Page 54 of Domino
Derek looks at me with a raised eyebrow but says nothing, turning back to his bike instead. Wiping my hands on the rag I’m holding, I walk out of the garage with Cosmo and follow as he leads me off to the side of the compound near the barbecue pits. He reaches into the cooler that’s been a permanent fixture there as long as I can remember and fishes out a couple of bottles of water, handing one over to me.
We both take a seat on the top of the picnic table, looking out over the compound. Cosmo says nothing but looks pensive as I twist the top off and take a long swallow of the water. My curiosity is definitely piqued.
“There’s some things going down around here and we’re trying to keep it quiet. Only involving a few, just to protect operational security and everybody’s safety,” Cosmo finally says.
“Yeah, I got that. But what do you mean operational security?”
He frowns and looks down at the bottle in his hands. “I’m going to let you in on what’s going on, but I need your word that this goes no further. Not to Derek. Not to Ashley. Nobody.”
“You’ve got my word.”
He nods and takes a swallow of his water before turning to me. “Bala and Tarantula have been feeding us intel about the cartel’s movements. That’s why he was here the other day. He was giving us some intel about a Zavala shipment coming up through the Central Valley. Ever since the shootout with them, Zavala’s been determined to make this area his and to take us out in the process. So, he’s flooding the area with his drugs... and his sicarios.”
“Jesus,” I mutter.
“Yeah. So, me, Prophet, and a few others in Leadership have been running covert ops. We’ve been hitting their convoys and burning the product. We’re not going to let that shit get anywhere near Blue Rock,” he says.
“That’s why things have been so tense lately, huh?”
He nods. “Yeah. It’s getting pretty hairy out there. Anyway, Tarantula’s going to make a move on the Warriors’ club prez—Victor Ortega. Turns out, he’s a good friend of Zavala’s, and they’re working together to wipe us out and establish their drug empire here. Ortega’s moving behind the scenes, of course. He doesn’t have the balls to take us head on, so he’s working through Zavala to get it done. Miserable fucking prick.”
I pull a face as I think back to what Bala told me the other day. That he, Tarantula, and some of the others within the Warriors’ rank and file are taking exception to the open alliance with Zavala and his cartel. I’ve got nothing but respect for their stand against working with people who openly traffic children, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help Tarantula and Bala take Ortega out and flip their MC on its head. At least I can feel better about working with the Warriors after that, knowing their leadership has some sense of morality.
Cosmo’s face is pinched and drawn, and I can see the toll all of this has been taking on him. He’s got a family to think about, and I can only imagine that running ops against a cartel, knowing they could retaliate by taking out his family, has to be excruciating for him.
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I ask.
“I’m not going to lie to you, kid. We’ve got an op coming up where your skill set would come in real handy,” he says.
I take another long swallow, draining the small water bottle, then toss it into the trash can beside the table, my emotions whipping back and forth through me violently. On the one hand, life is really good right now and the last thing I want is to be drawn into a war with a cartel. That’s going to be messy, to say the least. We’ve already been shot up once, and the chances are pretty high that things are going to get a lot worse than that before they get better.
On the other hand, though, these guys are my brothers. I haven’t been closer to anybody since I rotated out of the Corps. They took me in and gave me a home when I had nothing and nobody. The good in my life right now has as much to do with them and my place here among the Pharaohs as anything else. How can I turn my back on them when shit’s going down and they need my help? What kind of a brother would I be if I did that? What kind of a man would I be?
“This is all strictly voluntary, kid,” Cosmo says. “There is absolutely no pressure for you to throw in on this op, and nobody’s going to think of you any different. You’ve got our word on that.”
“What’s the op?” I ask.
“We’re going to hit one of their supply trucks. But Bala sent word that Ortega himself is going to be there, too.”
“So, we’re helping Tarantula and Bala flip their MC’s leadership.”
He nods. “Yeah, pretty much. With a friend in the Warriors, it not only cuts Zavala out of the Central Valley, but it helps keep Blue Rock safe and free of the cartel drugs. We want to do this long range so that we have plausible deniability, and to do that—”
“You need a sniper who’s comfortable shooting long range,” I finish for him.
He purses his lips but nods. “Yeah. That’s pretty much the score.”
A wry chuckle passes my lips. I’m the only one in the club that’s got experience as a long-range sniper. There’s an art, as much as a science, to hitting a target at a distance. Some people have it, some don’t. Anybody in Leadership can pick up a rifle and take the shot, of course, but there isn’t anybody who’s guaranteed to score a hit. They know it every bit as well as I do.
And if they take a crack at Ortega, there is no room for error. Like that old saying goes, if you come at the king, you’d better not miss. In this case, if we miss, Ortega will rally his men, including Zavala’s sicarios, and wage a war that will be nasty. But if we take him off the board, we weaken the enemy and make an all-out war less likely. Or if not less likely, at least it’ll be a war that’s not going to be fought on two fronts. We won’t have the sicariosandthe Warriors coming at us. It’s not much in the way of comfort, but it’s something.
I look over at Cosmo. “But no pressure or anything, right?”
His expression is serious. “If you can’t do it, we’ll find another way, kid. I’m shootin’ straight when I tell you there’s no pressure.”
“When is the op?”
“The meet with Ortega is supposed to be in a few days. Bala’s going to shoot us the time and location as soon as he can.”
