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The fresh wave of icy fear propelled me into action. “Of course. I’ll get the job done.”
It was only criminals I’d be ordering our people to mow down, not innocents.
It could be worse.
Mom looked me up and down with penetrating eyes and then waved me toward the SUV at the head of the line. “Octavio will fill you in on the details and act as your second in command. I want to hear all about your victory when you get back.”
Well, now it was definitely worse. I forced myself to stride over to the vehicle, where the man who’d hassled me after I’d searched Mom’s office was watching me with a glower. He ducked into the back seat as I reached him and only let his lip curl into a hint of a sneer when he was out of my mom’s sight.
“The pequeña rosa is in charge tonight, huh?” he said as I climbed in after him. “You got your brilliant plans all worked out?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I believe in hearing what we’re up againstbeforeI start planning, if that’s okay with you, hombrecito.”
The dig did its duty. His full lips pinched together, the glint of his piercing flashing as his eyebrows dipped down. But he could say nothing. I was right, and he knew it.
The driver up front turned the key, and the engine roared to life. My heart thumped with a sickly erratic beat as the SUV headed onto the road.
Octavio swiped his hands together impatiently. “Listen up then. We’re laying down the law with the Anacondas. They run things out of an old low-rise apartment building that was condemned a few years back but never torn down. The thing has four stories with a fire escape along the left side, leading to hall windows on each floor. There are three regular entrances on the ground: front, back, and right.”
I nodded, picturing the layout as well as I could in my head. “Got it.”
“Good. Most of those pendejos will probably be hanging out inside. The Anacondas don’t do a whole lot of business, which I guess is why they got grabby and stupid. We can expect they’ll have three or four people hanging around outside the building keeping watch, maybe a few more since they probably realize we’re pissed. But we left it a couple of days so they’d start to get complacent. Now it’s time to carve a message for the rest of the city in their blood.”
I tuned out the churning of my stomach. “Got to make an example of them.” My fingers tightened around the grip of the pistol.
Chances were I was going to have to fire the weapon tonight. I might very well need to kill someone myself. Why had these idiots decided to try and screw over Momnowof all times?
Octavio was studying me. “So you got a plan or what?”
If I faltered, he’d report it back to Mom. Hell, he’d probably give as scathing account as he could get away with no matter what I did. I couldn’t leave any openings for him to criticize me.
This part of life under the Deadly Rose might make me nauseous, but Mom had roped me into enough discussions and past assaults for me to have a decent idea of how she’d have handled the assault. What I needed to consider. How to maximize their casualties while minimizing ours.
I could at least make sure as few of the men I was leading died as possible.
Not letting Octavio rush me into a careless decision, I spoke firmly and steadily. “We want to give the enemy as little time to prepare as possible. All the cars race in around the building at once—shoot the guards on sight. We enter through every available entrance including several guys going up the fire escape and smashing through the windows. All our force, all at once, before they even realize what’s happening.”
“The fire escape?” Octavio said with undisguised skepticism. “It’s not like they’ll have the ladder lowered for us.”
I shot him a sideways glance. “I know. Park one of the vans right under it. Not that hard to hop from the hood to the roof and up, right?”
Octavio’s silent scowl suggested he was pissed off that he couldn’t find more to complain about in my suggestions. He shook his head with a sigh. “I hope you know what you’re doing here.”
“My mother seems to think I do,” I retorted with an edge in my voice, reminding him of who had set this whole situation in motion. “Now are you going to relay the plan to the others or am I?”
He muttered something under his breath, but he got out his phone. In alternating English and Spanish, he conveyed my instructions to people in all of the cars.
I sank back in the leather seat, keeping my face composed in a mask of disinterest. Just another night, just another gang shootout.
Just another urge to vomit.
I wished I could close my eyes and completely shut out the horrible scenario I’d found myself in for a minute, but Octavio would take that as weakness. So I trained my gaze straight ahead and clamped down on my queasiness and flickers of panic as well as I could.
If this is what it took to protect those I loved, then I had to follow through. I wasn’t letting down the men who’d done so much for me over a weak stomach.
I just hoped Mom would be happy with only one test and this wasn’t the first of many.
Before that thought could fill me with even more horror, the driver jerked the wheel. “Coming up on the building,” he said. “Just a few blocks away.”
