Chapter 6
Earl’s first shot missed me by miles, and I knew that was just a warning shot, because he was an ace with that gun and if he wanted me dead I’d be cold by now. The second shot knocked my gun right out of my hand. I wasn’t hit. I was fine but Marco was dead. I shook my head. Marco was a good guy, wife and three kids. Fuck! He was supposed to be at home with his family, not here over five hours after his shift had ended!
I’m a pretty good shot, too. When Earl had Tia against him the only safe place for me to shoot for was his head, since he was more than a foot taller than her. I aimed for it but caught his shoulder instead. The guy’s built like a refrigerator and had Tia on his left side so I had enough clearance to aim for his right side. It wasn’t enough to take him down. Then I tried to shoot out the tires on the getaway car, but I missed and hit the hubcaps instead. I was off my game with all the rage and didn’t take another chance at hitting her by mistake.
He’s worked for us for fourteen years and he was one of the ones who actually taught me to shoot, for fuck’s sake. He’s been solid enough that he made it to the inner circle. The inner, inner circle. He was trusted. I trusted him with her, for fuck’s sake. I don’t understand what’s happened, why it happened, don’t know who he’s working for, and where he’s taken her. But, I’ll find out.
We only bring men into the inner circle who have families. It’s a collateral thing. It increases the chances they’ll stay loyal because they have a family at stake and their families are brought into the fold. But Earl’s wife died of Cancer last year and his son died in a motorcycle accident three months ago. He’s a man with nothing to lose. If he hadn’t been solid all the way he’d have been put somewhere else, but I had no reason to doubt him. I’ve known the man since I was practically a kid.
I floored it over to Pop’s. When I walked in, the family was around the table and they all looked up at me, shocked. I know it’s because my face was fucked up from Tia and in addition to that I was disheveled and dirty. I ran my fingers through my hair, “Pop, Dare, need a minute.”
My sisters, their husbands, and Lisa went back to eating, but there was awkwardness in the air.
“Uncle Tommy!” One of the girls bellowed from the table. I gave my little niece a forced smile and headed out of the room.
As much as Tessa and Luciana have big personalities, they know when to keep their mouths shut. My attitude must’ve shown this wasn’t the time to start on me with questions.
We stepped into Pop’s office. “Your brother told me she beat you up. I didn’t realize just how much.”
I shook my head and shot my brother a dirty look. “Earl took Tia in a black 74 to 76 Grand Prix. I got a picture of the plate with my phone. I shot him in the shoulder. He shot Marco. Dead. We need to move. Now.”
Smirks evaporated. As I was swiping the screen to get to the photo I’d snapped, my phone started ringing. It was a blocked number.
I answered, “Ferrano.”
“Your girl is on a plane. South. Three hours we’ll call with demands.”
Mexican accent.
“You fucking touch her you’d might as well kill her because I won’t want her. You hear me?”
Dial tone. They couldn’t know she meant anything to me because they’d definitely rape her.
“Mexico,” I said to them and now we could at least narrow it down. Dare brought the girls’ husbands in. Both guys, Jimmy who was Tessa’s husband and Eddy, Luciana’s husband, worked for us. Jimmy was on our security team. Eddy ran a restaurant for us but he was solid and could double as security, if needed. He filled them in.
Three hours later I was out of my mind, sick about it, but I knew who had her and I knew what they wanted. Juan Carlos Castillo. They wanted us to relinquish an ongoing arrangement where we were being paid a kickback for every drug deal through a certain drug shipping lane in a small Mexican town near Morelia. We didn’t dabble much with drugs and I didn’t even know about this deal, but Pop said it was recent and that we were barely involved but were getting a decent kickback for almost no involvement. We had other non-drug business down there, so he said we had people and we had a safe house to work from in order to deal with this. I was a little put off by this news but didn’t have time to process that. I just needed to get her the fuck out of there.
The only thing that made sense was that she would be held in one of two places there. The cartel’s leader’s compound was huge and pretty near impenetrable. He also had a vacation house in a mini compound near Chacala. Luckily, we had men who spied for us in both compounds so we’d soon know where she was. If she was in one of those two locations, we would know about it soon enough, through our contacts.
By the time night fell, I was on a plane heading toward Morelia.
We left the plane; we weren’t at a typical airport. It was a warehouse with a landing strip, surrounded by prison-like fences, barbed wire around the top.
Before we got off the plane, I was told that if I misbehaved, I would be shot in the head. It was made crystal clear that I was expendable. They also said they could easily get to one of Tommy’s sisters. He had a pregnant sister who would be an easy mark. I believed them and I cooperated.
We travelled in an old Jeep down a long dirt road and it opened up into a palatial property. Gardens, tennis courts, pool, pond, huge home, several smaller homes. I was in some sort of compound that had its own landing strip. Nothing further had been said to me other than the threat. Earl and his two cohorts were quiet through the flight.
I felt like I had gone from the frying pan into the fire.
* * *
When they walked me into the biggest of the houses, we were greeted by an older housekeeper, and we were led to a big flower-filled solarium where an older Mexican man was tending flowers. He was short, stocky, and grey-haired, with a weather-worn face. He was at least sixty, if not seventy. He looked at me and then motioned to a small bistro table that had been set with a tea set and a plate with little triangular crustless sandwiches.
“Please sit,” he said with a strong Mexican accent.
I sat. The men at my back were gone.
“You, my dear, have the misfortune of being a pawn in a game, I’m afraid. But you’ll be safe here, provided the Ferrano family meets my demands. They are not known for bargaining, so I hope that you mean something to that fiancé of yours.”
I would’ve gulped, but my throat was so dry I couldn’t.
“Please have tea, something to eat.” He poured tea into the cup and glanced at his wristwatch. I didn’t know what else to do so I shakily spooned sugar into the teacup.
Pop had agreed, without hesitation, that we needed to get her back. They had demanded that he, not me, come down to negotiate tomorrow. But I was already there so we were pushing back.
I still didn’t know why he picked this specific girl for me, but he clearly wanted me to have her because he was on board with getting her back, no matter the cost. He didn’t try to talk me out of anything.
At first, Dare ranted about the fact that we didn’t play these games with our enemies and that if we negotiated not only would we appear weak but Tia would then become an ongoing liability because our enemies would know that she was a weakness. I thought I’d have a fight on my hands with Pop, that he’d wave his hand dismissively and tell me to let Castillo do whatever to her.
But Pop was on board with getting her back and gave me the green light to do whatever it took. “This is the mother of my future grandchildren,” he said in retort after Dario protested. “She’s already part of this family. Yes we don’t usually play these games but what if this was Luciana or Contessa? You’d pay any price. This girl is your brother’s so now she’s your sister, too. Besides, if we don’t take care of our own what will that say to people who trust us? Tommy, you’re all but boss now so you have my full support, whatever you have to do to bring her back. As soon as she’s back we plan the wedding and then you are in full control. Me and Monalisa are retiring to the Caymans.”
I knew that if I didn’t get her back fast they wouldn’t kill her. No, they’d do worse. They’d use her. Then when they had sucked out her soul and left her a shell of a person she’d be sent off to a Mexican brothel where she’d get addicted to blow and where she’d eventually die, either from an overdose, from suicide, or because a John had been too rough. They couldn’t have her, couldn’t ruin her. She was mine. The thought of “mine to ruin” was in my head, but I pushed it away. I actually didn’t want to ruin her. I hoped I hadn’t already done it.
We were going to play ball to get her back and then I would systematically destroy that cartel. I would tear Castillo limb from limb with my bare hands. If he dared let anyone touch her, I would take even longer ending his life. I couldn’t even begin to think about what I’d do to Earl for his betrayal. He knew how we operated. What would possess him to do this?
“We don’t play these games. What are we even fucking doing talking to the fucking pedo?” said Dario, again shaking his head, when he and I were on our way inside the airport.
I’d snarled at my brother and threw him up against the wall. “Dario!”
He hadn’t said a word to me since, but when I’d responded that way he looked at me and something flashed in his eyes, a knowing look. I think it must’ve hit him then that she meant something to me and his whole demeanor, his body language shifted. He left me to stew and plot and seethe throughout the flight. He dealt with our guys, with clean-up back home, too. Dare also confirmed arrangements with our people on the ground. He just let me be. Now he stared out the window of the car that was taking us to the meeting place, looking deep in thought. A van followed behind with eight of our men. A car followed behind that one with six more. We were going in to negotiate, but we were protecting ourselves, too.
We were established here. We had a safe house and we had people and muscle in this area on standby as well. All this was news to me, but whatever. Castillo was small-time compared to some of the other players in the game and this had been a bold move. Too bold. I didn’t understand the point of this. We’d crush him.
“So,” the man said, “I’m Juan Carlos. Your name is Athena, correct?”
I nodded.
“You been engaged to Ferrano not too long.”
I shook my head.
“You love this man? He kind to you?”
I didn’t know what the right answer was. I didn’t even know if Tommy was alive. I tried not to give anything away. Before I had a chance to respond he continued,
“If he does not come for you, I’m sure we can find someone to be kind to you. Or for you to be kind to?” He gave me a smile. He had a gold eye tooth. This felt like something right out of a movie. A Spanish man with gold teeth and broken English? Was I in a freaking Tarantino movie?
Okay… so Tommy couldn’t be dead.
I didn’t know if I felt relief. I thought I might, but I couldn’t exactly reconcile the emotions swirling around in me right now. I couldn’t process much. I felt sick.
“You don’t speak? I know you must be afraid. You have nothing to fear, provided you don’t give me any trouble. I have had a room prepared for you. We will speak later. Either your fiancé will come for you or we will talk again about, ah, options.” He stepped to me and tipped my chin up and then touched my face. I winced. Tears were threatening but I held them back.
“So beautiful.” he said. “I don’t know if I’d sell you or maybe keep you for myself.” His hand trailed down to a breast and he cupped it.
I felt bile rise up in my throat and remained stiff.
He sighed and let go.
“Flora!” he shouted.
A different older woman in a standard black and white maid’s uniform came in. She motioned for me to follow and took me to the basement of the house. It was an unfinished basement and it was dingy and dirty, unlike the main floor of the house. When she opened a door and led me in, I felt sick at the sight. This room was decorated. Finished. It was decorated for a little kid. A little girl, more accurately. Pink single canopy bed, rocking chair filled with dolls and stuffed animals, and a tiny adjoining bathroom. She said nothing to me, just led me in and closed the door and locked it. I noticed a mounted camera pointed at the bed in the corner where the wall met the ceiling.
I sat on the bed, feeling numb for a while, until my bladder nudged so I went into the bathroom and saw that there was a camera in this room, too. Oh man, how could I use the bathroom with a camera pointed at me? The bathroom had baby shampoo, child’s Disney character toothpaste and soap. It was weird. No, sickening.
I walked back to the bedroom deciding to hold it as long as I had to. It didn’t last long before I had no choice but to go. At least I’d been wearing a dress so I could try to keep myself covered. I tried not to look at the camera. I tried not to think about what this room might be for. But, I knew. I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat.
I looked down at my dress. This was one of my favorite dresses, a black and white checkered dress with a red collar and belt. It was filthy and ripped at the hem.
Funny that I was upset about a dress right now. Maybe that’s all I could let myself focus on. If I focused on what was really going on here, I might not be able to handle it.
What felt like several hours later, the door opened and Flora had a tray that she left on the floor. She backed out and the lock twisted. I sat on the bed and ate a little bit of too-spicy rice, beans, and fish and drank the bottled water she’d left. There were two other bottles there for me so I supposed that might be it until tomorrow. I wasn’t wearing a watch, and this room had no windows. I guessed it was nighttime by now, but I wasn’t sure. I made myself eat so I could keep my strength, then I decided to try to sleep.
I prayed and prayed hard asking God to deliver me from the nightmare that was my life. I prayed that He would also keep the ones I cared about safe.
Later, much later, I didn’t know how long I’d been here, I started to hope that Tommy would rescue me. Better the evil you know than the evil you don’t. Even if I had to be his wife, even if I had to be his sex slave, it was back home and if I played my cards right maybe I could maybe have somewhat of a normal life some of the time. Maybe I could see my friends sometimes. Maybe I could figure out how to keep him sweet or at least not piss him off.
But, it was probably too late for that. He’d known me for just a little while and I’d pissed him off repeatedly. He’d find someone else to marry. He’d just leave me here and move on with his life. Juan Carlos had said the Ferranos didn’t usually bargain. This was probably hopeless.