Barshan (Bratva Blood Brothers Book 3)

by K. J. Dahlen

  Judge nodded. “Yeah, he cared then.” He looked over at Bull. “He cared then because the Helo was full and there was no more room. He told us to leave the dead behind. He expected us to leave one of our own behind, so he could take Salim’s body along to prove we got him.”

  “What the fuck?” Bull exclaimed softly. His eyes were open wide as he thought about what Judge had just told him. He hadn’t known about this before today as he was out of it when the Helo carried him off for medical care.

  “Judge kicked Salim’s body off the copter and told Haling to get his ass in the seat or be left behind,” Mustang took up the tale. “Then he pointed his weapon at the pilot and told him to get you back to hospital. The pilot didn’t even hesitate. Haling had to scramble to get in his seat before we were airborne.”

  “How did the brass take that?” Bull wanted to know.

  “Let’s just say Haling was escorted out of the area quickly and quietly.” Mustang snorted. “Under armed guard.”

  “And we were kicked out of service.” Bull shook his head.

  “Commander Ritcher thought we were too shook up to continue the fight,” Judge informed him with a snarl. “He thought with half the team missing, we were demoralized by the loss.”

  Bull flexed his shoulders. “Ritcher always was a kissass,” he grumbled. Then he thought about something and snapped his head to glare at Judge. “Do we know who feed us the bad intel?”

  “We have a pretty good idea who feed us the intel but we can’t prove it, not yet anyway.” Judge growled. “Salim Malik wanted us dead. We were costing him too much money, forcing him to keep one step ahead of us and keep moving his locations. I think he already knew we were coming and he thought he could take us out. Someone tipped him off. We were too close to finding him, something no other team over there could do.”

  “Salim thought he could never be stopped,” Mustang continued. “He made millions transported that poison to our shores and he wasn’t going to stop. But he knew we were closing in on him and he set us up to be ambushed. He thought he could just kill us and escape into the hills. The look on his face when your bullet caught him was almost worth everything.”

  Bull snarled. “It wasn’t worth the lives of two very good men. Their blood never should have stained the ground red. That bastard cost us more than we ever took.”

  Mustang shook his head. “We were able to shut down his pipeline for at least a little while. Pony and Blue didn’t die in vain.”

  Bull snorted. “Salim’s pipeline was back up and running before I got out of the fucking hospital. Gossip runs wild in a place like that. I heard all about it. It took them less than two months to get it up and running again. I think that’s what pissed me off more than being wounded.”

  “That may be true but the man who took over for Salim didn’t have the contacts Salim did and we were able to shut it down again.” Mustang raised his chin. “Special forces blew him out of the water and took a big chunk of ISIS with them.”

  Bull whipped his head around to the other man. “They did? They shut down the pipeline?”

  Judge smiled. “Oh yeah, they did. Whoever took over from Salim didn’t have ISIS backing them and they went down easy. When we all came home again, we started up a new Brava Victor group. We pose as a security group but we’re really tracking drug runners here at home.”

  “Did you ever find Salim’s connection here?” Bull dared to ask.

  Judge shook his head. “Not yet but we aren’t giving up. I have a feeling we’re getting very close.”

  “After so long is it even possible anymore?’ Bull stared at Judge. “I mean it’s been over four years now and if the pipeline is gone where do you even look anymore?”

  Judge shrugged. “It was very quiet for a long time but there are whispers you hear every once in while about a new dealer. He’s the real deal and keeping his face out of sight. This one is worse than Salim and doesn’t take failure very well at all. We’ve been tracking a new product on the streets for about the last eleven months now. It’s the same damn shit Salim was shipping. We just haven’t been able to track where it’s coming from or who it’s being distributed by yet.”

  “How close are you?” Bull asked.

  Judge shrugged. “We’re narrowing it down but we don’t have confirmation on anything yet. We’re still missing a big chuck of the info we need to close down this pipeline but we aren’t going to stop until we do. The body count is adding up and what he does to those who rat him out is not pretty.”

  “Could this be Salim’s pipeline starting up all over again?” Bull asked.

  Judge looked unsure. “Anything is possible. At the moment, we just don’t know. I can’t imagine the pipeline staying away for very long. They have a product that they need to move. If they can’t make money they can’t pay their workers and the drug cartels aren’t happy without product to sell.”

  “Maybe you could make contact with Commander Ritcher,” Bull suggested. “He retired a year after we were kicked out and returned to Texas and ran for Senator. Damned if he isn’t sitting in Washington right now.”

  Judge’s lips tightened but he didn’t say anything for a moment. His eyes hardened and his whole body became tight with tension.

  Bull noticed but before he said anything, Hawk came to the top of the stairs and called down to them. A few minutes later, they joined him on the third floor. Charlie was still out but her injuries had been checked out and redressed.

  Bull looked at Hawk and asked, “How is she doing?”

  Hawk snorted. “She’s one very lucky girl.” He squatted down next to her and checked the wound on her throat. “Whoever slit her throat didn’t do a very good job but I have a feeling that was on purpose.”

  “What makes you think that?” Judge asked. He stood on the other side of the bed with his arms folded across his chest glaring at the others.

  “The cut is too high on her throat to kill her,” Hawk explained. “Anyone knows if you want to kill someone by slitting their throat you have to take out both arteries. This guy didn’t. What he did was take out her voice for a little while but he didn’t kill her. I think she’ll get her voice back at some point but not right away.”

  “What about all the bruises she’s got?” Bull asked.

  Hawk nodded. “Someone beat the hell out of her and the bruise on her stomach could have been a clot at one point but it wasn’t dangerous. She was lucky. It could have gone either way. I would have given her a shot to bust up the clot just in case but these bruises are too old. They’ve been there for at least most of a day.”

  “Why is she still sleeping?” Judge asked.

  “Best guess?” Hawk stated. “She’s been through a lot and her body just needs a little time to recover. Her pulse is getting stronger but she’s lost a lot of blood. Her body can replace it but again, that takes time.”

  Judge glanced over at Bull. “What happened? Did she say anything? Does she know who it was that hurt her?”

  Bull nodded and handed him the notebook Charlie wrote in earlier. He walked over to the window and searched the street below while Judge and the others read her words.

  A few minutes later, Judge joined him at the windows. “So she witnessed a murder huh?”

  “I have a feeling it was a little more than that. I think there’s a whole lot about this she isn’t saying, not yet anyway.”

  “You think she’s knows more about this murder?” Judge asked.

  Bull nodded still watching the street below.

  “You think she’ll tell us about it?”

  Bull shrugged. “She doesn’t seem to trust very easy and she’s scared. I just know she’s got more to say.”

  Judge scoffed. “Do you blame her? She’s been dragged into a war with the River Ratz, beaten to hell and her throat slashed. I’m surprised she isn’t dead yet. You know the Ratz, they won’t stop until they’re sure she’s dead. That’s why they’ve never been arrested, they protect themselves by making sure all th
e bodies are buried and buried deep.”

  Bull nodded. “But I’m not going to let them get to her again. I don’t know why but there’s something here I need to protect.”

  “Protect?” Judge asked.

  Bull glanced at him then turned to search the street again. “My gut is in overdrive right now and everything inside me is telling me I have to protect this woman.”

  “Your gut?” Judge frowned. He searched Bull’s eyes for a moment then turned to look at Hawk. When he turned back to Bull he said, “Your gut usually only worked like that in battle, doesn’t it?”

  Bull shrugged. “I know and that’s what makes this girl impossible to ignore.”

  Hawk joined them and slapped Bull on the back. “Hey man, if your gut is speaking to you, you’d better listen to it. It kept us alive more than once over in the sandbox.”

  Brava Victor Unit became so successful because the men knew what they were doing and they all learned to listen to Bull’s instinct. His gut told them when danger was near and it was always right. Except when he needed it the most. That time he hadn’t paid attention to his gut feelings and two of the men he considered closer than the brothers he never had, died.

  He had a feeling this time he needed to listen to his gut. This time, there was more at stake than he could bear to lose. Gazing over his shoulders at the woman lying on the bed he couldn’t help but wonder what she meant to him.

  His belly rolled when he turned to watch the streets again. Right now, everything was quiet but he didn’t think it would stay that way. No, he had a feeling something bad was brewing out there. He didn’t know what but it was coming to his town and he didn’t like it one bit.

  “What is it?” Judge asked quietly.

  “War is coming,” Bull whispered. “And this is a war nobody will win.”

  “Fuck a duck.” Hawk swore as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  One of the new men joined them at the window. “Hey dude, what’s with all the lights up here? Aren’t you afraid someone down there will see them?”

  Bull snorted. “No one will see them. When I bought this place and fixed it up, I tinted the windows with special paint, so I could see out but no one could see in. They don’t even know the lights are on up here. This is my safe house and I made sure it was not only secured…” He motioned toward the camera system he had set up, “but also so I could watch over the city when I was here.” Turning back to the windows, he asked them, “Did you guys see any lights on inside when you drove up?”

  “Come to think about it now, I didn’t notice,” Tank muttered.

  Bull nodded, making his point.

  * * * *

  Hours later, Bull was still at the window watching over his city. Things had been quiet all night but he knew the dawn was coming and his belly was still rolling. The others were resting same as Charlie.

  Charlie had woken up at one point during night, very early in the morning hours. At first, she’d been afraid of the extra men then Bull explained who they were and that they would help to keep her safe.

  Charlie wrote that no one would be safe as long as the Ratz were around. They would tear the city apart until they found her.

  When Judge asked her more about the murder she’d witnessed, Charlie shut down. She refused to tell them anymore and it frustrated Bull to no end.

  Now it was an hour to sunrise and the quiet was deafening. Suddenly, there was an explosion that shattered the quiet, then screams and chaos could be heard. Looking to his left, Bull saw a fireball light up the pre-morning sky. Then another blast shattered the quiet. This time, he turned to the right.

  This second explosion was only a few blocks away. Wails of sirens drew people from their homes as the fires grew in size. Police and firetrucks screamed down the streets. Horns blared. Red and blue lights flickered, lighting up the still darkened sky.

  “What the fuck?” Judge and Hawk stumbled from their beds and came to join Bull at the windows.

  Mustang went over to the security cameras that blanketed the building they were in.

  Charlie sat quietly in her bed shivering. The first blast tore her from her sleep and they could all see the fires. Her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She was staring at nothing in particular. Her eyes were haunted and her whole body was trembling.

  As the roar of the closest fire grew louder, Bull watched as part of the nearby building collapsed under the heat of the fire. People screamed and moved back. He could see the people running in the street below. As the sky lightened in the dawn, the shadow became clearer.

  “Wish we could see what’s going on out there a little better,” Mustang muttered.

  “We can,” Wild Child told him. He was one of the new guys Judge had working for them.

  “How so?” Judge turned to his man with a frown.

  “You know me Judge, I never go anywhere without at least one of my toys.” Wild Child told nodded. “It’s time to let loose the Krakken.” He went downstairs and brought a big box back with him. Then he set the box down on the floor and snapped open the lid.

  Inside the box was a drone. Lifting it out carefully, he reached back inside and got out a control panel and a small laptop computer. Taking it over to the desk where Bull had the security cameras located, he turned the camera on the drone and fiddled with the frequency on the laptop.

  Handing the drone to his buddy Tank, who took it over to the window Wild Child started up the drone. Everyone but Charlie gathered around the place where Wild Child was sitting to see what the camera on the drone could see.

  Bull opened the window just enough to let the drone out.

  Wild Child flew the drone first to the fire on the left. Passing over the houses, the drone flew in as close to the fire as possible without being too obvious. It showed an old abandoned gas station burning out of control. There was one fire truck battling the flames and a large crowd gathered there.

  Wild Child scanned the crowd and everyone could see a few of the people watching the fire wore River Ratz colors. They didn’t seem too concerned about the blaze but rather they were watching the crowd.

  “Is that drone one of the quiet ones?” Judge asked his teammate.

  “Yeah, nobody will even know it’s there, at least until the sun comes up and then only if they look up.”

  “Come back over to the fire closer to us,” Judge ordered.

  The drone turned around and flew back over the houses flying past the building they were in and hovered over the neighborhood. They watched as the empty warehouse burned even hotter. Part of the roof fell in and again, people scattered, screaming.

  Scanning the crowd, watching the building burn again, they saw River Ratz in the crowd and again the Ratz were watching the people more than the fire.

  Bull looked at Judge and Hawk and shook his head. “They’re looking for someone,” he whispered as he turned his head to stare at Charlie.

  She was rocking back and forth on the bed now.

  “It can’t be her they are looking for,” Judge reasoned. “She’s all beat to hell. She would stand out in a crowd looking the way she does.”

  Bull shrugged. “Then who are they looking for? Why blow up two buildings?”

  Suddenly, there was another explosion. This one was in another part of town.

  Bull jerked his head toward the windows and ran over to see if he could see where this explosion came from. His eyes were tight when he knew the part of town. Turning his head to stare at Wild Child he asked, “Can that thing make a sweep over the town to find that fire?”

  Wild Child nodded and moved the drone over the town to search out the third fire.

  As it closed in, Bull came back to the table and watched as his own neighborhood came into view. The drone flew past his house and narrowed in on the path he drove every day to the gym. Finally, the drone hovered over the street where Smokey’s Gym used to be. The explosion took out the gym and the laundry mat next door.

  Bull swore. �
�Son of a bitch.”

  He and the others watched as the fire grew out of control. People began gathering. They were standing back away from the flames but no firetruck or police swamped the area.

  “Why would they target a gym?” Tank asked.

  Bull searched the crowd and tightened his lips when he saw a familiar face. He pointed the man out. “That was the bastard I saw earlier tonight. He and his three friends were riding around in a car searching for something.”

  “Are you sure it was him?” Judge asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Bull growled. “He made sure I saw his face and he lifted a gun and posed with it in his face. His message to me was he wasn’t afraid to use it.”

  Judge lifted his head from the screen and stared at the girl on the bed. He didn’t have to say the words out loud. Everyone in the room knew what the gangsters were looking for.

  Charlie raised her head and stared back at the six men in the room with her. There was fear in her eyes but there was also defiance. She said with her eyes what she couldn’t say with her voice as she dared them to comment on the fact that she was the one the Ratz were looking for.

  No one said a word…

  Chapter Three

  Hours later, the morning news was full of speculation as it reported the three fires that ripped through the city during the early morning hours. Susan Moran and Dan Coulter, the news crew told them that while three businesses burned to the ground there were only two deaths associated with the blazes. The first two blazes took out abandoned buildings but didn’t do much damage. While the fires ran hot, they were quickly contained.

  Smokey Langer and his girlfriend, Lori Evans were caught inside the gym when it blew up. Susan told everyone that Smokey had living quarters above the gym and he and Lori were still in bed when the explosion took out the building. Susan hinted the fire chief would be looking into each blaze to make sure it wasn’t arson but things were pointing at the fact that these fires were suspicious.