Deliverance (The Maverick Defense #1)

by L A Cotton

  “We can take them,” I said, fully confident of our abilities.

  “It’s not keeping a low profile.”

  “Fuck that,” I shouted and turned on him. He crossed the small distance between us and we stood toe-to-toe. Lex wasn’t backing down, but then, neither was I. “Listen, I know you need to keep Maverick Defense out of it, but if you won’t do it, I’ll do it myself.”

  “Dawson …” he growled but was cut off by the sound of his cell blaring out his back pocket. He pulled it out and held up his finger to silence me as he answered the call. “Whatcha got?”

  Aidan, I concluded and sunk onto the couch, stretching my long legs out in front of me. I folded my arms across my chest and waited.

  “You’ve got to be joking … seriously … Fuck.” The tone of Lex’s voice had me on high alert or maybe it was his choice of words. “Right. No. There’s been a complication … What? Shit! Fine … fine, we’re on it.”

  Abruptly, he hung up and turned to us, a grim look on his face. It was enough to make Mikey and me jump to our feet. I opened my mouth to demand what in the hell was going on, but Lex beat me to it. “It was Aidan.” He paused and patted his pockets, looking for something. “Shit’s going down for real.”

  “What?” I demanded.

  “There’s another shit storm on the horizon, and it’s heading our way.” He looked around the room, and I was ready to wrap my hands around his neck and strangle the life out of him. Why couldn’t he finish a fucking sentence and stop being so cryptic?

  “Lex …” I warned, fists balling at my side, and his blue eyes snapped to mine.

  “The Mexicans are on their way. We need to get Joy the hell out of there, like now.” And then he walked out the room, leaving Mikey and me staring at each other.

  “Wait. What the fuck did you say?” We scrambled after him into the kitchen where he had finally found what he was looking for. The keys to his Jeep.

  “According to Aidan, they’re sending a Lieutenant and some men out to scope out the town and Donnie. They’re on their way.”

  “Holy fuck.” This came from Mikey, not me for once. I was stunned into silence. This could not be happening. The Mexicans were coming to see Donnie, and he had Joy. She could not be caught up in this. No way.

  “We need to move now,” Lex shouted before he threw open the back door and headed outside. What in the hell was he doing, I wondered. I wished he’d stand still and explain. After another confused look in Mikey’s direction, we both followed Lex outside.

  By the time we found him in the garage, he had his head stuck in the back of his Jeep and was hauling out two aluminum cases. He set them on the concrete ground before he pulled up the bottom panel behind the backseat. But instead of revealing a spare tire, it was a cache of guns.

  “Shit.” I whistled, my eyes growing wide. “You’ve had them all along?” I craned my neck for a better look.

  “Yeah, I was taking them to Aidan when we left here. Guess we’ll need them now. Why do you think I insisted on keeping the Jeep in here all the time?” He grinned. Lex was in his element. For all his reluctance for an all-out war, a showdown, or a gunfight with Donnie, it had been forced on us, and now, he was willing to finish it.

  He tossed me a Kevlar jacket and nodded to a case on the ground. “Take it inside. Suit up, all black but no Maverick Defense branding. Vest, guns, ammo, as much as you can fit on you,” he instructed, a grave look on his face. There was no messing around now; shit just got serious and we were ready to bring it.

  “Mikey.” He turned to my brother, who looked shell-shocked and completely out of his depth. “I need you to swap the cars around so the Jeep is in the driveway. We’ll use this to go to the club.” Mikey nodded, relief flickered in his eyes that Lex didn’t expect him to suit up too. He had our backs, but he didn’t have the training for this.

  Lex and I carried two stacked aluminum cases between us into the house while Mikey opened up the garage doors and jogged out to his truck. Once we’d dumped the cases in the kitchen, I took the steps two at a time and was in the middle of changing when Lex appeared at my door.

  “Does Joy have any spare clothes for Ari?” Lex asked. He hadn’t changed yet, and he hovered at the door while I dug out a pair of jeans and a baggy sweatshirt.

  “Here.” I tossed them to him and then he disappeared, leaving me to finish dressing.

  I pulled on a black t-shirt and strapped the bulletproof vest over the top. The guns were all downstairs, but I pulled out a knife from my nightstand and strapped it to my thigh.

  Back in the kitchen, Mikey was waiting for us at the table with his head in his hands. The Jeep now sat in the driveway and one of the cases lay open to reveal more guns and more than enough ammo. I set about holstering guns on my torso and hiding a couple of smaller pistols in my vest. Mikey watched with his mouth agape. He started to speak a couple of times, but shock got the better of him and he remained silent.

  Five minutes later, Lex came into the kitchen wearing his professional, no-nonsense expression. He started checking guns for ammo before concealing them around his body. There was a knife strapped to his thigh, camouflaged against his black combats. As he clicked the magazine into his gun and slid it into his shoulder holster, Ari appeared behind him. She hovered in the kitchen doorway, uncertain of where she should be. Long hair hung in damp strands around a freshly clean face. I wondered how long she had stood under the hot spray scrubbing the dried blood off her body and washing it out of her hair.

  The oversized sweater she wore slipped off one shoulder as she pulled on the sleeves, curling her hands inside and gripping the ends. It made her look young, younger than her … shit, how old had Joy said she was? Seventeen? Looking at her now, she could be my sister. Far too young to be working for Donnie. This was too fucked up. He needed to be taken down, not just for what he’d done to Joy, but for Ari as well.

  What would happen to Ari once all this was over? There was no way she could go back to working for Donnie. The beating he’d give her had been a warning, a taste of what was to come. But now, I was beginning to wonder if it had all been an elaborate setup to draw Joy out into the open.

  Lex turned and saw her standing there. A slight smile spread across his lips before he shut it off and was back to business.

  “So how’s it going to go down?” I asked, growing antsy. Now that I was getting what I wanted, storming the club to rescue Joy, I was desperate to get going. Fuck knows what we would find when we got there, especially now that we knew the Mexicans were on their way. I wanted this over and done with.

  I wanted Joy safe and as far away as possible from that club.

  “Well, as you said, none of our plans lately are worth shit, so I guess we just go with your earlier suggestion of storming the club and getting her back.”

  “Are you for real?” I asked, shocked at his one-eighty, but things had changed since Aidan’s phone call. Time wasn’t on our side, and we had to act fast. Aidan had practically ordered us to get her out; well, that was how I interpreted his call.

  “We’ll go to the club, find a way in-”

  “Even if we have to bust in the front door?” I interrupted, and he made a noise of annoyance.

  “Yes. But I think we should try the door that leads to the alley. Less obvious.” He gave me a pointed look, and I nodded in agreement.

  As we had been talking, Ari had inched closer and stood at Lex’s elbow. As he spoke, her eyes never left Lex’s face; she looked up at him as if he knew all the answers, or maybe she wanted reassurance from him that it would all be okay. But it wouldn’t; it would be far from okay. We needed to act and finish this before Donnie could finish us.

  “What should I do?” she asked in a soft voice, that still sounded tired, but a fraction stronger than it had earlier. I think the enormity of what had happened today had started to sink in.

  Lex turned to face her and rested his hand lightly on her shoulder. “You stay here with Mikey. You stay inside, a
nd you do not go anywhere without him. Do you understand?”

  Her eyes grew wide at the seriousness of his words and his grim expression. It sounded too similar to the past warnings I’d given to Joy. Ari nodded, no argument from her, and I saw Lex’s shoulders relax a notch. He looked at Mikey, who nodded his agreement.

  “Be careful,” Ari whispered, and her arms shot up from her sides and wrapped around Lex’s waist. Surprised, it was a long second before he put his arms around her and held her. His head bowed and he rested his cheek on the top of her head. They remained like that for longer than I expected, and I started to feel awkward. I cast Mikey a look, but he shrugged. When they pulled apart, Lex smoothed down her hair and rested his hands on her shoulders.

  “Try and get some rest. Mikey will make you something to eat if you’re hungry. We’ll be back soon,” he assured her and released her. Stepping away, he turned to me.

  “Ready?” he asked, his mouth curved up into a grin that matched mine.

  “Fuck, yes,” I answered, and he started out the door. I gripped Mikey’s shoulder on the way out, and he nodded, not speaking, but managed a tight smile.

  I had a distinct spring in my step as I walked down the drive and climbed into the passenger side of Lex’s Jeep. This was my kind of gig. I felt like Lex had given me my Christmas and birthday presents all rolled into one.

  It was time to get my girl back.

  My tongue dragged over the roof of my mouth, drier than the desert as it clacked against the parched skin. I tried to mash my lips together to create some saliva as I pried open my eyes, blinking to find my bearings. Dark walls stared back at me, black velvet curtains tied open with a red rope hanging above the door. The club. I was at the club. And something was wrong … very wrong. Hands bound behind me and tied to a chair, I struggled to scan the room for any signs of Donnie. But he wasn’t here.

  I was alone.

  Most people waking up tied to a chair in their crazy ex-boyfriend’s club would have probably been terrified, drowning in their own panic, but an odd sense of calm washed over me. I couldn’t really explain it, but it was as if I’d expected it. That all along my subconscious knew it would end this way—that Donnie would never allow me to walk away.

  Slowly, memories returned to me. Being at Mikey’s, Sherri calling, the hospital, Arianna laying beaten and bruised in the hospital bed, going back inside to collect her belongings … someone grabbing me from behind.

  Ari.

  Guilt twisted around my heart, squeezing the breath from my lungs. Donnie had beaten her to a bloody pulp all because of me; because he’d lost me. Because you chose Dawson. When I’d seen her laying in the hospital bed, anger and remorse had burned through me, and I’d wanted Donnie to pay—I still wanted him to pay—but I wanted everyone I cared about to remain safe more. I didn’t want anyone else hurt because of me, because of him.

  Voices outside Donnie’s office tugged me from my thoughts, and I strained to make out what they were saying.

  “He’s demanding a sit-down, now, boss.”

  “Fuck, FUCK!” Donnie roared pounding his fist against the wall. “Why is this happening, now of all times? I only just got back. They didn’t say anything about coming out here.”

  “Maybe they followed you, wanted to check out the neighborhood.”

  Footsteps sounded up and down the hallway, and I could picture Donnie pacing, his eyes ablaze. Troy had said ‘they.’ Did he mean the Mexicans? Was the cartel here? Now? If it was, that changed things … changed everything.

  “This day has turned into a real clusterfuck. Troy, gather some of the men in the back room and make sure they’re packing.”

  “Got it, boss,” Troy grunted, his heavy footsteps disappearing farther into the club.

  I tested the resistance of the ropes binding me to the chair. My skin chaffed against the tight knots, and I winced in pain. There was no hope of me loosening them anyway as the door swung open and I froze.

  “I see someone woke up. How’s the head, baby?” Donnie drawled raking his eyes over me.

  “Like you care?”

  Donnie’s face twisted with anger. “Care? I fucking love you, baby. You are mine, or did you forget that?” He stalked toward me, predator hunting his prey. “Maybe I should remind you.”

  A rough hand thrust into my hair yanking my head forward into his crotch. I gritted my teeth fighting the urge to bite or cry. I wasn’t sure which because too many thoughts were vying for my attention. I wanted to fight back—for myself, for Ari, for all of the girls working at Shakers, even for Sherri—but I didn’t want to stoke the fire further, and the pain of my shoulders being forced together at an awkward angle stole my response. I had to hope that Dawson was coming for me. And, in the meantime, I had to think more like he and Lex.

  Silently, I forced my head back against Donnie’s hands until he released me and stepped back, looking down at me like I was his pet.

  “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your big meeting.” I arched my brow, trying to exude confidence. It worked. Something flashed across Donnie’s face, confusion or irritation that I’d overheard.

  “You don’t need to worry yourself about my business. It’ll be over quick enough and then you and I can pick up right where we left off, baby.” He dropped to one knee and held the back of my head, forcing me to give him access to my mouth. His kiss was clumsy and forceful, and it took everything in me not clamp down on his tongue with my teeth and make him bleed.

  “Don’t go anywhere.” Donnie stood, brushed himself off, and exited the room, his laughter trailing behind.

  Time ticked by and nothing.

  No one came, and I couldn’t hear anything. The only sounds were my rapid breaths and the clock ticking on Donnie’s desk. After twenty minutes, I began to worry that something had happened. It was late Sunday afternoon; the club wouldn’t start getting busy until much later, and even then, the crowd always suffered on a Sunday. People needed to recover from their sin-filled weekends ready to pull on their masks and go about their lives when Monday morning rolled around.

  When I finally heard footsteps approaching, I sat up praying to see Dawson burst through the door.

  He didn’t.

  A large tanned man in a white wife-beater rushed into the room, his gun trained directly on me. Panic pulsed through me and I stared wide-eyed unsure of what to do.

  “Vamanos,” he yelled waving his gun in the air. “Out. In the other room, ahora pinche puta,” he all but spat at me.

  A second man appeared behind him and strode toward me, yanking me up. Still bound to the chair, pain shot through me rippling into my already tender shoulders, but I bit down on my lip to stop the scream. The guy retrieved a knife from his belt, and in one swift movement, he sliced through the rope sending me crumpling into his unwelcoming grasp. Out in the hallway, another man was checking the other smaller rooms. But there was only me.

  When we reached the back room, the one used for business meetings, the Mexicans and Donnie and a handful of his men were in some kind of standoff. Stu and Barkley stood behind Donnie looking ready to piss themselves—the closest they’d ever come to anything like this was cleaning up after Donnie. Handling a guy who got too handsy with one of the girls, or setting one of Donnie’s business associates straight, like McCreedy, who had never been seen again after putting his hands on me.

  “Any more?” a dark-haired man with a thick mustache said in a thick Spanish accent to the guy holding me.

  “No,” he replied pushing me to Donnie’s side of the room. Shaun caught me and wrapped an arm around me. His hand trembled on my shoulder and I risked glancing at him trying to reassure him everything would be fine.

  “Gentleman, a drink? A dance? Something a little extra?” Donnie shrugged inside his tailored jacket trying to give off the demeanor of someone in control, but with four guns trained on him, it was obvious he didn’t have control of anything. Members of a Mexican cartel were standing in the room with guns and express
ions that matched the somber mood.

  The mustached man stepped forward and looked around the room as if admiring the place. “This is your club, no?”

  Donnie nodded.

  “You make a habit of letting the DEA and their fucking rats into your club?”

  The man who had held my life in the palm of his hand for the last two years flinched—something I’d never seen him do. Ever. But the mask remained firmly pulled on as he stepped forward and said, “Are you calling me a liar? I came out to Ciudad Juarez in good faith. I want to do business. It was my uncle’s dream for our family to partner with Los Diablos. Your information is wrong.”

  “¡Mira qué cabrón! You dare to question me? Los Diablos?”

  The tension intensified. Shaun tightened his hold on me, and I heard someone suck in a sharp breath behind me. Donnie remained calm in the face of it, but I knew him well. I saw the beads of moisture forming along his hairline, the way he rocked almost imperceptibly on the balls of his feet. He was beginning to sweat.

  Donnie opened his mouth ready to respond, but Troy slipped into the room and, ignoring the standoff, strolled up to his boss and whispered something into his ear.

  “Gentleman,” Donnie addressed the Mexicans. “There’s something I need to attend to, I will be-”

  Click, click, click. The sound of guns’ safety being released filled the room, and Donnie eased his hands into the air at the four armed weapons now trained on him.

  “Gentlemen, let’s not be hasty. The matter will take only a few mi-”

  A fierce explosion shook the room and everyone dropped to the floor, instinct taking over. Over the smoke seeping in through the door, a ramble of Spanish and English filled the room, confusion and panic twisted into everyone’s faces. Shaun was still clutching me as if I was his buoy. I patted his arm to make sure he was okay, and he nodded shooting me a ‘what the hell?’ look. Although fear zipped through me, I had my suspicions about who was responsible for the diversion.

  I just hoped I was right.

  “What is this?” Mustache guy coughed and dusted himself off as he straightened off the floor, retraining his gun on Donnie. His eyes narrowed against the smoky haze filling the room. “You think you can play us?”