Chapter 12 - A CITY DIVIDED
Rafael did not sleep.
By morning, every criminal crew in the city had chosen a side.
Some joined Salazar because they feared him.
Others joined Rafael because they feared what would happen if he survived and remembered their hesitation.
The police established checkpoints near the docks.
Federal agents raided warehouses belonging to both organizations.
News helicopters circled the waterfront.
Still, weapons moved beneath the city in laundry trucks, funeral cars, delivery vans, and ambulances.
Rafael assembled every remaining captain inside an underground parking structure.
More than one hundred men stood before him.
Some wore suits.
Some wore work jackets.
Some had served the De Santos family longer than Rafael had been alive.
He did not give them a speech about honor.
Men who lived as they did understood the danger of that word.
“My sister has been taken,” Rafael said.
“Victor Salazar believes family makes us weak.”
He looked across the crowd.
“He is right.”
The men shifted.
“Family creates fear. It gives our enemies names to threaten and doors to watch.”
Rafael lifted his weapon.
“But it also gives us a reason to walk into places fear tells us to avoid.”
He projected a map onto the concrete wall.
“We are taking every route to the southern harbor.”
One captain raised his hand.
“All at once?”
“All at once.”
“That will bring the entire police department.”
“They’re already coming.”
“What about survival?”
Rafael looked at him.
“Anyone interested only in surviving should leave now.”
No one moved.
Kell watched from the edge of the crowd with his hands cuffed.
Afterward, Rafael approached him.
“Salazar requested you.”
“He wants to kill me in front of you.”
“Probably.”
“Then remove the cuffs.”
“No.”
“You expect me to walk into an exchange restrained?”
“I expect you to look like a prisoner.”
“I am a prisoner.”
“That makes the performance easier.”
Mara entered.
“You’re not taking me.”
“Salazar asked for you.”
“I have a son.”
“That is why you are staying.”
“He’ll know.”
“He expects deception.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I will give him enough truth to hide the lie.”
Rafael planned to use a woman from his organization wearing Mara’s coat.
Kell would accompany her.
Tracking devices would be implanted beneath their skin, impossible to detect without surgical equipment.
Meanwhile, Diego and Sofia’s surviving security team would assault the harbor from three sides.
Mara stared at Rafael.
“What happens to Kell?”
Rafael did not answer.
Kell did.
“I die loudly while everyone else enters quietly.”
Mara looked at him.
“You’re willing to do that?”
“No.”
“But you’re going.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kell glanced toward the room where Nate slept.
“Because he was right.”
“About what?”
“I’m bad.”
Mara waited.
Kell continued.
“But that doesn’t mean I have to remain useless.”
At 11:40 p.m., Kell entered an armored vehicle beside the woman posing as Mara.
Rafael sat across from him.
“Where did Owen die?” Rafael asked.
“The Marlow garage.”
“Salazar moved operations there?”
“He enjoys symbolism.”
“He enjoys watching others understand it.”
Kell looked at his cuffs.
“You never asked what Owen said at the end.”
Rafael’s face tightened.
“I remember.”
“No. You remember what you heard.”
Kell looked up.
“He said, ‘Tell my brother I didn’t sell him.’”
Rafael closed his eyes briefly.
“I should have listened.”
“You should have waited.”
“Yes.”
Kell studied him.
It was the first time Rafael had answered without defending the necessity of his decision.
“Do you regret killing him?”
“Every day.”
“Do you expect forgiveness?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because it is true.”
The vehicle stopped at Marlow garage.
Salazar’s men searched them.
The tracking implants went undetected.
Kell and the false Mara were led inside.
Victor Salazar stood beside the same oil-stained floor where Owen had died.
Sofia knelt nearby with her hands tied.
A chain circled her neck.
Salazar smiled.
“You brought the wrong woman.”
Rafael’s hidden team listened through Kell’s implant.
The false Mara reached for a concealed weapon.
Salazar shot her before she touched it.
Kell flinched as her body struck the floor.
“Where is Mara?” Salazar asked.
Kell said nothing.
Salazar placed his pistol against Sofia’s head.
“Where?”
Kell looked toward a security camera.
He knew Rafael was watching.
“She’s at the courthouse warehouse.”
Rafael’s face went cold.
Kell had revealed the real location.
Diego reached for his weapon.
“He sold us again.”
Rafael kept watching.
Salazar smiled.
“Thank you.”
Then Kell added, “Third floor, eastern wing, room 317.”
Rafael looked at the warehouse plan.
There was no third floor.
No room 317.
It was code from their first shipping operation.
Three entrances.
One exit.
Seven guards.
Rafael understood.
“Move,” he ordered.
His teams attacked.
Explosions tore open the garage doors.
Gunfire erupted across the harbor.
Kell threw himself toward Sofia.
Salazar fired.
The bullet struck Kell in the side.
Rafael entered through the smoke.
For the first time in years, he and Salazar stood in the same room.
Salazar dragged Sofia backward.
“You built an empire,” Salazar shouted, “and still everyone you love ends up kneeling.”
He pulled a lever.
The floor beneath Sofia opened.
She fell into darkness.
Rafael ran toward her.
Kell grabbed the chain around her neck.
For one second, he held her suspended above the shaft.
May you like
Then the metal began cutting through his wounded hands.
And Salazar raised his pistol behind him.
