Coder: Book Five (Princes of Prophecy)

by L. Ann Marie

She’s cute. “I’ll let you know or Josè will send an old lady text.”

  I get a kiss that leaves me hard and put her down growling. “The Club tonight. Bring clothes to leave there.” Her eyes smolder and I have to look away. Jesus I’m ready to lay her across the table with Mucimi sitting right here with his eggs. I look at my watch. “Too early for a nap.”

  She laughs. “Go to work. I’ll see you at the Club.” She gives me her smiling eyes. “That is, if you can’t make it home for nap time.”

  “Sonofabitch,” I say under my breath as I grab my bag and walk out to her laughing.

  In Ops I sit at the center console and look at what came in from last night. The women from the club are all made in Pawtucket. Most are attached to foot soldiers, except for the bitch that was dogging Holly and the big one that wouldn’t let her pass – they are both attached to second level thugs. If they’re involving their women, we need to be prepared for them to defend today. I add them to the spreadsheet marked as a threat.

  “Brantley. My meeting room,” Prez pops on the monitor.

  I close everything out and bring my bag into the meeting room. “Did you just get here?” Darren asks when I walk in.

  I look at my watch. “Forty-five minutes ago.” I get a coffee, sit at the computer and bring the board up.

  Prez walks in with VP and Pres. “What do we have from the club last night?”

  I throw chin showing respect and answer. “I just finished putting the connections on the board. All but two are attached to foot soldiers. The other two are attached to second level thugs. I marked them as a threat because they were used last night.”

  Uncle Steve looks at me. “Not nervous anymore. Always been good. Not nervous – you’re better.” I throw him chin. Holy fuck. He laughs. I push my thoughts away and look at Prez who’s smiling.

  Pres stands closer to the board. “The hackers didn’t add anything to Pawtucket?”

  I shake my head. “No Pres. Every lead was West Coast.”

  Jamie and Kevin come in. “Jared is set for thirty.”

  Set for thirty. They’re leaving? I turn back to the computer until the door opens again. Uncle Danny and Geek come in.

  Pres looks at everyone once they’re seated. “I’ll send Cloud to pick up Amanda once Pawtucket is clear. HS and Security are already home and Jake’s giving them the plan. The first munitions truck is in Attleboro, the second is on its way – they’re waiting for the order to move in. That happens when we’re all in place. PD will pick up from Clean-up so we can take who we want and drop the rest. They are preparing body bags and have a statement ready for the gang war that’s happening today. A freeze of Ortiz’s accounts will hit at nine when the banks open on this coast. We have jammers set to turn on at nine. Nothing gets out until we’re ready for it to.” Holy shit. How the fuck did they get jammers set so fast? Pres goes on, but it’s all logistics covered in the outline.

  When everyone stands I shut the board down. We’ll use just the Pawtucket and connections board in Ops. The last thing we need is our intel leaked. VP looks at me. “Better.” I smile and push every thought from my head.

  Everyone is good luck’d and man hugged. When they leave Prez sits down. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop getting orders. Thank fuck it isn’t every day.”

  Darren laughs. “Nope. They leave us alone most of the time. It’s good to have them here to verify what we already know. Especially on the big things. It would be fuckin’ hard to take Ortiz down on the other side of the country alone. We could, but we chance losing Brothers being spread so thin. Thank God they show for the big shit.”

  Prez looks at him considering that. I think he’s right. I missed the hackers and two planes. That could have gotten Brothers killed. Prez nods at him. “You’re right. It’s worth it when we can work it together. It shows we’re still remembering our fathers. Never leave an option on the table. Pres always uses everything he has. I need to do the same. Is HS ready?”

  Darren smiles. “Yeah Prez. They’re eating breakfast. Brantley will get them the plan when they head downstairs.”

  I sit up and look at them. “Someone going to give me the plan?”

  “Fuck. I was surprised you had the board ready and forgot.” He slides a folder over to me. I smile at him. I don’t get many chances to surprise Prez.

  “Every fuckin’ day is a surprise with you Brother.”

  I throw him chin and open the file skimming it fast, it seems pretty straight forward. MC has three HS teams and we have four. They have two extra Security Teams and we both have two on Clean-up. They split the city into grids and I open it to see PD’s perimeter lines with us on south-east and MC in north-west. When I’m done I look up. They’re watching me. “Just waiting for those words of wisdom to come falling out of your mouth,” Darren says.

  Shit head. “If MC sent trucks we should check the size. Tractor trailers aren’t going to work.”

  “Why?” Prez loses the smile.

  “These roads are alleys and short blocks. The trucks will get jammed up trying to make turns with cars everywhere. This is an old city with small roads. The area we’re in is old.”

  He looks at Darren. “Get two pickups to distribute and find me a place to park the trucks. How the fuck do you know that?” he asks looking at me.

  “The grids. It’s right here.” I show him the grids in the file.

  He looks closer then at me. “Every fuckin’ day.” He shakes his head and stands to leave.

  I get everything back in the file and follow them out. “What’s the bet on time?”

  Darren looks back. “My dad has three hours. No one is going against him.”

  I think about it. “I’ll go five.”

  Prez stops. “Why?”

  “Traffic, the women throwing the Brothers off. The drops for PD pickups and no one knows the roads. They’ll all need to be directed.”

  He pulls his phone. “Me, Darren and Brantley for five.”

  I laugh and walk around him going into Ops. At the center console I pull up Pawtucket’s grids and look closer at our area. There’s no way a truck can maneuver around these streets. There are two one ways going the same way running parallel coming from another one way. Maybe I should have went for six hours.

  Darren comes in and looks at the grid. “Fuck.” He calls for the Team leads to go over the roads and two supply trucks to make their way to Attleboro.

  “VP, I can call Chad at Plumber’s Depot. Their loading docks are fenced and we can off load closer to our grids.” He looks at the grids. Chad is seven blocks away. I get a nod as he talks to the pickups.

  Chad gives us a yes and Prez moves the trucks. I ask Prez what’s in the trucks that it takes tractors to haul. “Each have six spare bikes.”

  Clean-up normally carries two but twelve? We don’t travel for Ops, maybe they know something we don’t.

  Pres pops on my OC. “Prez, Pres is on.” He walks over giving me the nod to open it.

  “You moved the trucks?” He’s not happy.

  “Yeah Pres, the roads are too small for a truck to maneuver and they’re fucked with one ways all over the place. We have them seven blocks away behind a fence to off load and pickups on the way to run supplies. I would have called, but you were in the air.”

  Pres looks to his left. “Anything else we missed?”

  I bite my cheek and look up at the board. Prez moves his foot and I know he’s standing on one of them. “The women are marked as threat. We need to make sure HS gets what that means.” He stops when Pres waves his hand.

  “We’ve dealt with women before.” He throws chin and is gone.

  He didn’t wait for Prez to finish. I look up at Prez and he’s pissed. Fuck. He bends from the waist and breathes. “Get Billy and Jason in early. I want you running Ops lead and control lead. It’s going to be one of those fuckin’ days.”

  I pull my phone and make the calls wondering why Pres would leave anything undone. I’ve never seen that before.
/>   “VP get me an extra Security team and a truck to transport to PD. Dakota, you feel like flying today?”

  Dakota smiles. “Every day Prez, but I feel the need deep today.” The hair on the back of my neck stands up.

  “Get to the hangar and keep Abel at the ready.”

  Dakota starts moving to the door. “On it Prez.”

  “I want all Ops leads in.”

  Darren looks at me, but answers, “Roger Prez.” He tells Josiah to get the leads in.

  At the back table Prez pulls the laptop and looks at the hologram board.

  Jessie moves close to me and VP. “What the fuck is my dad pissed at?”

  “We moved the trucks and have pickups transporting supplies,” I tell him.

  He looks at the grids. “VP will get it. There’s no way trucks will make the streets on low traffic days. Today isn’t a low traffic day.”

  I nod and look at Darren. “I’ll call VP before we have another Dakota debacle,” he says and Jessie laughs.

  “Seriously Brother? Debacle?”

  “Fuck off. Don’t you have a job to do?” Darren walks away pulling his phone.

  I watch Jessie. He looks between Darren and Prez then to me. “Debacle, it’s funny.”

  I smile at him and turn. I hear him talking to Taylor, Sheila and Aaron. He’s a smart Brother, but I don’t think anyone realizes how smart. He’s studied historic battles and bitches about history repeating itself when the same mistakes are made by uneducated leaders. I loved debating with him when we were kids. Debacle is not a word that would throw him. He’s trying to ease some tension, but he’s preparing the Team leads just in case history tries to repeat itself.

  My OC pops. “Prez, I got VP.” He walks over and I open for him.

  “Fuckin’ smart seein’ layout. I’m runnin’ the bridge to you. Run your Op watchin’ ours. I’ll do the same. On together so nothin’s missed.”

  Prez smiles. “Roger VP.”

  “Brantley get me on a board. Geek get Little Ben on a board.” I pop him on and move the OC camera to the top of the console. Geek gives me close to the same view for VP. “Twenty.” He throws chin and is gone.

  “Thank fuck. I never thought it would be my dad,” he says walking to the Ops leads. I throw chin to Darren and follow Prez.

  ***

  With everyone in place we have five minutes until HS rolls from the lot a half a mile away from their grids.

  Dakota calls into Prez. “With all the excitement I failed to mention the electricity will be shut off for six hours today. Pawtucket has some problem or another that will be dealt with in that time.”

  I clench my jaw. Fuckin’ Dakota. Prez is surprised. “You couldn’t tell me that sooner?”

  “I did not want to spoil the surprise Prez and another issue needed to work itself out. It did. Eagle Eye standing ready”

  Prez laughs. “Fuckin’ Brothers.” VP is watching, but doesn’t react. He’s red.

  Darren is running Aaron’s team. Chevy is with Taylor. Eliza with Sheila, and Jason with Jessie. I watch all control leads and give support while keeping up with any intel we can gather. Billy is my tech for the Op.

  Prez is watching VP. “Ops Leads roll on my one.” He gets a nod. “Three, two, one.” Everyone is giving the order and I watch the boards.

  Me: “Traffic lights just went down.”

  ‘Fuck’ can be heard from everywhere. I watch the teams ride single file by cars and across an intersection with Aaron’s Team stopping traffic so the rest can ride through. No way will it be three hours. I look at the MC board and see Rayne doing the same. “Billy, get ready to pull faces and match them with our list.”

  Prez: “Jammers are set.” The Leads give it to their Teams.

  Jessie makes it to our grid and stops at the first tenement. They move quickly. I have only body cams to see inside and split the Team on a board of six over Jason. I set the boards for the other teams over their control’s consoles. I hear a shot and look through the body cam boards. Cade is against the wall by the door then swings in shooting. Jesus this is the first house. You’d think dealers would be asleep at nine in the morning.

  Jessie: “Ghost clear.” He hands a pussy off to HS25 and runs up the stairs.

  Prez: “Princes C1 pick up at Ghost’s location.” Bull rogers him and HS25 hits the pussy with an elbow to the head to get him in the truck.

  I scan the boards. Sheila has two and Prez calls for a pick up and Clean-up. I see a woman from the club and tell Chevy.

  Chevy: “Sniper watch the woman in red.” I hold my breath when she turns and shoots.

  Taylor: “Sniper clear.” The pussy being cuffed goes fuckin’ nuts screaming about shooting his bitch. Taylor shoots him. “Sniper clear. We need Clean-up.”

  I scan the boards and see Aaron shooting on the street. I watch the building around him and switch to the alley view.

  Me: “VP, two coming up the east side of the building.”

  Darren: “Shooter, two on the east in four.” Aaron clicks shooting at the pussy in the window and moves walking straight up the sidewalk. When the pussies get to the edge of the building they point their guns ‘gangsta style’ walking out. Aaron hits them both before they fire. Holding guns sideways did nothing for them.

  Aaron: “Shooter clear. I need Clean-up.” He runs into the house and I look at Darren.

  Prez holds his mic. “Fuckin’ kid.”

  I scan and see we have a pick up problem. “Bull, what do you need?”

  He looks over. “Another truck. The drop to the PD is stuck in traffic.”

  Prez looks over and scans his boards. Then at the lot where the MC munitions trucks are. “Get the pickup empty and use it for transport.” He gets roger’d and scans all the boards. “Bull, pull two from perimeter and use them to hold for pickup at the southwest corner of grid twenty-eight and set the supply truck to bounce between us and the MC.” Bull looks at his board and rogers smiling.

  Everything moves smoothly from there. Aaron makes some impressive shots causing Darren to smile. I notice he clicks before them instead of answering. At four hours in we’re clear. They have everyone from our list cleared and two added to it including another bitch from the club. Prez tells VP and he scans our boards. Our teams are reloading at the supply truck. I scan the MC boards and see they still have four on the list and have four they added.

  VP: “Get Ghost on last. LP1’s movin’ on first. Need morgue transport to PD.”

  Prez: “Roger VP.”

  Jason: “Ghost, I’m sending your next location.”

  Jessie: “I thought we cleared.” He’s looking at his hologram board on the bike’s shield.

  Prez: “MC has traffic issues we’re clearing their list from the bottom.”

  Jessie: “Roger Prez.”

  His team rides three blocks toward the next location. I pull the feeds and scan. “Jason watch his six. They’re waiting.”

  Jason: “Ghost, they’re waiting for you, nothing is moving in a two block radius.”

  Prez: “Chevy, get Sniper over to Ghost’s location coming in east. VP, move Shooter west. Kicker, move She Dog south.” He gets roger’d then tells Josiah to bring Dakota in over the buildings. I look and see nothing moving, but he must know something.

  Jason: “Team One hold where you are until HS Teams are in place.”

  Prez: “Leads split your Teams and get the back covered.” VP scans our boards then looks at Prez. “They were warned.” VP nods and looks back at his boards. When everyone is standing ready Prez scans one last time. “Roll on my one Ops leads. Three, two, one.” They give the order. I watch as Taylor and Jessie walk right in the back and Aaron and Sheila come down the road in the front. They are all fuckin’ fearless. Shots are coming from everywhere. Sheila and Aaron make the front door as the teams are shooting every open window in the building. Everyone is guiding their leads and I hear the leads guiding their Teams. It’s impressive to see and hear. I pull feeds and scan constantly givin
g the controls what they need and pointing out where to watch for threats.

  Dakota: “Eagle Eye to Ops, two pussies coming up on the roof from the fire escape.”

  Prez: “Clear them Eagle Eye. HS is busy below.” Before he says ‘below’, the pussies fall.

  Dakota: “Eagle Eye clear.” I smile watching the helicopter feed move away.

  Prez: “I need Clean-up, Bull.” He gets roger’d and I watch the truck move in. He looks at the MC boards. “VP, I have your last three and added three.”

  VP: “LP1’s next block comin’ toward you.” Shots are fired from two buildings down. Uncle Danny rides right up to the store front shooting. Digs comes up right behind him. VP is issuing orders and our HS moves in with them. No one here said a word. I’m moving body cams to boards and see it’s women. Fuckin’ women. It takes four minutes to have them dead or cuffed and we get a clear.

  Prez: “Good job Princes. Stand ready until Clean-up and pick up are clear.” He gets roger’d and I scan boards.

  Billy looks over. “Coder, I have the faces matched and hits from California here on the added.”

  What? I roll my chair to him and look. All but two that were added are from the West Coast. “Prez, they were planning something or expecting us.”

  He comes over and looks at the monitor. “Send it to Geek. Nice catch Billy.”

  At the center console I add the names to the connection board and put it up, then send it to Geek.

  I scan, the Teams are ready to roll out. Uncle Danny has everyone laughing because he’s hungry and missed lunch. Since he’s not pissed, he’s not too hungry. We all laugh when VP tells him to pick up their lunch on the way in. It’s already ordered.

  VP: “Good you had our backs. Fuckin’ good job Princes. Pres’ll want a meet for West Coast connection. We’ll do video at four.”

  Prez throws him chin and the feed is cut. He looks at Darren and I check our boards. “The pussies we collected need to go into holding.” I miss his signing, but watch him the rest of the time so I don’t miss any other shit. “Make sure they aren’t tracked. I want information before the meet.” Darren rogers him walking toward Bull. “Leads stay with your teams until they’re in. Lunch is waiting in the break room. Josiah, I need Dakota here when he sets down. I want Abel up on surveillance. Give him a block of three then fresh eyes up.” He gets rogers and walks toward the door. “Brantley, I need you in my meeting room with Billy.”