Chapter Two-Hundred and Forty-Nine

Chapter Two-Hundred and Forty-Nine
Wren stared at London and asked, “Like what? What can he do around here?”

Suddenly, London’s eyes widened and she looked a bit pale. “Oh, wow,” she whispered and reached for her laptop. She turned it on and went through her files, then she stopped at one file. Looking up at Hawkins, she then glanced over at Wren. “I forgot about this.” She sent her file to JuJu’s email.

JuJu got it and opened it. He read the file and snapped his head up to stare at London in shock. “He wouldn’t dare.”

London nodded. “Yes, Ronnie would dare.”

Wren looked confused as she asked, “What would Ronnie dare to do?”

“About a week ago, we intercepted an email from below the border,” London explained. “It was a higher-up in the Braza Cartel, telling Ronnie he was going to come and oversee his operation. He just wanted to check things out and see how they were doing. Ronnie’s answer seemed to piss the guy off. He told him that he didn’t need to be sticking his nose into their business. The barrage of emails between the two didn’t end well.”

“And you think Ronnie will do what?” Hawkins asked.

“I have a feeling Ronnie will kill this man that’s coming to see them and somehow, blame Hondo for his death,” London explained. “I know there are bad feelings between Hondo’s cartel and the Braza Cartel. I followed up and dug into some old files to find that out. Ronnie will kill this man and put the blame on Meran. And Meran won’t be able to protect himself. Ronnie will start a cartel war that no one wants. If he does this, the Braza Cartel will wipe out the entire Meran family.”

“What kind of games is this man Ronnie playing?” Wilder wanted to know.

“A very dangerous one, I’m afraid.” London nodded. “He’s got something big in the works but I don’t know what that is.”

Hawkins nodded at her. “We just don’t know what game he’s playing yet. That’s the key word here…Yet.”

Wren shook her head. “But how do we find out what’s going on?”

Hawkins snorted. “It is simple my dear, we just ask the right people.”

“And just who would be the right people, Pops?” Kota asked as he looked confused.

“We start with her daddy, then we go to Hal. And after that, we go right to the source, Ronnie himself.” Hawkins glared at his son. “If we have to go that far that is.”
Suddenly, his phone buzzed and when Hawkins answered it, it was Hondo. He put the call on speaker.

“Hawkins, I have some disturbing information you might want to know,” Hondo told them. “I was able to discover that a representative of the Braza Cartel is coming here soon.”

“Yeah, we were just talking about that,” Hawkins informed him. “We are thinking Ronnie is going to use this visit to set you up somehow.”

Hondo was quiet for a moment then asked, “Que? Set me up? How so?”

“Something’s going on or that’s going to happen very soon,” Hawkins explained. “Maybe they are moving out and setting up somewhere else. But whatever it is, they need a distraction to get away. What better distraction than to set their enemy up for the murder of a rival cartel?”

“Que quedas...Are you suggesting what I think you are?” Hondo asked.

“Yes, Grandpa,” Wren spoke up. “They are suggesting that you are gonna be set up.”

“Por qué?” Hondo asked. “Why would he need a distraction?”

“That we don’t know yet but he seems to be setting you up to take the fall,” Hawkins grumbled. “For murder.”

Kota nodded as he added, “Not to mention, he would be starting a war that no one would win. A cartel war leaves many dead in its wake. That includes women and children. No one is safe and if civilians are hit, they are viewed as casualties of war.”

“Well, we ain’t about to let that happen, that’s for damn sure!” Hawkins growled. 

“There might be one way we can defuse this threat,” Hondo remarked.

“How will you do that?” Wren asked.

“We get to the Braza Cartel rep first,” Hondo suggested. 

“We what?” Hawkins asked.

“We get to him first,” Hondo repeated. 

Kota agreed, “It could work and when we question him, we find out just what Ronnie and his friends are doing. But we also need to warn him of the danger he might be in. Then it's up to him, if he goes in or not.”

“But first we have to find him before he gets to town,” Hawkins grumbled.

“After your call earlier, I tracked this man down. His name is Carlos Ruble,” Hondo explained. “According to my sources, he is due to get into Minneapolis tomorrow at 3 pm. He’s arranged a car to drive him down here and we can waylay the car before it gets to Granite Falls.” 

“That could work,” Hawkins agreed. “We want to get involved in this takedown.”

“Si, that can be arranged,” Hondo said. “But before we do anything, we both have to agree there will be no hurting this man Carlos and we must try to figure out just what Ronnie is doing. We need to convince Carlos of the danger before we allow him to go in.”

“Agreed,” Hawkins said. “We can work things on our end as well. Between the two of us, we should be able to piece something together before tomorrow.”

“Si, I will continue to reach out to my old friends and see if I can figure out what this lowlife Ronnie is up to,” Hondo added.

“And we will do the same on our end. We will talk later, Hondo,” Hawkins promised.

“Tell Grandma hello,” Wren added quickly.

“ Si, I will do so, baby girl,” Hondo replied.

Hawkins ended the call then glanced around the room. “Well, that just about beats all. Ole Ronnie is willing to start a fucking cartel war, but what’s he so anxious to hide?”

London stared at empty space, deep in thought when Chris tapped her arm. She turned her head and he signed her a question. She signed back. With a heavy sigh, she turned Hawkins to tell him, “Chris seems to think my dad might know something. He was hiding the other night and Dad was arguing with Ronnie. He reads lips but they were really going at it, so he didn’t pick up much but Dad was yelling about the fifteenth. What that means is anyone's guess.”

“The fifteenth is coming up in three days,” Kota said. “But the cartel guy is coming tomorrow. So we're gonna have to hustle if we want to know what’s going on here.” 

Hawkins shook his head. “Well boys, I think it's time we meet her dad.”

London looked a bit panicked. “If you bring him here, he’ll know Chris and I aren’t far away. If you’re going to do that, at least give us time to get away.”

Hawkins shook his head. “I can’t do that, London. I can guarantee he won’t know you’re here. I’m not letting you and Chris go anywhere.”