Word Count: 1,093/27,373
Chapter 16
Later that night, after the sun went down, Dom and Brian were at the meet point. They had the Hummer positioned behind them, the back doors opened and the locker on the floor next to the vehicle while the STI was off to the side, positioned where Dom could take off in a hurry if he had to.
Stasiak had shown up to collect the product, shipping it back to the office with two agents. Brian had watched in amusement as Stasiak tried to pretend that Dom didn't intimidate him, but it was obvious to both of them that the other agent was absolutely terrified of Dom.
When Dom had seen the bruising around Stasiak's eyes, he had raised an eyebrow in Brian's direction, but Brian had merely smirked. There was no way he was letting Dom know that Stasiak had kept Mia in holding overnight. Not while the agent was in the vicinity, at any rate.
Stasiak disappeared back to wherever he had set up surveillance.
"Well, the good news is, when we get this guy, you walk out of here a free man," Brian said, looking at Dom.
"Is that what they told you?" Dom asked with a scoff, both of them consciously aware of the FBI wire Brian was wearing.
"Yeah, that's the deal," Brian confirmed.
"You still put out milk and cookies for Santa Claus?"
Brian gave a wry smile at the mocking amusement in Dom's voice. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. He clicked his tongue, signaling Austin to jam the wire for a moment. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his backup plan. "Here," he said, holding the key out to Dom without looking at him. "In case things go shitty."
Dom took the key and looked at it for a long moment. "Just like old times?"
"Yeah," Brian agreed, glancing over at him. "Showtime," he said as three cars pulled up in front of them, which was Austin's signal to unjam the wire.
Fenix got out of the car first, saying something in Spanish that Brian didn't care enough to bother translating. "You dropped something," Fenix said, taunting Dom as he held out a gun. "That's what you wanted, right?"
Dom took a step forward, but Brian put a hand on his arm. "Dom," he said, shaking his head slightly when Dom looked at him.
Campos got out of the second car and said something to Fenix before turning to Dom. "He's harmless," he said with a mocking smirk. "Don't worry about him. And he's really sorry about Letty."
"I just bet he is," Letty muttered.
Brian narrowed his eyes slightly. Something wasn't sitting right with him just now. There was something in Campos' smirk that was setting him on edge.
"Where's our stuff?" Campos asked.
Brian studied him for a moment longer before going over to the locker. "You mean the stuff that used to be in here, right?" he asked, opening the lid and revealing that it was empty. "Well you'll see it, when we see Braga. That was the deal."
"No worries," Campos said, spreading his arms wide. "Braga keeps his word."
Brian gave a mental snort. Sure he does. If that was true, they wouldn't be here right now. So he watched, carefully, as the older gentleman from the club got out of the car with a duffle bag and made his way towards them. "Two million. You get the rest when I get my product."
"Trinh just told Stasiak the fingerprint was Braga's. She said they're waiting for photo confirmation, but Stasiak is suffering from stung pride. He's not going to wait," Austin said. "Confirm that man is Braga before Stasiak moves."
Brian studied the man claiming to be Braga carefully. Something about this didn't seem right. It was too easy. His life didn't work that way. "I got a question for you," he said. "Where you wearing pink when you were crawling out of el barrio?"
It was brief, barely there, but Brian caught it. That flash of confusion; fear. That was enough for him, but he wanted to know what Dom thought. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, right?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the man in front of him.
"He ain't Braga," Dom confirmed.
Before anyone could react, the SWAT team stormed in, guns blazing. Brian immediately grabbed the man in the grey suit, pulling him to the ground. They may not have Braga, but they could still get information from this man.
Dom was just standing there, obviously wanting to go after Fenix, but unwilling to get involved in the gun battle going on between the FBI and Braga's men.
"Get out of here!" Brian yelled at Dom, waving at the STI. "Get out of here, Dom!" he yelled again.
Dom looked at him, conflicted.
"Go!" he shouted once more. He would be fine once the dust cleared. Probably on suspension, but he wouldn't be arrested. Dom wouldn't be so lucky.
"Shit! Campos is Braga! Buster, Campos is Braga!" Letty exclaimed.
Brian mentally swore, before calling out to Dom. "Campos is Braga!" he said, catching sight of the sadistic sneer on Campos' face as he got into Fenix's car. Fenix sped towards the entrance, nearly running over Yashar before Dom tackled her out of the way. He pushed her into the STI and looked back at Brian.
Brian shook his head and waved him to go on. He'd be okay but Dom needed to get out of there. Dom hesitated a moment longer before nodding and getting into the car and taking off just before SWAT blocked the exit.
Two members of the team came over and secured the old man and he left them to that, mentally calling down every curse he knew on Stasiak. The fucking idiot was too focused on one-upping him that he completely ignored protocol and sent SWAT in without waiting for confirmation from either him or Sophie.
He knew he'd get his share of flack for the blown sting; probably most of it, if he were honest. But there was no way he was letting Stasiak get away with blowing the sting. They would have fucking had Braga if the fucking asshole hadn't screwed up.
Oh, how he wished Stasiak was in front of him right now. He'd love to wring the idiot's scrawny little neck. His growls and glowers kept SWAT from approaching him as he stormed over to the Hummer and drove off, heading back to the office to deal with the fallout of Stasiak's fuckup.
