Page 44 of Dark Alleys

I couldn’t be seen with Lucia following me like a lost puppy, so I went out the back door and called it a night.

Not a productive night, but some nights were like that. You had to roll with it.

Riverside District. Austin.

Dead beat from a long day, I went straight to bed. Couldn’t remember falling asleep, but I sure as hell remembered waking up.

Splintering sound nearly shattered my eardrums as my front door flew off its hinges and crashed right into my apartment.

Before I could grab my gun or my knife, three muscular guys were hauling my ass off my bed. They tossed me onto the floor with a thud and that’s when the fun began in earnest.

Took me a few seconds too many to get fully awake and defend myself. When I came to my senses, I used the training moves Max Slaten had taught me and my brother Tommy.

That made it a fair fight.

Three against one.

They were beating on me pretty damned good in the first few minutes and I took on a lot of new damage, but as soon as I was able to break the one guy’s wrist and get the knife out of his hand, I showed those Mex Mafia boys how to use a blade.

Killed two of them and the third guy didn’t stick around to see who the big winner was. He beat it out my wide-open door and ran down the steps to his ride.

Exhausted from the fight, I sat on the side of my bed and gazed at the dead bodies on my floor.

Warm feeling coming from my left arm and that was my worst nightmare. Blood had started oozing through the fresh bandage.

Bodies on the floor meant I had to call Blacky, and I barely had the strength or the wind to do it. I pressed his contact and waited.

“Lukas.”

“Three guys tried to kill me in my apartment.”

“How many dead?”

“Two.”

“How bad are you?”

“I’m okay.”

“Be right there. Sit tight.”

“Copy that.”

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but the troops tramping into my apartment woke me up.

I sat up and a pain shot through me like a fuckin’ bullet.

Rib.

Shit. Ribs took too fuckin’ long to heal.

“Aw, Jesus, look at you,” said Blacky. “Who were they?”

“Mex Mafia.”

“You recognize them?”

“Enforcer and two other guys.”

“Serrano,” said Blacky. “He one of the corpses?”

“No idea. It was dark. Take a look and give me the news.”

Blacky knelt down and rolled the bodies over one at a time. “You’re a winner, Lukas. You killed the enforcer for the Mexican Mafia.”

“Just bury me now.”

To be continued…