Chapter Six
“So I notice that you call him Eduardo and not dad,” Crank told her.
“Eduardo has never been any kind of dad to me,” Lily told him. “He’s always only been an overlord, a jailor, my boss. So I couldn’t exactly call him Daddy could I? Not if I wanted to make it to my next birthday. Besides, he insisted that I always call him, jefe or senor. Boss, you know?”
Canto nodded. “That is true, he insisted on that. He would have beaten her to death if she didn’t show him proper respect.”
Lily snorted. “He never knew that every time I called him Sir... I was spitting in his face. He thought that was me showing respect.”
“What about this great uncle of yours, this Tomas?” Bouncer asked.
Lily shrugged. “He’s next in line if anything happens to my family. He’s almost too old for the title but he probably won’t accept that fact. He liked the power my father had. So I think he’ll try to take over his spot.”
“What kind of man is he?” Titus wanted to know.
Lily shook her head. “He’s not a man you want to cross. Like I told the brothers, he will get his pound of flesh and he’ll probably do the unthinkable just to make a point about crossing the Sanchez family.”
“You think he’ll come here to try and get the rest of the family out of our custody?” Ridge asked.
Lily nodded. “Si, I do. I have a feeling Eduardo might have put a call into the family to tell them what he was doing. He might have warned them if he didn’t call them back, then they needed to send in someone to take his place.”
“Would he actually do that?” Titus pondered. “Your father doesn’t seem to be the type to admit defeat.”
Lily chuckled. “You are right. But he wouldn’t ever admit defeat, he just wanted the family on standby in case he needed more backup.”
“How much time between that call and now?” Ridge asked.
Canto told them, “Tomas was probably already at my father’s house when we got here. If he can’t get a hold of him by nightfall he’ll make plans to follow him.”
Boomer looked at his brother and then around at everyone else in the room. “We may have less time than we thought. This might not be over yet.”
“No, it’s not over by a long shot,” Lily agreed. Then she looked up at Titus and added, “But I can help you with that. If you’ll listen.”
Tracker looked at his brother Spider and shook his head.
Lily turned and stared at Tracker for a minute. Then she asked, “What? You got something to say? Well, just say it.”
“How are we supposed to trust you?” Tracker sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I did see you take a few shots at the compound windows earlier.”
“Fair point,” she admitted. “But I did that for effect. Edaurdo was watching me closely, did you also see that? But as soon as I could, I left to see if Joel was really dead. I had no desire to be in this war. In fact, Canto and I have wanted out for years now. I also think I got as much if not more to lose than you guys do. After all you’ve got this compound and this family standing behind you.
I’ve only got Canto left. I’ve got no way to leave here and if I am going to double-cross you, where the hell would I be safe?
I can’t go home again. My uncle would never trust that I didn’t help you guys defeat my family.
Not that I want to go back to that life.
Tomas would just as soon slit my throat while I slept rather than trust that I didn’t give up my father and brothers.
He pretty much thinks exactly like Eduardo...
That women do not belong in power. If I ever tried to go home again I wouldn’t see the next morning.
You can believe whatever you want to. I can’t and won’t double cross anyone. ”
“What are your plans when this is over?” Titus wanted to know.
Lily shrugged. “Haven’t even thought about that.” She admitted. “For years now, I don’t think too far ahead of myself.”
“So will Tomas come all this way?” Ridge wanted to know.
Lily nodded. “Si, he’ll come, if nothing else he’ll want to know what happened and if Eduardo died with honor.” Shaking her head she said, “Too bad you can’t close this mountain down.”
“Who says we can’t?” Bouncer smirked.
Lily stared at him for a minute then she laughed. “Of course you can, I should have known.”
“What kind of firepower does Tomas have?” Ridge asked.
“Tomas is old school. So it’s mostly guns, maybe a few blades. Tomas also has four sons of his own.” She shrugged. “What can I say? We’re a large family. But his sons are...” She couldn’t explain what she thought about her second cousins.
Canto picked up on her thoughts. “They are all older than we are and we haven’t seen them in a long time but like she said Tomas is old school and he raised his children to be old school as well.
His children, Estiban, Calisto, Milo and Bruno were all raised to be badasses and they know how to shoot when necessary.
Then while some of their businesses are legal, some of them are not necessary on the up and up.
They know both sides of this equation but they will also follow their father through the gates of heaven or hell. ”
“In other words, they will come here looking for answers and those who they think crossed the family.” Tracker shook his head.
Looking around the tables, he said, “Well boys, grab your guns and don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.
” He pushed his chair back and got to his feet. “We on four and four?”
Titus nodded. “Half get a nap while the other half watches our backs.”
Lily gazed out through the open door of the clubhouse.
It was already afternoon by the angle of the sun and she had a feeling her uncle would wait for nightfall to make his stand.
She looked at Ironman and whispered, “He might be out there watching us already. Tomas likes to wait and see the whole picture but he won’t make his move until dark.
He likes to hide in the dark. Like I said, he’s old school.
Thinking the shadows of the night will hide his moves. ”
Ironman nodded. He then looked around the table and saw everyone was listening.
“What else might we be looking at here?” Boomer asked her quietly.
Canto cleared his throat and replied for her, “He likes to surround what he’s going to hit. He’ll send his men all around this place and hope one of them will be able to breach the fences. That way you will have distractions while he’s breaching the front gate.”
“Well, he’s not going to get in through our front gate.” Bouncer growled. “We have our own way of protecting ourselves.”
Titus stood from his chair and began issuing orders, “Jep, you get on the cameras, Ridge can help you watch. Ulysses, get a couple of men up on the roof. If this Tomas followed Eduardo he’s already here. Also, get those gates up at the base of the mountain. We don’t want to make this easy for him.”
Hot Rod smiled and asked, “Can I get Ruby out?”
Titus paused for a long moment then nodded slowly. “If you must.”
Lily paused at this then looked over at Ironman. “Who or what is Ruby?” she whispered.
“Well, let’s just say that if he shoots at us, you’ll figure it out.” Ironman shook his head. “He doesn’t get to use it often but this might be the time to bring her out.”
“Santa Madre.” Lily glanced at Canto and wished her hands were free so she could make the sign of the cross. Then she sat back and watched the men get ready for another battle.
Bouncer got to his feet and looked at the two sitting in their chairs just watching everything happen. “Ironman, take them to one of the rooms and watch them. It might get rough tonight and I don't want them to be sitting ducks.”
Ironman got up and helped Lily stand.
Canto got up and waited for Ironman to move first.
Ironman had them both go ahead of him. He took them to a smaller bedroom and locked the door behind him. Then he motioned them to sit. “Might as well get comfortable, we might be here awhile.” He settled in the only chair in the room while Canto sat down next to Lily on the bed.