“How’d he do, Viper?”
“He didn’t run,” Jean answered. “It was nice of the Norte?os to be dumb enough to announce their plans on unsecured lines. What a bunch of boot camps. That was a pretty violent demo, Dad.”
Nick shrugged. “I’m tired of repeating our resume as if we just came off the boat from Never/Never land.”
“It was a twofer,” Gus said, holding his hand out to Villa who shook it. “I’m Gus Nason, Mr. Villa. This is Nick McCarty. We’re sorry for the introduction, but we’re having our own disagreements with the Norte?os. They want to use us as an example to the rest of the businesses on Lighthouse Ave not to mess with them.”
“We saw the ‘Cleaner’ with Uncle John,” Jean said. “How many is that in the freezer?”
“Seven. Cleaner may have to make room.” Nick shook Villa’s hand. “Nice to meet you. I know Neil explained the basics to you, but we had an unauthorized visit by the Norte?os coming. I thought showing was better than telling. They want to add Pacific Grove to their protection racket. Neil’s worried. He’s taking heat as Chief of Police. He knows getting people to help with a sting operation on a murderous gang like the Norte?os is a waste of time.”
“So… you just kill them?”
“I guess you missed the part where one of them had a rocket launcher. They’ve already tried the regular drive-by shooting. We have bullet proof glass, but I handled them before they could get a shot off. The gang doesn’t know what happened to the first four they sent. They won’t know about these three either. The kids and I are ready to go on the attack. When I heard your son Mike was being threatened for not representing those assholes, I figured the bunch threatening him would be an excellent object lesson to the Norte?os that they can’t have Pacific Grove. They have a rather large contingent so we have to start somewhere.”
“How do you get away with this?” Villa couldn’t believe what he’d seen or heard so far.
“The same way the Norte?os get away with it,” Gus answered as Nick went into the back and came out with a hot tray of scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes, and bacon for his crew to dig into. “We make sure there’s no evidence left. The police can’t do anything about adults leaving the area. The gang can’t tell the cops they sent ‘bangers on a kill mission and they disappeared.”
“We have to go on the offensive,” Nick added. “We plan to hurt them real bad. We may as well start with the ones threatening your son. I’ve taken a bite out of their parent organization ‘Nuestra Familia’ a time or two. This is the first time they’ve made a heavy intrusion into Pacific Grove and they’re going big. Even I was a little surprised seeing a rocket launcher. If we don’t stop them they’re going to blow up the Monte. That would be very bad.”
Rachel gripped Nick’s hand as she felt the red hot killer rage surge through him. Her touch siphoned off the surface rage. He smiled at her. The kids ate in silence, listening but not interrupting. They knew intimately what Nick’s solutions to out of control gangs were. If anyone blew up the Monte Café, it would mean war. Nick bought the Monte for Rachel when Joe Montenegro retired. He had been as happy as she was to buy the place with all the memories that went along with it.
“So you see, Patrick,” Nick continued, “we’re invested in solving this Norte?os problem. Do you know where the segment after Mike are located? We’d only need a general area or group of streets they frequent. We’ll investigate. We’re going to take care of our own segment tonight. We can take care of yours as a follow up tomorrow night. I plan to get their unconditional surrender.”
“You have a fortune. Why not buy them off?” The moment he said it, Villa regretted it. “Sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“It’s a legitimate question. I don’t do that… ever.”
“The ones hassling Mike make their headquarters in a commercial building on the Phoenix block in Seaside.”
“Yep. That’s where our visitors are coming from too. It may be we can end Mike’s problems tonight along with our own. That was the first part of our mutual concerns. Neil said you had a name you were afraid to even talk about. I’m very interested in that name and how you heard it.”
“Mike defended a Norte?o on a murder charge. The DA wanted to make a deal in order to get at the Nuestro Familia. Because the murder charge was for the killing of another gang member the DA offered witness protection if Mike’s client would cave on everything he knew about the Familia. The guy agreed he could go into the program if his family could go with him. The DA agreed. The client named Cornelio Morado as the kingpin of the Monterey Peninsula Norte?os.”
“Well now, that’s just so nice.” Nick turned to Jean. “I want everything and anything on Morado, Viper. This is the break we’ve been waiting for.”