Page 11 of Ulysses

“Órale! We are your familia, you wouldn’t raise your weapons against us!” Estaban almost screamed in rage.

Lily went on, “If you or your men start shooting at these men, be warned, they will shoot back and they will not stop until all of you are dead. They did not want this war but by God they will not be shot down without defending their own lives either. They will fight back and they have the ability to use whatever means they can against you as well.”

“Why are you still inside the house when your padre and hermanos are dead?” Estaban demanded. “I was told that both you and Canto were inside when the fighting started. And you are still inside today?”

“I’m still alive because I’m smarter than my father, my brothers and apparently you,” Lily told him. “Why should I die because Ricco was an idiot?”

“They are your family, and you should stand with us. Familia is all you have in real life,” Estaban shouted through the speaker.

“So just because my father and my hermanos had a death wish means I should as well?” Lily asked him calmly. “I am not my padre, he chose to keep one son as his favorite and pit the rest of his children against the others. Then I have to die with him? No. I do have my own mind. And the loco gene missed me I guess. Now you have one of two choices here. You can gather what few men you have that are alive and walk away or you can stay here and do battle. But I warn you, these men are not afraid of you. This is their home and they have every right to defend it. If you start shooting, they will shoot back.”

Estaban went silent for a moment then he growled into the phone, “Tell them to give up or we are coming for them. I will not be disrespected like this.”

“Then be prepared to die for nothing and after you are dead, your sacrifice will be forgotten. No one will pray for your souls and no one will remember you on the holidays. You will lose this fight and no one will remember your name or your deeds.” Lily ended the call and hung her head.

Ironman joined her as he wrapped his big arms around her and held her tightly.

After a moment, she shrugged him off then she looked at Bouncer and whispered, “He’s coming in anyway. He didn’t listen to anything I said about why my father was even here.”

Bouncer nodded. “We will wait for them to take the first shot. Then we kill them all.”

“Don’t take a shot until you see the whites of their eyes,” Boomer suggested. “We got more than just paint bombs out there, you know.”

“Yes, tell me about it,” Jep added. “It's like watching the crazies escaping the funny farm.”

Arielle giggled as she nodded in agreement.

Just then they all heard another round of explosions go off in the woods. Three separate blasts and the clubhouse shook as dust fell from the ceiling. More shoots and yells broke the silence after the blasts.

Jep checked his monitors and shook his head. “Ok that got about eight and they are running in liberal circles while...” he paused. “Laughing? Oh, man. They dropped their guns and a few sat down on the grass and are crying like babies. Wow.”

Lily’s phone rang again and when she answered the call, it was put on speaker.

“What the hell kind of fun house is this, chica?” Milo exclaimed.

“You guys all came here when you should have stayed home,” she told him calmly.

“We came here looking for our father.” Milo snarled. “Where the hell is he?”

“He’s dead along with every man he brought with him,” she answered him without emotion.

“He is dead?” Milo snapped. “How can he be dead?”

Lily sighed into the phone. “He tried to fight and when his gun fired, he missed his target and someone on this side fired back, his bullet didn’t miss. Your father stepped out of the trees and he got smoked. He died the same way he lived his entire life, by the violence he thought couldn’t touch him. I gave Estaban one chance, walk away and live or stay and fight. I’m giving you the same option. You boys are down to maybe ten men standing. The choice is yours, but of course you probably won’t take it and soon you’ll be down to no man standing.”

Milo ended the call.

Chapter Eight

Lily carefully placed her phone down onto the table.

The whole room heard what Milo said and what Lily said.

No one else spoke for a long moment, then Boomer said, “May God have mercy.” Then he looked at Lily and asked, “Is your whole family as stupid as these jokers are?”

Lily turned her head and just stared at him, then she nodded. “Si, they are all the same. They all think they are badasses but they are just fools. All they did while growing up was lie, cheat and steal. Everyone in our area but the Sanchez family works hard for a living. But my family just takes and takes and gives nothing back. If anyone disagrees with them they either shoot them or beat them up. Not one of the family has ever just walked away and left the other person alone. I grew up disgusted with the whole damn family. Now you see it. Pitiful isn’t it?”

Ironman shook his head. “Not pitiful, you are more human than the rest of your family. When Ricco shot Todd, he thought Todd deserved to die.”