cobra chuckles, extending a hand to help each of us up.
Just as I get out of the manhole, I see someone who must be a Vibora and react as quickly as possible. I pull my glock out of the back of my pants and fire. From the look on Cobra’s face, he didn’t have a clue this bastard was behind him. “Thanks, brother.”
“No thanks needed.” I tell him, walking past him into the man fire. I hear shots going off left and right, seeing Jackals and Reapers running in multiple directions. Every now and again, I hear nothing but complete silence, and that’s when I move. I move the moment I see opportunity. This isn’t my first rodeo and I know that when it’s quiet, it either means that they’re reloading, out of bullets, or they’re dead.
Like the sick bastard I am, I’m just hoping that they’re re-loading. I just got to the party and want to get my hands a little bloody too. This gang fucked with us, and we’re not going to let them win. “Check your six!” I hear Booger holler my way, and turn to see a snake with their gun on me. Unlucky for them, I’m a quicker shot and pull my trigger, watching as the bullet knocks through their skull and he goes flying back.
I give Booger a head lift, showing him my appreciation before heading in the back door of their compound. It’s nestled in the city, but it looks like this is more of the ghetto area. No surprise this is where they would house their compound. I’m sure they have fuckers coming in left and right trying to join them, just itching to stir up a little bit of trouble.
I make my way in and see body after body. There’s no doubt that Cobra was right. We were late to the party, but we can’t be too late because I’m still hearing people in a scuffle. “Prez! They’re comin’ in hot out front!” I hear Dixon yell to Damon, followed by the stomping feet.
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