Page 81 of Arranged

She was a tough girl, her determination admirable. At times, I needed to remind myself that I hadn’t been born into the world of criminal activity. I hadn’t been raised to believe that women had no place in the business. At that moment, it felt as if all of what I’d been on was on a collision course of being destroyed. My mind told me getting her involved would place her life and that of her son in additional risk.

But my gut said that her assistance and her support could alter the future.

Even if I didn’t know what that looked like.

She stood with her head held high and her eyes cutting through mine.

I shook my head, hoping I didn’t regret my decision. “Then I suggest we make a pot of coffee. And we’ll talk.”

CHAPTER21

Alejandro

I knelt, staring at the underside of the truck. It was a plain van that had been equipped with advanced, reinforced steel and thick bulletproof windows. While it was almost impossible for the surface to be breached, the underside was still somewhat vulnerable.

The fuckers who’d attacked had counted on that. They’d planned for it. Their route had been known and the moment they rolled down the street and over an area, the bombs had gone off. The blast had pitched the van onto its side, breaching one of the cab doors so the assailants could rip it open and take aim.

The man in the back had survived longer, but likely only because the merchandise had been important to the thieves. I crawled underneath, peering up at the aftermath. A dozen soldiers were watching me, including Drago, who’d remained extremely quiet.

But his eyes never left me.

When I crawled out, Bronco moved closer. “What do you think, boss?”

“Any remnants of the bomb left?” I asked, glancing around at the men.

No one was eager to answer. The drama was getting old.

Drago cleared his throat. “I don’t know if it’s much of anything, but I found a large fragment on the side of the road when I handled cleanup. It’s over on the table. I figured you might want to see it.”

I nodded and followed him to a table. What he’d captured was a portion of a bomb that had blown off, likely ricocheting off the vehicle. I recognized it immediately, but kept it to myself. However, I didn’t like what I found. Grabbing my cell phone, I took a few pictures, including some of the wrecked vehicle. “All I can say is that it was likely remotely detonated. They knew the route and the time.” I turned to face Drago, motioning him away from the others. I’d learned early on that giving orders to anyone should be done in private. That had nothing to do with my former military experience where orders were barked off like water.

“What?” he snarled.

“What I found and what happened means you have a problem.”

He glanced around the room. “I don’t think I like your tone.”

“You don’t need to like it. You just need to understand and accept there was no other way for someone to learn the exact route you were using. Scrub your usual activities and develop new ones. But I want to know what they are. For our eyes only until right before the exchange. Understood?”

He was weighing the odds of how I’d react if he threw a punch. I slowly glanced down at his fisted hand.

“I wouldn’t do it if I were you, Drago. If you do, you will no longer have use of your hand. Ever. I doubt you want that to happen.”

The man was still debating, but flexed his fingers.

He’d backed down for now, but it was only a matter of time before he reacted this way again.

I softened and glanced toward the bomb. “It’s a good idea to have the other facilities and houses swept for any additional hidden bombs. You had a damn good eye in noticing that. Why don’t you handle the operation?”

Maybe it was an olive branch. Maybe I just wanted the man off my back. Whatever the case, he needed to feel useful. The hero. Let him. At this point, I had other things on my mind.

In truth, if my suspicions were correct, the alliance had been orchestrated. If I found that out to be the truth, I knew myself well enough to know my reaction wouldn’t fit with the code I’d been trained to follow.

Not the Omerta.

He studied me for a full minute. “Yeah, okay. I had some explosive training. I think I can spot a dirty bomb.”

A dirty bomb. He had no idea the term meant something entirely different to me.

---