CPOV
We all stood around quietly, waiting to see what my wife would do. We had found the man who had been waiting for this woman. He was currently lay in the corner, his life bleeding from him.
"Have you seen her before" Ana asked Hain who was stood with my Dad.
"Yes, I have. She's friends with Maria. I saw her when she was in Mexico with them."
"YOU TRAITOR" The woman screamed at him before she was gasping for breath as Ana squeezed her throat.
"Traitor, hardly. These people are my friends, my family so it's not hard to stand by their sides."
I wanted to pick Ana up and take her away from this place but she needed to do this, I needed Ana to do this. This woman had come into my wife's place of work and tried to destroy what we cherished the most. My marriage to Ana is sacred to us both. The love and trust we have between us will never be broken. No matter how many people try to do that.
"Dad, what's going on" Theo asked me as he stood with his brothers. They only knew that there was some trouble with their mother and that we would be meeting here.
"That woman turned up at the surgery, with a gun and a plan to upset or even kill your mother."
"Is mum ok" he asked, shocked as I shook my head. I don't think my wife will be ok until this is all over.
"Now we're going to have a little talk" we heard Ana say as she pulled a chair in front of the one, the woman was tied to.
"I have nothing to say to you."
"Oh, but you will. First thing I want to know is, are you really pregnant."
"Yes, of course I am. You kill me, you kill your husband's baby."
All eyes turned to me quickly and I knew if they didn't know me, didn't know how much I loved my wife, I would be full of holes by now.
I watched Ana get up, heading to the little office where she had stored her doctors bag. She came back a few minutes later with a needle and tourniquet in hand.
"What are you doing, no stop" she cried as Ana gripped her arm.
I watched Ana wrap the tourniquet around the woman's arm. The needle in her hand ready to be inserted to take blood.
"You don't have to speak for me to get my answer. I can have it within the hour. You're just postponing the inevitable so I will ask you again, are you pregnant."
"What does it matter if I am. He won't want the baby now that I have told you about us."
I heard her nose break, the blood pouring from it where my wife's fist had hit.
"Dad" Luca said, wanting me to step in but I shook my head. I wouldn't intervene unless Ana called to me or she was in danger.
"Same question as before, are you pregnant" Ana asked, taking a pair of pliers from one of the tables.
"Is she going to" Theo asked before the woman's screams echoed across the room. Her finger now broken.
"You took the oath to do no harm" the woman cried.
"Yes, I did. I don't touch the innocent, I protect them. You're not innocent. You came into my place of work, sprouting lies to try and ruin my marriage. One thing you should know about my husband and I. We're a team, an unbreakable one and you and your friend's pathetic games will never win."
"Please, please stop" she cried when Ana went for another finger.
"Stop, no" Ana said gripping her finger with the pliers before she screamed out."No, I'm not pregnant. Please stop"
"Whose idea was it to get a job at my husband's club" Ana asked.
"Maria" she cried. "She said it would be the easiest way in, that way I would know the area when it was time to come to you and plant the seed that he was cheating on you."
Ana stepped back from her a second, pulling her phone from her pocket.
"Can someone get this please" Ana said, holding her phone out for which I took.
It had been vibrating in her pocket, announcing our daughters call.
"Lucy" I said, answering the call as I stepped into the office, drowning out the woman's cries.
"Dad, where's mum. She's normally home by now" she asked, worried.
"Your mum is with me. She's just dealing with something that happened at the surgery."
"Alright, Granddad and Great Granddad disappeared when I was making stew with Grandma. It's not like them to run out on food."
"They're here also Lucy. Everyone will be home as soon as we deal with this problem. Save me some stew."
"I will Dad…. Dad, don't let someone upset mum please."
"I won't Lucy" I sighed, not wanting to tell her that someone had already done that. "We will be home as soon as we can."
I ended the call, walking back out to see Ana's foot connect with the woman's chest and her fly back a few feet, the chair clattering to the floor. She was sobbing for Ana to stop but her sobs turned to screams when Ana kicked her again. From the look of it, my boys wanted to wade in too, being stopped by their uncles and grandparents at the moment.
"What happened."
"She called my mother a whore, no one calls my mother that" Theo said, trying to get away from Elliot who had a tight hold on him.
"Theo" Ana said, getting all of our attention. "Her words mean nothing, she is nothing. Someone sit her up. She either talks now or she's gone."
"Please, please" Gia sobbed, trying to defend herself. With her arms tied to the chair, there was nothing she could do.
"Speak now. Where are Maria Ramirez, Ricardo Garcia and Sebastian Ortez."
"Please. They will kill me if I tell you."
"News flash lady, you're dead anyway. You can either tell us now and get this over with or we can continue until every bone in your body is broken. Your choice."
"PLEASE" She screamed when Ana squeezed another finger in the pliers, not enough to break this time but enough to give us the answers we seek.
"Please I just want Ricardo. He said he would leave her when this was all over."
"Leave who" Ana asked.
"His wife" she spat. "We've been together longer than they have but he had to marry her to please his dad."
"Seems you have a history of trying to mess with people marriages" I said.
"It was Maria's idea. She said we would do more damage by ruining your marriage, separating you. Make you weaker."
"You haven't ruined anything" I said, moving to my wife's side. "Where are they."
She shook her head so I stepped up to her, gripping tighter on her neck than Ana did before. She couldn't pull my hands away, couldn't do nothing but hold on to the little breath she had.
"Are you going to answer him" Ana asked when I let her go, entwining her fingers with mine.
"Mexico, they were in Mexico when I saw them. That is where they're based."
"Try again" Ana said, smacking her across the face. "If you're that important to Ricardo he wouldn't have sent you all the way to Seattle with a pathetic guard. Maybe you just think you're important to him" Ana laughed, messing with her head this time.
"I am, he loves me."
"He will be nearby then" Ana said to her as she tried to look away. "Where are they."
"No, no, I won't tell you."
Ana aimed her gun, the shot perfectly placed below the chair where Gia sat. She had to have felt it, the concrete floor, splintering little pieces off that hit her bare legs. A cry echoing across the warehouse, a cry of pain.
"Next shot, hits you. I think a knee cap will do. Or I may just nick a major artery, I'm not really fussed at this stage."
"Ricardo and Sebastian are waiting for me."
"That wasn't hard now was it" Ana told her, putting her gun into the waistband of her trousers where she had placed it before.
"Where would they be waiting for you and where is there place of operation in Oregon or is it here in Washington" I asked.
"They have a large compound in Oregon but I don't know where, I have never been. Please let me go"
"Hold on" Ana said. "If they have this compound, why would they be hiding guns around the state."
"Unless it's somewhere in plain sight. Somewhere you wouldn't think to look" Matteo said.
"I don't know, I have told you all I know."
"No, you haven't. You said Sebastian and Ricardo are waiting for you, where" I asked her.
She closed her mouth, shaking her head.
"Ricardo is probably in his wife's arms where he's supposed to be. You went on a suicide mission today, I doubt he would be expecting you back" Ana told her.
"Fuck you, bitch."
Before we could move, Theo had hit her, sending her to the floor. He stood over her seething with rage as he pointed his gun to her head.
"When my mother says something to you, you had better show some fucking respect. My dad asked you where they were and you had better ANSWER HIM" he shouted in her face.
"Fridays, a bar on 4th. They're waiting for me there. They will be there." she cried, terrified of my angry son.
"Go and check out this bar. If they are there, I want them brought here" I said as Elliot and Ethan moved, taking their crews with them.
"Son" my Dad said getting my attention. "Lorenzo just called, he has been to the address Ana gave. Seems that she was living there, and she has a room-mate too. One Maria Ramirez from an id we found."
"Is she there" Ana asked.
"No, the place is empty but someone has been there recently. He's checking throughout, even the attic and has the place surrounded. A team is on the way to check out the area in case she comes back."
"Seems like an act to try and ruin our marriage has backfired spectacularly" Ana said bitterly. "Instead of us looking for them all, they could be very well giving us their locations or coming to us."
We sat and waited for news from my brothers, the woman in front of us now unable to say a word. Ana hadn't said a word either, she was too quiet and I didn't like it. I wanted this to end, to take my wife away and show her how much I loved her but instead we sat and waited.
Ana had spoken to Lucy when she had called again, worried because we were not home. She tried to reassure her but our daughter is not stupid and knows when something is wrong.
I was on the phone now, in contact with my brothers who were at the bar. They couldn't exactly go in there shooting the place up, no matter how much we wanted to. They had to be careful, be wary of any cameras that were around the place and be smart.
"Luca, we have a present for you" Elliot said as he came through the door about thirty minutes later, dragging a man kicking and screaming behind him.
At present he had a bag over his head and from his muffled cries, gagged too but he would soon find out where he was.
As soon as the bag was off his head, my son went for him. We didn't stop him, we let him get his anger out on the man who had tried to take one of our girls.
"You think you can touch her, scare my fiancée" he said, delivering a blow to Sebastian's head.
"Ricardo" I asked Ethan.
"No show, only he was there. We have left a crew in place in case he comes but I got talking to the guy behind the bar and he said he has been alone all night."
"Seems I was right" Ana said, "Ricardo is at home with his wife."
"No, no" Gia screamed at Ana.
A gunshot ringing out had the room silenced, one bullet to the head. When Ana lowered her gun and Gia slumped in her chair, my wife's part in this night was done.
I reached for Ana, pulling her into my arms, her head cradled to my chest. With the shot taken, it was like all the energy had left my wife and I wanted her away from this place before any tears fell.
"Luca, get what information out of him you can" I said as he dragged Sebastian over to the wall, chaining him to a hook there.
"Ana, I want to take you away for the night. Are you alright with that."
Ana looked at me as if she wasn't really here. In shock I would say at how the day had turned out.
"Lucy" she mumbled.
"Ana sweetheart, we will look after Lucy" Frankie told her.
A slight nod of the head is all the acknowledgement I needed.
I waited until Ana had hugged our boys, all of them telling her how proud they were. It's usually the other way around, a parent proud of a child but not today. You could see it in their faces when they looked to her.
While Ana was with our boys, I spoke to my dad. He told me he would deal with everything here. This place will be clean before long, empty of all the evil that had fallen tonight. The surgery will be cleaned completely as well before anyone steps foot in there again.
When I had Ana to myself again, I picked her up, heading for my car as she rested her head against my chest. My quiet words meant only for her.
"I love you Princess. I need to look after you tonight. Tomorrow you can go back to looking after everyone else but tonight, I need to make sure you're ok."
I drove us fifty miles out of the city, towards Arletta where we had a safe house. It's also a place where Ana and I have been to enjoy a weekend of peace, just the two of us. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees and a very large fence, the perfect place for us now.
Pulling up in front of the house, I turned to my wife. She had fallen asleep not long after we had left the city, her energy completely leaving her now. She had killed someone, it wasn't the first time but I know Ana, it will play on her mind.
I got out of the car, opening the house up. I had stopped at a service station on the way, grabbing what food I could for this evening. Once that was inside, I went back out for Ana.
"Princess, we're here" I said, stroking my fingers down her cheek.
Her beautiful blue eyes opened to me as she looked around to where she was.
"Where are we" she asked, her voice hoarse.
"We're in Arletta. Come on let's get you inside."
She took my hand as I helped her out, leading her into the house.
"I like this place" she said, smiling as if she had just realised where she was. "We've have many fun times here."
"We have" I said, pulling her into my arms. "We will continue to have fun times here."
"I killed her" she said quietly.
"You did, she needed to die. By the time this is over, a lot more people will die too."
I picked Ana up when I felt her sobs shaking her body, carrying her up to the bedroom we share. I lay Ana on the bed, climbing on beside her before pulling her into my arms.
"You did what you had to do Princess" I said, brushing the tears from her face.
"I'm not upset about her, she can rot in hell. They tried to ruin the most important thing that we have, our marriage."
"No one and I mean no one will ever come between us Ana. We have been married 21 years and our marriage gets stronger everyday. The bond that we have is unbreakable."
"I know" she hiccuped. "I just don't know what this woman is going to do next. I wish it had been her, I hope they catch her at that apartment because there will be no guns in sight when I get my hands on her. She wants to play this like a girl, I will fight her like a girl. She's like a teenager not a woman, trying to play with people's feelings. When I get my hands on her I will show her what it's like to fight in the real world, our world."
"You will get your chance Ana, I can guarantee you that."
After today, every man I have will be on this. Forget about our other work for a moment, these people need to be found.
As the evening wore on, we had a quiet meal together. From the junk I had picked up on the way, my wife was able to make a feast with.
We bathed together as I took my time, making sure Ana was clean of every bit of grime from that place. When we moved to the bed, I worshipped my wife and showed her just who has my heart.
People may come along and try to break us, try to separate us but they will always fail. The bond Ana and I have, the love we share for each other and our family will always be there. Anyone who tries to test it, tries to break it will meet the same fate as that woman tonight because Ana isn't just my wife, my best friend, the mother of my children. She's my world and I will kill to protect her.
Thank you for reading.
Until next time, take care.
Caroline.