Chapter Thirty-Four
Madison
After Celina sends me a text saying the women are on their way, I call Caleb into my office. He’s been mister grumpy since my earlier visit with Cartwright and I think Moon gave him a verbal ass whooping. Unfortunately, his mood won’t be improving anytime soon. We picked up Cori’s car from her apartment after my talk with Cartwright. She left the building and she’s waiting downstairs for me. I’m not sure where all the men assigned to guard me are stationed, and Cori has more coming and going privileges than I do.
“I want to go over security. I don’t want any of my girls in danger.”
“What do you need to know?” His lips are still a firm line and I know he hasn’t forgiven me.
“If something major was to happen here, I’d like to know where the guards are located.” He nods and I continue. “Cori and I checked the safe room earlier and there’s a spider in the far corner. No matter how pissed off you are, there’s no way we’re going in there with a spider.” I can only hope there’s no inflection in my voice that gives this bullshit story away. The last thing I’m afraid of is a little spider, especially one that doesn’t exist.
Caleb sighs and gives me a you must me kidding look.
I give him my own sigh. “I need to be sure Cori is safe here. She’ll have a hard enough time as it is and she shouldn’t be worrying about Fernandez getting to her again.” I may be laying it on a bit thick, but he seems to buy it. Cori could run this place with her hands tied behind her back. I’m not very good at the damsel in distress routine and it’s easier to pass it off on her.
Caleb exhales a long breath. “We have four additional men here today and I don’t know how long they’ll be assigned. You should talk that over with your husband.”
That’s not happening anytime soon. “I’m assuming we have extra guards on this floor in the monitoring room. I’m good with that, but I think we need at least one stationed downstairs at the entrance to the building. Across the street in that little café maybe?”
Before Caleb can roll his eyes over my security recommendation, his cell phone rings and he pulls it from his pocket. “It’s your husband,” he says after connecting the call.
He listens while looking at me, but then his expression changes. “She’s sitting here in front of me.” He takes a deep breath. “Fuck, I’ve got it covered and I’ll get her in there now.” He ends the call and stands. “There’s been an explosion at the house. Moon wants you in the safe room.”
“An explosion?” My heartrate goes into overdrive.
“No injuries and they’ve caught one of Fernandez’s men. Melina, Celina, and Sofia apparently drove away while the place was in chaos. What’s going on, Mak?” He says this as we’re walking to the safe room.
“I think I know where they’ve gone,” I say truthfully. How the hell could there be an explosion at the house?
Caleb opens the safe room door, which is kept unlocked for quick access.
“I’m not going in there with the spider,” I say stubbornly. Caleb actually rolls his eyes this time. I step back and let him pass. “It’s in that corner,” I point. “It’s huge.”
Caleb walks to where I’m pointing, looking around. “I don’t—”
I slam the door and immediately use the app on my phone to electronically secure it. I don’t have much time because all Caleb needs to do is make a call to the control room down the hall and they will override my code. I take off for the stairs. I arrived at work today in a skirt and blouse, but I keep workout clothes on hand and I changed into them before calling Caleb into my office. It’s not unusual for me to exercise in the gym here, so he didn’t blink at my change of clothes. Running in high heels is never fun and I’d probably break my ass trying. I’ve only recently met the challenge of walking in three-inch heels and I know running is beyond me. Give me police boots to run in any day.
I rush through the stairwell door and charge down. We’re on the eighth floor and there’s a good chance I’ll have one of Moon’s guards waiting when I reach the bottom. When I round the last set of stairs, I draw my gun. I won’t shoot one of our men, but one way or another I’m getting into Cori’s car.
“Don’t think I won’t shoot you,” Cori yells when I open the door. She has the same idea as me and has her gun pointed at Juan.
He takes a step toward Cori knowing she won’t shoot him and I go low and plow into the back of his knees. I barely keep my balance at the impact, but it’s enough that Cori and I can run for the car. She jumps into the driver’s seat, throws the car into drive, and takes off with spinning wheels while I somehow manage to grab the swinging door in the backseat and slam it shut almost on Juan’s fingers.
“How’s your hand?” I yell from the back. Adrenaline is pumping through me.
“I can drive, but I think you just broke my eardrum.”
“Sorry,” I say lowering my voice. “There’s been an explosion at the house. Moon has one of Fernandez’s men and they’ll know the monster’s location soon if they don’t already.”
“Same plan?” she asks.
“Pick up the speed, we need to hurry,” is my answer.
Fernandez is staying in Cave Creek, which is located in the north valley and is not a quick trip with the area traffic. I dial Celina’s number. “Where are you?” I ask as soon as she answers.
“We’re about a mile from Fernandez’s location waiting for you at the Mickey D’s.”
“Did you plan on telling me about the explosion?” I try to keep the irritation from my tone, but it still comes out snappish.
“Oh crap. I didn’t want to worry you. It was the outer wall and Sofia ran over the guy who ran his car into the wall.”
The women with Celina give whoops and atta-girl shouts. I can’t help smiling. “We’ll be another thirty minutes. There’s a building supply store not far from you and I need you to pick up two metal fence post drivers.” I never worked Cave Creek as a cop, but one of the officers lived there and loved having barbeques, so I’m familiar with the area.
“We’re on it. Meet us in the parking lot.”
I disconnect the call and decide to join Cori in the front. I wiggle between the seats and then lean back and exhale after I attach my seatbelt. “I’m worried Moon could beat us there.”
Cori puts her foot on the gas and shoots forward on the freeway. The 51 is one of the lighter trafficked freeways if you’re not driving it during rush hour and we’re pushing the witching hour. It’s the most direct route from central Phoenix to the north valley and we’re in luck because it’s wide open. If that luck continues, highway patrol won’t have units in the vicinity.
We make it to the building supply store in twenty minutes. Sofia parked as far from the store as she could. What’s worrying me is Moon’s ring tone hasn’t blared from my phone. He’s either too pissed off to talk to me or he’s dealing with the fallout of someone crashing into and dynamiting his wall. He’ll forgive me, I tell myself and add a short prayer to that effect. He needs to know I’m not the type of woman who sits on her hands and doesn’t handle situations. If I hadn’t been kidnapped, he would be working harder to bring Fernandez down. He hasn’t left the house since I returned and he’s usually on the front lines with his men. What happened to me shook him and I understand his fear. Just the thought of losing him drives me insane.
I pull in beside Sofia and park. We all give each other quick hugs before Sofia opens the trunk of her car. It holds a plethora of weapons and ammo. I pull out a M16 and check the chamber. It’s empty. I grab a box 45 mm rounds and start loading.
“Who can handle this?” I wave the M16 in the air when I’m finished loading. “I’m carrying a Glock, but it would be nice if one of you can handle this baby.” The M16 is standard military issue and oh so sweet.
“I’m your girl,” Sofia says. I give her a grin and hand it over. Melina places a loaded magazine in her Glock and I do the same. We’re in a crowded parking lot and no one around us even blinks. This is Arizona and private gun sales go down in places like this all the time. We point our weapons toward an empty field to check our sights.
“Holy shit,” Celina says. “You have grenades in here too.” She lifts one from a metal ammo box.
Celina is the one who’s knocking on the door to get Fernandez’s attention after we reach his location. The rest of us will bust through the back door. She’s carrying a PKO-45 pocket pistol, which she’s hiding in the waistband at her back. It’s tiny and only holds five rounds. It, however, packs a solid punch with .45 ammo. Moon gave it to me last Christmas to carry in my purse. With Celina’s skin-tight clothes, she needed something small because I refused to let her go in unarmed.
We had quite the argument about her going to the front door at all. I was outvoted by the majority because Fernandez isn’t familiar with Celina and will think it’s his escort knocking. She also out-vamps the rest of us with her great tits and ass. The deciding factor was that she’s escorted before. Okay, one time but she has experience.
“Those are M84 stun grenades,” Sofia says. “They won’t spread shrapnel, but we can’t be near if anyone sets one of these babies off. There’s only a one- to two-second delay, so pull this pin,” she shows us the ring, “throw the grenade as far away as possible, and cover your ears. It packs a punch.”
I look at her in awe.
She shrugs. “Dax is prepping me for anything. He likes the idea of me knowing my weapons.”
“Damn that’s hot.” I need to spend some time at the range with this woman. I pick up one of the grenades. “Everyone but Celina place at least one in your pocket. We may need them.”
“If worse comes to worst, we’ll blow up his house with him inside,” Celina says.
I shoot her a look. “These won’t kill him and I don’t want that motherfucker dead until after I cut off his dick and balls.”
We finish prepping and Sofia is almost ready to close the trunk, when I notice Cori watching us. She’s still unarmed.
At my look, she waves at the weapons. “I’ve never fired a gun.”
We all stop what we’re doing and stare. “You do know you live in Arizona, right?” I ask.
“My brother was killed by a stray bullet in our apartment because of a gang war. My mom hated guns.”
Holy shit. She’s never mentioned anything about a brother before and my heart breaks for her. She hasn’t mentioned her mom either. Cori has always been tight-lipped about her private life and I would never invade that privacy.
Sofia hands her a large knife in its sheath. “You got a problem with knives?” she asks. “It belongs to Dax and it’s very sharp.”
“The knife will work if someone can help me secure it.” She lifts her bandaged hand.
I step closer and place my hand on her arm. “I’m sorry about your brother.” This isn’t the time or place to get personal, but I had to tell her before I got back to business. “We’ll place the sheath on your left side for a cross draw. It’s easier to pull out that way. Keep it ready to hand me when it’s time to remove that bastard’s balls, will you?”
She gives me a firm smile. The thought of Fernandez minus his balls gives her the same pleasurable feeling it gives me.
“Here,” Sofia says while handing us bulletproof vests. “Put them on in the truck. It won’t protect us from rifle rounds, but they’ll stop pretty much anything else.”
I wipe sweat from my face and grab a vest. Even though we’re in the shade of a tree, the heat is sweltering. Leaving Cori’s car in the parking lot, we jump into the truck and head to Fernandez’s location.
It’s time to kick some ass.