Chapter 18: Don't Leave Me Behind

"They were the only friends I ever had
We got into trouble and when stuff got bad
I got sent away, I was waving on the train platform
Crying 'cause I know I'm never comin' back"

This is What Makes Us Girls – Lana Del Ray

Mia double-checked the address she'd scribbled down onto a scrap of paper in her purse. It was the same one she'd entered into the GPS of her rental car. Sighing, she shook the nerves out of her shoulders and looked up at the house. There was a black Audi parked in the driveway, but that was it. Honestly, she'd expected more cars. Maybe they were out?

Opening the car door she stepped out onto the gravel drive and grabbed her carry-on bag. She slung it over her shoulder just as the front door swung open. An unfamiliar woman stepped outside, dressed casually in denim shorts and a yellow tank. Her hair was brown and sun-streaked. She certainly didn't look native.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yeah I'm… looking for Leon?" Mia ventured hesitantly. She hadn't thought that he wouldn't be around. She'd half expected him to be lounging in the front yard, having a beer with Brian and Vince.

"He's at the garage right now," the woman said. "But I'm his wife." She offered a smile. "You can come in."

"Who is it Syd?" another voice called from inside and it was this one that Mia recognized. Her eyes went wide as Letty appeared in the doorway. The two women stared at each other a moment.

And then Mia laughed, rushing up the front steps to grab her friend in a hug. Letty smiled, then drew back.

"Shit, girl. What the hell are you doing here?" She sighed and shook her head. "Syd, this is Mia. Dom's sister."

"Dom's here?" Mia squeaked, suddenly excited. She hadn't seen her brother in years, longer than that even it felt like some days.

"He is," Letty confirmed. "But he's probably not going to be so thrilled to see you. Mi, why'd you come here now? It's not safe."

"What do you mean it's not safe?" Mia asked, following them inside. She set her bag down by the couch as Sydney disappeared into the kitchen to get some drinks. "Does this have something to do with the job Vince was running with Brian?"

"I guess so. The drug runner has an operation here in Brazil too. He was using fake medical trucks to transport product and well… shit happened and now we're involved. That's the short version." She sat on the couch heavily, glancing back towards the kitchen. "Sydney… that's Leo's wife. She had a medical clinic here in the city and they burned it down because we know too much. They killed the people who worked for her. They made it personal."

"So I'm guessing that means we're not calling the cops. I mean… not that we can…" Mia murmured, remembering her brother was a wanted man.

"The boys are at the garage now making plans. Dom's not gonna want you involved in this Mi."

"He doesn't have a choice this time," she replied, her dark gaze serious as she accepted a beer from Syd. "I'm done sitting at home in LA safe and sound while you guys do crazy things and risk your lives."

"Maybe this'll be the end of it," Letty murmured. "One way or the other…"

0000

A trip to the local hardware store had Leon feeling on edge. It wasn't just that he was building explosive devices in his garage with the intention of taking out a drug lord. It also wasn't that he was doing this in the presence of a cop. But it was that he'd gotten his wife involved.

If he wanted to get technical he supposed she'd actually gotten them involved. But if it had just been Syd, she could have called the cops and that would be the end of it. Her clinic would still be standing. Her employees would still be alive. He wouldn't be involving her in an incredibly illegal thing like blowing up a Villa. Even if it belonged to a man who was the scum of the earth. Even if the feds wanted him behind bars or dead or just stopped. They wouldn't have okayed this operation, and they all knew it.

But they also knew that cops were dirty. The locals sure were and they might have ended up dead if they waited for someone higher up to get involved. Maybe this wasn't what he wanted for her, but he sure as hell would prefer if they all stayed alive.

Hunched over a workbench with Brian they pieced together the parts based on some instructions from the internet. It was a place you could find anything, and Brian had confirmed that the pieces worked. The feds were often trying to pull stuff like this off the web, but it kept cropping back up.

Vince and Dom were hunched together over a car which they'd stripped down to the gills on the inside. It would drive via a remote that had been fixed into the car's internal computer and a complicated rig on the steering wheel and gas. They'd towed it over to an abandoned lot earlier in the day to test it. Under the hood and in the trunk was where they'd load their explosives, the first part of their plan.

It had been Brian who'd come up with the idea. They would be driving into a Villa packed with arm guards. This wasn't where they excelled, playing a lot better on the move, but if they could goad Braga and his cronies into a chase and destroy his base of operations at the same time then it would work out for them.

Leon lifted his head at the sound of wheels on gravel and the slam of a car door. He'd locked the door to the shop but he heard the click of a key right before Syd walked in, followed by Letty and… Mia? He shot to his feet.

"Mi?"

Her name on his lips drew attention from the others in the room and her gaze skittered uncomfortably away from Brian and then Vince before landing on Dom, who was staring at her in surprise.

She crossed the space between him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug and when Dom's arms came up around her he could swear he felt the dampness of tears through his shirt. A silence had fallen over the garage as they all stared. In his mind she was fifteen years old again, crying and clinging to her big brother after their father's death. After a few minutes he sighed and gently drew her away.

"Mia it's okay. I'm right here."

She smiled, rubbing at the tears on her cheeks. "I know. I just… sometimes I thought I'd never see you again."

"What are you doing here?" he asked and her face fell. "It's not that I don't want to see you, Mia. It's just that…"

"I know, I know! You don't want me in danger." She scowled, her hands on her hips. "I'm tired of being left behind."

There was a stubborn light in her eyes that made him think growing up alongside Letty had affected her more than she'd let on.

"Fine. Fine. Then get your ass over here and make yourself useful."

0000

Giselle kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

When Braga had arrived he very clearly hadn't been happy with her. She'd wanted to make a break for it more than once, but she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. She was alone here and she was in trouble. She'd always known that once she got mixed up with him she would never be truly free again. That she'd have to do things she didn't like. But she also knew that there was no way out.

He'd made her come along when he'd hit the clinic. He'd made her sit in the car and watch the place burn. He told her about the women they'd killed, how they'd begged for their lives, about their families, he'd whispered it in her ear like a lover telling her intimate secrets on the car ride back to the Villa. She'd wanted to cry. Instead she sat stonily in silence beside him. Any weakness on her part was a boost to his ego. It was a thrill to him to hurt her, to see her in pain. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction. She knew it was only a matter of time before he decided to kill her too. She was a liability.

She checked the pistol she'd tucked into her jeans for ammo then pulled out her cell phone, scrolling through the recent numbers. Picking one of the last ones she brought up her text screen.

"Braga is moving on you soon," she sent. "I wouldn't wait around for it to happen."

She stared down at the words a moment, telling herself she'd done the right thing. Sighing, she tucked the phone away and headed back towards the Villa. She was standing outside the rear door when the phone buzzed in her pocket and Giselle pulled it out.

"We're not waiting. Stay out of the main house."