“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 hunters?” 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 along-side 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.
Chapter 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 prob-ably 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 Jack-al’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 ques-tions. 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 concoc-tion, 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.
Chapter 28
FORGIVENESS LIBERATES THE SOUL. IT REMOVES FEAR. THAT IS WHY IT IS SUCH A POWERFUL WEAPON -NELSON MANDELA
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.
I follow the voices and find myself in some sort of dining room type of thing, seeing men in vans flying out the doors and rushing towards the compound. “Widow, head to the roof and try to knock a few out on their way in. We know there’s bound to be more comin’ our way.” I do as my Prez asks and head up the stairwell that leads to the second level. Once I’m there, I’m having a hard problem trying to find out how to gain access to the roof, but that’s when I see it.
Through a window, I see a fire escape and immediately know it’s my golden ticket. Even on the second floor I hear fighting and go to the room. I see a female Jackal being pinned down on a desk with a man on top of her. Fuck! I can’t just stand by and let this shit happen. I rush up behind the motherfucker and wrap my arm around his neck, yanking him off her. I tighten my grip until he starts to get a little loopy and quickly place my hands on both sides of his neck, twisting sharply to the right. You’d think it would be harder to snap a man’s neck, but after doing it so many times, it’s become easy. It’s my signature move when shit goes down, to snap necks.
“You good?” I ask the girl. She’s still holding onto the desk for dear life, breathing in and out quickly like a panting dog would. Somethin’ tells me she’s never had that happen before, never let them get that close. “Yes, I. I’m okay. Thank you. He … used to be with us. I didn’t react the way I should’ve. I’m sorry that you had to interfere.”
“It’s alright.” I say to her, walking out of the room. I know it’s okay to leave her, she’s just in shock, but I have a job to do. I head towards the fire escape, opening the window and crawl out onto it, going up the stairwell until I’m at the top.
As I step onto the roof, I see that Tania is up here alone and a Vibora has their gun trained right on her. She’s not moving, knowing she’s caught in their fire and I react. It feels like slow motion as I raise my gun and aim for the Vibora’s head, but just like a few minutes ago, his body jolts as the bullet goes through his head. He falls to the ground and she looks over at me, snarling, “I didn’t need your help!”
I run up to her and slam my lips down onto hers quickly before pulling away. “You didn’t have that handled, sweetie. No way, no how.” I argue, going over to the side of the build-ing. I see more of them coming out of the vans and aim my gun, shooting whatever I can. They don’t fire at the roof for a minute, but when I need to re-load, they start firing every which way. I don’t even think these fuckers know where we are.
“Where’s the rest of the people that were supposed to be on the roof?” I bark out at her, giving her a glare along with it.
“They needed to help downstairs. Shit was getting heated. Hey! Don’t you glare at me like that, you wombat!” She snickers as she says it, and I’m not quite sure what she’s really calling me.
I slap in my new clip and chamber a round, peering over the wall, shooting any enemy within my range. I knock down five within a few minutes, and see Tania popping out a few bullets herself. “Thank fuck, I needed a little back up a minute ago!” I slide back down, shielding myself from any fire that may come my way, but so far, nothing does.
“What can I say? I was tired and you had it handled.” She snickers, all of a sudden turning her back, she lets out three shots and a snake hits the ground. Fuck, if that wasn’t the hottest thing I’ve seen in a while. That’s some straight Angelina Jolie shit.
There’s still no fire, so I peek back up and don’t see anyone else coming. “Are we clear?”
She looks over for a moment and nods her head, “Yep, our job is done it looks like. C’mon, they may need us downstairs.”
The two of us get up and head down the fire escape, gaining entry to the compound through the window. The compound is just as quiet as it was a few minutes ago and before I can say a word, Damon meets us at the bottom of the stairs. “Looks like we’re good here. Dixon, light this shit up. I don’t want them to have a home to come back to.”
“You got it, Prez.” Dixon tells Damon, pulling a pack of matches out from his pocket. “They have enough flammables that I won’t even have to try too hard.”
“Now what?” I ask Damon, wanting to hear what the plan is.
“We head out. Our work isn’t done. Whoever is staying at the club while we’re in Mexico needs to go back now. Ricardo needs to know we’re coming for him, and we’re chopping off the head of every snake we find.”
Chapter 29
SHE LOOKED DAISY SAFE, BUT SMELLED ROSE WILD. -ANONYMOUS
Widow
I’ve never had a Prez act so quickly in calling us back to action. He told us all to pack heavy, knowing that we’d be dealing with one hell of a fight and while we did, we managed to come out on top of it all.
Unlucky for me, we had to go back through the sewers to get to our bikes. Damon and the rest were able to get out in enough time to where the cops didn’t catch them, but word is that they were flying around town trying to figure out who brought mayhem to their streets. They should really be thanking us, considering we just saved them a fuck ton of issues for down the road.
It took us about six hours to get into Mexico, staying a couple towns over from where Damon and Pharaoh told us Ricardo would be held up. I still don’t know how they got their intel, but at the same time, I don’t ca
re. As long as we get the dude, why does it fuckin’ matter where the information came from? Damon’s original plan was to keep Booger back at the clubhouse, but he changed his mind all of a sudden. I don’t know why, but I think it has something to do with this being so personal. In place of Booger, Cobra stayed back at the clubhouse with Amara and Mouser.
We stopped at a hotel to crash for a few hours of shut eye, given that we were all grumpy motherfuckers and needed it. I’ll tell ya, as I age, it’s not easy doing these long rides anymore. Kills my fuckin’ back more than anything. Before we left, I sent a quick text off to Melody telling her that I’d be away for a couple days while I was handling some business. She can read in between the lines. She’s been part of this life before and knows that I’m on a run, one that I can’t discuss with her.
“How are we handlin’ this? Long and drawn out for givin’ us hell, or quick and easy?” I ask Damon. We’re standing outside the hotel, both of us smoking a cigarette, which is something he rarely does.
He turns his head in my direction, “I want to get in and out of here as quickly as possible. My uncle doesn’t know we’re here, and it’s better if it stays that way. As far as I’m concerned, Booger has dibs to whatever happens to Ricardo. We need to remember that the club was threatened by my uncle, which means something is going to be coming. What that is? I have no idea. I just know that once we’re done with this battle, we’re going to have to face another.”
“Why do you always have to look at the negative in every situation?” I chuckle, shaking my head. “There might not be anything coming our way. You don’t know that’s going to happen.”
Damon gives me a look, one that shakes me to my core. “Have you ever known my father to not deliver on a promise?”
“No.” I reply. Roman has never failed to keep his promises, even if they were threats.
Havoc- Reapers MC Boxset Page 68