Chapter 4 - THE NORTH GATE AMBUSH
The north service road was little more than a dirt track cutting through the desert scrub and mesquite trees behind the estate, leading directly out to the highway. It was rarely used except by supply trucks and maintenance crews.
Two armored SUVs sat idling in the shadows of the eucalyptus grove, their headlights killed.
Damon didn't wait for permission. He strode down the private driveway holding Ruby in one arm while his other hand drew a heavy Glock from his shoulder holster with fluid, lethal familiarity.
Marcus and four of his best tactical guards fanned out behind him, moving with the silent, deadly synchronization of men who had fought their way out of worse traps than this.
As they approached the gates, the lead black SUV threw its high beams on, blinding white light flooding the gravel drive.
A heavy-set man in a gray tactical vest stepped out from the passenger side of the vehicle, holding an automatic rifle across his chest. Behind him, two more men pulled open the rear doors of the second vehicle.
Between them, hands bound behind her back with plastic ties and a black cloth sack over her head, was Selena.
“Drop the weapon, Reyes!” the heavy-set man shouted over the roar of the idling engine, his voice harsh and grating. “Step back or the woman takes a bullet right here in the dirt!”
Damon stopped twenty paces away.
He didn't drop his gun.
“You’re on private property,” Damon called out, his voice cutting through the desert wind like a razor. “And you’re holding the wrong mother.”
The enforcer laughed—a harsh, barking sound.
“You think we care about your property? The Romanos own half the judges in this county. Drop the iron or I put a round through her spine right now!”
He reached out, grabbing Selena by the shoulder and jerking her upright.
Selena let out a muffled cry through the gag, her boots stumbling against the gravel.
In the crook of Damon’s arm, little Ruby stiffened.
She didn't scream. She didn't cry.
Instead, she did something that stopped the entire exchange dead in its tracks.
She leaned out from Damon’s embrace, her small voice ringing out across the quiet desert night with astonishing clarity:
“Let go of my mommy, you big meanie!”
The enforcer blinked, momentarily disoriented by the child’s voice coming from the shadow of the armed syndicate boss.
That single second of hesitation was all Marcus and his men needed.
Crack! Crack!
Two silenced shots from the darkness of the eucalyptus grove punched through the tires of the lead SUV, dropping the heavy vehicle onto its rims with a sharp hiss of escaping air.
Before the enforcers could raise their rifles, Damon moved with terrifying speed. He fired once—not at the men, but directly into the hood of the second vehicle, blowing the radiator block in a cloud of boiling steam.
“Drop your weapons or you don't leave this desert alive!” Marcus roared from the flank, his submachine gun leveled straight at the enforcer’s chest.
The heavy-set man looked down at Selena, then over at Damon, whose dark eyes were fixed on him with the cold, absolute certainty of an executioner.
May you like
Slowly, deliberately, the enforcer let go of Selena’s shoulder and raised his empty hands into the air.
“Smart choice,” Damon said softly.
