Barshan (Bratva Blood Brothers Book 3)

by K. J. Dahlen

  Charlie just stared at them for a moment then grabbing the notebook wrote a question of her own.

  Pushing the notebook toward Bull, he read what she wrote. Looking over at Judge, he repeated what she wrote. “She wants to know why you want to know about her.”

  Judge studied her for a moment then decided to tell her the truth, or as much of the truth as he could, “These men and I formed a team of Special Forces over in the Iraq desert seven years ago. I was team leader and Bull, Hawk, Mustang, and two other men made up the team. We were doing what we do best, fighting the enemy of our country. We were going after a man who thought he was better than we were. His name was Salim Malik. Salim’s mistake was working with the ISIS bastards. They were very bad extremists who would just as soon shoot you as to look at you. Even their own people hated them. He thought they would protect him with their guns and grenades. He thought they would be loyal to him and him alone. He thought because he paid them, they would take a bullet for him if it ever became necessary.”

  Charlie listened and looked around

  The men at the table nodded.

  “We didn’t know it at the time but Salim also trafficked drugs. He would ship them overseas and somehow, those drugs found their way to our shores. His poison was killing the kids on our streets but we didn’t know that at the time. Five years ago, we caught up with Salim and there was a hellish battle. We lost two of our men and Bull was all shot up. We killed Salim and another of his men and several members of ISIS but we lost more than we wanted to, when we lost Blue Baby and Pony. We did manage to shut down Salim’s pipeline for a little while but it was back up and running within a few months. Due to the ambush, we were forced to retire from active service and we all came home. Bull went his own way and the rest of us began our own group. We were all sick of the drug trade and decided to track it and break the drug lines we found here at home. We weren’t going to let our fallen friends die in vain so we took up the fight here. We were just starting to piece things together. It’s taken us this long to uncover what we did because we had no clue where to start our search. We also had to be very careful with our research, as we didn’t want to tip our hand to these animals so it’s been a long slow road. We’ve got some of the players but we need to find the big ones. The wheelers and dealers.”

  Judge paused as Charlie wrote something down in the notebook. When she turned the paper to him, he read it. “Yeah, like Conrad Bane and the River Ratz. We’ve been watching them for a while now. We know how they are getting their stuff we just don’t know who is sending it or where it’s coming from.”

  Charlie sat there for a long time. She didn’t meet anyone’s eyes, she just sat there thinking. Then she made up her mind and raised her head to look Judge in the eyes. Reaching for the notebook, she wrote for a while. When she finished she felt exhausted. She turned the book toward Judge and got to her feet.

  Bull rose with her and helped her to the stairway. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her up the flight of steps and over to the bed. Setting her on the floor, he helped her lay down. Sitting on the side of the bed, he covered her with the blanket. “You know I’ll never let anyone hurt you don’t you?” he asked.

  Charlie turned her face to look at him. After a moment, she shrugged as if to ask him why.

  “I don’t know who put you in my truck or why but when I found you, you became mine to protect.”

  Charlie began shaking her head at his statement. She paused and grabbed her throat. Closing her eyes, a tear slid down her cheek.

  “Don’t you shake your head at me little girl,” Bull warned her as he gently brushed the tear away with his thumb. “I decided and there’s nothing you can do about it. I know you may not want my protection but you’ve got it. Not only mine but all those other men will protect you as well. Whoever hurt you, will never touch you again. You told me earlier, the River Ratz did this to you, well they will never get close enough to hurt you again. I don’t know if you have family or not but it doesn’t matter.”

  Charlie shook her head when he mentioned family.

  “Well, you’ve got one now.” He smiled. “Now you belong to the Brava Victor team.”

  Charlie shook her head slowly. She belonged to no one, never had probably never would.

  “You may not want to but you do. Right now, Judge thinks you can help with this mission and so do I. As much as we’d like your help, we are not going to force you to do it. These men are trying to stop a drug pipeline. One that’s bringing nothing but death to the kids on the streets. Kids who are too messed up to know better. Their lives matter to these men and I know the Brava Victor team, they won’t stop until the mission is complete.”

  Charlie sat back and listened to his words. She could help them but did she really want to? That was something only she could decide. She had to weigh the pros and cons of what they wanted her to do with what she wanted to have happen.

  “I know Judge comes across to heavy at times,” Bull continued. “But he’s a good man. They have some of the answers but not everything. They need help connecting the dots so it makes sense to the law. I know they would appreciate any help you could give them. In return, they can help you too.”

  Charlie looked around and found another notebook. For a moment, she scratched out a question. When she was done, she handed him the paper.

  Bull looked down and frowned at the question on the paper. Then he looked at her and grunted. “Why did I leave the team?” hesitating for a moment he asked her softly, “Are you sure you want to know?”

  Charlie nodded.

  Chapter Four

  Bull exhaled a deep breath. He tried to turn away from her but she cupped his chin and turned him back so she could see his face. “I left the team because it was me who got Pony and Blue killed. I hesitated when the shooting started and that hesitation got two very good members of our team killed.”

  Charlie shook her head.

  Bull snorted and went on, “Oh yes, I got my friends killed because I hesitated to shoot a woman holding a gun in her hands. I’ve been taught all my life that men protect women at any cost. When that woman came out of the hut with a gun in her hand and began shooting, I hesitated to shoot her down. Pony caught one of her bullets. I had to watch as the bullet tore through his chest. Then I had to watch as Blue Baby ran to him to drag him to safety take a shot to his head. I didn’t start shooting back until they both were down. I was surrounded in a red haze by then and I couldn’t stop shooting. I think when everything stopped, there were over thirty bodies on the ground covered in blood. I didn’t even feel the two bullets I took. For a moment nothing made sense to me, I couldn’t hear any sound. I think I was dazed for a long time. Then suddenly, I could hear every sound and the noise was overwhelming. I kind of went a little nuts. My mind was in chaos. One minute I was standing on my feet and the next, I was laying in the dirt. My blood was staining the ground and I was struggling just to breathe.”

  “That was because you were shot twice, you moron.” Judge growled at the top of the steps. “And you didn’t get Pony and Blue killed. We were all caught unaware. None of us expected the ambush that day. That bitch came out of nowhere. Salim knew we wouldn’t shoot at a woman, so he pushed her out to distract us. It worked.”

  Bull twisted around to face his team leader, “I hesitated when I should have taken out that bitch.”

  Judge marched over to Bull and wrapped his hand around the back of Bull’s neck. Bringing him closer, he looked Bull straight in the eyes. “You didn’t get them killed. You didn’t shoot that woman because that’s the type of man you are. That’s the type of man I am too. I didn’t take that shot either, nor did Hawk or Mustang. Salim knew what he was doing when he sent her out first. But it wasn’t your fault Pony and Blue died. It could have been any of us or all of us that day.”

  “But it was my job to keep the team safe and I didn’t do my job,” Bull insisted stubbornly.

  “You went above and beyond your job that day,” Ju
dge insisted. “When the smoke cleared we counted the bodies as disgusting as that sounds. We took out Salim and his all five members of his entourage and over forty ISIS warriors. We wiped them all out. We won that battle.”

  “But we lost the fucking war!” Bull shouted as he pulled away from Judge.

  “Not yet we haven’t.” Judge growled as he watched Bull pace.

  “I lost the war,” Bull admitted. “When I came to in that fucking hospital and they confirmed to me Pony and Blue were gone, I slipped into a terrible rage. My whole body felt nothing but hatred and for a long time, I couldn’t breathe. Something inside me was broken and I felt shattered. So when I heard Salim’s pipeline was still in business, I couldn’t come back to the Brava Victor team.” Slowly he shook his head. “I didn’t believe in what we stood for anymore. I left because I had to find my focus again.”

  “And did you?” Judge asked. “Did you find your focus again?”

  Bull nodded. “Yeah, I think I did. The moment I stepped inside the cage, I found my center again. I don’t know if it was the mindless fighting or what but I found my focus again. It took me three years to recover from my wounds and build up my body to take the punishment in the cage but this last year, I have something besides myself to focus on and now I feel I can bring something to the team that I can say I can contribute.”

  “Then you’re ready to come back to Brava Victor?” Judge challenged him.

  “If you’ll have me, I’m ready,” Bull stated.

  Judge smiled and reached out his hand. Bull grasped it and they shook on it. “I was hoping you would say that. Welcome back brother.”

  Charlie watched the exchange and felt a dread deep in her body. They were forgetting one very important thing. Reaching for the paper, she began to write something. When she was done, she held the paper out to Bull.

  Bull took the paper and read what she wrote. He lifted his eyes to hers and shook his head. “Conrad Bane doesn’t scare me. He has no claim on me either.”

  “What did she say about Conrad Bane?” Judge wanted to know.

  Bull passed him the notebook and let him read what she wrote.

  Bull sat down on the bed next to her. “He can’t touch me. He has no reason to come after me.”

  Judge handed her the notebook back and she began writing again. When she turned the paper to Bull, he read it.

  He shook his head again. “I already told him the contract between me and Smokey wouldn’t be good. I had a walk out clause in it. He doesn’t own me.”

  Charlie wrote something else on the paper. “Yes he does. He thinks he owns you for the next year and once Conrad Bane thinks he owns you, he does. He won’t let you walk away from him. If you try, he’ll make you crawl back to him. He’ll use whatever he has to, to break you and laugh in your face in the end. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again. If you won’t fight for him, he’ll put a bullet in your head. That’s just the kind of man he is.”

  Bull read the words and felt a cold growing inside him. He lifted his eyes from the paper in his hands and stared at her. “You said earlier that Conrad Bane was linked with the Ratz. How do you know that?”

  Charlie stared at him for a moment then wrote something in the notebook. Judge came closer to the bed and the other men came into the room. No one said a word but they were all waiting for her. When she finished writing, she handed the notebook back to Bull. She laid down on the bed and turning her back to them, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see their reaction to what she wrote. She couldn’t see the disgust in their eyes when they read it.

  Bull sat back down on the bed with her. After a moment, he brushed his fingers down her cheek. Charlie wanted to open her eyes but she didn’t know if she could stand to see the disgust in his eyes.

  “Turn around and open your eyes and look at me,” Bull asked her softly.

  Charlie squeezed her eyes tighter and shook her head. Her throat protested the motion and she moaned as the pain washed over her.

  “Please?” Bull whispered.

  Charlie slowly turned to face him, opened her eyes then she frowned. She didn’t see disgust in Bull’s eyes but rather concern. He leaned forward and touched his forehead against hers.

  “Don’t know your story, yet but I will,” he whispered. “You didn’t do anything wrong here. I promised to protect you and I will. We all will. You have to believe that.”

  Charlie closed her eyes. She never relied on anyone else before. She’d learned a long time ago that no one watched over her but herself, so what he was asking was hard for her to do but for him she could try. Wrapping her small hand around her throat she whispered, “I can try.”

  Bull smiled. Leaning back he said, “I know you’re tired and very weak and that you don’t really want to answer any more questions at the moment but we need some more information. Information only you can give us. Will you help us out?”

  Charlie glanced over his shoulder to the five men standing behind him. Each of them looking serious and just a tad on the grumpy side. She turned back to Bull and nodded. Closing her eyes against the pain she knew was coming, she whispered, “I’ll try.”

  Bull pressed his lips to her forehead. When he pulled away he whispered, “Please don’t try and speak. Your throat isn’t healed enough for that yet and I don’t want the bleeding to start up again.”

  Charlie leaned forward and rested her face in his chest. Turning her head, she laid her ear to his chest and listened for a moment to the beat of his heart. Within moments, the boom, boom she heard seemed to calm her.

  A half hour later, sitting at the table again the six men sat around her. She had a notebook in front of her and a pen in her hand. Judge pushed the notebook she used earlier at her and muttered the words, “Explain this to us.”

  Charlie didn’t need to look at the words she’d written earlier. When Bull asked her how she knew Conrad Bane was connected to the Ratz gang, she’d written the truth. She’d seen Conrad Bane in the Ratz’s clubhouse. She’d been watching the River Ratz gang for some time now. She knew where they hung out and with who. She’d never been caught except for the one time one of them had beat the hell out of her. She’d written that Conrad Bane had been seen with the Ratz several times in the last year.

  She looked over at the other man and shrugged. Then she wrote, “What do you want to know?”

  “How do you know Bane?” Judge asked.

  “I’d heard the name before but never knew the man. Then a year or so ago, I saw him at the Ratz compound. Since then I’ve seen him several times. He thinks he’s a big shot and doesn’t like anyone not showing him the proper respect.”

  “But how do you know who he is?”

  “Like I said before, I’d seen him around the Ratz a couple of times. Then about a year ago, I heard Paolo call him by name. I decided to find out more about him, so I followed him around the city and saw where he went and who he met with. He’s a dangerous man and he has powerful men working for him that won’t hesitate to mess someone up on his orders.”

  “Why exactly are you spying on the River Ratz gang?” Mustang asked.

  Charlie didn’t say or write anything for a few minutes. She just stared at the men on the other side of the table. Then she picked up her pen and began writing. When she finished, she pushed the notebook toward Bull.

  Bull’s eyes went from her to the paper and he read the words she wrote. She’d written, “Five years ago a very good friend of mine had a run in with one of the Ratz. He hurt her bad and she never recovered from the assault. I was hoping to find out who did it.”

  “Did you find the bastard?” Bull asked.

  Charlie shook her head. “Not yet.” She mouthed the words.

  “How long have you been watching the Ratz?” Tank wanted to know.

  Charlie held up three fingers. “Three years.” She wrote.

  Judge looked at his men then back at her. “How long has Bane been hanging around them?”

  “About the same time.�
� She wrote. “Could have been before that though. I only started watching them three years ago.”

  “And you only found out his name a year ago? How is that possible?” Judge wanted to know.

  “I was watching from too far away.” She wrote. “I couldn’t take the chance to get any closer back then. It’s only been recently that I could get closer.”

  Judge looked over to Mustang and suggested, “Do a background on Conrad Bane. That’s a name I haven’t heard too much of. I like to know who we’re up against.” He looked over at Bull. “Especially now. He’s under the impression he owns you for the next twelve months.”

  Bull shrugged. “He can think what he likes. I know it isn’t true.”

  “You can’t dismiss Conrad Bane.” Charlie wrote. “He’s vicious and mean and when he goes after something, he always gets what he wants. I wouldn’t put it past him to have bombed Smokey’s to hide the fact that he forced Smokey to give you up.”

  Bull thought about what she wrote for a moment then silently agreed with her. “You might be right about that. I’ve never known Smokey to place a bet. He knows better. If he got caught, it would cost him his rights in the cage.” He shrugged. “Maybe that’s why Bane’s insisting he owns my contract, doesn’t worry me. I know what Smokey said when we signed it. He insisted that when and if I needed out, he would honor my request. Smokey knew about my rage and while he may not have known what fueled it, he did know I was working through the worst of it and someday, I wouldn’t fight anymore. He’s been watching me real close the last few months. Even offered to tear the contract up a while back but I told him to hang on to it.”

  “He sounded like a good man,” Judge commented.

  Bull nodded. “He was one of the best. He pushed me when I needed pushing and held back when the rage got to be too much. When this is all said and done, I’m gonna track down the mother fuckers who killed him and I’m going to kill them all.”

  “You won’t do it alone my friend,” Judge vowed.