The Warrior (9 page)

“Hello?” She says as she gets on the phone. I
squeeze my eyes closed because I know this could be the last time I
talk to her and hear that voice again.

“Hello?” She says again when I don’t
answer.

“Hey baby.” I say as I tip my head back. This
is killing me right now. I don’t know how to handle the fact that I
may never see her again.

“Hey. You ok?” She says hearing the tension
in my voice.

“Yea we are loading up the trucks. You?” I
say as I open my eyes and stare and the cloudy sky.

“I'm ok Cad. Don’t worry about me. Worry
about getting back to me.” She says and I can hear her sniffle. I
know she’s crying.

“I will do my best babe. I just wanted to
talk to you again before we head out. I don’t think I will be able
to call again until after it’s done and I needed to hear your voice
one more time just in case.” I say as I hear her crying now. She is
sobbing and it’s tearing me apart. How this girl made her way
inside of me is beyond my comprehension but she did it.

“Please Cad don’t say that but I'm glad you
called. I needed to hear you too.” She says as I sigh.

“I need to go but Bradon has the orders to
move you if he doesn’t hear from me in 72 hours after we do this. I
just want you to make sure my baby knows I cared about him. I need
you to know that I love you Nina. I don’t know what you did to me
or how but I love you.” I say and I can almost feel a tear in my
eye. Almost.

“I will Cad. I promise. I love you too.” She
says as I hang up and walk over towards the truck where Bradon
is.

“We got this Cad.” He says with a nod as we
climb into the trucks.

***

We pull up about 5 miles outside my dad’s
place. We make our rounds to all the guys and make sure we are all
set up. These guys plan on being out here at least 24 hours.

“You know what to do?” I ask Roy as he
directs his men.

“Yep. We are taking some of your guys in with
us to setup and do a little recon before that. We will have the C4
set up at every 6 feet. Once the perimeter is secure and set we
will move in on the buildings. We will text once we have all
buildings set up.” He says as I nod and look over at Bradon.

“I got the main house while you’re in with
dad. Take your time so I can get the basement set up too.” He says
as I nod.

“Once we are all set up Bradon is taking a
shipment out. That’s when I want your team to move in. I don’t want
anyone else touching my dad but me.” I say as the guys all look at
me funny.

“You heard me right.” I say as they all nod
in agreement. I made a deal with Joel and I plan on making good on
it. I'm not a liar and I don’t go back on my word.

“Ok. If your guys are set up and ready we are
going to head in.” I say as Roy checks his coms and everyone is set
up. I reach out and shake hands with Roy.

“Good luck Cadence.” He says as I nod and
turn to Bradon.

“Ready to finish this shit man?” I say as he
nods with a smile.

“Been ready for a long fucking time now.” He
says as we walk over and climb into the truck. Bradon drives as I
ride and survey the area for anything out of place. The ride to the
gates doesn’t take us long and in no time we are parked right in
front of the house. I look over at Bradon as he looks at me and
there is a silent communication between us that we both understand.
We are ready to end this hell.

***

“Well how nice of you to return Cadence.” My
dad says as I stalk into his office.

“Is it nice?” I say as I sit in the chair in
front of his desk.

“Look Cadence if you needed a fucking break
all you had to do was say so. You didn’t need to sneak off with
that girl.” He says as he sits in front of me. I watch his face and
I can tell by the lines under his eyes that he’s lying right
now.

“I didn’t sneak off. I'm a grown fucking man
and I'm pretty sure I'm capable of handling my own affairs.” I say
as he sits there trying to read me. Not going to happen. I'm in
warrior mode right now. You will get nothing from me.

“Cad come on man. You knew about her and
Reggie.” He says as I look at him sideways.

“I knew Reggie beat her ass is all I know. I
don’t care who she was fucking all I know is I was hitting it too.”
I say as I lean back in the chair.

“That all it was?” He says looking at me to
say more.

“That was all.” I say as I sit there watching
his eyes. He finally looks down and nods his head. I stand and
start to leave when he speaks again.

“I need you on another job tonight. Think you
can handle it?” He says as he picks up a picture and hands it to
me. I take it out of his hand and there I see Hector. I knew this
was coming.

“I got this. What did he do?” I say as I pass
him back the picture.

“He isn’t holding up his end of the bargain
we had.” He says as he grabs a cigarette and lights it.

“Same rules apply?” I say as he nods and
smokes.

“Yea same rules. Let’s try not to leave any
extras this time.” He says as he looks at me.

“That was a judgement call. Won’t happen
again.” I say as he nods.

“Good. I need your brother to make a drop so
you will have to get someone else to go or go it alone tonight.” He
says as I nod.

“Fine with me.” I say as I stand and leave
the room. I walk down the hall and nothing seems off to me which is
a little strange after dad’s phone call but I make my way to my
room and sit on the bed to text Roy and Bradon. After a few minutes
Bradon comes in.

“What is the shipment about?” He says as I
watch him walk across the room.

“Don’t know but make sure you hand it off as
soon as you cross our lines out there. I will make sure someone is
there to meet you.” I say as he looks out the window.

“This doesn’t sound good man.” Bradon says as
I nod.

“Nope. It doesn’t but that doesn’t change the
plan.” I say as he shakes his head. He knows I'm keeping it exactly
as we have it. I know shit seems off about this whole thing but I
don’t care.

***

We hang out around the house as the guys do
what they do outside. They took out a few guys to get into the
other buildings. Bradon has this one lined up perfectly as is the
perimeter. When it’s time this place is going to blow sky fucking
high and I can’t say I’ll miss it. I'm working on making sure the
women are not around as much as I can but I know they will be
around later and there is nothing I can do about that. I keep up
with the others as they make their way around the compound and set
up. There was a problem at one of the storage buildings but I
assume it’s being handled. I walk down to the kitchen and find
something to eat as my dad and Bradon walk in.

“Hungry? I told the fucking maid to get her
ass down here and make an early dinner but I guess she didn’t
fucking listen.” My dad says as he walks in with his arm around
Bradon.

“Yea looks like she may have forgot. I can
make something if you two are hungry.” I say as they both look at
me like I'm crazy.

“I can cook you assholes.” I say with a
smile. They both laugh and look at me.

“Well I didn’t know you were a chef too son.
Get on that.” He says as I smile and start looking through the
cabinets. I pull some chicken out and decide to make some soup. I
have another little plan of action that will help out a little. I
start cutting the vegetables and boiling the chicken.

“Where did you learn to cook?” My dad asks as
I keep cutting.

“Overseas. We stayed in a little village for
a week. The old lady there showed me how to cook this chicken soup.
Wasn’t too damn bad but this is the first time I'm making it.” I
say as he chuckles.

“Some old woman taught you how to make soup?”
He says with a smile.

“Yea she did. Crazy shit over there.” I say
as I go back and what I was doing.

“What time Bradon leaving?” I ask as I put
the stuff in the pot and turn up the heat.

“2 hours. He has time to eat first right?” He
says as I nod.

“Yep. Should be ready in about an hour.” I
say without looking over at him. I finish up putting the stuff in
as we all sit at the counter talking.

“It’s like old times boys. Me and my boys
back together. I know I wasn’t much when you were growing up but I
didn’t know how to raise kids. I don’t think you boys turned out to
damn bad. I mean now that your older I can handle you better. I
just want to say that I'm sorry for the way things went down when
you were younger.” He says as we watch him. His face looks so
serene right now. It’s almost like he is a different person in this
moment. I don’t let that fool me though. I know who he is and I
know where his head is at.

“That was a long time ago dad. Shit changes.
We grew up. It’s time to move on.” I say as Bradon nods his
head.

“Well hell son that soup is smelling pretty
damn good right now.” He says with a sigh like he is relieved at
what I said. I stand up and walk over to the pot and stir it
around.

“I'm going to get us some drinks for this
shit.” My dad says as I smile over at him and nod. Bradon walks
over to me.

“This shit is creepy.” He says as I pull a
bottle of pills out and pass them to him.

“Smash that and put it in the blue bowl.” I
say as he looks at me funny. I nod my head at him and he quickly
does what I told him to do. He passes me the bottle back and I
stick it back in my pocket as Bradon grabs the spoons and we hear
my dad come back in. I start to dish the food into the bowls
stirring it in as I do to mix the powder. Once I'm done I pick up
the bowls and carry them over to the counter and set them in front
of all of us.

“That looks damn good.” My dad says as I grab
the spoon and take a bite out of the blue bowl. Bradon is looking
at me funny as I nod at him. I know I can handle the dose that he
put in.

“Scared to eat my food man?” I say as I
chuckle.

“I got a run I don’t want to get the shits on
the way.” He says and we all laugh. My dad looks at the bowls.

“Hey Cad switch me bowls man you got more
chicken.” He says as I look at him. I knew he would do this. He is
scared of me and I fucking love it.

“I'm bigger I need the protein.” I say as I
take another bite. Bradon grabs his spoon and starts eating as my
dad reaches over and grabs my bowl laughing.

“I'm older.” He says as we all laugh. I grab
his bowl and we all sit and eat like one happy little family.

***

“Dad I need to go give me the directions.”
Bradon says as my dad stumbles around a little.

“Yea. Here I got it.” He says as Bradon walks
over to him.

“Drink too much?” He says with a chuckle and
my dad laughs.

“Damn straight I did. We will drink more when
you get back.” He says as we all laugh.

“Alright. I will see you boys later.” Bradon
says as he turns to walk out. I stand there watching my brother
leave knowing this could be the last time I see his face and I'm a
little on edge about that. We drink awhile after Bradon leaves and
just hang out like we do on most nights. The other guys are all in
here too. No one is really talking about anything.

“So Randy we getting any new girls around
here?” One of his guys asks as he drinks his beer.

“Hell yea Friday night we have a shipment
that’s just for us compliments of Hector.” He says lying and I know
why he is. I'm supposed to go out and kill him tonight. He is off
tracking all his shipments.

I hang out until most of the guys are fucked
up drunk.

“Hey dad can I talk to you a minute.” I say
as he nods. He half stands and stumbles towards his office and I
follow. He goes in and drops in the chair across from me.

“Why are you doing it?” I say as he looks at
me funny.

“Doing what?” He says because he thinks I'm
clueless.

“Taking out all your friends. Taking
everything.” I say as his face changes. He looks at me with such a
fire in his eyes that I can feel it burning straight through
me.

“How do you know what I'm doing?” He says
with a snarl. This is the reaction I’d expected from him and I'm
ready for it.

“Do you think I'm stupid? You think I
wouldn’t have caught on? I mean think about it DAD. Do you honestly
believe I wanted to come back to this fucking piece of hell you
raised us in?” I say as his eyes grow dark with hatred. This is the
face I know all too well.

“I wasn’t going to be your fall guy. After
the first 2 I knew that’s all I was to you. I made my own
arrangements and put my own plans in place. Hector won’t be dying
tonight.” I say as his eyes burn. I know he can’t move too fast
since I pumped him full of pills. He has a slower reaction time
now. That should ensure my route out of here. As we sit there
watching each other we hear a loud boom and my dad laughs
hysterically.

“You hear that?” He says laughing and
pointing towards the window. “That was your brother going bye bye.”
He says laughing harder and harder. I look at him and I can feel my
heart slamming into my ribs. No he can’t be. I grab my phone and
start to dial his number but he doesn’t answer. That makes me start
to get worried. I redial as he laughs some more and still get no
answer.

“What did you do?” I say as he looks over at
me.

“I eliminated a threat. Your brother has been
working against me for a while now. I made sure he wouldn’t do that
again.” He says as the blood roars in my ears. My whole body feels
like its buzzing and I can’t control it. I try to calm down as I
text Roy and give him the go ahead. We sit there looking at each
other until we hear another boom. My dad darts his eyes to mine as
I smile at him.

“What did you do? What the fuck did you do?”
He screams at me as I laugh.

“I am making sure you are never a threat
again.” I say as he starts to stand. Blasts are going off
everywhere and I know it’s getting close to us. I pull my gun out
of the back of my pants and walk over to him and point it at his
head.