Page 37 of Targeted By Desire

“Well, at least we know he doesn’t discriminate,” I said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but he’s clearly distracted.”

Flirtatious laughter filled the air as the dealer continued flirting with his buyer. I almost thanked God we didn’t have eyes inside on this one. Watching two criminals hook up was not on my list of arousing scenes.

“That’s men for you. They only think with one head.”

“Hey, hey, not all men. I think with both of them while I’m flirting. God forbid they’re crazy and I gotta find a way out of there.”

We quieted again, listening as the two over the speakers conversed about their deal.

“Do you have the funds?” The dealer asked. “Or were you trying to pay with something else?”

The woman laughed, low and jagged. “This merchandise is off limits. The money’s in the bag.”

We heard the shuffle of fabric and the screech of a zipper. Paper rustled as he counted the wads inside. “You might have to give up something,” he said. “You’re almost a quarter mil short.”

“Am I?”

“Mhm.” Slow footsteps padded against the ground. “But, it’s nothing your pretty little mouth can’t fix.”

Silence followed as he assumingely got closer, likely trapping her between a wall and his body. I had half a mind to go in and help her, but we didn’t know the full situation yet. If she started screaming, I was definitely busting in there - case be damned.

Rather than the yell we were expecting, a gunshot boomed through the speaker.

“Shit,” Gabriel muttered, jumping up out of his seat. While I pulled on my bullet proof vest, he grabbed the walkie on the car.

“Owl three to command, we’ve got shots fired in the warehouse on Trefler Street,” he said. “I repeat, shots fired in the location on Trefler Street.”

I hurried out of the surveillance van and ran down towards the fence of the building, keeping out of the perimeter guards’ sights.

They weren’t particularly worried about their posts at the moment. Hearing the gunshot as well, all of their heads turned to the interior, waiting for a response from their boss.

More gunshots went off inside, and they all abandoned their posts to rush inside.

“What the fuck is going on?” Gabriel asked as he jogged up next to me.

“This was a set-up,” I explained. “No female buyer arrives short-handed - not unless she was planning to kill him all along.”

Our eyes darted back to the building as more shots filled the air. “And clearly, she’s not alone,” Gabriel muttered.

I stepped forward, and Gabriel grabbed my arm.

“No,” he scolded. “We’re waiting for backup.”

“We don’t have time for that.” I shrugged off his grasp and stepped under the hole in the fence. “Come on!”

Gabriel jogged behind me as we approached the entrance of the warehouse. We leaned against either side of the entrance, listening for any more noise.

The gunshots had finally stopped, leaving an eerie silence in its place.

Gabriel walked in first, and I covered his back.

The lights of the first floor flickered, most of the bulbs damaged from the shootout. From the doorway, we were met with our first batch of bodies. Burly men with beards and tattoos lay scattered around the floor, riddled with bullets. We carefully stepped around the puddles of blood oozing around them and made a beeline for the closest stairwell.

On the upper level, we discovered even more bodies - along with tons of tables lined with parts for automatic weapons. This must’ve been one of their assembly warehouses. Why would the dealer bring a buyer here?

More importantly, where did they go? From what I could see, nothing seemed to be missing. Why kill him if they weren’t going to rob him for everything he had.