Page 33 of Coff

“Okay, turn around slowly and place your hands behind your back,” Ozzie says.

I walk toward one of the open boxes and peer in. Just as we were told, it’s full of pills.

Ozzie and Durango handcuff the three men while I keep my gun aimed at them.

Since I left the service, I’m grateful to be working at Reed Hawthorne Security with my two best friends, Ozzie and Axel. Hell, I like all the guys there.

Wait. My mind is wandering, and these guys are being more cooperative than I would have expected, given how much money is at stake if we seize all these drugs.

It doesn’t feel right. “This is too easy. Something’s wrong.”

One of the handcuffed men smiles.

The glass from a window breaks. I turn my gaze to see Axel at the window. “It’s a setup! Five men just pulled up and are now entering the building from the south side!”he yells to us.

Durango pulls a wire tie from his pocket and walks to the men.

“Don’t kill us!” one yells as a small flip phone slips from his hands.

“How the hell did we not notice that?” Ozzie asks.

“That’s why he was smiling. He called them somehow.”

“They were on the line when you barged in,” one of the other men says.

Somehow, Durango uses wire ties to bind all three men together in mere seconds. Then he shoves them into a corner of the room, far from the rifles on the table.

I glance around the room. There’s no time for us to break the rest of the glass out and go out the window.

“Coff! Over here!” Ozzie yells.

I run to him, and we both crouch behind the boxes. “Where’s Durango?”

“Here,” he says from a few yards away.

Footsteps grow louder as the men run down the hallway. I peer around one of the boxes, and the first of the five men enter the room.

“They’re hiding behind the boxes,” one of the handcuffed men says.

Shit.

The men spray the room with gunfire. Ozzie and I get flat on the ground as bullets fly everywhere. Finally, the shooting stops. My ears are ringing, but I get off the floor and am ready for them.

We let the five men get close, then we open fire, taking out each one of them before they get off any more shots.

Once we’re sure all five men are down, I turn to check on the first three men. They were all shot and killed in the crossfire. So much for loyalty in their outfit.

Our assignment was to secure the warehouse and then call in the FBI team to deal with the men and the evidence.

“Brian, the warehouse is secure,” I say into my walkie-talkie.

“We are on our way,” he replies.

“Hold up, a car’s coming,” Axel says over the line.

We move back down the hall into the main area where we came in. Durango and Ozzie go to the side of the main door and wait. I position myself behind a large storage bin. I hope, like hell, Axel can get out of sight. If anyone sees him hanging onto the front of the building, they will know something is up.

Unless these guys were on the call, too. They might know exactly what they’re walking into.

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