Free The Muscle Part Three by Michelle St. James Page B

he had enough muscle to do the dirty work for him. But he’d shown up that morning with the others, even forgoing Kevlar when they’d suited up.
    They were armed to the hilt, both with the weaponry Luca had stockpiled in the weeks leading up to the raid and with the arsenal brought by Sanchez and his men. Luca knew it was still no guarantee. They had no idea what they’d be up against. Normally, Luca would feel comfortable guessing his opponent’s motives and strategy, but Diego was a wild card made even more wild by his drug use and the bitterness that seemed to blot out all reason. Had he been good to Isabel, she would have happily supplied him with the money he needed for the business. She’d even offered to sign over half of it to him.
    Instead Diego was at war with Sanchez, and he’d made an enemy of Luca as well. He was in hiding, probably low on money, making stupid mistakes like going after his colleague’s supplier.
    Elia navigated the SUV onto the highway. Everyone was silent, but Luca was used to that. Small talk was usually kept at a minimum when you were about to put your life on the line, and all the planning had already been done.
    The pieces of the game were in motion now. There was nothing to do but play.
    They exited on Port Boulevard and continued to the Seaboard terminal. The raid wasn’t scheduled to go down until ten pm, but they needed to be in position long before that, waiting in the shadows for the container to be moved into place, and then for Diego’s arrival.
    They approached a meaty guy in a reflective vest, but Marco didn’t slow down. A moment later, Luca understood why; the guy waved them through, looking nervously around for anyone who might be watching.
    Luca sat back in his seat. Marco and Elia had taken charge of paying off the dock workers to look the other way while they got into position, paying extra to the nighttime guards who would have to be coincidentally absent when the shipment came in. Luca couldn’t help wondering how many times the guys had been paid — Diego would have had to bribe them, too, in order to get access to his shipment.
    Good for them. They probably didn’t make nearly enough for the work they did.
    Luca looked out the window as Elia navigated the car behind some shipping containers. The port wasn’t nearly as isolated as he’d expected. In New Jersey, there were warehouses to provide cover, stacks of containers six high to block you from view if that’s what you needed. This was just a giant parking lot jutting out over the water with less than fifty cargo containers lined up, none of them more than two high. It didn’t bode well for places to hide, and he was still scanning the area for potential cover when Elia turned off the car. Sanchez’s men pulled up next to them and they all filed out.
    Farrell looked around, eyes shielded by his sunglasses. “This isn’t good.”
    “Nope,” Luca said.
    “Where the fuck are we supposed to find cover?” Elia said.
    “Don’t worry, hermano, ” Luis, one of Sanchez’s men said. “We’ve got it covered.”
    “I hope so,” Luca said. “Because this makes it look like we’ll be sitting ducks.”
    Sanchez snapped his fingers and spoke in rapid fire Spanish. It was too fast for Luca to grasp exactly what he was saying, but he got the gist of it; shut up and get moving. We’re exposed.
    “Follow me,” Luis said.
    Luca started walking, trying not to let his nervousness show. This wasn’t at all what he had in mind.

18
    I sabel paced the terrace for the hundredth time since the men had left the house. She stopped, staring out over the water, rubbing her arms against the slight chill. It was only eight o’ clock. The shipment wasn’t scheduled to arrive for another two hours, which meant she probably had three — at least — before she would hear anything.
    The anticipation was slowly killing her.
    She wanted Sofia back in her arms. Home safe with her favorite toys, nodding off in the big bed