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Finding nothing in the dead man’s pockets, I was about to stand, when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Reaching for my gun, I spun, only to come face-to-face with the barrel of another. Before the Ace could fire, his head jerked back almost at the same time I heard the depressed air of the silenced shot.
Twisting, I found Ajilon standing there with a grim look on his face as his men swarmed the hidden room the final guard had come out of.
“Thank you.”
“I did it for Mari.” After getting confirmation that everyone was dead, he gave the update. “White team, cleared.”
“You find the drugs?”
“In sight.” We stared at the massive stack of cocaine bricks in the center of the room. It was more than I’d ever seen at once before, even with Cash’s penchant for the drug. Easily millions of dollars’ worth of product that we were going to steal. Yeah, he was going to be pissed.
There was a moment of silence before Mari’s voice came down the line. “Any losses?”
“None on our part,” I said, knowing she needed reassurance as much as I did. “You?”
“Two of Kosas’s men got shot, but they’ll live. Everyone else is fine.”
“Same here,” Grey said.
“Good.” Her voice held a wealth of relief when she finally answered. “Get everything loaded and rendezvous at the docks in an hour.”
“You got it.” As the other teams signed off, Ajilon started barking orders, but I held up my hand. “Wait.”
Pulling out my phone, I made sure to take a full video of the drugs as well as take a ton of pictures. I’d learned a long time ago that you never knew when you might need evidence, even if it was just to piss off my brother when I got the chance.
“All right, we’re good.” With a nod, I let Ajilon get back to work, setting up some of the men outside to watch for any incoming trouble, while the other half pulled open the loading doors and began stacking bricks of coke inside the trucks. Leaning against a wall, I kept a vigilant eye over it all, making sure no one made a move I didn’t like.
It was interesting to see how Ajilon’s and Kieran’s men looked at me. The former’s just looked wary, while most of the Irish looked like they were going to shit their pants when they caught my eye. I had a feeling our little break-in had earned us quite the reputation. Not that I minded. If it kept Mari safe, I’d kill every last one of them without question.
We had the warehouse cleared in less than thirty minutes and had more than enough time to drown the building in gasoline before setting it on fire. There was something cathartic about dropping one of my father’s lighters and hearing the whoosh as the flames ate the old building. Seeing Cash’s hard work burn, his drugs stolen, his men dead—it was all so much better than I’d expected.
Take that, asshole.
Despite the others clearing their areas first, we were the first to make it to the docks. Micah let us in, sending us to the still-damaged area where Cash had set up a bomb for Mari. Ajilon and Kieran sat along the boardwalk while I paced, desperate to see my family now that the work was done.
They were five minutes late, but Greyson had texted that they’d run into an accidental police blockade and had to go around.
No biggie, but there was nothing from Mari.
Then they were ten minutes late. At fifteen, I was going out of my skin.
“You’re going to give yourself a heart attack if you don’t calm down.” Kieran stared at me like an animal in the zoo, his fingers twitching toward his gun.
“Pull that on him, and there won’t be enough pieces of you to feed to the sharks, O’Bannon.”
I whipped my head around, and I was rushing for Mari before I even realized I was moving. Every worst-case scenario flashed through my brain as I crossed the distance between us, but she seemed unharmed. I’d find out for myself in a moment, though.
The second she was in reach, I hauled her into my arms, burying my face in her neck. “Thank fuck. I was worried.”
“I’m fine, Nate. Just got caught in some traffic.” Her hands petted my hair as she whispered soothing words until I was ready to let her go. Even then, she couldn’t move far. I was clinging to her too hard for that.
“What, no hug for me?” Dominic joked, only to laugh when I hauled him in for a hug too. Like Mari, he gave me a pat on the head before shoving me away. “Christ, we were gone for a few hours. You have abandonment issues.”
“You have no idea,” I muttered.
When Greyson walked over to us two minutes later, he got the same treatment, though he didn’t seem surprised at all. He even gloated that he got a longer one because he’d thought to text that he was going to be late. Fucker was just trying to start shit with Dominic, but I didn’t even care.
Once my family was in sight, I finally felt like I could breathe again.
