Page 143 of Vega

Big A nodded toward the body shop. “What’s the plan?”

I pointed to the building. “There are two outside near the garage door and one near the side entrance. Inside should be light. Jamir said it was only Roman, a few Granger men, and Promise. The storage room is the target. We hit outside first, then I go straight in. Y’all clear the way and keep eyes on my sides.”

Saint checked his gun. “Simple enough.”

It sounded simple but simple didn't mean it would be easy. And now that I had someone I wanted to make it home to, this gunplay felt way more intense. I battled with feelings I never had before in these situations. I was scared of abandoning Sonnet, the way everyone else had in her life.

I watched the street again. The kids chased their ball toward the next block. The women on the porches turned their heads toward somebody arguing near the corner store. The old heads grabbed their cards and started fussing over money.

That was our window.

I nodded once, and Reek pulled the UPS truck forward first. We followed in the van. The second Roman’s outside men turned toward the truck, the doors opened. Saint stepped out with a package in his hand and a gun behind it. Big A came around the other side. The first shots tore through the block, and the men dressed as mechanics reached for weapons too late.

People screamed and ran. Porch chairs fell over. A car door slammed. Somebody yelled for the kids to get inside.

Lux jumped out the van first. “Move!”

Lowe dropped the man near the side entrance. Prodigy hit the one reaching from behind a parked car. Wise moved with me toward the front door while Saint and Big A kept the outside covered.

The front glass shattered before I reached it. I stepped over the broken pieces and entered with my gun raised. The waiting area had plastic chairs, a dusty counter, and a TV mounted near the ceiling. A man came through the hallway with his gun halfway up, and I put two in him before he found his aim.

Wise entered behind me. “Hallway clear.”

“We headed to the shop floor,” I ordered.

We moved through the narrow hall and into the service area. The shop opened up into three bays with cars lifted, toolboxes against the wall, and stacks of wrapped product near the back. Only a few men were inside, but they came out shooting.

Gunfire filled the building causing metal to spark and glass to break. A bullet punched through the hood of a stripped Charger beside me. I fired over the front of it and caught one of Roman’s men in the neck. Prodigy came through the side and dropped another man trying to run toward the storage room.

Lux and Lowe pushed in behind us. Then the barking started. It was loud, vicious, and too fucking close. I had heard about Promise’s dogs before. The names, Princess and Muffin, had sounded funny until two big black Boerboels came out near the back with her, and nothing about them looked funny in person. They were huge, with thick necks, wide, huge heads, heavy jaws, and bodies packed with muscle. They had to be over two-hundred pounds. Their coats were black and glossy, stretched over shoulders that looked built to knock a grown man off his feet. Saliva clung to their mouths while they watched us with the kind of focus that told me they weren’t pets; they were weapons.

Promise stepped out with both of them at her sides, gun in her hand, and murder in her eyes. The dogs stood beside her with their heads up, ears alert, and paws planted on the concrete, waiting for word from her.

Promise had a gun in one hand and her eyes locked on Lux.

“Fass ihn!” she shouted, and the dogs launched at Lux.

Lux screamed higher than any grown man with a gun should’ve screamed. “Arrrgh! Oh, shit!”

He scrambled backward, knocking into a rolling chair before stumbling over a jack. One of the dogs lunged for his face, teeth snapping close enough for Lux to throw his forearm up and shove its head away. The second one came from the side, paws scraping across the concrete while it tried to get at his jaw.

The rest of Roman’s men were already down. Promise and Roman were the only ones left shooting but getting a clean shot at either one of them wasn’t simple. Roman kept ducking in and out of the storage room, firing through the doorway before disappearing behind the wall again. Promise stayed near the service bay entrance, using the cars, toolboxes, and her dogs to keep everybody split. She wasn’t standing in the open waiting to get dropped.

Wise was on my left, trying to keep Roman from pushing out of the storage room. Prodigy had the right side covered, shooting through the space between a lifted car and a stack of tires. Saint and Big A were near the hallway, keeping the front clear in case anybody else came through. Reek was outside in the UPS truck, blocking the street and making sure nobody rolled up behind us.

Those dogs had Lux trapped near the middle of the shop, and none of us could get a clean shot without risking him.

“Ahhhhh! Somebody get these fucking dogs!” Lux yelled, pushing at the dog’s head with one hand while trying not to shoot himself with the other.

Lowe aimed his gun toward them. “Lux, move!”

“I’m moving, nigga!”

“You ain’t moving fast enough!”

“I’m trying not to get my fucking face ate off!”

If this hadn’t been life or death, I would’ve laughed at his ass. Lux was screaming like a bitch.