Page 66 of Waging War
After a few heart-pounding seconds, he lowers the gun to his side and runs a frantic hand through thinning gray hair. I watch him begin to pace once more, still reeling from the fact that he nearly shot me.
I want to spit my next words, but I refrain because I need him to trust me.Thisis the moment we’ve all fought for. Unraveling Diablo means unraveling his empire, thread by frayed thread.
“I know my role.”
He stops pacing to consider me.
“This officer has to be dealt with. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wolves were in on this too. Who is strong enough to take down three men at once, by themselves?”
The odds that Cooper and Kenneth were helping Sasha are next to zero given their reluctance to help, but I remain perfectly still, letting him ramble himself in circles.
“Barron knows better than to let his cops fuck with my men or my territory.”
“You said an officer reported the situation to you. Why would this officer or anyone with them leave a third man behind?” I ask, cursing Sasha for doing just that.
Bruce shakes his head. “They surprise attacked him before knocking him unconscious. He didn’t get a good profile on them, just remembers seeing a badge before passing out.”
Well, thank fuck for that. If he’d seen enough of her to give a description, this whole operation would be blown right out of the water.
Bruce yanks his collar open as rivulets travel down his pale skin. Seemingly midthought, his entire body goes rigid. I flinch when the paperwork on his desk goes flying across the room in a rush.
“A fuckingmole.” He growls, kicking the metal desk three times before slapping the top for good measure. “How else would they have known when and where the shipment would arrive?”
Bruce stops to take several heaving breaths. “First, they’ll snuff out the RhyomineI’vecreated and one by one, they’ll start shutting down my casinos.”
I take a step back when he turns an eye on me. What lurks deep inside is not a man—it’s a fucking monster.
“Once they’ve cornered me, then what? I’ve made a lot of enemies in this town, Benjamin. We can’t let this happen.”
So much for keeping him stable.
“We don’t have time to wait. If there’s even a chance that a fed is on my tail, then we need to move our headquarters somewhere more secure. Lucky’s has been compromised.” Bruce points to the crates sitting innocently behind the desk. “Help me move these out. We’ll worry about the missing shipment later. For now, we need to move.”
Stepping toward the first box, I rest my palm against the raw wood and direct my gaze to a pile of scattered papers spread across the floor.
“Where do you plan to move it all?” I ask, stalling him to get a better look.
Several lines of numbers are stamped across the top page. I can’t make out much more than what looks like a wire transfer to Cabo San Lucas and various other locations.
My heart pounds.
Could this be what Sasha wanted me to look for?
“We’ll put whatever supplies we can on the moving truck and keep it at the hotel for the time being. After that, I think I’ve got an idea.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
“We’re about to burn some loose ends,” he says.
“Boss.” One of his guys pokes their head in and hands Bruce a phone.
To me, Bruce says, “Get it loaded.”
It takes about two hours for me and a few of the other guys to get the truck loaded, and once I roll the metal door down to secure the lock, I rub my sweating palms against my thighs.
“It’s done,” I say, sliding the back of the truck down with a loudclang.
Bruce has a far-off look on his face. It’s unsettling the way he’s resigned to that solitary space in his mind. Stepping around me, he cracks open the truck’s driver’s-side door and emerges with a gas can.
