Page 56 of Dangerous Silence
With Muro’s accounts out of the way, plans moved forward. We had one serious advantage: some of Wil’s men had secured one of the warehouses. They were carrying on, as usual, pretending to be Muro’s own complicit men. Using them as a decoy, we could lure Muro out, and then take down his men, for real, this time. We had a much larger group of our best, plus the help of Zaid’s old team from Veil Security Services. In theory, it was perfect.
But it didn’t sit right with me. I trusted Wil’s men to be on our side, and Zaid had never let me down before. But I wondered about our attempt to gain access to the police. Wil’s contact in the BPD confirmed that no one was willing to budge; Muro had a firm grip on their balls. And on top of that, we still had a rat among our ranks.
Something was off. I didn’t trust it at all.
A knock sounded on the apartment door. I went past the kitchen, where Demi was eating a microwavable breakfast sandwich, and opened the door. Maddie lifted her pink flamingo cleaning bag at me, then went to Demi.
“You’re eating without me?” Maddie asked. “I guess we can get lunch then.”
“Huh?” Demi asked.
“I’m heading out,” I explained. I nodded to the two of them, making eye contact with Maddie. She knew what I expected.
“What?” Demi asked. “You’re leaving me here?”
I wasn’t leaving her anywhere. I was keeping her away from danger. After decapitating her first victim, she didn’t need any more of the war in her life. Demi protested, but I shut the door behind me. It was for her own good. I could never decide if I wanted to break or protect her.
I met my brothers, Zaid and his men, as well as Ron and Billy (one of Ellie’s friends) at the warehouses in Brackston. We picked through Muro’s stock. There were the usual cocaine and heroin, but beyond that, there were guns and explosives, cases of them, hidden in the bellies of frozen fish and TV boxes. Our men were sporting the classic white Midnight Miles Corporation uniform, two Ms embroidered on their breast pockets. I knew that soon, Wil would take over the rest of the warehouses.
One of our men, pretending to be one of the Midnight Miles deliverers, called Muro on the burner phone he had acquired from the previous handler.
“Boss,” he said. “Nan is out. I’m—” He paused again, listening. “Right. But we’ve got a little problem here. Could you come down to the—” He stopped, shaking his head. “But sir, can we move a product like this when—” He went silent again. “Understood, boss.” Then he hung up.
He looked at me. “He wants me to drive to the headquarters.”
The semi was still packed, to make it look like a shipment had arrived. Driving wasn’t an issue; we could move our plans accordingly. It would give us a chance to confirm that his servers were out.
I turned to Zaid. “Can your men hide around the headquarters?” I asked. “The security will be armed.”
“Not a problem,” Zaid said.
The rest of us, including my men, Derek, Wil, Ron, and Billy, got into the back of the semi-truck.
I turned to Wil. He had convinced Ellie to stay home and heal while her friend, Billy, took her place. Knowing he was protecting his wife made me satisfied that Demi was safe too. But I ignored that relief. Demi would be safer once Muro was gone.
“And your connection hasn’t notified the police?” I asked. Wil nodded, but the slight twitch of his lips told me what I needed to know. My gut instinct was right. “A new connection?” He nodded again. I clenched my fists, but I didn’t blame him. Desperate times called for desperate measures, which meant potentially leaking our plans. It was too dangerous now. I turned to Derek. “We need to turn back,” I said.
“Why?” he asked. “We’ve got a fucking militia on our side.”
“Muro knows,” I said.
“Who told you that?”
“Instinct,” I said. “We’re better off waiting for another chance.”
“This might be our last shot,” Derek said. “All we have to do is take down Muro. The rest can wait.”
I didn’t like it, but I shut the hell up and trusted him. Derek was a better leader than our father. If we failed, it would be on all of us, but especially Derek.
I turned to Ron. “Make sure that the servers are down,” I said, handing him a set of deadly explosives with twice the power we had last time. Then I tapped my earpiece. “I’ll be waiting for confirmation.”
“You’ve got it, boss,” Ron said.
We all listened as our driver stopped at the security checkpoint, which sounded quieter than usual, as if there weren’t as many guards on duty. Then the truck was given clearance and the engine started again, driving to the unloading side of the headquarters. The truck reversed into the loading dock, shielding us from the parking lot.
Several feet shuffled to the side of the truck. As long as Muro thought this was routine, we would succeed, but we needed him to come down himself.
The back door opened, revealing a group of four men. None of them was Muro.
