Once everyone was settled in at the safehouse, they all separated to do their own thing.
Ace and Demo stayed up near the front of the house, keeping an eye out on the street.
The Mendozas were upstairs in their respective rooms, save for the two youngest children who were in the living room watching television.
Iceman, Big Bad, Preacher, Tex, and Doc were all in the kitchen, eating, drinking beer and talking about the day that they'd had.
Big Bad explained that once his element managed to talk their way into the house, the team convinced Lucia that they were there to protect them from scumbags that her husband had been doing business with, which is how they ended up affording the nice house they lived in. Big Bad explained that it wasn't initially easy to convince her that a Brit, an Australian, a Russian and a French woman were able to protect her and her family, but they didn't have much of a choice once Doc spotted a couple of Black SUVs making multiple passes in front of the house.
Big Bad had gotten Doc and Demo to take Lucia, Manuel and Ana upstairs where they put the three of them and the two oldest children, who were in their bedrooms already, to hide in the attic. Big Bad and Ace secured the ground floor, the former at the front and the latter covering the rear. When the vehicles stopped, eight men wearing body armor, armed with Assault Rifles, SMGs and Shotguns got out and made their way towards the front door. The way that they covered one another and scanned for targets with their weapons suggested that these men were professionals who had done this kind of thing before. Once the sicario with the shotgun was just about to step on to the front porch, Big Bad shot him through the living room window.
For the first few seconds, it felt like the entire world was exploding around the former British S.A.S. sniper. But just as quickly, Big Bad was up and engaging targets. His sidearm didn't penetrate the vests of the men, but the .45 caliber rounds were extremely effective against the men's unprotected limbs and faces. With Big Bad securing the front ground floor and Doc covering the front from the second story as well as Ace and Demo doing the same thing on the back, the four of them managed to hold off the better equipped, more numerous group until the L.A.P.D. arrived, scaring off the remaining hitmen.
"F**k, man. They must have not wanted the family that bad then." Tex said as he took a swig of his beer.
"The family was a backup plan if they couldn't get Mendoza. There's no way they were prepared for that kind of resistance." Preacher said as he took a bite of a ham sandwich.
"I don't know, man. The armor, the hardware, the way they moved? They were professionals. They had to expect something." Doc said.
"I think it was supposed to be a message. Send in a bunch of heavily armed guys to kidnap or kill Mendoza's whole family. Draw him out of hiding. They didn't want to take any chances." Iceman assumed.
"It makes as much sense as anything, I suppose." Big Bad said.
Meanwhile in the living room, Demo got up off the couch. She had taken her shoes off and was walking around in her socks, though her vest and thigh holster for her pistol were still on and ready.
Agent Rae took the downtime as a chance to get some quiet alone time to look over any injuries she may have suffered and check in with Thompson.
As she went upstairs looking for a bathroom, she called in and spoke to Thompson, filling him in on what happened. Thompson explained that L.A.P.D. wasn't very happy to not be let in on an undercover operation, espcially one that ended up with civilians in danger and considerable property damage. Though neither one of them said as much out loud, thye didn't care much about the department's complaints as D.H.S. - like other Federal Law Enforcement agencies - weren't beholden to the demands of city police forces.
She made her way to one of the bathrooms, not bothering to close the door all the way as it seemed that everyone was settled in where they were. She searched for, found and opened a large medical kit in the counter under the sink before placing her pistol on the counter and pulled her shirt off to assess any wounds.
Wearing a sports bra, jeans and her shoes, she lifted her left arm and turned that side of her body to get a better view of bruising on her body. The discoloration of her skin down across her abdomen wrapped up and around her side and onto her back in splotches, not to mention the fact that taking deep breaths felt uncomfortable, was a clear indication of - at the very least - bruised ribs, though there was nthing else for her to make out without proper medical attention. Now done with the "assessment" portion, Frankie reached into the medical kit and found compression bandage to wrap around her torso.
"I'm going to the bathroom." She said simply as she made her way towards the stairs, earning nothing but a nod from Ace.
As she went upstairs and walked towards the bathroom, she noticed the door was open and a light was on, though she simply assumed that one of the teenage kids had used the bathroom and not turned the lights off. Walking up and opnening the door, however, she noticed Agent Rae in a sports bra and jeans.
"Oh. My apologies, Agent. I didn't know anyone was in here." Demo said.
Rae had just finished up wrapping the bandage around her torso when the woman came into the bathroom.
"No need for apologies. And, please... call me Frankie." She said as she gave her work a final look over and grabbed her shirt and pistol. "I'll be out of your way here in a minute."
Demo looked down at the bandages around Frankie's midsection.
"That looks pretty serious. Do you want me to get Doc to look at that?" She asked, earning a simply shaking of Frankie's head.
"Just some busted ribs." She replied simply before making her way to the door, only to be stopped by Demo putting a hand on the other woman's shoulder.
"Look...I'm sure we don't seem like the most...cuddly people. Mostly because we're not. But if you show up and do your job, you can trust us with your life." The French woman said.
"Our line of work doesn't leave much room for 'cuddly'." Frankie said as she placed her shirt back on and placed her holstered pistol on her belt. "And I hope you know that you can trust me to."
"We'll see. I'm headed back downstairs. Me and Ace have the first watch. I'd imagine that after the day you've had, you want to go to sleep and in which case..." Demo said as she walked up to Frankie and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Have a good night."
Before the other woman could respond, Demo was behind her, a hand gently pushing her out the door and into the hallway.
"I needed to use the restroom." She said as she closed the door.
In her time as both a Navy SEAL and a Federal Agent, Frankie Rae was capabable of keeping her composure in the face of all manner of situations. There was nothing, however, that could have prepared her for the French woman planting a small kiss on her cheek. Her brows were still furrowed in confusion as she was pushed out of the bathroom.
For a moment she stood in the hallway and stared at the now closed door before she was shaking her head and moving toward the stairs. In the matter of a few steps, she was once again back on the ground floor and in the kitchen.
"Hey, now. There's the woman of the hour." Doc said from his seat at the table with Iceman, Big Bad and Tex, all of whom were drinking beer.
"Man, these guys wouldn't shut up about you." Preacher said, taking another bite of his sandwich while standing at the kitchen island.
"Hey, if you're interested, we're probably going to start a card game. Why don't you grab a beer and get in on a game?" Doc offered.
"Yeah. Why don't you pull up a chair and help me wipe these suckers for all they're worth?" Tex said with a smile.
"Tex, the only way you walk out with all the money in a pot is if you have a gun in one of your hands." Iceman said with a chuckle of his own.
Frankied looked over at the men, noting the relaxed nature of their faces and posture as opposed to the intense and ready-to-go aura around the contractors earlier that day as she walked into the kitchen, grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator.
"Hey Tex, how many bullets have you got?" She asked with a chuckle as pulled up a chair and got comfortable as she waited to get dealt in.
"Enough, darlin'. ALWAYS enough." The former Green Beret said with a smile.
"Preacher, you want in on this, mate?" Doc asked.
"No way, man. Guns, booze and cards ain't too safe of a combination." The big man said as he finished his sandwich and washed it down with some beer.
"P***y." Tex said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, well, I'm alive and safe so..." Preacher said with a smile as he flipped his battle buddy off.
Doc slid the deck of cards to Frankie.
"It seems only fair for the lady to pick the game." The Australian said.
After taking another pull off her beer, Frankie placed the bottle on the table and took the deck of cards that Doc had offered her. She shuffled the cards in her hand for a moment before speaking.
"Texas Hold'em it is, boys." She said with a small smile on her face.