Malo - Page 62

Not when we can end it all tonight.

“With me!” Beast calls, and I dart in behind him, covering him as he heads for the main entrance. Behind it, there are two men waiting for us, fresh-faced, barely older than teens. One of them spins around, pointing his gun at Beast, but Beast slams it out of his hand with a closed fist, and shoves him against the concrete wall behind him, knocking him to the ground with a harsh thud.

I look around. There are three entrances to the large-walled property, and all three are in the process of being breached by our people. I can already see a few bodies scattering the ground, but right now, there’s no time to check if they belong to us. We just have to keep going.

“Clear out the rest of the guards!” Beast tells the men behind us. “I’m going in!”

“Right behind you,” I call back, and I serve as his bodyguard, clearing the way of a few of the cartel who want to take down the big man themselves. Beast has faced off much worse than them over the years, and this attack is nothing like the ones we’ve made before. This is personal. These are the people who harmed his daughter, and I know there’s no way in hell they’re going to get away with it.

The building is split up into two corridors on the inside, and Beast and I split off down one while Bronco and Storm take another. I press my back to the wall just ahead of the corner, and Beast lifts a finger to his lips to keep me quiet. We can both hear footsteps, dozens of them, rushing towards us, but they don’t know we’re here yet.

The unsuspecting cartel members turn the corner, and they’re met with gunfire from both sides, courtesy of Beast and me. We mow through a few of them, and the others scatter in panic. They’re not well-trained, probably just drug users who got pulled into this as a way to pay back their debts. I would feel bad for them, if I didn’t know who they were working for, what they were supporting in the process.

Once the corridor is clear, Beast jerks his head down the hall, and we move through quickly, guns raised, ready to take another shot at any second. But, soon, we encounter Bronco, the corridors cleared of cartel.

Beast kicks open the door to the center room of the compound, and inside, Fenix is waiting for us. Alarm is written all over his face, as though he didn’t expect it to go down like this. Beast raises his gun, aiming it at his head.

“Tell me where the fuck El Serpiente is,” he demands.

Fenix blurts out a response as quick as he can. “He’s not here,” he replies, but I can tell from the look in his eyes that he’s lying. He’s spinning whatever he can to us right now to try and get out of this in one piece, but it’s not going to be that easy.

“Yes, he is,” I fire back. “He wouldn’t have done all of this and missed the show.”

Beast flashes me a dark grin, and returns his gaze to Fenix, shoving his face close to the other man’s.

“Come on,” he orders, his eyes dark with anger. “Last chance.”

Fenix inhales deeply, clearly considering his options. He seems to be able to tell as well as I can that Beast isn’t going to give up on this. Beast won’t stop until he’s taken his revenge on El Serpiente, and that’s just how it’s going to go.

But if Fenix betrays El Serpiente, he’s as good as dead anyway. It’s just a matter of figuring out whose hand he’d rather die by.

He grits his teeth and shakes his head. “I’m not telling you shit,” he replies.

Beast shrugs and steps back. “Suit yourself.” He lifts his gun and lets off two shots in quick succession, one to his crotch, and one to his head. Blood splatters the wall behind Fenix, and he drops to the ground, his brains spilling onto the floor as I step over him.

“El Serpiente’s here, I know he is,” Beast growls as Bronco and I take up our places behind him. He leads us out of the central room, and, out of the corner of my eye, I notice someone bolting. My head whips around, and I see some young-looking Rosa shooting off down the corridor.

“Follow him!” I bellow. “He must know another way out of here.”

We take off after him, and sure enough, there’s a back entrance concealed in the concrete. We might have run right past it if the kid hadn’t given it away by bolting through it, and vanishing into the night. Beast gives chase, and just as we step out of the door, a bullet shatters the concrete next to my head.

“Get down!” Bronco yells, but Beast can’t hear him. No, he straightens up, eyes searching the horizon to see where the shots are coming from.

“He’s there,” Beast calls out, pointing toward the concrete wall around the base. “El Serpiente. I can see him!”

I rise up, trying to keep my wits about me, and look to where Beast is pointing. And sure enough, he’s right—there he is, the man who started this, flanked by a pair of guards who are sniping from their position above the compound wall.

Beast raises his gun again, and fires off two shots, one taking out the guard to El Serpiente’s left, then the other to his right. I hear the sickening thud of bodies hitting the ground as El Serpiente dives for cover to recoup but there’s nowhere to hide.

“You two, back inside,” Beast tells me. “I can deal with this.”

“Boss, you?—”

“I told you, get back inside,” Beast barks. There’s a glimmer in his eyes, as though he knows he’s got to do this, and I can tell that this is revenge—revenge for what happened to his daughter, to Bella, to everyone who the cartel has hurt.

Bronco and I pull back to take cover, and Beast and El Serpiente level their weapons at each other again. A bullet snags Beast’s leather jacket, tearing a hole in it, and he barely even flinches. He is single-minded right now, focused on one thing and one thing only: bringing this bastard down for good.

I grit my teeth, adrenaline coursing through my body, a painful restlessness in my system. Las Rosas are starting to thin out by now, the few that are left running for the streets beyond, clearly not wanting to stick around and see how this turns out. But not El Serpiente who is still here, not willing to give up, not willing to walk away from this, not that Beast would let him go now that he’s so close to ending him.