Chapter 8 - THE RUINS OF ISABEL
The warehouse still smelled burned.
That should have been impossible after three years.
Rain, desert wind, demolition crews, and time should have taken the smell away.
But grief preserved things logic could not.
Damon stood across the road from the ruins and stared at the blackened skeleton of the building where his sister had died.
Beside him, Marcus checked the perimeter through binoculars.
“Six visible men.”
Gabriel stood nearby.
“More inside.”
Lucia nodded.
“Mateo never uses fewer than twelve.”
Federal agents waited several blocks away.
Agent Hale wanted control of the operation.
Damon had refused.
Not because he believed himself above the law.
Because Marco had specifically warned that police presence would get hostages killed.
Hale had reluctantly agreed to remain outside visible range.
For now.
Selena and Ruby were under federal protection.
Noah too.
Damon had considered ordering Gabriel to stay with his son.
Gabriel refused.
“My boy waited seventeen years for me to act like a father,” he had said. “He can wait one hour while I fix what I broke.”
Damon had not argued.
Now the four men and Lucia stood in darkness near the warehouse.
Marcus looked at Damon.
“You should know something.”
“What?”
“If Marco really did this, I won't hesitate.”
Damon looked toward the building.
“Neither will I.”
But he wondered if that was true.
Marco Reyes had been six years old when Damon first met him.
Damon had been eight.
They grew up in the same crowded family houses.
Fought over bicycles.
Shared a room during summers.
Buried Damon's father together.
Marco had stood beside him at Isabel's funeral.
Bloodline.
Lucia had been right.
Family could be the most dangerous place to hide betrayal.
Damon crossed the road alone.
The warehouse doors were open.
Mateo wanted him inside.
Damon entered.
Twenty staff members sat against one wall.
Hands bound.
Mrs. Alvarez among them.
Marco stood near a metal staircase.
Mateo beside him.
“Welcome home,” Mateo said.
Damon looked around.
The old burn marks climbed the walls.
“Interesting choice.”
“You made this place important.”
“You did.”
Mateo smiled.
“That story again.”
Lucia's words echoed in Damon's mind.
Mateo ordered the fire.
Rafael tried to stop him.
Damon looked toward Marco.
His cousin avoided his eyes.
“Let them go.”
Mateo laughed.
“Drive first.”
Damon reached into his coat.
He held up the black flash drive.
Mateo's expression changed.
There it was.
Fear.
Damon had spent years watching men lie.
Fear was the one truth almost nobody controlled.
“You want this badly.”
“It belongs to my family.”
“No.”
Damon glanced toward the hostages.
“Apparently everything on it belongs to prosecutors.”
Mateo's face hardened.
“You think those federal people will save you?”
“No.”
“Then why bring them?”
Damon smiled slightly.
Mateo stopped.
That had been a guess.
A useful one.
Damon noticed Marco glance toward the loading doors.
He knew agents were nearby too.
“How long have you worked together?” Damon asked.
Mateo looked toward Marco.
“Longer than you think.”
Damon felt the answer but kept his face still.
“Before tonight?”
Marco finally looked at him.
“Two years.”
Marcus had been right to distrust everyone.
Damon's stomach turned.
“Why?”
Marco's face tightened.
“You really have to ask?”
“Yes.”
“I spent my whole life being Damon Reyes's cousin.”
Silence.
“You walked into a room and people stood up.”
Marco's voice rose.
“I walked in and they asked what you wanted.”
“You had everything.”
“I had everything you allowed.”
“I gave you part of every company.”
“You gave me scraps.”
Damon stared.
“You became rich.”
“I wanted to matter.”
“So you sold me to Mateo.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“He promised me Phoenix.”
Mateo's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Damon saw it.
And understood.
Marco had believed a promise Mateo never intended to keep.
“You think he gives you Phoenix?”
Marco stiffened.
“He does.”
Damon looked at Mateo.
“Tell him.”
Mateo smiled.
“Don't.”
“Tell him what happened to Rafael when he stopped being useful.”
Marco looked between them.
“What is he talking about?”
Damon did not take his eyes off Mateo.
“Rafael didn't order the fire.”
Marco frowned.
“Of course he did.”
“Mateo did.”
Mateo sighed.
“Family mythology.”
“Lucia confirmed it.”
Mateo's smile disappeared.
Marco looked toward him.
“Lucia?”
“She turned.”
Damon watched Marco's certainty fracture.
“Rafael tried to stop the fire. Mateo sacrificed him. Then pointed me at him.”
Marco stared at Mateo.
“You said Rafael betrayed you.”
“He did.”
“Did you order Isabel's death?”
Mateo's voice sharpened.
“Stop listening to him.”
Marco looked devastated.
“Answer.”
Mateo stepped closer.
“Your problem has always been that you need people to respect you.”
Marco's face changed.
Damon saw the insult land.
Mateo continued.
“Damon never respected you because he knew what you were.”
“Mateo.”
Damon's warning was quiet.
Mateo ignored him.
“You wanted the throne. Fine. Help me remove him.”
Marco's hand moved toward his weapon.
Damon stared at him.
This was the moment.
The law of Damon's world said traitors were beyond redemption.
But Gabriel had betrayed him for a son.
Lucia had betrayed her brother after finding a conscience.
Marco had betrayed Damon for pride.
Different reasons.
Same choice.
Yet Damon could still see the boy who shared his bedroom.
“Marco.”
His cousin looked at him.
“You still have a choice.”
Mateo laughed.
“He chose.”
“No.”
Damon's voice remained calm.
“He made choices.”
He looked at Marco.
“This is another.”
Marco's hand trembled.
“You'll kill me.”
“I don't know.”
That surprised everyone.
Even Damon.
Marco stared.
“You don't know?”
“No.”
“You kill traitors.”
“Yes.”
“That's your rule.”
“It was.”
Silence.
Damon looked toward the bound staff.
Then toward Gabriel, hidden somewhere outside.
“Tonight has been educational.”
Mateo became impatient.
“Enough.”
He pulled a gun.
Not at Damon.
At Mrs. Alvarez.
“Drive.”
Damon held it up.
“Release five people.”
“No.”
“Then shoot her and lose the drive.”
Mateo stared.
“You wouldn't destroy it.”
Damon closed his fist around the small piece of plastic.
“I've lost family here before.”
He looked around the burned warehouse.
“I won't do it again.”
Mateo looked at Marco.
“Take it.”
Marco walked toward Damon.
Slowly.
Damon held out the drive.
When they were close enough, Marco whispered.
“I'm sorry.”
Damon's eyes narrowed.
Then Marco grabbed his coat.
Instead of taking the drive, he pulled Damon forward and shouted.
“NOW!”
The warehouse exploded with movement.
Gabriel fired from the upper windows.
Marcus entered through the side door.
Federal agents rushed the loading bay.
Marco turned his weapon toward Mateo.
Mateo fired first.
Marco jerked backward.
Damon caught him.
Chaos swallowed the room.
Agents freed hostages.
Gabriel tackled one Delgato gunman.
Marcus covered the staff evacuation.
Mateo ran.
Damon lowered Marco to the floor.
Blood spread across his cousin's shirt.
Marco grabbed Damon's wrist.
“I gave Hale the location.”
Damon stared.
“You called the agents?”
“Lucia gave me the number.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
Damon froze.
Marco coughed.
“I was supposed to testify.”
“About Mateo?”
“Yes.”
“Then why keep helping him?”
Marco began crying.
“He had proof of everything I did. I thought if I helped him one last time…”
Damon's jaw tightened.
“There is always one last time.”
“I know.”
Marco looked toward the door where Mateo escaped.
“Go.”
Damon did not move.
“Go!”
Marcus reached them.
“Paramedics are coming.”
Marco stared at Damon.
“Don't let him get Ruby.”
Damon's face changed.
“Why would you say that?”
Marco's breathing became shallow.
“Because Mateo knows where they took her.”
Damon stood instantly.
“How?”
Marco grabbed his sleeve.
“The federal safe house.”
Marcus swore.
“How?”
“One of Hale's people.”
Damon looked toward Agent Hale across the room.
A federal leak.
Mateo had planned deeper than any of them realized.
Marco coughed.
“He never wanted the drive tonight.”
Damon felt dread rise.
“What did he want?”
“To keep you here.”
The truth struck.
The hostages.
The warehouse.
Marco.
All distractions.
Damon reached for his phone.
No signal.
A jammer again.
He sprinted outside.
Marcus followed.
Gabriel came behind them.
As soon as they crossed the road, Damon's phone connected.
Twelve missed calls.
All from Selena.
Then one voicemail.
Damon pressed play.
Selena's terrified voice filled the speaker.
“Damon, someone is inside the house.”
Ruby cried in the background.
A door crashed.
Selena whispered:
May you like
“They found us.”
Then the recording ended.
