Page 58 of Marx

The road soothes me, giving me the time to think through all our plans and contingencies. The only time we stop is to receiveupdates from Chewy and Remy. They seem sporadic, both Cartel De Silencio and La Sombre Roja laying low so as not to draw any attention to themselves before handover. Makes sense as they’re both bringing shipments of drugs and girls over the border. The girls will be taken by whatever small time shitty gangs they’re working with to transport them to that Renae Sullivan woman. We’ll be taking care of those fuckers while the Tombs’ contacts in Texas will take care of the girls here, and the Landrys’ contact will take care of them in Louisiana. After that, the only loose end we’ll have is Renae and let’s face it, we’ll be leaving her up to the women.

My comms beep and I accept the incoming from Chewy. “Word is two groups have crossed the border, one heading your way, one headed toward the other team.” With that she hangs up, no pleasantries, nothing.

“Rhodie, have you spoken to your Ol Lady?”

“Yeah, why?” Rhodie’s voice says over bluetooth.

“I dunno, just a weird feeling.”

He’s silent for a beat. “Do we need to call Dad?”

Chewy is with eight other women, Mad Dog, Chef, TumTum, Fox, Flack and the only prospect we have. Surely they can’t get into any trouble with that many people around.

“Pops is with them, brother.” Fuck. Yeah he is.

Hanging up from my brother I direct dial Pops. If shit is going down he’ll be right in the middle of it so I’ll know whether I need to chew out someone’s ass or not.

“What?”

“Hello to you too, Pops.”

A grunt comes over the bluetooth, “We’re all here, the house is still standing, no one is doing anything and no one has turned up. Is that what you want to know?”

Judging by the noise in the background I can tell he’s in the kitchen with Mama Debs. I can hear some of the men andwomen we left behind and all the gurgling I could feel in my gut dissipates pretty much immediately.

“Yeah, this is what I wanted to know. We’re just pulling into our target location. We’ll send messages back to our Ol Ladies once we’re set up. Give us half an hour.”

“Huh. The way you worded that is like you have an Ol Lady.” Cheeky fucker.

“You know damn well I do,” I growl down the line.

“Dunno ‘bout that, son. I don’t see a property cut on her. I know buttery leather would look good on those shoulders of hers.”

“As soon as this shit is put to bed, you can guarantee to see one on Lovely.” I smile as I say the words, because I can’t think of anything better.

“Fair enough. Don’t die.” With that the old bastard hangs up.

Rhodie flicks me a side eye as he pulls up even with me, his brow raised in question. I give him the thumbs up. Our women are safe and sound, and we’re well on our way to where we need to be.

Chapter 20

Lovely

“They can tell something is up,” Vi whispers, eyeing up the men standing on the other side of the room from us.

“Well, duh, they were all there for the big reveal,” Mira says, doodling something in her book.

Chewy has been suspiciously quiet for the past hour, choosing to sit in a rocking chair with Chomper on her lap. Laney is messing around on the floor with her blocks while the other toddlers cruise around the room, asking for cuddles and being picked up and doted on by no less than twenty people.

“We know she’s on her way here whether we like it or not. The question is: is she in town to scare us, or something else?” Nat asks.

“I’m going with ‘something else’. I mean, she has the backing of two cartels, some low level gangs and that fricker, Serpiente. If they know where we are, they’ll come for us.”

“Ana’s right. If what Dima sees is correct, then they’re on their way with force.”

“Remy, how many men do both cartels have in total? Also, cross reference against their contacts here,” Chewy murmurs, petting Chomper.

Remy starts tapping away on her laptop as I turn to peek at the men in charge of our safety, all of them leaning against the wall, eyes on us.

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