* * * *
“It’s a setup. They’re planning on somehow switching out the merchandise in the trucks,” Nicolai told Mercury over the phone as he stood by a bar with Cooper and Graham.
“It’s not what we expected. He isn’t going to make it look like we screwed up and got robbed, he’s going to plant something else and get us arrested,” Mercury stated.
“Exactly. Your brothers are en route already. It’s going to go down.”
“Do what you need to, Nicolai. I owe you.”
“Yes, you do.” He clicked off the phone and texted his brothers.
“What’s the plan then?” Graham asked him as he explained.
“We thought this might be a possibility. My brothers and the others are prepared to get hijacked but they won’t be successful. We’ll switch out the merchandise. Vaughn has friends he can trust in the state police. It will come down on Molokai and Hiatte. I need to call Rome.”
Mercury’s heart was racing. It was difficult to not want to get in the car and be part of this switch. It was worse to not know where Molokai was and to know that if they screwed him over before Molokai could screw them, that the man would be pissed and retaliate as he was hunted down by police.
As he called Rome he spoke to Cooper and Graham.
“Find a way to track down Molokai.”
Cooper nodded and then took out his cell phone.
“Rome, it’s a fucking setup,” he told him and started to explain what was going on when he heard the house alarm.
“Rylan, what is that?” he heard Rome yell.
“Someone got through the perimeter and set off the alarms.”
“Grab the guns and be ready. We’re on our way,” Mercury said and pointed at Graham and Cooper to follow.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t fucking know but someone just came onto the property unannounced and the alarms are going off.”
“Shit, Merk, do you have guards on site?”
“Yes, only four,” he said and got into the passenger seat as Graham drove and Cooper got into the back seat.
“I’m calling the others and sending them to your place now. They can get there faster than us,” Cooper told Mercury.
As they sped down the road Mercury thought about how he was moving farther from where Rose was, but this situation had to be resolved. She didn’t need to be in the middle of this. It was their situation and they had to fight, maybe kill, to stay alive.
His cell phone rang and he saw it was Slade.
“I got dead bodies all over the fucking place. What the fuck is going on? There’s a bunch of weapons at this storage facility.”
“That’s what they were going to plant on us to take the company down. Sit tight. Nicolai will get people to you.”
“Nicolai?” Slade asked.
“Fuck,” he added.
“This is a fucking mess, Merk. These guys we grabbed who tried to take us out said that they were offered ten thousand apiece to knock us out and switch the loads. They were going to call the cops.”
“Don’t worry, Vaughn has that end covered, too.”
* * * *
“What the fuck is this shit?” Remo yelled as he fired his gun and took out two more men in black. He and Rome plus their four guards were picking off men left and right as they tried to get into the house. When the gunfire stopped they took their time sweeping the property when someone tackled Remo. Remo fought back and then Rome heard the two gunshots as Remo killed the guy.
They heard vehicles approaching and tires squealing.
“Rome, Remo!” Cooper yelled out with Mercury and Graham running toward them, guns drawn.
“I think we got them all,” Rome said.
“Holy shit. There’s like twenty of them,” Cooper said and called it in with his phone.
“What the fuck?” Remo asked.
“Molokai is going down for all of this. He was going to fucking kill you,” Mercury said and his teeth were clenched.
“He didn’t. We were steps ahead. How are the others?” Rome asked.
“Nicolai is assisting and Vaughn has the police involved. It will be put on Molokai, Weiller, and Hiatte. They’ll be wanted men for illegal gun and ammunition smuggling, setting us up to try and take the fall, and shooting up our fucking house trying to kill us,” Mercury stated.