Blue Moon: Too Good to Be True (32 page)

“Hawk talk to me.”

“Call, these guys are coming in fast on the bank. There appears to be a lower level under the hangar. They’re emerging like flies. The groundsmen need to fall back, there are at least thirty guards closing in on them inside.”

“Groundsmen take cover, I’m coming hot,” Hawk warned as he rapidly fired along the right side of the interior, sending bodies and debris flying all over the place.

“Hawk, for fuck’s sake, cease fire! You’re gonna level the damn building with us in it! Fox where are you?” Bass yelled.

“I got ’em,” Fox growled as he took over trying to give the groundsmen some cover.

Shot watched Bass and Shade dive behind the wall as more guards began swarming the hangar. “Where the hell are these men coming from, Hawk?”

Shade yelled over the gunfire.

“Beneath you, Shade.”

“How many more are there?” Bass shouted.

Hawk took an exasperated breath. “I’m good, but I’m not that good. I can’t fucking see underground, Bass.”

Angel’s head lolled around on his shoulders before he jerked it back up again. His arms were still tied behind his back and his shoulders were screaming. Both his feet were tied to the legs of the metal chair he was in.

He’d activated his emergency location detector over eight hours ago, so he knew his father and uncles were coming…but fuck! His headache refused to subside. His mind wouldn’t stop replaying the gunshots that might have taken his love away.

Angel’s body was beyond fatigued but he tried to regulate his breathing so he wouldn’t fall asleep. He’d hit his head so hard in that van he was concerned about having a concussion. Staying awake was a constant struggle since Angel needed to keep his eyes closed to continue producing tears to wash the pepper spray out. The extreme burn from the chemicals had finally

begun to fade about an hour ago but it still stung like hell. Angel couldn’t figure out why no one had been in to speak with him. Surely he’d been there long enough for his captors to come up with some kind of demands. Angel thought about yelling out, but immediately tamped down that idea when he heard the familiar sound of a dead bolt unlocking.

Angel kept his head down, his chin resting on his chest as several sets of footsteps came inside the room.

“He’s not dead is he? Valenzo wants him alive,” he heard a voice in the room whisper.

What the hel ? Valenzo…the drug lord.

“I don’t know if he’s dead…go check. Oh fuck! He might be, his chest isn’t rising,” another voice spoke.

So there are at least three of them in here,
Angel thought as the footsteps approached him very slowly. Angel had slowed his breathing almost to the point of stopping. When he felt the warm breath on his forehead he shot his head up as hard as he could, catching the man square in the chin, hearing teeth crack against each other. The man fell backward screaming out in pain.

Angel locked eyes on the man lying on the ground, his mouth spurting blood. Angel smiled demonically and slowly brought his attention around to the two men now standing at the entrance to his small room. All the men looked to be in their late twenties and were of Cuban descent.

“The man that you shot at in the alley…was he hit?” Angel growled. His chin was tucked tight back into his chest. He looked up at the men through moisture-spiked dark lashes like he was suddenly possessed by the devil.

The men just looked around at each other, no one saying anything. They looked afraid. Obviously, these were not the men that were in charge.

“Was he hit?” Angel roared, almost coming up out his chair.

“No he wasn’t Mr. DeLucca, so please calm down before you hurt yourself.” A smooth voice came from around the corner before a short man in an expensive cream-colored suit appeared in the narrow doorway.

Angel’s head came up at the site of Pedro-fucking-Valenzo.

“I see you recognize me. I’m terribly sorry my men got a little rough with bringing you in. I assure you they have been dealt with accordingly.

Although clearly you’re a man that can handle himself quite well.” Valenzo walked over to the man on ground, surveyed his busted mouth, and
tsked
at Angel. “Now was that really necessary, Mr. DeLucca?”

Angel didn’t respond. He didn’t want to let on how confused he was that Pedro Valenzo had had him kidnapped.

“Okay, enough with the pleasantries and on to business. So tell me, Mr.

DeLucca, why have I never heard of you? I thought I’d gotten rid of every major drug dealer in this city. Then out of nowhere you come and try to steal my empire right from under me. That’s hardly professional…wouldn’t you agree? Or are you accustomed to shady dealings?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Do you think I’m a goddamn drug dealer?” Angel snarled, his mouth twisting in disgust.

“Well, why did you make that backdoor deal to buy my property, and also several other properties, if you’re not a dealer?” the level man questioned. He took one hand and smoothed back his jet-black hair. The diamond pinkie ring on his left hand was the only thing glistening in the dreary room. He looked like a typical drug lord. The bone-colored suit he wore was completely stainless and tailor-made to fit his slim frame.

“Valenzo, believe me when I say that I think you are the lowest piece of scum to ever come into this city.” Angel saw the man quirk one brow, barely fazed by the name-calling. “Whoever does your research, you better fire them, because I bought that property to turn into a nightclub and nothing more. You haven’t heard of me jackass, because we couldn’t be further from the same line of work. I’d fucking kill myself with a bullet to the stomach if I was anything like you.” Angel sneered at the man as Valenzo processed what he’d just told him.

“Well even if we have made a mistake Mr. DeLucca, I really don’t like your attitude. So what do you suppose I should do about that?” The man slowly uncrossed his legs and stood as two of his large goons came to stand beside him.

Suddenly Angel’s chest jerked like he’d been shocked with a defibrillator.

His eyes went wide with the realization of what had just happened.
Holy fuck!

That feels awesome.
Angel felt the energy coursing through his body like liquid

lava. Inside Angel’s location detector was a small dose of adrenaline that could only be released into his bloodstream by Viper…and he’d just released it. Angel took a deep breath…finally…his father was here.

The men all stared wide-eyed at Angel as he began to laugh manically and sobered just as quickly. “You’ve made a huge fucking mistake, Valenzo. Do you know of the shit storm that’s about to rain down on you?” Valenzo turned abruptly to his goon that had picked up his cell phone and talked rapidly in broken Spanish.

Angel knew the man was telling his boss they needed to leave because the guards on the roof could see movement down below. Valenzo came to look into Angel’s eyes when he realized Angel understood everything they were saying. Valenzo was five inches from his face when everything went completely dark.

“
¿Quién está aquí
, Mr. DeLucca?”

“Are you sure you want to know who’s here?” Angel whispered. “I suggest you let me out of this chair and allow me to walk out that front door.

Because if he has to come in and get me, well…I can’t say it was a pleasure, Valenzo.” Angel laughed again as the men all turned toward the loud explosion that shook the building.

“Who’s here!” Valenzo yelled, still dangerously close to Angel’s face. The man’s cool exterior fell away quicker than Angel could say “you’re fucked.”

Valenzo’s fear shined brighter than his diamond ring. Angel decided to screw with his head some more.

“
Sí sigue l amando a la puerta del la bestia, eventualmente va a responder
.” Angel spoke casually as the sexy sound of the Beastmaster’s M16 gunshots rang out in the dark.

“What the fuck did he say?” one of the guards asked.

Angel heard Valenzo swallow the lump in his throat before answering his guard’s question. “He said if you keep knocking on the door of the beast, eventually he’s going to answer.”

Bass peeked around the corner and he could see Monroe and Toad were still taking cover behind some large airplane body parts. About five guards were closing in on them and Bass and Shade began firing in their direction.

Fox and Shot’s M16 rounds were continuously spraying through the windows. They were taking out a lot of the guards but more kept coming.

“Groundsmen, get out of there,” Call’s voice broke through the chaos.

“Toad, Monroe. There’s a window right behind you. Jump out. Hawk will cover you until you get into the trees. Bass, Shade. There’s a cargo bay door about thirty feet away. Come out those doors and Fox and Shot will cover you. Move now!”

“Where is Angel, Viper?”

“He’s underground, Call.”

Fuck!

“Fox and Shot stay up above for now. Hawk, you remain in position too,” Call instructed.

“What the fuck is the plan, Call? How are we gonna get him out?” Shot’s voice was rising with his nerves.

“You’re not, I am,” Max’s deep voice came over their earpieces.

“Viper. Who the fuck is that?” Call hissed. “How the hell is someone else on our secured frequency?”

“That’s our Ace in the hole,” Hawk replied.

“Ace, what the hell are you doing?” Call responded.

“Call, you have your team and I have mine. Beastmasters, I want you to cease-fire and stand down. Valenzo’s gonna surface with Angel and I don’t want anyone shooting, is that clear?”

“We don’t take orders from you Ace,” Viper replied nastily.

“When it comes to Angel, you sure as fuck do. Now sit tight. My ETA is three minutes.”

Pierce had gone over his plan a hundred times with Max, and he was sure he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. Only Max and the SWAT team

were coming. The rest of the team was on standby if something went wrong.

Pierce would be speaking in Max’s ear the entire time. He assured him that if they went according to the plan then Angel would be in his arms before it was time for
Good Morning America
.

Pierce’s team had hacked into Valenzo’s cell phone carrier and sent him a message to answer his phone. Pierce spoke to the drug lord while he sat below ground with Angel. Pierce informed the man that he was pulling the Beastmasters back and that he was encouraged to do the same with his guards.

“Why would I do that?” Valenzo countered. “We appear to have the upper hand. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be retreating.”

“Are you sure you have the upper hand, Mr. Valenzo? I would think about that statement very carefully. Tell me Pedro. How many men do you have guarding your family right now?” Pierce asked matter-of-factly.

There was a long period of drawn-out silence.

“Yep, just like I thought. You leave them completely unprotected because you think no one knows about your very beautiful wife. Or your ten-year-old son…no doubt he’s the apple of your eye. Or is it your feisty teenage daughter that just made her way home from cheerleading practice an hour ago?

“You do however, have security cameras around the perimeter. Look at the screen of your phone Mr. Valenzo and tell me what you see.” Pierce walked laps around the warehouse with his headset on as he talked. He stopped at one of the computer stations and told Sean to pull up the northeast camera on Valenzo’s home, and send it to his phone. The young man nodded once and started clicking on his keys. In five seconds the image was on Valenzo’s phone. “Do you see what I see, Mr. Drug Lord? I’m sure you do. That bus across the street from your lovely family is filled with the most vile inmates of Virginia’s federal prison.”

“You can’t fucking be serious, asshole!” Valenzo yelled.

“Hey, it’s not my fault that the bus broke down on the way to the penitentiary. That’s where they transfer the men in this state that are doing

life without parole. Can you believe that it broke down right in front of your house? What a coincidence.” Pierce feigned shock.

“If those bastards go anywhere near my home I will hunt you down like a rabid dog and kill you slowly.” Valenzo hissed.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now Pedro, do you really think you are in a position to be making threats here? Besides, I seriously doubt you will ever find out who the hell I am. I mean your research department can use some restructuring.

They thought Angel was a drug dealer for shit’s sake.” Pierce laughed. The voice distortion mechanism in Pierce’s headset made him sound like the devil himself.

“What do you want?” Valenzo growled.

“I want you to surface with Mr. DeLucca. Not your guards, not your goons. Just you. My team will be there to pick him up in three minutes.”

Pierce disconnected.

“Backhander to Ace,” Pierce spoke into his radio.

“Ace,” Max replied.

“Everything’s a go. Move in.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The black Hummers stopped about thirty yards from the hangar doors.

The SWAT team instructed Max to stay inside until they gave the all clear for him to come out. Max waited anxiously to see Angel. He knew what he was doing was wrong. Max was a firefighter. Threatening a woman and her children was a line that Max never thought he’d cross. One day he would answer to God for this sin.

Max saw the rickety hangar doors slowly swing open. Valenzo placed Angel in front of him like a human shield. Max stared out of the Hummer’s dark window, quickly assessing if Angel was hurt,which he appeared not to be. Valenzo pushed Angel in the center of his back propelling him out into the open. The headlights from the vehicles allowed Max to get a better look.

Tears formed in his eyes as he watched Angel slowly move toward them.

Angel’s usually slick, tight braid was frizzy and unraveling. His nose and mouth were slightly swollen and he had a large knot on the upper right side of his forehead. He walked with a slight limp and it all made Max bristle with anger. They’d hurt him.