Page 9 of Domino
He nods to Bala who calls for the guy in his van and they walk over and start to load their van with the weed. I reach down and pick up the bag with the cash in it and zip it up. We stand in silence, watching them load the weed into the Warriors’ van for a moment before Tarantula turns to Cosmo.
“Heard a rumor about you, ese,” he starts.
Cosmo arches an eyebrow at him. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“That you got into some big shootout with the Zavala cartel.”
“Oh yeah? Where’d you hear that?”
Tarantula shrugs and spreads his arms out wide. “Around. Just word on the street and all that shit.”
Cosmo chuffs. “You believe every rumor you hear, compadre?”
The burly Mexican offers him a smile. “Only the ones that have that ring of truth to ’em. You know what I mean, holmes?”
“And what makes you think this rumor you’re hearing has a ring of truth to it?”
Still grinning, Tarantula shakes his head. “Because I know bullshit when I smell it, ese. And this rumor I heard? Not even a whiff.”
After the shootout, Prophet told us all to keep a lid on it. Sheriff Singer was doing us a solid by walking the tightrope that kept us out of the story. I’m not surprised the story got out anyway. People love to gossip. But all I can say is my degree of confidence that the story didn’t come from any of our guys is extremely high. Most all of us are veterans and know not to fuck with mission security by running our mouths. And those few guys who aren’t vets have enough respect for Prophet and the club that they aren’t going to spill the story either.
“The way I hear it is you and your gringos here got into a gunfight with Zavala’s men. Almost took out the big guy, is what I was told,” Tarantula says.
“Interesting story,” Cosmo replies dryly.
“Si. It’s very interesting, cabron. But that’s not the most interesting part.”
“Don’t leave me in suspense. Tell me the most interesting part.”
Bala steps over to us and I glance back at the vans. Derek is helping their guy get the last of the bundles loaded up and ready to roll. Bala is standing there looking at me, sizing me up. I could tell he thinks he could take me if it came down to that. Doesn’t bother me. As tough and hard as he looks, and probably is, the fact of the matter is that he hasn’t had the training I did. The training I had in the Corps has prepared me for all sorts of combat, including hand to hand. He may not think I’m much to look at, but I’ve got it where it counts and I’m confident I could put a hurt on Bala if it ever went sideways enough to come to that.
“The most interesting part, pendejo, is that whoever went after Zavala didn’t finish the job. He and his personal sicario, a dude named X, got away,” Tarantula says.
“Fascinating,” Cosmo says. “And this should interest me… why exactly?”
Cosmo is simply playing coy, but Tarantula looks at him like he’s an idiot who can’t understand the most basic thing in the world.
“You should be interested because Zavala’s not a man who forgives or forgets, ese. You’ve heard that old saying, if you take a shot at the king, you better not miss, haven’t you?”
“I’ve heard it, yeah.”
“Well, whoever took a shot at Zavala missed. And now, there’s going to be hell to pay. You’d best believe Zavala will be comin’ for… whoever it was who shot up him and his men. Believe that,” Tarantula presses.
“You ever deal with the cartel?” Cosmo asks.
“As little as I can, ese, but our paths cross now and again. Believe me when I say, those are some ruthless vatos, and you don’t want to tangle with them. They’re bad news whenever they come to town. And believe me, you don’t want them comin’ to your town because if they do, a whole mess of people are gonna die.”
“Sounds charming.”
Shifting on my feet, I cut a glance over at Bala, who’s standing statue-still. Cosmo frowns and seems to be considering Tarantula’s words.
“Anyway, I just thought I’d pass that along. But if you say you weren’t involved, then you got nothin’ to worry about, ese.”
“Appreciate the heads up anyway.”
“Si mon.”
Tarantula nods to Bala, who walks off without a word to either of us. Tarantula turns and shakes both our hands again.
