Chapter 21 The Leak
Ok just for you great reviewers, here is 21 a day early.
I was standing at the sink washing my hands when I heard my name being shouted and the code 'red alert'. I ran out of the bathroom, warning bells going off in my head, my heart pounding, wiping my wet hands on my pants wondering what was happening to have yelling and alerts with four or more men guarding the bathroom.
I was shocked to find Junior, Sport, and Lester on the ground outside the woman's bathroom surrounded by huge rolls of toilet paper, paper towels and several bags of trash. Laying several feet apart as if they were ambushed and were trying to fight when they got taken out. I ran inside the bathroom to find Becky unconscious on the floor, purses and day bags strewn all over the counters and spilled out on the floor, while Cassandra, Shanna and Ricky were standing around in shock, crying.
"Stephanie!" came out of my mouth as I opened every stall finding all but one empty.
I looked under the locked stall to Maggie crying out "Uncle Carlos" as she tried to cover herself. I ran back out of the other entrance looking around to find Woody and Hal, more bags of trash and several rolls of toilet paper on the ground. All of my men were now on high alert, Bobby, Ram, Zip and Zero showing up to help with the search.
Now I knew what the impending dread I had felt all day was trying to tell me: there was an imminent threat to the women. I cursed myself for ignoring it. When I go out on missions I tune in to my gut instincts and they are never wrong. Back in civilian life I trust them when I need them to warn me about personal danger to myself. With my family in the mix I can't seem to trust my gut, first at my parent's house with the shooting and now at the theme park.
It's just that if I tell my men I have a bad feeling they listen and we make a new plan. If I told my family this morning that I had a bad feeling and we shouldn't go I would get a lot of flack and we would have ended up going anyway. I needed to get a handle on these feelings and what they were telling me so I could continue to protect my family. My biggest problem was that I was unable to treat my family like my men. I was struggling to keep them entertained and let them do what they wanted while keeping them safe. If it were my men, I would have ordered them to stay in a safe house and been done with it.
Bobby immediately started checking out the unconscious men on the ground, as I pulled up several tracking programs on my phone, watching my men do the same. I sent Ram back into the bathroom to collect the children as I pushed buttons on my phone desperately trying to get the programs started while watching for retreating forms holding onto the women.
Looking around I could see lots of families everywhere but the women were nowhere to be found. Every woman should have their phone with trackers, IDs and credit cards with RFT tags and Stephanie had her watch. I pulled up two tracking programs on my phone, the first with all the phone trackers on them and the second with Stephanie's watch tracker. I knew my men who were still with their assigned women would get them somewhere safe, so I looked for all moving trackers.
Mierda, dios maldito al infierno. How in the hell can there be five guards and still the women were taken? The trackers were moving in three different directions. I watched in alarm as Angelia's and Oshanna's trackers were moving to the right. Leyla's and Rachel's were moving straight ahead. Stephanie's and Julie's trackers were moving to the left behind buildings. My men were congregated in a group also pulling up the trackers on their phones. (Fuck, God dammit to hell)
"Split up: Tiger, Marc and Scott left with me, Zip and Zero with Dillon go right, Eddie, Tony and Pace straight ahead. Go!" I ordered, taking off at a run. I ran through the crowds like the hounds of hell were chasing me until I was on a small path that continued behind the buildings with very few people on it. As I rounded another corner it showed Stephanie and Julie were directly ahead but I didn't see them walking or being carried as I continued to run at a break neck speed with Marc, Tiger and Scott just steps behind me.
I searched the area, realization dawning on me as my eyes locked onto two men in long sleeve tan shirts and tan pants pushing two carts, one large gray trash cart with a black lid and a second supply cart with a broom and dust pan attached to the back filled with industrial sized rolls of toilet paper and paper towels stacked on it. The men pushing the carts turned around and as soon as they saw us, ditched the carts and started running.
"Get them." I ordered to Tiger and Scott, pointing to the two men who were splitting up as I got to the carts. Marc and I lifted the large black lid to find several trash bags covering Julie, who was laying on top of Stephanie. Both were unconscious, folded up on their sides in an almost fetal position. I pushed the cart over to the side of a building, leaving the other cart and bags of trash in the middle of the path.
This small path was deserted, not being used by the majority of the crowds as it was longer and went behind the buildings that people wanted to get to. I very carefully lifted Julie out, with Marc getting Stephanie and we laid them flat on the ground. My phone was pinging with texts. Tony and Pace had found Leyla and Rachel in a supply closet, no sign of their attackers. Both women were unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Tony was waiting with the women while Pace and Eddie were searching for the men.
Dillon reported they found Angelia and Oshanna abandoned in another large gray trash cart with two men walking quickly away that Zip and Zero had detained. I texted my men that all of the missing women had been located and to watch out for attackers wearing tan janitorial outfits and possibly pushing janitorial carts.
I checked Stephanie and Julie over carefully, making sure they were both breathing normally and called Bobby who reported the men at the bathroom had been stunned and were starting to wake up. I requested his presence immediately, sending a text to the now waking men to get the fuck up and locate their targets. I stood guard over Stephanie and Julie, hoping they would wake any moment while I called each group for a verbal update. Marc headed to go help apprehend the assailants.
Suddenly Stephanie's eye's popped open. She was startled and disoriented as she frantically tried to get up to her feet.
"Relax, Babe. Give yourself a minute. I think you were stunned." I gently pressed my hands against her shoulders as I tried to calm her and keep her in place at the same time. I didn't want her moving around in case she had injuries I couldn't see. I relaxed a little as I watched the panic in her eyes slowly dissipate.
"Just stay here on the ground. Bobby is on the way to check you out." No sooner were the words out of my mouth did Bobby show up, phone in hand following the trackers.
"How are they?" He asked as he walked towards us.
"Steph just woke up. Julie is still out."
He knelt down by Stephanie, talking to her quietly, checking her vitals and then checking her all over. Julie started to stir so I knelt down and started talking to her.
"Hey Jewels. How are you feeling?"
"Tingly. Dizzy. Nauseous." She started trying to sit up.
I put my hand on her shoulder. "Just stay down for a moment. Bobby's going to check you out next." Stephanie was now sitting up and looking around as Bobby quietly spoke to her.
Julie looked up at me. "What happened? I was in the bathroom washing my hands next to Becky. These men came in and…I woke up here."
"It seems that several guys hit your guards outside the bathroom and stunned you. We caught up with them here." As I spoke I could see Marc, Tiger and Scott walking back with six assailants in a double line, wrists zip tied together. Bobby helped Stephanie stand and came over to help Julie.
"Stephanie stay with Bobby. I will be right back." I told her as I walked over to meet with Marc.
"They made a break for a ten-foot ladder propped against the wall. We caught them trying to climb over the wall where there is a rear maintenance entrance. As we were walking away with the first two, two more came running around the corner heading for the ladder. We left the first two with Scott. Tiger and I apprehended the second two. When we climbed the ladder, we found two more waiting in white vans. We climbed the wall and ran them down. None of them are armed. All of them have these short-range radios on them. Here are keys, probably for both of the utility vans parked outside the back gate. They all had cigarettes and lighters on them. Other than that, they were clean." Marc reported.
As we were talking I walked Marc over to the supply cart the men had abandoned and began searching it for weapons. On the second shelf, in between the extra-large rolls of paper towels there were two, foot long black police issue stun batons. I handed the weapons off to Marc and finished my search not finding anything else.
"Take them and load them up in one of their vans. Text the location to Zip and Zero and have them bring their prisoners too. I'm going to get everyone out of the park. Get the prisoners loaded up and around to the entrance. Then we will switch, you are in charge of getting everyone back home. Have Tiger pick me up out front. We'll need a secure debriefing location." I sent out a text that Ram and Bobby were now assigned to Stephanie until we arrive back at the houses.
"Yes Sir."
"Scott, you are with Julie." He looked disappointed and I knew all of my men would love to have a few private minutes alone with the captured men to relieve a little pent-up agitation caused when the women were taken.
I walked back over to find Julie now standing up brushing herself off. I took her into my arms and gave her a big hug. "You doing okay?" I looked down at her.
"Sure Dad. I felt weird when I first woke up like I was disoriented, but now I feel fine."
"Good, let's get back to the group. Brown check everybody over, make sure there are no injuries."
"Yes Sir."
I put my arm around Stephanie and took Julie's hand and started walking back to the food court. As Stephanie became more aware she started complaining.
"My arm is all sticky and the left side of my shorts are yuck." She said as she started running her hand down the side of her shorts. She stopped suddenly looking down. "What is brown on my shorts? and leg?" She shrieked becoming more alarmed.
"Babe, you just need to wash up a little. Calm down you're mostly okay."
"But my shorts! These are my favorite pair of jean shorts." She said holding the left side away from her leg where it was wet and sticky.
I knew that some of her hysteria was really upset over being taken and what could have happened so I took her into my arms and just held her for a moment.
"I've got you. You're safe. I'll buy you a new pair of shorts, and a shirt and even new shoes if you need some." I assured her. She let me hold her for a few moments as tears rolled down her face as she tried to discreetly wipe and sniff them away. Julie came over and I hugged both of them to me tightly, my own adrenalin still running high. I had to get my family out of this park and get them to safety. We needed to get the whole family back on the jet and out of this state.
I don't know how they found us but they had some magical way of knowing right where we are, when they shouldn't even know what state or city we are in much less that we are at Universal Studios and exactly where in the park we are. Somebody must still have trackers on them, it is the only thing that makes sense. Somehow, I had missed something.
Every single person, every suitcase and everyone's clothing all needed to be scanned again. Then we needed to load them up in the plane, and go where? Hawaii or Texas? All the reservations had already been made for Hawaii but would it be safe? Do we need to go somewhere new? Was my parents house bugged and somehow, they heard where we were going? Were their computers bugged and those goons saw the places we looked up on them? I had to reel my mind in from spinning out of control with crazy possibilities of how they knew where we were and where we were going. Now was not the time to get paranoid.
Focus Carlos. Focus on making sure that everyone is safe and getting the hell out of this fucking park. I knew that theme parks were a bad idea, but when Stephanie asked I just couldn't say no. I keep trying to find ways to make everybody happy and it is putting everyone in danger. I took a deep breath to get my mind and body under control and focused, clearing all of my random thoughts.
It took us almost ten minutes to get back, both my girls a little unsteady on their feet. I seethed in silent anger at the way that these goons had taken six targets, all at once, right in front of five of my men, putting everyone in danger. Once again, I started wondering how the hell had they found us and what they could be using to track us so successfully?
I knew from texts that the men had taken the entire family to the Phineas Q. Butterfat's Ice Cream Parlour to get ice cream and then had them hold up on the second floor of Krusty Burger. I led Stephanie and Julie there. I just needed to talk to my men and then we would break everyone up into their SUV units and get them the hell out of here. I knew instinctively that having everyone in such a large group would be too tempting a target. Eventually 'Springfield' was back in sight and Stephanie and Julie started walking faster.
"Mom." Julie cried out and went running, as she saw her mom being ushered to safety. I knew Bobby had told them all the other women were found unharmed, but in situations like this you worry till you can see for yourself.
When we got upstairs I told Stephanie, "Babe get some ice cream and stay with the family. Ram and Bobby are in charge of you so don't lose them. I need to talk to the other men." She nodded in response.
I walked over to the family to find several of the youngest kids sharing cups of colorful soft serve while the group of boys were tackling larger towers of dipped ice cream cones and sundaes and the girls were satisfied with multicolored ice cream cones. One quick look over the crowd let me know all the women were back and moving around unharmed. I had to find out how they were tracking us because they knew right where we were in the park and were able to take out five of my men and six targets in one swoop.
"Lester, Junior, Sport, Hal, Woody, far wall." I had my arms crossed over my chest with a face that let them know I was pissed and this was not going to be a happy conversation. I led them over to the far corner of the sitting area that was empty and turned to face them.
"Lester, would you please explain how the five of you were put down and six targets were taken?"
"I was guarding with Marc and Sport on one side and Woody was guarding with Tiger on the other. Then Rachel, Leyla, and Julie showed up with Becky, Maggie and Cassie. Now we had six men on one side and five on the other and were scaring away any other women that came along. Marc, Junior and Eddie went to go use the facilities, leaving the three of us guarding. Three janitors who had been working through the area collecting trash came over. I told them they were going to have a long wait because there were a bunch of women inside. They started speaking in Spanish to each other and one went to open the door. I stopped him and told him in Spanish that it would be a while so all three pulled out cigarettes and started smoking and talking to each other. All I remember is them standing ten feet away laughing and pointing at a woman in a small tank top with big boobs, then their radios went off telling them in Spanish to get to work. They started collecting toilet paper and paper towels and walked over to the door. I got between them and the door then one guy acted like he was dropping the rolls and bam I saw a nightstick as it tagged me."
"Junior, report."
"They got Lester and Sport at the same time. I was several feet away when they dropped. I hollered for assistance and tried to hit the alarm button on my phone but all three guys came at me at once. I disarmed one guy, and was fighting the second when I got hit from behind." I was getting angrier that several guys pushing carts and holding toilet paper were able to get the drop on my men.
"Woody, report."
"Same story. Hal and I were guarding the other side when three guys pushing carts and talking in Spanish approached. They lit cigarettes, but over their radios someone told them in Spanish to get to work and they loaded up on toilet paper and walked over like they were going inside so I blocked them. Told them they had to wait and saw the baton. I didn't realize it was a shock baton, I thought he was going to ram me in the gut with it so I grabbed the end and he shocked the hell out of me." Woody held out his hand and I saw the angry red blisters that had formed on his palm.
"Hal, report."
"Well as soon as Woody went down I hollered for assistance as I moved to guard the door and all three of them came at me. I fought with them for a few seconds before one of them tagged me." Hal told me. I took a deep breath and thought carefully about what I needed to say and what my men needed to hear.
"Bathrooms are not cleaned as a group activity," I began." There would only have been one guy cleaning the restrooms. You should have been on high alert when they only showed interest in the women's bathroom and ignored the men's. There are no mats here, so you will each meet me on the sand when we get settled where we are going next. Your asses are only saved because they tried to take the women alive. If they had just gone in and slit everyone's throat they would all be dead. I do not need to reiterate that failure in this mission is not an option." I told them.
"You would all be replaced and on suspension if we were in Trenton, but right now I need every one of you and I need you on your game. They are tracking the women's movements somehow to know that we were here today and know that six of them were in the bathroom together. Stephanie and Julie are primary targets, everyone better be guarding them as if your lives depend on it. (Because they do, was left unsaid.) Collect your targets and consider anyone approaching a threat, even pimply faced, teenaged workers in Universal Studios t-shirts. We are breaking up into family units and returning to the houses. Dismissed." I finished.
I walked back over to the crowd to find half the family was gone. The party with Richard, Diego and the four boys had taken off, as well as the group with my parents, abuelas, Isabella, Angelia and the four smallest children. I immediately texted my men to bring everyone back and prepared to talk to the troupe that was there. Then I waited, looking for Stephanie who was nowhere to be found.
"Where is Stephanie?" I asked the adults.
"Bathroom." Several of my men answered and I walked to the back to find Ram and Bobby standing in the far back corner guarding a door marked WOMEN. I sighed. I know she was all gross from her trip in the garbage cart but I hated having her out of my sight.
Taking a deep breath I addressed the adults that were still there.
"We caught eight men that were here to kidnap the women. Based on what just happened we are leaving now. Everyone is to get into the family units that you rode over with. We will move in small groups back to the exit and return to the safe houses." I announced.
"We can't just leave. We are only a quarter way through the park." Julie demanded.
"Jewels they are tracking you somehow-"
"You already caught the bad guys and took care of them. We are safe now." Oshanna said.
"Uncle Carlos we are planning to go on the Fast and the Furious and Jurassic Park rides." Becky whined.
"Becky, it isn't safe for us to be here any longer." I told her.
Behind me Isabella appeared with Shylia in one hand, and my mother behind her holding onto Ricky.
"Why did we have to come back? The kids want to go on the Simpson's ride." Isabella asked.
"We are leaving. They know where we are and it isn't safe for us to stay here." I explained.
"Mi'jo, the kids just finished lunch. We promised them after lunch they could go on several more rides." My mama said.
"Mama your daughters just got kidnapped. It's not safe. We need to go back to the houses." I was getting desperate. What just happened was my own personal nightmare and I needed everybody safe. I wanted to put everybody on lockdown.
"Nobody got hurt. We are all okay. You caught the bad guys and we have our guards. We will all be safe." Oshanna continued pressing her agenda.
"We can't leave now. Mama and Papa were taking my kids so I could finally ride some rides too." Angelia pleaded.
"They found a way to get men and weapons past the gates. Next time they could come in with an Uzi and mow everybody down including you, your children, your guards, and a lot of innocent bystanders."
"They could do that anyway, even as we are leaving the park. Put a guard on the location that they used to get in and we will know if any more bad guys show up." Layla suggested.
"No, you all agreed that safety is our first priority. It is no longer safe in the park. WE ARE LEAVING." I said emphatically.
"No! We were the ones kidnapped, and we're all fine. You already paid for the passes. We need to enjoy the rest of our day." Oshanna insisted loudly.
"Besides they are going to assume we are headed to the parking lot and be waiting for us. It's safer to stay in the park." Angelia said.
"You don't understand. They know where you are now. The only safe place is out of California. We need to go back to the houses, pack our bags and fly somewhere new."
"Again? I just got our suitcases unpacked and put away." Isabella complained.
"I'll have my men pack for you. We are leaving as soon as I can make arrangements." I told them. Suddenly Stephanie and her guards were there joining the group.
Richard walked in with the boys and Diego trailing behind. "What's going on?" He asked.
"We are leaving. Everyone needs to get back in their family units and stay with their guards."
"Do we really need to leave? There is a lot left that the boys want to do." Diego questioned.
"The men who are after our family know we are here. The park is no longer safe. We need to leave." I told everyone but all I saw was a lot of defiance and determination to stay at the park and have fun. "Papa," I turned to him. "Please tell everyone that it's not safe. That we need to leave." I hated to ask for his help, however I knew my sisters were going to keep arguing with me but would listen to him.
My papa came over to stand next to me. "Has everybody had fun today?" he asked. There were lots of nods and a few yeses. "When we left Newark, you all agreed to trust Carlos to keep you safe. Now despite what has happened you feel safe, like Carlos and his men can protect you or save you no matter what, and you want to keep having fun like nothing has happened. It is very tempting to do but if you trust Carlos, trust him now when he tells you that you are no longer safe and that we need to leave."
"Remember," he continued, "your choices were to get locked away in some safe house, where you would be stuck inside all day unable to go anywhere or come on this trip. We have had a lot of fun this week and gotten to do a lot of things. Where ever we go we will still have some more fun and adventures, but they have found us here in California and now we must listen to Carlos and leave before someone gets hurt." I watched the crowd deflate as he talked, knowing that he was right.
"Everyone please get with your families or whomever you rode with here today. We will go in small groups back to the exit and get loaded up a few at a time." I told everyone. Slowly kids started migrating back towards their parents. Factions dissipated into families.
"Mama, Papa, Abuelas you will leave first with your guards." They nodded to me and followed Gavin, Erik, and Vince out of the door, while Francis, Ian and Manuel waited to shadow closely behind. I waited several minutes, wanting the factions to be close enough to help if there was an emergency but far enough away to get to the vehicles and get loaded before the next group arrived. I looked over the remaining crowd. All of the girls were still eating ice cream.
"Leyla and Richard, you guys are next." They lined their kids up and trailed Tony out the door with Hal following.
Suddenly there were three security guards in sharply pressed blue uniforms, standing at the top of the stairs. "We are sorry folks, but now that you have your ice cream you need to leave." The shortest one with brown hair told us.
"Good afternoon gentlemen." I addressed them. "We are just leaving."
"Well we got a report of a large crowd causing a disturbance. So, you need to break it up and leave now." The oldest of the men, with brown hair and brown eyes and a name tag that read Mr. Alvarez, told us.
"Mr. Alvarez, that is what we are trying to do but as you can see the kids are still sharing their food. As soon as they are done we will be leaving." I explained.
"Julio and Oshanna, you are next. Julio go back to the houses for the rest of today." I was trying to keep the family moving, telling myself that I was not lining them up in the order I would be less hurt if they were attacked, realistically knowing I was saving Julie and Stephanie for last. I knew it was true. I was sending them out like guinea pigs, hoping that any further attacks would happen before Julie and Stephanie walked back through the park. Also knowing I sent my parents and abuelas first because they would be seen as a cluster of targets but they had the most guards and would be the hardest group to take down.
"Sir, your whole family needs to leave and finish eating outside." Mr. Alvarez persisted.
"Do you see all these men in black?" I asked the security guards. "They are professional bodyguards. They are guarding these women. We can't go stand around outside as one big target. We are leaving as small groups to break up the targets and make sure everyone is protected." Two of the guards looked suitably impressed at the number of big men in black, but Mr. Alvarez was not deterred.
"Isabella, Diego, and Angelia, why don't you all go together with the youngest kids." These clusters would be a little closer together but I knew that Angelia without the help of my parents would have problems corralling her little ones alone. "Mr. Alvarez, we are leaving here early because there is a threat to these women in the park. Why don't you and your men give us extra coverage and escort this party to the front gate?"
"Sure, Mike can assist this group. I have to stay until you have all left as there was a complaint made about your family and the noise level." Mr. Alvarez nodded to the short white man with brown hair and a name tag that said Mr. Miller. Then he turned to me. "What is the threat? We need to report these things if there is a problem."
The adults gathered up the little kids and started leaving, each parent holding on to the children's hands.
"This band of women were in the bathroom when they were approached by some men dressed as janitors who attempted to kidnap them. We scared off the men but they made a big mess with trash and rolls of toilet paper and paper towels." I gave him a modified version of events.
"Rachel and Ron wait five minutes then you are next. I'm going to walk this guard over to the bathrooms. Mr. Alvarez can your other guard go with the next group?" He nodded to me and told the next guard, a very Latino looking man with the name Mr. Lopez on his uniform, to go with Rachel and Ron.
"Stephanie, stay here and wait for me." I told her and turned to the guard. "Walk with me." I walked out of the door towards the bathrooms. We arrived to find the paper towels and toilet paper stacked by the door and the garbage bags in a line against the wall.
"We don't know if it was a targeted attack or something random. We aren't taking any chances which is why we are leaving. Several men dressed in janitorial outfits, pushing carts of supplies and trash showed up and threw stuff at my men and tried to grab the women. These are the garbage bags and paper products they threw." I pointed at the piles. "My men, of course, chased them off and they left the mess behind."
"If you come down to the office we can write up an official report." Mr. Alvarez told me.
"We aren't going to be here that long. I just wanted you to know you had a problem with men either impersonating your workers or workers who have gone off the rail." I turned around to head back to the family and Mr. Alvarez stopped me.
"Really if your men were attacked we need to fill out a report." He insisted.
"Sorry," I told him. "We are leaving the park. We can't let our names be used in any report either inhouse or by the police if you catch these guys." I turned and walked back as he stayed surveying the situation probably trying to imagine what happened. I got back to find Stephanie with a tower of ice cream delight in front of her.
"What is that Babe?" I asked her.
"It's the Brain Freeze D'oh Nut Sundae. I don't know why I never thought of this, but it is two of my favorite desserts in one. Can you imagine anything better?" She smiled brightly up at me. Yes, yes, I could imagine a lot of foods I crave and would eat before this atrocity. I thought that the vanilla soft serve with strawberry and chocolate syrup topped by a large glazed donut with thick pink frosting, crowned with whipped topping, nuts and a large cherry sounded like the last thing I would ever want to eat. The Taliban could add this to their list of ways to torture soldiers. I wonder how many days of starvation it would take before I could consider consuming such a monstrosity while Stephanie was so enthusiastic she looked like she just found the holy grail.
"Babe, can you bring it to go. It's time for us to get out of here." She nodded and stood moaning with a big bite of donut in her mouth. Dios, eating next to her was one of my favorite things. She makes every meal an orgasmic experience and arouses most men that are unfortunately caught within hearing distance of her force field. I forced myself to focus on the task at hand even though I would much rather get lost in her sounds of pleasure.
Bobby went first. Stephanie and I followed with Ram walking behind. I know that Marc is already out in the parking lot directing my family into their vehicles while Tiger was waiting for me to join their group, probably working with the Trenton office and local maps to find a suitable debriefing location for us. I walked by Stephanie as she moaned her way through what she thought of as a delightful dessert and I couldn't help but smile inside. After being kidnapped and stunned, if a little treat took her mind off things it was worth its weight in gold.
We got out to the SUVs and I saw the two white vans sitting idling in the loading zone 50 feet from the entrance. I walked Stephanie out to her SUV, gave her a deep kiss, full-body hug and got her loaded up. Marc, who had been standing outside the vehicle waiting for us, was now in the driver's seat.
"Start packing when you get back to the house, Babe. I'll be there as soon as I am done." I told her as I rearmed myself with my full gun belt, knife, and second ankle gun.
"I thought you were coming with me. What are you going to be doing?" She asked still dabbling with the remains of her dessert.
"We caught a few of the men that took you. I'm going to be asking them some questions and then turning them over to the police with enough drugs on them that they won't be getting out of prison for a very long time."
"Oh, I thought you would torture them to death." Well, yeah that is the plan, but I don't need to encourage anyone in my family into thinking that I kill indiscriminately. These guys signed their own paychecks the minute they teamed up to kidnap my women.
"No Babe, that's only in the movies. We are just going to threaten and scare them a lot. Like with Anton. We don't have to get real physical to loosen their tongues. Stay with Marc, Ram and Bobby. Marc is in charge of you till I get back." She nodded her consent to me and put her seatbelt on. I closed the door and stood back waiting for the caravan to leave, pleased that Marc had already sent four of the SUVs ahead in a small group.
I jogged back to the front white van and got into the passenger side. As soon as I was inside I texted Skylar. 'Bad guys found us again. How soon can we get the plane readied for take-off? What locations do we have left that are viable for a week?' I didn't want to talk to Skylar in front of Tiger and honestly, I was too pissed off that we were found again to make sappy sweet talk with her at the moment.
"Have all of our guests been made comfortable?" I asked Tiger as he pulled out towards the exit. He nodded in return.
"Do we have a debriefing location?" I questioned. He handed me his phone and pointed to a line of warehouses. My phone started ringing and as it was Skylar, I silenced it sending a quick text that I was unable to talk at the moment.
"You searched the vans?" I asked. He nodded pointing to a bag that sat on the seat between us filled with wallets, IDs, phones and guns. "There are more than eight wallets and IDs in here." I noted, counting fourteen. He nodded again.
"Under their clothes they were wearing gang colors and covered in tats." He informed me. "Looks like Varrio Nuevo Estrada with ties to the Mexican Mafia."
"That's why we left. They may have thought they were going in stealthily by leaving their guns in the car, but they could have come back and sprayed the place. It looks like we barely got half of them."
My phone became very active with various text messages telling me that Texas and Hawaii were still available and that the cruise in Hawaii was ready and paid for. She had reserved all the rooms at the end of one hallway. The cruise left on Saturday, early boarding available at ten. The pilots were in the area and could get to the airport within an hour. The plane was already fueled in preparation for the trip to Hawaii tomorrow. They only had to go through the pre-flight check and would be ready to go. She hadn't heard back from Sabine, but that we could proceed without her if needed.
I let her know to set up the flight, we would take the Hawaiian cruise, and book two nights somewhere safe outside of California, but not Hawaii. I then texted to not even tell me where we were going, to email and text once she had it set up and that it would be a couple of hours before we were ready to leave so there was no need to rush anyone.
Fifteen minutes later Tiger pulled up in front of a Home Depot and we got supplies. Two hundred feet of rope, two rolls of duct tape, a long two by four cut into three foot lengths, a six pack of Coke and a twelve pack of water.
We got back to the van that was parked isolated out in the back part of the lot with Zip and Zero standing guard. I opened the back of the van to find all eight men, gagged, hogtied and piled on top of each other. I carelessly threw the two-by-fours on top of them, causing a few grunts and groans, knowing they were going to get much more closely acquainted with them very soon.
When we got to the row of abandoned, rusted out, old steel warehouses we surveyed the situation and decided the middle warehouse provided the most privacy for our purpose. We drug each of the men by their shirts out to the middle of the floor and strung up some rope. Their gags were removed and mouths filled with a wad of duct tape and then taped back closed.
I didn't have time to play with them, giving a fifteen second deal: money and survival to the first man willing to talk. They all looked at each other and gave cold, soulless, death glares to me. We strung them up, three feet apart, so that their taped together feet were firmly on the floor but they had to stand up straight and then spent time alternating between shocking them with their own batons and playing piñata. I quickly identified the weaker members who were most likely to talk.
They were becoming tenderized and ready to tell me what I needed to know. From experience I have learned that it is worth it to totally break a man before questioning starts so once they start talking they are willing to spill their guts. When two were crying and moaning constantly I knew we were making progress. Tiger and I took the first one down and put him in the back of a van. Cutting the flexicuffs off his hands and offering him a bottle of Coke. After several minutes I learned his name was FunIKey and started questioning him.
"Funikey? What kind of name is that?"
"I take care of da bitches. I am Fun-I-Key. I am da Key to all the'r Fun." He bragged.
"You are the key to the fun for all the bitches?" I clarified.
"Hey I may not looks like a'lot. I'm a little guy buts I be swingin' a big bat n' all da bitches love me."
"Why were you in the park today trying to kidnap these women?" I asked.
"Days ago Snapps, one of da leaders, was approach'd n' offered $100,000 fur each live woman we captur'd at Universal Studios. He's told to gets a ten-man crew, one fur each of da women n' cause I'm such a sweet talker n' woo the ladies I gots pick'd too."
"So how were you planning on doing it?"
"We was told we couldn't bring any guns in da park, theys would draw too much attention. Dat we's had to go in a hidd'n back way, all stealth and James Bond like. We had to cover up our clothes n' our tats. No ones could know we was da Varrio Nuevo Estrada. Once we'd agreed to da job a package come with maps of da area's n' roads surround'n da park n' ten black stun thingies. Wednesday, we comes to da park to check da situation out. We follow'd one of da roads on da map n' found da exits used by da janitorial staff to take out da garbage n' decided dat was da way to gets in n' out. Den we went n' bought tan outfits to wears. Had to bes shirts with buttons n' collars, n' pants with pockets."
"How did you know who you were supposed to kidnap?"
"Where's me phone? Snapps sent us alls a file with alls da womans listed." I fished through the bag and pulled out the phones, dumping them in a pile next to him and he dug one out that had a blue cover with a dragon on it. He tapped away for a moment then handed me the phone. "See d'ese two," scrolling through the photos to find Stephanie and Julie, "Day's are worth half a millions each. I don't know what chu are being paid to guard dem, but it can'ts be as much. Da other eight women are worth one hundr'd tousand each. Two n' a half mill fo all ten." He told me.
"We 're will'n to make a deal with chu guys." He continued. "Chu give us da women, we turn dem over n' split da reward money with chu guys. If chu can cut out part of your crew dat would be a mill and quart'r for just a few of chu's. Try making dat in a year." He grinned his split swollen lips at me. "Bud the bitches gots to be in good shape. We'd only gets paid if the women are alive n' unharmed."
"I'll have to think about it." I said.
Quick math showed that those six women were worth 1.4 million dollars to these guys.
"What time did you guys make it to the park this morning? I asked.
"We gots theres befor' eleven n' split up, spreadin' out in pairs, dividin' up da park. We actually brought fifteen guys. The two waitin' in da vans n' thirteen spread thru out da park." He explained. "Da tan clothes were our disguise to cover up our gang colors and ink. We alls knows dat if'n the security gets a look ad us with our ink, colors n' attitudes we woulds get'n immedat'ly escort'd outta da park. We didn't take in no guns or ID's so if'n we got caught we couldn't be charged with nothin'. We'd just lie about our identity n' we an't done nothin' wrong so we go free."
"What happened after you got to the park? How did you find the group?"
"When we gots to da park we spreads out all over but we'd could't find da women. Sos Snapps tells us he gots it cover'd. We were all on da twitter feed n' it started goin' off. Sos we walk'd around collectin' trash n' acting all unnotic'd 'til we gots a tex with a pictur in front of da Krusty burger. Then da twitter lady answer'd dat ya'll weres at lunch."
I was astonished as he showed me the text and it was a forwarded Instagram of Oshanna and Julio with Homer Simpson standing in front of the Krusty Burger. He also showed me a twitter feed of 'ThreadLady214' he was following that at 12:27 said she was at Krusty Burger having lunch with her whole family. As I read, a burning desire to strangle my sister began to build when it became obvious that she was posting her way through her 'vacation' leading the bad guys straight to us.
TBC…
A/N: Thank you all for your reviews! I posted one day early just for you First Generation Scot. Thanks for all your great reviews Vulcan Rider, Buddy's Babe, Angela Muller, trhodes09, shellbell78, the newest daughter, GarbonzoBeans, Babealways, aruvqan, baileygirl12. Candie Marie that was probably my shortest and yet my best review, Thanks! Thanks to all my guest reviewers too! They are all appreciated!
They found everybody safe and got them out of the park. Most importantly now Ranger has found the leak and who has been giving their location away. What to do with his sister now? Please read and review.
As always big THANK YOU to my beta Sassysaint.
Second Big THANK YOU to my sister, Jonelle. Thank you for fixing all my many little mistakes.
Ranger's Family Album
Mother's Mother – Abuela Rosa, Father's Mother – Abuela Sanja Manoso
Mother – Maria Father – Javier
Siblings and family in age order
Leyla (35) & Richard Gonzales– Rebecca (Becky) 12, Margaret (Maggie) 10, Richard (Ricky) 7, Michael (Mikie) 5
Angelia (34) & Jordan White – Shanna 5 – Kendrick (Ricky) 3
Ricardo Carlos Manoso (32)– Ranger
Julio Manoso (30) Ex Allysa – Jacob 2
Isabella (27) & Diego Diaz – Chris 8, Shylia 6, Parker 3
Oshanna Manoso (22)
Rachel & Ron – Julie 12, Fredrico (Freddie) 9, Cassandra (Cassie) 6
Trenton & Miami Merry Men Assignments (33 Men)
Abuela Sanja – Vince, Ian
Abuela Rosa – Manuel, Gavin
Maria – Erik, Francis
Leyla – Hal, Tony
Angelia – Woody, Dillion
Isabella – Cal, Red
Oshanna – Lester, Sport
Rachel – Eddie, Pace
Julie – Junior, Scott
Stephanie – Ranger, Marc, Tiger
Extra's – Bobby, Ram, Zero, Zip
Night's – Chet, Chester, Gino, Mario, Ryan, Ramon, Billy, Cade, Simon