Packing Heat(66)

I didn’t know if I had made the right call, but I did know one thing: Whatever this was between us, it was real. I felt it as much as he did.

It was real.





32





Rafa





I pulled Cassidy along behind me as we raced into the echoing, open building.

Arturo’s plan was straightforward: wait until the Spiders showed, and then kill them all. He didn’t care if he was betraying them; he just wanted them dead and gone. That was the only thing on his mind.

But Louisa Barone changed things. I had known Cassidy was holding back, and now I understood why. Louisa was beautiful and impressive, and I could see how Cassidy would want to protect her secrets.

But Arturo had to know. He wouldn’t go through with this attack if he knew the real identity of the Spiders.

This was part of what it meant to grow up. I had to trust Cassidy and accept her choices. My role was to protect her no matter what she chose, and to support her if she failed.

That was what I would do. That was all I could do.

This was real, and I knew what it was.

We entered the open warehouse floor. Ahead, the bosses stood in loose groups surrounded by armed men. I knew they were also in the rafters and all along the catwalk, though I couldn’t see them.

We headed straight toward Arturo and his boys. But just as we got there, another soldier ran up to Arturo and them ahead of us.

“Boss, they’re here.”

Everyone got very, very still.

“Where?” Arturo asked.

“They’re coming in from the far entrance.”

“Who?”

“Three people wearing black body armor. The Spiders.”

“Three?”

“Just three, sir.”

“Scout the area. There must be more.”

“Yes, sir.”

Arturo turned back to his men and began to confer nervously. I stopped in my tracks and looked at Cassidy, my eyes wide.

It was too late for us to stop it, and maybe there wasn’t even anything to stop. The Spiders were up to something.

We stared as the three figures began to come closer. People shifted, and the general tone of the place became nervous. Vince came up and stood next to us, silently staring with his arms crossed.

As the figures got closer, I saw that they were dressed in all-black combat outfits with gas masks in the front.

“Standard Spider outfits,” I murmured.

“They look terrifying.”

“I suspect that’s part of the point. They’re functional, too.”

The three figured stopped about twenty yards away from Arturo. They were unarmed as far as I could tell. The one in the middle was the tallest, though none of them were very tall, maybe my height at best.

I was beyond positive that the middle person was Louisa, and the other two were also women. I couldn’t prove it, but I knew.

The person on the right stepped forward.

“We’re here to discuss terms,” she called out.

Definitely a woman’s voice.

“Are you the leader of the Spiders?” Arturo responded.

“I am not. She is.” The woman gestured at the figure in the center.

Arturo addressed her. “Give me a reason not to kill you three.”

“You don’t want to do that,” the woman who spoken responded. The other two women didn’t move. “We may be unarmed, but our people aren’t.”

“There’s nobody else here. Don’t bluff. We have this whole warehouse surrounded.”

“Of course you do,” the woman said. “But so do we.”

Arturo looked angry. “What do you want?”

“We want peace.”

“What are your terms?”

“Only one term. You stop your human trafficking business, and the war ends.”

Arturo laughed loudly, practically shaking. There was some soft murmuring and worried comments as Arturo slowly got himself under control. When he was finished laughing, he stepped toward the three Spiders.

“Listen to me, you delusional bitches. The Barone family doesn’t make deals with murderous sluts.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

There was a shocked silence as the woman in the middle stepped forward. Her voice was muffled by the gas mask.

“Ah, now she speaks,” Arturo said, smiling. “It doesn’t matter, though. I already decided to kill you all.”

“Like Rosita said, you don’t want to do that.”

“I do. I really do. You fucking cunts have been bleeding my people dry, and for what? A bunch of drug-addicted whores from another country. Well, fuck you and fuck that. I won’t bow down to some disgusting sluts like you.”

“That’s a shame.”

I held my breath.

The woman took off her mask.

Louisa Barone smiled at the shocked crowd.

“You wouldn’t want to hurt your own daughter, would you, Daddy?”