Chapter 8 - GATHERING THE STORM
I convened the council of capos in the war room beneath the compound. The massive oak table was surrounded by ten men who controlled the Austin underworld.
“Reyes is cornered,” Dante reported, pointing to a map of the city. “He’s pulled all his top lieutenants back to his main estate in Westlake. It’s a fortress, Boss. He’s got fifty heavily armed sicarios guarding the perimeter.”
“And Rebecca?” I asked, leaning over the table.
“She’s inside with him. Along with Marcus Vance. They know if they step outside, they’re dead.”
“They’re dead anyway,” I said coldly.
“Thomas,” an older capo named Salvatore spoke up. He had served my father before me. “A direct assault on the Reyes estate is suicide. Even if we breach the walls, the cops will show up before we can finish the job. We’ll be caught in a crossfire between the cartel and the feds.”
“We’re not going to breach the walls,” I said, a dark plan forming in my mind. “We’re going to make them open the front door for us.”
I looked at Silas, my accountant. “Silas, Reyes’s money. The gambling revenues, the offshore accounts. Can you drain them?”
Silas adjusted his glasses. “With the access codes I pulled from Vance’s encrypted servers during the hospital raid? Yes. But it’s highly complex. It’ll take a synchronized cyber-attack.”
“Do it. I want Hector Reyes completely bankrupt by midnight. If a cartel boss can't pay his sicarios, loyalty evaporates.”
I turned to Dante. “Get the tactical teams ready. We move at 2:00 AM. We aren’t just sending a message. We are erasing the Reyes Cartel from existence. And I want Rebecca alive. I have a special conversation planned for her.”
The men nodded, the grim determination settling over the room. They knew this wasn't just business anymore. This was a blood feud.
Before I went to gear up, I checked on the kids. They were asleep. I stood in the doorway, watching their chests rise and fall in the soft light of a nightlight.
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“Watch them,” I told the four guards stationed outside their door. “If anyone comes up this hill who doesn't wear our colors, you shoot to kill.”
I strapped on my Kevlar vest, loaded three extra magazines for my Glock, and grabbed a custom AR-15. Ethan had wanted me to leave this life behind. But to avenge his murder and protect his children, I had to become the devil he feared.
