Page 57 of Jobe

“We knew he ran drugs and puss—um,” Shane glanced apologetically at Lily, “girls. But as we’ve been tracking them, we now know that they’ve moved into guns. And not just stealing guns from houses, but running stolen military guns.”

Matt continued, “We’ve got inside information that they made a deal with the River Street Kings to use some of their river front property to bring the guns in by the water and they give the Kings a cut of the profits. The Kings are more punk-ass, but control a decent spread right on the river, so this is a win for them. They align with the Sixers, they get some guns and money, and the Sixers get a place to run.”

Alvarez’s men listened intently, eyes occasionally moving to the screen on the wall where Lily projected some aerial views of the river’s old wharf area.

Shane added, “All this adds up to the Sixers becoming the most powerful and dangerous gang in Richmond. The mayor is concerned; an election year is coming up and there are rumblings in the Richmond Times about gangs in the area and how politicians have turned a blind eye to the problem for years. To combat that, he’s having the Richmond Times do a huge article on Mackenna’s New Beginnings program.”

All eyes moved to Jobe, as he nodded slowly. “Yeah, she said she was interviewed yesterday for the newspaper and it’ll run tomorrow. She was excited because she’s wanting to move the location to a safer place and said the publicity will be great for donations.”

Shane added, “Yeah, but it puts her right on the front page with a powerful gang’s pregnant girlfriend hiding there.”

The sick feeling that started in Jobe’s gut when a mission was not going as planned began to creep over him and while no one else would notice, his brothers knew immediately what he was experiencing.

“Before you ask, no, we can’t get the article pulled,” Matt said. “The mayor’s too involved now. ‘Course he said that the police’ll make sure the center is safe.” Looking sharply at Jobe, he added quickly, “and, we will, but you gotta know there’s no way it’ll get twenty-four hour police protection.”

The group was quiet a moment while BJ took over the technology side and projected pictures of Tito Montalvo on the screen.

At this point, Tony looked over at Jack and gave him a nod as well. Jack opened up a file that was in front of him and after glancing around the table, focused on Jobe and began.

“The governor’s now gotten involved. He had a state drug task force, which one of my men served on. The guy’s got a background in undercover work with gangs. It seems the state has a bigger problem. One of the larger LA based gangs that have national ties is the Florence 10. They’re about as badass as the Crips, Bloods, or MS-13. They go by F10, an old throwback to the Air Force fighter jets known by that name.”

The feeling that had been growing in Jobe became sharper, more pronounced. His mind flashed back to the multitude of times that he had sat around a conference table being briefed before a mission. In the Army, with his squad, and here at Alvarez Security.This feels different. This is personal.Giving himself a mental shake, he knew he needed to focus. Mackenna’s safety depended on him knowing all of the intel he could gather.

Jack’s gaze landed on Jobe as he continued, “They’re on the FBI’s top-ten list of most dangerous gangs. And now the F10s have been making inroads into Virginia. They checked out DC but have settled on Richmond being their new place of business. The river, the I95 corridor of drug traffic between Florida to DC to New York is too lucrative for them to pass up.” He paused for just a moment before dropping the news that he knew would most upset the group.

“And now they’ve made contact with the Sixers here in Richmond.”

The rumbling and cursing around the table grew louder, both with indignation that their city was being overrun and infiltrated but also for the knowledge that by her vocation, Mackenna could find herself in the crosshairs.

Shane shook his head, saying, “Jesus, fuck, as though we didn’t have enough to deal with. If the Sixers have gained national attention to get someone as big as the F10s to be interested in dealing, that’s going to spread our police force even thinner.”

Jack nodded and added, “That’s why the governor has contacted me. He’s got a job for us.” He said no more, but the group expected that. Jack’s business took on the hard assignments…the ones that no one else would take. And he flew under the radar, not following anyone’s orders or protocol other than his own. And from what they knew, his employees operated the same.

“What does this mean for us?” Tony inquired.

“The Richmond police are stepping up their surveillance, presence in the gang infested communities, even some that are undercover, trying to get information. Tito’s smart but not infallible. He’ll make a mistake and we want to be there when he does. We’re hoping to put more pressure on the Kings as well, to maybe discourage them from doing as much business with the Sixers,” Matt said.

“But that money is a big pull,” Shane admitted. He looked around the table at Tony’s group, his gaze landing on Jobe. “Gotta tell you, the center that Mackenna runs is a concern. And she’s not the only one. There are at least four other centers in the city that need someone to keep an extra eye on because they offer gang alternative places to be.”

“We just got the last of the security cameras up on those locations that you gave us,” Gabe announced. “That’s what we did today.”

Matt nodded, “Appreciate it, man.”

Jobe’s jaw ached with the pressure of clenching his teeth and with each comment he could feel his anger ratcheting up. Finally he said, “You gotta know this shit’s killing me.”

Vinny, sitting next to him, clapped him on the shoulder, promising, “Nothing’s gonna happen to her. We got this. We got her.”

Jobe turned on his friend and growled, “No disrespect, bro, what about Annalissa? We thought we had her too and your fiancé almost died before you could get to her.” His eyes moved to the others, including Lily. “I could keep going, but you know what I’m saying.” Immediately, understanding passed over every one of their faces. Most all of them had been in the same situation—trying to protect the woman they loved…and almost failing.

“Any chance she’ll stop working?” Shane asked.

Hanging his head, Jobe asked back, “For how long?” There was no response. “I mean, drugs and gun running and gangs have been around for a fucking long time. You think this mess with Tito is going to just go away because we’re all watching them? I don’t see that happening. This scares the shit outta me, but my girl’s got a career where she’s trying to help. Trying to fight for other women who don’t feel like they’ve got anyone in their corner. You think she’s gonna just walk away from that?” He hung his head, emotions flying through him as his hands balled into fists on the table.

Sucking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, he lifted his gaze to his friends and said in a calmer voice, “I want to march home right now and order her to quit. The idea of losing her or the baby is unthinkable to me.” Swallowing loudly, he continued, “But I gotta work with this. Through this. I…I…just don’t have a fucking clue how.”

Tony, taking charge as always, said, “Not this time, bro. We got this.” Looking at Shane and Matt, he said, “You know we’ll help the chief as much as we can, but we’ve got the surveillance cameras in place on some of the gang hangouts for the police to monitor, and,” he looked over at Jack, “you’ve got the task from the Governor to try to take them on. But for us,” he returned his gaze back to Jobe, “our primary job is to ensure the safety of New Beginnings and Mackenna.” Then looking around the table at the rest of his crew, he reiterated, “That is the mission of Alvarez Security in this matter.”

Jobe felt the sting of tears hit the back of his eyes, and he swallowed several times to bring himself under control.Under control. Fuck, that was the whole reason I broke up with her in the first place…feeling out of control.Taking a shaky breath, he knew the friends around the table knew what this meant to him, and he nodded to each of them as the meeting dispersed.

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