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The second driver swerved but wasn’t quick enough. He drove his bumper into the rear container frame. Metal twisted.
Cavalho vehicles surged from the quarry entrance and closed from both sides.
“Now,” Raze ordered.
The road erupted.
The passenger in the lead sedan threw open his door with a pistol already raised. Atlas fired from the ridge. The man collapsed across the door before both feet touched the ground.
Gianni’s team opened fire from the eastern track, trapping the driver behind the engine block. Raze and I advanced toward the trucks. A burst of gunfire struck the quarry wall behind us. Stone fragments cut across my cheek.
A man crouched beside the rear wheels of the first trailer. I fired twice. The first round struck his shoulder. The second took him beneath the chin and drove him backward under the truck.
The rear escort tried to reverse. Zeno’s van blocked it. Matteo stepped from behind the raised bonnet and fired through the windscreen. The driver folded over the wheel.
The rear passenger shoved open his door with a submachine gun in both hands. Zeno shot him through the side of the head before he could braise the weapon.
The ambush had lasted less than two minutes.
“Lead escort contained,” Gianni reported.
“Rear vehicle clear,” Zeno replied.
“Movement at the second cab,” Atlas warned. “Two men.”
The passenger door opened.
A man jumped down and ran for the trees.
Raze shot him in the back.
He struck the road face-first and slid beneath the trailer.
The driver remained inside. His face appeared behind the glass as his hand disappeared beneath the dashboard.
“Driver has something,” Matteo shouted.
I ran.
The driver looked through the windscreen and saw me coming. He smiled. His thumb pressed a switch beneath the steering column. The explosion struck below the rear trailer.
The road lifted, the blast throwing me into the ditch. My shoulder struck the ground first, and pain shot down my arm as metal screamed above me.
One container tore free of its locking pins. It slid sideways across the trailer bed, struck the second container and tipped over the edge. The ground shook when it landed.
For several seconds, all sound disappeared beneath a high ringing in my ears. Then I heard screaming.
I pushed myself onto one knee.
Smoke poured from beneath the fallen container.
“What was that?” Matteo shouted.
Raze dragged the driver from the cab and threw him onto the road.
“Incendiary charge.”
Flames appeared beneath the container doors. The Coccicos had prepared to destroy the cargo if anyone stopped the convoy. Whatever they were carrying mattered less than keeping it hidden.
