I kept my hand resting casual near my holster. I looked right past the red laser dots dancing across my chest, locked my eyes onto the commander, and gave him a hard, cold grin. "And what if I refuse?" I asked, my voice flat and steady. "Will you guys just shoot me dead right here? I highly doubt that." The commander didn't flinch. He just held my gaze, a tight, knowing smirk touching the corner of his mouth. He knew I had him pegged—if they wanted me in the ground, they wouldn't have brought a whole tactical stack just to have a chat. I turned my head toward Paco, who was standing right beside me near the center of the room with Beast at his side, ready to go to war if things went sideways. I gave him a small, reassuring nod. "It's okay, dog," I told him, keeping my voice calm. "You can leave. You can bone out. Our debt is settled, homie. Thank you very much for what you helped me with tonight... but this is something I have to do on my own." Paco’s jaw tightened. "Man, fuck that—" "I said go, Paco," I cut him off, giving him a look that didn't leave room for argument. I reached down, resting my palm against the massive, warm head of the Cane Corso standing right next to us, giving him a firm scratch right behind the ears. "That's a good boy, Beast," I whispered, feeling the big dog's deep chest rumble as he let out one last low huff. I straightened back up, looked down at Cruz's bloody, lifeless body with total disgust, and huffed up a thick wad of spit, launching it right beside his ear. "You fucking piece of shit, bitch," I muttered, shaking my head. I rolled my shoulders, looked right back at the commander, and cracked my knuckles. "All right," I said, stepping past the corpse toward the shattered doorway. "Let's get this shit started. Let's get on the road."

The Road Ahead