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Ha. The dipshits had left it unlocked, presumably so the guards could easily go in and out. They’d made my job that much easier.
Tugging the gas mask over my mouth and nose, I slipped inside. The hallway was empty, but raised voices filtered to my ears from the front of the building.
No problem. Everything I wanted was back here.
I hauled the big container of gasoline out of my backpack and yanked the cap open. Then I shouldered into the room where I’d found the bags of cocaine last time.
The stacks of crates and boxes still filled the space. I didn’t know how much of the stash they had on hand was drugs and how much other was illicit merchandise, but pretty soon it was all going to be ashes.
Breathing through the gas mask with faint wheezes, I splashed gasoline over every stack and then drizzled a train out the door. From the hall, I darted into a couple of other rooms and found another heaped with sacks and more boxes.
Hasta la vista to all of those supplies too.
I doused the second storage room with another trail into the hall and poured a thin line of gasoline all the way to the back door. The fumes would have been dizzying if not for the mask. I’d take the rubbery scent filling my nose instead any day.
Pushing open the door, I tossed the now-empty gas container down the hall and pulled out a lighter. Buh-bye, criminal livelihood!
With one flash of sparks, the liquid trail lit up. Flames shot along the stream of gasoline toward both of the rooms and licked straight under the doors.
In a matter of seconds, the warbling sound of a raging fire resonated down the hall along with clouds of smoke gushing from beneath the doors.
Grinning beneath my mask, I jogged backward a few steps and fumbled in my bag for a tube of special gel that’d been our last acquisition along with the poncho. With a forceful squeeze, I got a big blob of it and smeared it all across my neck, hands, and my face as far as I could reach, pressing beneath the gas and ski masks. I even slathered some onto the fabric of the ski mask itself for good measure.
The cool, slick sensation made me cringe, but I didn’t dwell on it. I shoved the tube back into my bag and dashed for the front of the building to reunite with Rafael.
I charged into the parking lot to find him handling the situation there pretty well on his own. Three of the gang members were lying on the ground, moaning and holding various parts of their bodies. Another handful of guys were advancing towards him, but he didn’t look worried.
I watched in admiration of his strength as he jabbed one jerk in the stomach and brought a huge fist crashing into another guy’s nose, only to toss the loser into the dirt a few feet away.
The few remaining gangsters circled him warily. One glanced back at the building and let out a shout at the sight of the smoke now streaming up into the open air.
A flicker of relief passed through me. Maybe I wouldn’t even have to take this last, crazy step. Maybe we’d done enough to have them running scared as it was.
But as that thought passed through my mind, a truck roared down the road with two cars flanking it. They tore into the parking lot and skidded to a stop with a screech of their tires.
A dozen more guys sprang out, all of them clutching pistols or knives. And all of them clearly furious.
TWENTY-SIX
Rafael
If I’d hadit my way, every one of the so-called gangsters who’d just torn into their parking lot would have charged toward me. Instead, most of them ran at Lou where she’d emerged from behind the smoking storage building, some twenty feet away from me.
She was both closer to the scene of our main crime, and she must have looked a hell of a lot more vulnerable than I did. The combination of ski mask and gas mask gave her an almost alien appearance, but she was more than a foot shorter than me and slimmer besides, and her feminine curves showed even beneath the black poncho draped over her.
They probably figured they could use her as leverage against me.
Gritting my teeth, I hurtled after them as fast as I could run. If they sent one bullet or blade into her body…
I couldn’t let it get even that far. The thought of Lou injured, her petite frame swaying with pain, sent a pulse of fury through my veins. My hands clenched into fists, and my fingers itched for the gun at my hip.
I’d promised her I’d only shoot if I needed to—but our current situation had to count as an emergency. Better if these pricks all ended up dead on the pavement than to let even one of them lay a hand on her.
Lou tensed in a fighting stance, her sharp-edged rings glinting in front of her knuckles. One of the assholeslaughedat her.
He raised his gun, just a few steps away from her. My hand leapt to my holster. My fingers closed around the grip—
And Luciana Cordova flew into action.
