Page 371 of Romeo

We tucked the boat beneath hanging branches and stepped into shallow water one at a time. Angel moved like a man who’d spent most of his life expecting violence, which made me slightly less worried about bringing him along. Slightly.

I checked my phone.

Juju: IN POSITION.

Good.

We moved inland.

Romeo’s cabin sat farther ahead through the trees, mostly hidden from where we approached. I could see a corner of the roof and part of the porch through gaps in the brush, but nothing moved around it.

Then Braveheart touched my shoulder and pointed.

A man crouched behind a fallen tree twenty yards ahead, his attention fixed on the cabin.

And he was armed.

That answered one question.

He wasn’t lost.

I held up two fingers and pointed right. Thore moved in that direction with Braveheart, while Angel stayed beside me. I didn’t need to tell either Bourbon King what I wanted. We’d done enough ugly shit together to understand one another without announcing it to everybody in the swamp.

The man never saw Thore come around behind him.

One second, he was watching Romeo’s cabin. The next, Thore had him on the ground with Braveheart helping keep him quiet. It was over fast enough that the silence around us never really changed.

Angel looked down at the dead man.

“One,” I said, as I sent a text to the others.

“Rome found at least two,” Braveheart reminded us.

“There’ll be more.”

“Probably.”

We kept moving.

The next one was farther north, positioned where he could see part of the porch and the water. Juju reached him before we did. There was movement through the brush, then the man disappeared backward so quickly it almost looked like the bayou swallowed him.

A few seconds later my phone buzzed once.

Juju: TWO.

I almost felt sorry for the stupid bastards.

Almost.

They had walked into a swamp where Rome and I, together with my men, spent most of our lives learning every channel, trail, patch of high ground, and place some dumbass from outside Louisiana thought made a good hiding spot.

That was their mistake.

The third man caused more trouble.

He moved.

Not toward the cabin. Away from his position, cutting through the trees toward the water like he had finally realized something had changed around him. Braveheart saw him first and shifted to intercept. The man heard something, turned, and reached beneath his jacket.