by K. J. Dahlen
“Da, we believe so,” Viktor stated. “Joel’s team has been looking into the Mexican cartel since they thought it was the cartel that took Galen three months ago, that combined with Frankie’s research and what Galen remembers. Plus, what info we already have from our own research, we should have enough to get the ball rolling.”
“Good, do you know where Tegan Averin is?” Yuri looked intense as he asked.
“We know where he was twenty-four hours ago,” Judge answered this. “Joel tracked him down to one of his houses in Cameron.”
Yuri narrowed his eyes. “And where was his MC?”
“In the swamps over by Covington,” Viktor added.
Yuri glanced quickly over at Roman then turned back to Viktor and Judge. “So the explosion that took out the compound over there wasn’t accidental?”
“What did you hear about it?” Judge asked.
“The police are looking into the possibility of it being a swamp gas buildup and then an LP gas leak,” Roman informed them. “They’re saying the two gasses didn’t combine. Well, they aren’t sure what sparked the explosion but there was nothing left of the compound or the sixteen bodies they found.”
Viktor looked over at Grisha. “Sixteen? We only saw fourteen men in the MC and a man named Manuel Marchato go into the club. Marchato had a driver but he was dragged deeper into the woods for the wolves to finish off.”
Roman nodded. “And they did. The police think the wolves dragged his body away from the compound. His head was missing so they think the fire took him. That or the wolves or wild pigs destroyed him. From what I hear, there wasn’t much left of him when they found him.”
“Da, there wouldn’t have been.” Grisha nodded.
“What else have you heard?” Judge asked after a moment of watching the Russian men interact with each other.
“We’ve seen an uptake in cartel presence in the area.” Roman shrugged. “We always know where they are but they don’t like to draw attention to themselves or their business. They know we watch them and as long as they don’t cross the line, we don’t bother them and they don’t bother us. But recently within the last twelve hours or so, there’s been several sightings of one man in particular.”
“Jose Regardan.”
Yuri narrowed his eyes and stared at the man called Judge. “You know this man?”
“Galen told us about him. He’s one of the players that meets with Averin.”
“Da, he does. He is a street Captain for the Renoisa Cartel.” Viktor labeled the man.
“He’s the one we want to use against Averin,” Joel told them.
“Averin will kill him,” Roman replied.
“Oh, he’ll try.” Viktor smiled. “This might bring more cartel into the area but when they start losing their money and businesses that’s to be expected, isn’t it?”
“The bastards shouldn’t be selling women and children anyway.” Yuri looked pained. Tightening his lips, he glared at Viktor. “If you need anything let my men know. The Brothers are at your disposal.” He turned to leave then turned back to both men. “Take this bastard down, quickly and as quietly as possible. I know it’s going to get bloody to a certain extent, but make those casualties cartel or Averin’s men. Get this done. Vatali wants his pound of flesh.”
“Do you want him dead or alive?” Judge asked.
“Vatali wants him to know who took him down, he wants to see the look in the other man’s eyes when he realizes his past came back to ruin him. He wants the last thing Averin sees before he breathes his last breath...to be him.” Yuri shrugged. “What can I say? He’s Bratva and Bratva never forgives or forgets. That’s just how we are.”
Judge smiled. “Yeah, I get that. We aren’t so different, you and I. Joel really wants to kill Averin and I’m betting so does Viktor.”
“Viktor?” Yuri asked.
“Yeah, that boy claimed Frankie and I do believe Deter claimed Galen.” Judge nodded.
Yuri smiled. “Joel has lost all three of his daughters to Bratva men? Sahara has been claimed as well.”
“Yeah, you might not want to remind him of that until after this is over,” Judge remarked smugly. “He isn’t sure how he feels about that.”
Yuri leaned closer and snarled slightly. “One thing he’d better not ever do is disrespect Sahara. That would not be wise on his part.”
Judge smiled. “That is something he would never do. You guys don’t understand him. He put his whole life on hold for those two girls. Then he finds out that Galina gave him another daughter? That my friend was the best news he ever got, other than the return of his other two girls. He cannot wait to meet her.”
“Well, that is good then.” Roman smiled. “Her husband might not have to kill him after all.”
Joel joined them and demanded, “Can we get this show on the road. I want this over before I meet Sahara. I don’t want her to have to worry about Averin even one more day.”
~*~
It hadn’t taken them long to find Jose and to track down Averin once they knew where to look. Averin was still in Cameron while Jose had moved closer to New Orleans. As much as they hated involving them, they had both Frankie and Galen looking at profiles to identify cartel or Averin men. They had to know who belonged to which group and the names of the players.
Surveillance tapes showed them the cartel players were being shadowed but no one knew by whom. Mustang was running photo recognition software on them, hoping to find out who they were or who they might work for.
When Viktor and his men got close to Cameron and Averin’s compound, they pulled over and Joel showed them how it was laid out.
Grisha tapped into his phone and computer lines and soon, they had eyes inside. They were using the camera on Averin’s own computer to see what he was doing.
While Joel, Viktor and Grisha were doing that, Hawk and Pyotr were moving in closer to the compound to search for ways in and out of the compound.
They could see everything inside and that included the camera system. Pyotr climbed a tree and searched the compound from above. He outlined everything he saw to the others quietly over the comms everyone had attached to their ear. Suddenly, he spotted something coming toward them all. He relayed the info to Viktor and Joel then got into position to watch the action as it happened.
A second vehicle slowly made its way toward the compound and they could see several men inside. It was a van that stopped in a place hidden from the cameras and out of view from being seen from inside by the men walking around the interior. Those men were heavily armed and searching the area close to the house for any kind of trouble coming at them.
As Pyotr was relaying this info to Viktor, the back door of the van opened and a huge man stepped out. He was holding something big and oddly shaped in his hands, then he knelt in the dirt and hefted it to his shoulder as he pointed the weapon at the cement wall surrounding the compound.
“Bylad!” Pyotr swore in Russian. He then relayed to Viktor and the others a Russian phrase, “Lozhis!” Then repeated the phrase in English, “Fire in the hole!”
Suddenly, all hell broke out as the man holding the weapon launched a small missile blast at the wall. He quickly got another shot off and the wall exploded, flinging shards of cement everywhere.
Sirens began going off and the light inside went dark. They could hear the chaos inside as men began running toward the breach in the wall. Shots were heard as men on both sides began firing.
Pyotr and Hawk made their way back to the others, careful not to bring attention to themselves. When they got back, they were all watching the computer screen of the attack.
Viktor smiled as he watched the chaos unfold. Looking over at Joel, he said, “Well, it seems we weren’t the only ones to come up with this plan. The cartel really doesn’t like this man.”
“Don’t bet a nickel on that.” Joel growled. “Those aren’t cartel men.”
“Who are they then?” Viktor frowned as he turned to glare at the monitor.
“Well, I for one, don’t give a fuck who they are,” Hawk stated. “They’re taking out Averin’s men and that’s fine with me.”
“No it isn’t ok as you say.” Viktor growled.
“Why?” Hawk demanded.
“Because this does not pit him against the cartel,” Viktor explained.
“But it could,” Joel pondered aloud. “A cartel man died at the biker compound.”
Grisha pointed at the screen. “Look.”
Everyone followed his finger and they all saw what he noticed. The patches the bikers wore. They were bikers but they wore cartel patches.
Viktor waited and watched as the shooting began to die out.
Men on both sides were down. Then the van took off recklessly. A rush of men poured out of the compound still shooting at the retreating vehicle that was now too far away.
After the shooting stopped altogether, the men walked back to the bodies lying on the bloody ground. One of them tipped one man over and spoke into a walkie talkie. They couldn’t hear what was said but a moment later the men went back into the compound and then others could be seen taking their place on the top of the wall.
“Well, the first strike has been accomplished,” Joel stated. “The cartel has made its move.”
“Now, Averin will be alert to any danger, not only to himself but to his business,” Viktor added.
“We’d better let Judge know in case Averin strikes back. I don’t want them caught in the crossfire,” Hawk suggested.
Suddenly, Joel gasped.
When Viktor glanced over at him, Joel’s gaze became caught on the screen. Peering down at it, Viktor saw an older man coming from the house to stand on his porch. He looked like an ordinary man with his white hair and dress pants. He wasn’t wearing a suit coat but did have a white shirt on. His collar was open and he looked like a business man, well except for the gun in his hand.
Viktor looked over at Joel. “Is that him? Tegan Averin?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” Joel growled.
“Send this tape to Matvey and get his face out to the others,” Viktor ordered. Now, they would know who they were looking for. The only thing no one had known about Tegan Averin was what he looked like until now.
Viktor’s gaze remained locked on the man who had hurt so many women over the years and he vowed silently to make this man suffer a fate worse than death. He would lose everything that meant anything to him. Stripped of all his possessions and worldly goods. Then he would be put down like the dog he was.
Chapter Eleven
Judge took his team to find Jose Regarden. They had a pretty good idea where he would be and sure enough, they found him near Covington. Jose had backtracked to discover for himself what happened to his man Manuel. They watched undercover as he walked out of the Sheriff’s office after speaking with a cop the cartel was paying under table.
Judge’s man, Wildchild had tapped into the phone lines this morning and found a call placed by one of the officers inside the department to a number they knew belonged to Jose. When they got here to the station, Jose was just walking out of the offices and he didn’t look too happy.
Judge and his group followed him back to New Orleans but Jose didn’t stop there, he continued further on and finally, stopped at a warehouse in Meraux.
Meraux wasn’t too far from the Mississippi river and at some point, the traffickers would’ve had easy access to the Gulf. Judge did note that they had to travel through Chalmette during the trip. He’d thought it odd that Galina had seen Tegan in her town years ago and had noted that in her diaries...something Viktor had relayed to him. This was a part of the Cartel’s operation they hadn’t discovered yet. They then followed Jose to a warehouse.
After setting up surveillance, they waited and watched.
Viktor’s men had hooked his team to the mainframe at the safehouse and Deter was handing the team there, all the information as he discovered it.
The warehouse they’d found was used by the cartel as a storage area for their many illegal deliveries into America. They stored not only shipments of drugs, guns and other smuggled items they could sell to their buyers but they also used the warehouse to store the things they’d bought for buyers in other places...like women for their slave trade.
This was one place Judge wouldn’t mind blowing apart.
They all watched from their positions of cover as Jose went inside.
Viktor’s men, Ivan and Grisha were checking for a spot to hit the building that would do the most damage, yet allow for the men inside to escape as was their plan, while Bullseye was setting up the munitions.
Wildchild tapped Judge on his arm and motioned to the screen of his laptop just as a new call was coming in. The call was from Tegan Averin.
Judge looked over at his man, Bullseye and nodded.
Just as if they planned it, Jose answered the call but before Jose or Averin could say a word, Bullseye let loose a rocket and it smashed into the building cutting off communications. All hell broke loose when a second rocket hit and suddenly, men poured out of the building screaming as shards of cement and steel rained down upon them.
Judge and the rest of his men opened fire and sprayed the area with bullets. Bodies fell everywhere. Some were hit by flying lead but others were trapped by debris from a third and fourth rocket smashing into the building.
When the dust cleared, three men staggered from the smoking rubble. One of those three men was Jose Regarden. His clothes were covered with a thick layer of dust and his white shirt was now red as blood leaked from several wounds they could see. The other two men were trying to hold him up, and get him to the safety of his vehicle.
One of Viktor’s men stood up from the shadows and began shouting at them in Russian then he gave them one more spray of bullets, seeming not to care if he hit them or not.
Judge turned his head around and snapped out an order to let them go. After the car took off and disappeared down the road, Judge got to his feet and snarled at the Russian man, Adrik, “What the fucking hell did you do that for?”
Adrik got to his own feet and in a casual but aloof fashion, he began disassembling his weapon. “My orders were to pit one group against the other. He had to hear me shout in Russian and attempt to kill him in order to make him believe Tegan was behind this attack. If he lives, he’ll tell his own people it was the Russians that took this place out and killed his men.”
“Umm, Colonel?” Wildchild interrupted their discussion. “His plan worked. I just intercepted a call. Jose called Mexico and reported the attack was done by the Russians.”
Judge shook his head and looked over at his own men. “Let’s get the hell out of here before the police or the fire department shows up.”
The next few minutes no one spoke as they packed up their equipment and moved out of the area.
When they were back on the road, Bullseye asked Judge, “What’s next boss?”
“We head toward the docks just outside of town. We have intel from Viktor’s team that there might be a few cartel boats docked there at the moment. It’s a great opportunity to send yet another message. We want to catch them before they load their cargo for the Gulf. They won’t be expecting another hit this soon after the first.”
“Let’s go then.” Bullseyes grinned. “I can’t wait to see some boats burning in the harbor, it’ll make me feel like it’s the Fourth of July. And if a man like Tegan Averin takes the blame, well that’s just his hard luck ain’t it?”
“Let’s just get this done and see where the chips fall.” Judge grunted his response.
~*~
An hour later, two boats were fully engulfed in flames and a third one was threatened by the fire outbreak. Harbor personnel were rushing around, trying to get the rest of the pleasure boats out of the line of danger while the fire department raced to put out the fires.
Judge and the others made sure they weren’t being followed
as they drove away and headed back to New Orleans. They drove for hours, taking obscure roads and back tracking to confuse anyone that might be following them. Finally, Judge deemed it safe enough to go back to the safehouse.
Viktor and the others were there. Joel and Viktor were watching a computer monitor and listening to audio feed.
Judge walked in and caught the tail end of a conversation in Russian. Someone was screaming and cursing in Russian and he sounded really pissed. Judge grinned and thought he might know who was speaking. “You think he’s pissed? Wait til you hear what the Cartel thinks.”
Bull who’d been sitting at a laptop turned around to look at Judge and grinned at him. “We’ve been listening.” Looking at the men behind Judge, he nodded again. “You guys did some serious damage.”
The men nodded as some were unpacking their weapons.
Viktor stood from his monitor table. “We have only just begun. Our mission is to leave the man with nothing to his name. Then and only then, will we take his miserable life. He needs to know who ruined him and why before he dies. That is the only thing that will satisfy the Bratva.”
“Then we keep hitting him. One strike after the other until he’s down for the count,” Judge stated. “And if we take down the cartel at the same time, well that’s just a bonus isn’t it?”
“What’s our next move, Colonel?” Bull asked.
Judge glanced over at Viktor and found the other man looking back at him with no emotion in his deep green eyes. Judge’s gaze finally rested on Bull, as he answered, “That’s not my call. This isn’t our mission, it’s theirs.” He motioned toward the Russian group. “We asked to work with them remember?”
His men didn’t say a word but they didn’t seem happy about what Judge had said either.
To break the tension, Joel looked over at Deter and asked, “Where are the girls?”
Deter shrugged then nodded toward the kitchen. “Frankie wanted to double check something, I think.”
Joel frowned then he turned and headed out of the office area, toward the kitchen.
~*~
Viktor looked over at Deter and wondered what was up. He followed the other man and when he got close to the kitchen, he heard Joel talking to his daughter, Galen.
