Page 79 of Saint of the Shadows

25

On The Ropes

Tobias sat on the edge of the SUV’s back bumper, unloading the armor and weapons in Izzy’s mechanic shop. Each of the Shadows struggled to pull on a sling of smoke grenades or a bullet-proof vest. Even Izzy looked at the stuff like they were alien artifacts, and nothing ever seemed to shake him.

As they armed themselves, Tobias barked out a plan. They’d block all exits except for the front-loading bay and exit chute in the back. A combination of tear gas, flash bombs, and some other fireworks would keep the minions on the ropes and far from Vincent. Since he was the better shot, Tobias would be the one taking out the Bloodsucker, though everyone had enough tranquilizers, black market and commercial, to weaken him. The name of the game was tranquilize and bolt. “If you’re close enough to stick him, run away,” Tobias warned.

Marisol wrapped her hands in gauze as Tobias reviewed her role in the plan. Armed with a small portable blowtorch, she would be in charge of freeing Vincent and escaping out the back chute. Tobias assigned this duty to her because, although she easily was a decade older than most of the Shadows, she still was the fastest runner. But the other reason he murmured, “Make sure nothing is permanent.”

If Vincent couldn’t come out of this intact? She jolted and reached for the pendant buried under her armor. Maybe she should pray away the looming uncertainty the way Abuelita would.

A familiar twang eased her worry. “Hell.” Mijo Ray, barely recognizable without her wig and eyelashes, wiggled into a bullet-proof vest. “A girl’s gonna break a nail putting on all this before she even gets to smack a bitch.” Her nails may have been broken and her glitter rubbed off, but Mijo Ray wore a pair of boots with metal stilettos, as dangerous as they were fabulous. Maybe Marisol would request a similar pair but an inch or two lower.

With the equipment distributed, Tobias shut the trunk of the SUV. Izzy hovered right behind him. “The Bloodsucker had a really nice supplier. Shipped stashes in Varian boxes. Quantity and quality so good that it must be from Vincent Varian himself. He has to be a drug dealer. How do you think he got so rich?”

Marisol stifled a laugh, catching a glow in Tobias’s gaze as he presumably held in a smile. “I thought it’s because of all that compound interest on his antique pirate gold,” Tobias said. Was he joking or actually theorizing how Vincent became so wealthy?

Izzy sighed, loud and exaggerated. “Once we do this, the Shadows will be on our own again.”

Tobias kept his back to Izzy and looked at Marisol, rolling his eyes. “My condolences, Izzy.”

“What will I get for it?” Izzy asked.

“The Bloodsucker took out your competition. After all this, the Shadows could operate on every corner of the city,” Tobias said.

Izzy’s eyes beamed as he probably estimated the windfall of being the city’s sole heroin supplier. “Sounds beautiful.”

“But what you get is an early retirement,” Tobias continued.

“Excuse me?” Izzy scowled.

“You go to one of those countries without extradition, live off the money you have stored in your offshore accounts, and I never want to see your face around here ever again. I don’t want to hear your name even uttered. As far as Shadowhaven’s concerned, you’re dead.”

Izzy brought his lips to his nose and shook his head.

Tobias added, “Accept it. You’re out of the game. There should be nothing better. You aren’tleaving in a body bag or handcuffs.” Tobias rolled his shoulders back and straightened his spine, gaining another foot in height. He lowered his voice, but Marisol could still hear him. “Because after tonight, if I see you, I’ll fuck you up, either with my badge or my boot.”

Izzy’s gaze traveled over Tobias, from his boots to his head. He extended his hand. “It was nice working with you, Detective Quinlan.”

Tobias shook his hand. “All right, let’s roll.”

The SUV wound through alleys, stopping at the dead end where Marisol and Tobias had been hours earlier. The red-gold rays of sun signaled dusk’s arrival. Tobias exited the vehicle, ski-mask lowered. He pulled on a pair of black tactical shooting gloves and slung his weaponry behind him. A gas mask hung off the back of his head, as if a new face grew there.

Marisol tied on her mask, put her grappling gloves on, and flipped up her hood. She was prepared, like the perfect shift when she finished her coffee, stocked her supplies, and readied her beds. When triage had informed them of an entire wedding party coming into the hospital with food poisoning, Marisol stretched her neck and said, “Bring it.”

Tiny and one of his teen enforcers hopped out of the back.

“Ready?” Tobias asked the mismatched duo.

Tiny and the enforcer pocketed a couple of Molotov cocktails and nodded.

Tobias and Marisol ripped through the foliage and met a rusted chain-link fence marking the perimeter. Down below was the abandoned slaughterhouse. Tobias held the heat vision goggles like binoculars over his eyes. “I think I see him.”

“Show me,” Marisol said. He handed her the goggles. Through the lens, she could see orange figures moving about the levels of the slaughterhouse. In the very back, an orange figure dangled over everyone. It had to be Vincent.

Tobias patted her on the back. “Haven’t chopped him up yet.” He tapped a commlink encircled over his ear. “Okay Iz, we have about twenty mob members. We need you to shock and block. If the Teeth Man comes out, you tranq and run, but I’ll take care of him.”

Tobias cut a gap in the fence with wire cutters. The group crawled to the other side. They watched from the hill as a fleet of beat-up cars drove abreast toward the slaughterhouse and parked, blocking access to the road out. The only way out for the Bloodsucker’s goons was swimming.

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