The Warrior (8 page)

“Ok. Well that’s not so bad. I mean
congratulations man.” He says as I cut my eyes at him.

“Have you lost your fucking mind? Did you
fucking just congratulate me? I have a plan in place Bradon where I
more than likely won’t be coming back and you say that shit to me?
I'm a fucking MONSTER! I can’t be a father.” I snap and I know I'm
yelling as I look up I notice Nina is in the doorway and she looks
sick. She turns to walk off again when I stand up and rush towards
her before she can make it back down the hall. I grab her and spin
her around to face me.

“You didn’t plan on coming back anyways?” She
says as she cries.

“No I didn’t. I know what I'm up against. I
wanted to come back but god damn it Nina I don’t know how to be
what you need me to be. You know what I am. I can’t fuck up some
kid the way my dad did me.” I say as I hold her face in my
hand.

“You can do anything you want Cadence. You
can be who you want. It’s ok that you don’t want me or this.” She
says as tears fall from her eyes. God damn it why am I so fucked
up? I drop my hands as she walks away and I spin around punching a
hole in the wall. Jeremy rolls down the hallway looking at me.

“Sorry I’ll pay for it.” I say as he looks at
the hole and shakes his head.

“Take a walk with me.” He says as I cut my
eyes to him. “Ok you walk I'm rolling.” HE says smiling as I shake
my head and follow him out the front door.

“Look man. I heard what’s going on. Let me
just say this and then I won’t say another word to you. When I left
I was engaged. Mel was pregnant when I left. You were there and you
know how messed up it was over there. I came back and was a
complete fuck up. I ruined what we had man for my own stupid
issues. She left and I haven’t seen or heard from her since then.
She took my kid and left Cad. Don’t ruin your life because you
don’t think you can do it or deserve it because you can and you
do.” He says as we stay right in front of the door. He’s right. I
made it through hell so why shouldn’t I get the chance to be happy?
But there will always be that doubt in my head as to it I can do
it.

“Thanks Jeremy.” I say as he nods and I walk
around the back where Nina ran off to. I see her sitting out on a
swing in the yard as I walk over and sit next to her.

“I don’t know what to say. I want to be happy
but I don’t know if that is in my future. I never thought that fair
ahead. I am willing to try but that is the best I can do right now.
My head is a complete fuck up and for the first time in my life I
can admit that I'm fucking scared to death to love you.” I say as
she turns to look at me.

“You love me?” She says as I nod.

“I have never felt this for anyone Nina. You
make me challenge myself in ways I didn’t know were possible. You
weakened the hardest part of me. My heart.” I say as she tears up
again. I reach over and pull her to me.

“I promise I will come back.” I whisper as I
kiss her head. This is a moment I want to hold onto. I run my free
hand down across her stomach and she cries more. “I will try to be
better.” I whisper again.

***

We kissed the girls and Josh bye and I don’t
like taking Bradon back with me but he wouldn’t have it any other
way. We left a bunch of crying girls for Jeremy to deal with but I
know he can handle it.

“You think this is going to work?” Bradon
asks as we drive.

“I sure as fuck hope so.” I say as I watch
out the window. Our plan changed a little from the original since I
have a new reason to live. We drive south towards Mexico where I
have set up a meeting with some of the other guys. I really hope
this is the right choice. We drive for hours and cross the border
without any problems. We drive up to this shittiest bar there is
and park. We jump out and we all head inside. I look around and
find exactly who I wanted to find. Joel. Joel is a man dad has been
dealing with since before we were born the man is in his 70’s and
still kicking ass.

“How you been Joel?” I say as I sit at the
table facing him.

“Damn Cadence. I never thought I would have
the pleasure of seeing your face again.” Joel says with a smile. He
orders us some beers as Bradon and the others stand guard around
the place just in case.

“I hear there have been some deaths over your
way.” He says as the beers are sat in front of us and I nod. “Heard
The Warrior was responsible.” He says and my heart slams into my
chest. My heart may be pounding inside me but I will not break face
and let on.

“Well that’s where the story differs a bit.”
I say as I place my hands on the table which is a sign we have to
show we are not threatening anyone. Joel notices and nods his
head.

“Let’s hear where that differs then.” He says
as I nod. I tell him the story of what we have heard plus the
information I have and he doesn’t seem pleased.

“So Randy thinks he will run it all huh?” He
says looking at me as I drink my beer.

“Looks that way. The problem is he is using
me to take them out. Obviously we all know here that I did take the
first 2 out but that was before I knew what the hell was going on.
The way I'm looking at things is that you and Hector are my next
targets. I’ll be honest with you Joel. I want out. I have a family
and I don’t want them in this shit. I don’t want this shit. So I'm
here to make you an offer.” I say as he watches me intently.

“You want to make me an offer for my life?”
He says as I nod. He shakes his head as he watches me. “Cadence I'm
an old man. I'm going to die soon what makes you think I want to
bargain?” He says as I smile.

“It isn’t just your life he wants. He wants
your families too. I know you have kids and grandkids Joel come on.
I grew up knowing half of them. The reason the last kid didn’t die
is because I let him live. My heart may be dead but there is still
a soft spot there and I refuse to kill a child.” I say as Joel
shifts in his seat.

“What do you want?” He says watching me.

“I want a meet with Hector. I want my family
covered to get out of here for at least 6 months and I want mine
and Bradon’s name cleared off any lists we may be on.” I say as
Joel watches me. He sits there for a few minutes not speaking as he
thinks about what I have said. After a few minutes he looks at me
and speaks.

“And you will guarantee your father will not
be a problem?” He says as he watches me.

“I will personally guarantee it. I will be
the one to take him out.” I say as he nods. He reaches over the
table and shakes my hand.

“You have a deal.” He says as I shake his
hand and nod.

***

We hang out at Joel’s place out in the desert
while he makes the plans for me to meet with Hector. We mostly sit
around doing nothing. There isn’t much to do out this way. We are
all sitting around laughing when Joel comes in.

“Hector agrees to meet with you. He will be
here shortly.” Joel says as I nod my head at him. “May I have a
word Cadence?” He says as I stand up.

“Sure.” I say as I make my way over to him.
The guys hang out as I follow Joel down the hallway and into an
office.

“Please sit.” He says as I round the desk and
sit in the chair.

“Your father has made some phone calls. He is
looking for you.” Joel says as I nod my head.

“I figured he would. I need to move as soon
as possible. He is going to want to verify you are both dead after
I return. We will need men to show up a few days after I get there.
I hate to send them into a fucking ambush but.” I start to say when
Joel cuts me off.

“Do not worry about that. You tell me what
and where and I will have that taken care of. You let me know what
else you will need and I will see to it you have it when you go.”
He says as I smile and nod. I knew Joel would be on board with us
for the simple fact that he knows how my dad is and how he
operates. I stand up and walk back to find Bradon. I need to talk
to him. I nod at him and he stands to follow me outside.

“Look Bra I don’t want you there when shit
goes down. Before shit happens you will be out making a run.
Understand?” I say as he shakes his head. I don’t want him involved
with this but he isn’t going to make it any easier for me.

“I'm staying Cadence. Let’s not start this
shit again.” He snaps as he tries to stand and I reach over and
grab him pulling him back in his spot.

“God damn it Bradon! You have a son that
needs you. You will have a niece or nephew that will need you too
in case I don’t make it back. I don’t want to fucking argue with
you on this. That baby deserves to have a father that cares for
him. Raise that boy better than we were.” I snap as I stand up
pulling at my hair.

“Ok Cad. I won’t be there but you have to
make it back man.” He says as he stands and puts his hand on my
back.

“I'm going to do what needs to be done Bra.
to make sure no one ever fucks with you. I will do my best to make
it back but you know the deal. Give me 72 hours after and if I'm
not back at Jeremy’s you get them the hell out of here. Got it?” I
say as Bradon nods his head. I sigh out of relief. I know my
brother won’t back down on his word that’s not the kind of man he
is. I feel a bit of relief now that he has agreed to what I want.
We sit outside a little longer not speaking until one of Joel’s
guys come out and says Hector is here.

I head in and meet with him.

***

Now that I'm being backed by two powerful
people I'm ready to head back and get this shit going. Everything
is going as planned as we make our stops on the way back. As soon
as we hit southern California we meet up with some of Hector’s
guys.

“What the hell are you boys doing with so
much C4? You plan on blowing up half of the US?” The guy asks me
laughing.

“Not half just a small portion.” I say as I
smile back at him. I plan on leveling that whole fucking compound
by the time I'm done. The problem is I'm not sure if my dad is
storing any human cargo at the moment. That could through a little
wrench in my plans.

“How many trucks are we loading from here?” I
ask the guy as he looks around the warehouse.

“Well with the order Hector put in we will
probably use 2 trucks. We don’t want to draw attention to anyone so
the less we have the better.” He says as I nod my head at him. I
watch as his guys load up two box trucks of things we need to set
this plan off. As I watch I call Joel’s men and see if they are in
place.

“Rodrigo you in?” I say as he answers the
phone.

“Cadence man I'm glad to be working with you
again. Yea we are in place.” He says as I watch one of the
guys.

“Me too man. Find out anything about human
cargo?” I ask as the man I have been watching looks a little
nervous.

“No from what we have found out there is
none. Just the basics. If there are what are we doing with it?” He
says as the man moves around the back of the truck. I slowly make
my way towards him.

“We have trucks coming in. If we need to we
will pack them up and move them to a safe house until Joel decides
what to do with them. After they are out of there they are someone
else’s problem.” I say as he agrees. I quickly hang up with him as
I move around the truck and hear the guy on his phone asking for
Randy. Fuck he’s in with him. I look around quickly before I make
my move. I move fast and low and I grab him around his throat
making him drop his phone as I stomp it into pieces.

“Nice try kid.” I say as I hold him there and
people come running over. No one looks concerned about this kid so
I wonder who the hell he is. I don’t let go as Hector’s head guy
walks up to me.

“What’s going on?” He says looking at me and
then the kid.

“Seems our little friend here was trying to
put a call into Randy for us.” I say as I squeeze the assholes
throat a little tighter.

“Well now we can’t have that can we?” Roy
says as he moves towards us.

“Who is he?” I ask as I hold him still. The
kid is trying to wiggle around which is really starting to piss me
off.

“New guy. Apparently he was put here for a
reason.” Roy says as he pulls a knife from his back pocket. “Care
to do the honors?” He says as he extends the knife towards me. I
take the knife and slowly drag the blade across the kids’ throat as
he gags and squirms and I feel the blood trickle down my arm as his
body goes limp. I drop the kid on the ground as I pass the knife
back to Roy.

“Don’t let me find any more of those around
here.” I say as I walk into the building and towards the
bathroom.

“What the hell?” Bradon says as I walk over
to the sink.

“Had a little issue. It’s taken care of now.”
I say as I wash my hands and arms with soap and water. Bradon
doesn’t say anything as he washes his hands too.

“You sure we can handle this? I mean it’s a
big job.” Bradon says as I turn to face him.

“I won’t fuck this up Bra. We have the man
power of some of the best fucking Marines and some of the most
ruthless killers on our side. We got this.” I say as he nods and
smiles. Bradon walks out and I stand there looking at myself in the
mirror.

“You better get this shit done Cad.” I say to
myself before I turn and walk back out.

“Cleaned that up quick.” I say to Roy as I
walk out and the body is gone.

“Well that’s what I do.” He says with a smile
as I nod. I take a second to call and check in with Jeremy.

“What’s going on?” He answers on the first
ring.

“Just checking in man. Everything good?” I
say as I watch the trucks finish getting loaded.

“Yea man. We are all good. This little guy of
your brothers is a handful though.” He says laughing and I
smile.

“She around?” I say as I hear Josh making
noise.

“Yea. Let me get her.” He says and I can hear
him call to her.