Red Bullets in June

Chapter 16: Intruders

On the border of Hewlett Bay Park and Hewlett Neck, lining the shore of George's Creek is a steel warehouse with the words Wendover Steel on the outside of the building. The red Ducati glides into the almost vacant parking lot aside from 2 black 300Cs parked on the side.

Jaxon kills the engine. We both hop off his motorcycle and remove our helmets and he offers his hand to me. I take it and together, we trek toward a back entrance. A door with a padded lock is wide open and a troubled Kade steps through it immediately to meet us. "Jaxon."

"What was their point of entry?"

"A window on the side was broken."

"And the CCTV?"

"Nothing. There's no footage of the past 24 hours. Someone's wiped it clean."

Jaxon steps into the expansive warehouse, pulling me behind him. The interior is barren except for empty  tables and shelves, giant crates and 2 of The Red Bullets' Wendover Steel box trucks.

Khleo pauses his investigation to walk up to us.

"Any clues to who it might be?" Jaxon asks him.

"No clues in here. But I did receive a call from Los Alacránes. Oscar said they no longer want to do business with us. They've found another connect. It's definitely odd that we'd get a call like that right after our warehouse has been raided."

"Who's their new connect??" Jaxon's voice is furious.

"He wouldn't say. But something tells me they're behind all this. Jaxon, I think Oscar is getting revenge for the other day..."

Jaxon roots up a shelf and strikes it against the cement wall. A screeching of metal ensues that slices my eardrums. "THAT TRAITOR!"

He spins around to face his gang. "Find Oscar and his men and bring them to me alive! Give word to all our dealers. They're to finish selling what they have then wait for further instructions. I'll reach out to our supplier and see if he'll be willing to send our next shipment early. I'll look for a new warehouse and partner as well."

6 heads nod in unison and they hurry out to the cars to do as they're told.

Jaxon turns to face me. I'm rooted to the spot by the entrance, right where he left me, my mind reeling with all I've seen and heard.

Holy crap.

"I'm sorry you had to see that..." Jaxon's voice is smooth and soothing now.

"It's fine. I'm sorry this happened..."

"You don't need to apologize, Charlotte. Come on, I'll take you back home. I have a lot of things I need to do. I want you to stay at the mansion while I try to figure this out, okay?"

I nod. "Okay."

I accept his outstretched hand and he leads me outside to his red Ducati.

The next week is grueling. Everyone in the mansion is on edge as they attempt to find Los Alacránes and get back on their feet with their drug business.

Jaxon has been gone almost all day, every day trying to figure everything out with his gang. When he is here, he tries to eat meals with me, but they're usually interrupted by phone calls. Every evening, I wait for him to get home and it makes me feel like I'm his trophy wife. He'll kiss me and do what he can to spend time with me before bed, but that's all I really see of him.

When darkness falls each evening, Jaxon's nightmares grow louder and more frequent. Wednesday night, I trekked to his room to comfort him, but froze on the threshold as his words from the night before rang through my head in warning.