Segundo Paso: La Oportunidad

                                        

                                              
Reaper was astonished that their attack on the drug den had gathered them so much more than just a simple piece of revenge. It was a useless and brutal cycle; this attack, recover, retaliate system that was in place between the gangs and the mafia, and Reaper had never once guessed that it would give him the exact opportunity he needed. But it had.
                              
Juntez was leading the retaliation against the Burrio Boys. It would go back and forth like this, and had gone back and forth for years already, neither side willing to let it go and let the violence die. To these kind of men and boys, their reputation meant all and any disrespect needed to be met with more violence and useless death. If it wasn't the Burrio Boys against the mafia men, it would the against Los Perros or Santos, or even El Diables. This was why Adrianna had always wanted to keep Malcolm and Diego out of the gang life, once in there was never an end to it.
                              
The drive by against the Burrio had caused Reaper and the Boys to blow up one of the enemy's drug dens. That explosion had prompted this next, latest assault. Thankfully Maya had told them in time, that when the next group of Burrio Boys heads out, they're facing off with an ambush as attack from Juntez. And the best way to fight an ambush is to trigger it and attack them back when they aren't expecting you to be ready.
                              
The trap wasn't fancy, which was it's greatest strength in reality. Knowing that most plans, in fact all warplans, never make it past the first assault, the Burrio Boys had kept it simple. Reaper and Carlos would walk in front of the rest of the pack of Boys, looking casual and confidently at ease as always. When Juntez and the rest tried to trap and attack, the hidden crowbars, chains and knives would flash out and it would be mafia blood spilled in the streets, not Burrio. The time and place of the assault was whispered in their ears, the trick of it all would be to act surprised when they see the ambush. If they rushed in, ready to rumble, it wouldn't take terribly long for Logan to realize his bedmate was a spy and then they'd be recovering Maya's murdered corpse too.
                              
Reaper felt a trail of sweat slick down his spine, trapped between his boiling flesh and the heavy weight of the bullet proof vest. As much as he would love to peel it off and feel the delicious breeze against his bare chest, he knew that these velcro straps and kevlar sheilding was his best bet at staying alive and living to retirement. The average life expectancy of a Burrio Boy was two years. Within that two years they were either going to be arrested or murdered, most never living to become experienced gangsters. Reaper was in his second year and he new that his namesake was walking in his footsteps. Now whether or not Death was hunting him or just coming along for the ride was the big unknown. Next to Reaper walked Carlitos, and despite the clinging heat of the day, the elder man looked cool and unflappable.
                              
Considering that there was a length of pipe in the back of the older gangster's pants, it was no surprise that he felt cooly confident. Ambushes only work if your prey is unaware of them, and in about seven steps, Reaper and Carlitos would run back to their Boys and meet the oncoming attack with their own version of pop goes the weasel. Reaper only cared about Juntez, and the growing pressure of his vengeance burned under his skin, giving him a fire inside to combat the heat from outside.
                              
When the duo of Burrio Boys stepped into the first part of the ambush, there was the second of hesitation. The mafia men were expecting Reaper and Carlitos, with the rest of the Burrio, to walk in and freeze, giving them the second of hesitation to attack and wipe them out completely. Instead, Reaper and Carlitos saw them, turned and ran before there was a chance to attack. In the two years that Reaper had been a gangster, he had gone from an awkward fourteen year old to a physcially fit and dangerous sixteen year old, and his body was a tool that he commanded. Sprinting alongside Carlitos, they made it back to the Burrio Boys as the sounds of pursuit only started. The mafia men had been intrenched and slow to react, just adding to the illusion that Reaper had gotten lucky, nothing more.