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But none of us was interested in that old pile of scrap.
It was its contents that had brought us there.
In particular, container four-three-five.
A forklift driver setting it down, the ground shook for a split second under the weight of that container. Putting the forklift in reverse, its wheels sent bits of gravel back and past my spot. I waited for him to disappear back in the cargo hold of Elizabeth III, my gaze on the huge, red box across from me.
“Matteo, do the honors,” I told my friend, a raindrop landing on the top of my head. More raindrops falling around us, he sat on his knees in front of the container. He gripped the bottom latch and yanked it up, its grinding noise overshadowing the distant sound of that forklift.
“Yeah, baby,” Matteo whistled at the view, before turning his head right to face Felix. “Get over here, man.”
“Details,” I said, somewhat annoyed by their silence.
“It’s all here,” Matteo announced, his back still to me. “Rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers and their ammo. Cesare,” he paused and looked back at me. “I’ll have to check the manifest, but it looks like the shipment’s full.”
At that point, our attention was drawn to a loud rumble from the west. All eight heads turned in the direction of two, black SUVs, their headlights cutting through the darkness of the docks.
“Cops?” I murmured to Leonardo next to me.
“No way. I paid them off this afternoon.”
“Hold your fire,” I ordered, raising my arm in the air. I walked off in the direction of those cars, wondering just who the hell we were dealing with. Those two Cherokees pulling up next to one another, the passenger in the front one stepped out. He was a 5’10” Latino in a black, sleeveless tee and gray pants, with a large tattoo of a tiger’s face on his right shoulder.
“Which one of you gringos is in charge here?” He asked, looking around at my men.
“I must have missed the part where you gave me your name,” I said, my slow footsteps closing the gaps between us.
“Big gringo with an attitude, huh?” He scowled, smiling over at his driver. “Oh, I’m shaking,” he added, his entire body trembling in fake fear. “You and your little bitches ought to get the fuck out of here, ese. This ain’t your turf.”
“Or else?”
At that, his expression got even more sullen than it was. He shifted his gaze over to the container, before starting off back to the SUV. He slammed the passenger door shut, the car next to his rolling forward. A man in a similar outfit popped through its sunroof and leaned his arm on the aluminum roof. My eyes went wide as I spotted the weapon in his grasp. It was a long tube with a scope in the middle.
“Down!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, flipping around as the stranger pressed his eye to that scope. I lunged forward, propelling myself through the air, the moment a faint click reached my ears. A flash tearing through the darkness, gasses shot out from the back of that rocket launcher. I fell to the deck, tiny pebbles sticking to my chin as a powerful blast echoed across the dock. A huge fireball shooting up into the sky, my ears picked up noises of metal slamming into the ground. I looked up, my chin brushing up against the collar of my shirt. Chunks of iron and aluminum were hovering several feet over what used to be a container. Towering flames in between them, they dropped to the ground, their clattering louder than the singeing of that container. Plumes of black smoke engulfing their shape, nasty stenches flooded my nostrils. Molten plastic, along with burning metal were permeating the air.
I pressed my palms to the deck and pushed myself up, those SUV’s finishing a U-turn. The four new additions to our crew were well away from the scene. Those gutless bastards hadn’t bothered ducking. They hadn’t even bothered sticking around. I just caught a glimpse of them, before they disappeared between two, parked trucks. Leonardo was crawling towards the remains of that container. Matteo was closer, staring at the—still burning—shipment, trying to rise from the ground. Felix was to the left, his side to me. Lying down, clutching the right side of his ribcage as he howled in pain… I swallowed hard and cringed, noticing something between his fingers. A small chunk of metal was sticking out from the wound, its jagged edge covered in Felix’s blood.
“Matteo, Leonardo,” I said, my attention shifting back to my friends. “Are you guys all right? Are you hurt?”
“No, man,” Matteo was the first to provide an answer. “I took a nasty hit on the head, but I’m okay.”
“Me, too,” Leonardo nodded, looking up at me from beside Felix. “He needs a hospital.Now.”
“I’ll get the car,” I told them, jogging off.
I couldn’t believe this. For the second time in a month, one of us was fighting for his life. A member of our crew needed medical attention, otherwise he’d bleed out. I hardly knew Felix, but the last thing I wanted was for him to die on the docks. Shots of adrenaline rushing through my system, I hoped I would be quick enough. I hoped I hadn’t gotten him killed by hiring him.
19
PIPER
A constant vibrationon my nightstand pried me out of my sleep. My cell phone was moving across the wooden surface, getting closer to the bed, before pulling away. I reached over in the dark, my eyes remaining shut. My fingers making contact with the wood, they crawled across, until they nudged the plastic on the side of the phone. I cleared my throat and brought it up to my ear, my cheek pressed against the pillow.
“Hello?”
“Piper?” A female voice was on the other end of the line, two phones ringing in the background. That ring was much too familiar.
“Yeah?”
