Page 13 of Devil's Luck

The cartels are becoming more of a problem than I am comfortable with, and one of them made a major, life-ending mistake last night.

Houston is between five to six hours to the Mexico border by car, depending on traffic and what route you take, and our city is a popular route for the cartels to try and take to transport whatever contraband they want to ship north and east. I have men whose full-time job it is to watch our territory for anything suspicious that’s traveling our roads and to stop it by any means necessary.

I don’t always mind if our city is being used as a thoroughfare on a trade route, hell a fuck ton of cities in this country started out the very same way, but I only allow it if I know exactly who I’m working with. I need to know when and where it’s happening, where the items are coming from and going to, and am paid the proper fees for the permission to pass through.

One family that we’ve had several run ins within the past, the Aguado Cartel has been a thorn in my side for years. Good for us, but real bad for them, they finally made their most fatal mistake attempting to run a semi-trailer full of women from New Orleans to down Brownsville, then across the border into Mexico to be sent only God knows where.

While driving Nana back home, Liam spotted a logo that we’re familiar with as a trucking company who will haul anything, more often illegal than not, and he called Tadhg to let him know. Tadhg then called in a crew to stop the truck and round up any cartel members in any other vehicles that were following.

Our guys swooped in quick and forced the truck and three cars off the road just northeast of the city limits. With many warehouses, empty lots, and various other holdings in the family’s possession, no matter where you are in Houston and the surrounding areas, you would be amazed at how not far you are from somewhere you can hide a semitruck and a whole mess of dead bodies.

It wasn’t until Liam was a few blocks away from pulling into our gated neighborhood that he realized the vehicle a few car lengths behind him wasn’t going away.

Tadhg was already on his way out to meet up with the road crew to check out what was in the semi-trailer that was intercepted, when he got a second call from Liam, so he intervened before the car could get to its target.

See as it turned out, just as Liam recognized the cartel’s truck logo, one of the spotter car drivers recognized Liam because he used to lead one of our road crews until he was in a shoot one with a different cartel and lost partial feeling in his right arm. Not feeling comfortable driving manual transmission vehicles at a high rate of speed any longer, he requested a different position within the family, and it just so happened that around the same time that Nana gave up her driver’s license because her eyesightjust isn’t what it used to be, so we had the perfect spot for him to transition to.

So when my guys thought they had gotten everyone who was rolling with the semi, a fourth car went unrecognized and circled back to try and take out Liam. Nana would’ve been an innocent victim caught in the crossfire and that is not okay with me. Far fucking from it in fact.

Once Tadhg put a bullet between the cartel guy’s eyes, and had his body loaded in his trunk, he called Corrin, who then called me. Tadhg tried to call me first, but I missed it when getting ready for bed.

When I got to the construction site last night where all of the cartel member’s bodies were brought for burial, I went down the line and identified seven of the top ten Aguado Cartel leaders. I don’t know what made them decide it was a good idea to send that many high ranking men up into the states for a single run, but my guess is the low numbers and poor structure in their organization overall caused them to make a grave error in judgment. When you have too many people fighting to be at the top of your pyramid, your base becomes very unstable and will crumble down when you least expect it.

While I would’ve liked to stay on site for the several hours it took to bring in the right equipment to prepare everything for the disposal of the recently departed, I couldn’t stay away from Nola that long. I knew I’d only be able to spare a couple hours before having to come back, so I took the time I could, and holy fuck am I glad I did. I was anticipating a steamy kiss when I woke her up,but she surprised me by joining me in the shower and rocking both our worlds.

So here I am, three hours after I left, right back where I started the day, twenty feet in the ground, overseeing the dumping of the seven cartel bodies into holes that are currently being filled cement. These structural footings will then be the base of a twelve story parking garage that will service the development that will soon be built up all arounds us.

After greasing a few palms in the right places, our organization joined forces with the Italians, another crime family who we cohesively live and work amongst here in southeast Texas. A former industrial area was bulldozed down to empty lots, then a deal was struck with various companies and municipalities to bring the land back to life.

O’Carroll Construction is the main contractor and builder for the large expansion project. We are now one year into a locked in seven-year contract to build high-rise condos, apartments, and townhouses, as well as a mix of storefronts and offices. There is even a large park and various green spaces throughout to balance out all the concrete, metal, and glass that will soon be overtaking the area.

“Did you finally let Nola out of the house?” Tadhg pokes the bear once more, and this time I don’t let it slide.

He is closer than he probably wishes he was right now, because when I lift my right arm and slug him about half as hard as I could, he wobbles on his feet and has to shuffle in his boots to stay vertical to the ground.

“What the fuck?” he grumbles as he wipes imaginary dirt off where my fist touched his sleeve. “This is a new shirt. Be nice.”

His crazy complaint, one that is so Tadhg because he is even pickier about his clothes than I am, brings a small smile to my face. Out in public, even surrounded by just a few trusted men, I don’t show the emotions that I do behind closed doors. If we were at either of our homes, I would’ve let a laugh loose, and maybe even apologized for hitting him, but not out here. There are too many eyes and ears with the handful of construction workers, all members of the O’Carroll family of course, but I don’t let any of them see the lighter side of myself.

“Yes, Nola is at her office,” I say behind my hand as I pretend to need to smooth out my mustache and beard with my fingers. “I’ve got Shane stationed up on the street out front, just to keep an eye out.”

Tadhg nods, because he understands the pressure I’m under bringing a woman into our family who didn’t grow up in the life like we did. Fuck, he almost lost Remi before he even had her because he thought keeping her away would save her from danger. Looking back now, I can see why he would think that, but unfortunately things did not turn out that way.

The Russians somehow found out that Tadhg had taken a mystery woman on a date and put a bounty on her head. As soon as he heard, he panicked and flew her back home to Chicago. He had known her than two days before he had to send her away with no clear reason why, and they were both crushed. I had never seen my brother so unlike himself in all of his life, not even when our parents died.

One month later everything came to a head when Remi’s identity was discovered and she was attacked outside the building where she worked and lived. Luckily Tadhg was thinking ahead and had Declan up in Chicago the whole time, essentially being her shadow even though she had no clue, and he was able to subdue and detain the Russian until Tadhg could fly into town to question and kill him.

After a couple days in the hospital for a bump to the head because a misstep sent her crashing into a dumpster and she lost consciousness for a few hours, Tadhg refused to let her go again. He moved her down here to Texas as fast as he could, proposed, got her pregnant, and married her all in five, fast months.

I only asked him once why he was moving their relationship along so quickly, but what he told made me never bring it up again. Now if only I had taken what he said to heart sooner and claimed Nola as soon as I met her, maybe I could be where he is in his relationship instead of just starting mine out.

“Ní dual don diabhal bheith díomhaoin.”It means, there is no rest for the wicked. Or literally,it is not in the devil’s nature to be idle.

No one is ever promised tomorrow. Hold the ones you love the most the closest, because you never know when the devil is going to strike.

CHAPTER SEVEN

NOLA

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