Day Six:
Thursday, July 13th
La Jolla Reservation, California and Tijuana, Mexico
Bella
My boys had destroyed the cartel in a matter of twenty minutes and had caused a massacre that Alex, Jaime, and Lado hadn't seen before. It was unprecedented. It was a massive loss of men and money and it was the last thing they needed.
Elena would not take the news well.
Lado took it all in stride. He expected men to fall. That was the business. He even expected to know some of them.
He uncovered a man who a bullet to the face. Pedro. A drunk, he thought, and no family.
However, as Lado continued to examine the men, he recognized Emanuel and Jose. Those poor carbon's had wives and kids. That complicated things. He hadn't inspected the rest but assumed much the same.
"Hernando heard Gigi say they were wearing Santa Muerte masks," Alex said. Lado was only half-listening; he was more interested in the Starbucks Frappuccino he was sipping on. "They were tall. He thinks he saw two."
Two? Lado thought, was Alex blind? He ignored that assumption. The one thing Lado hated was getting secondhand information and preferred to hear it from the horse's mouth. "Hernando!" he called.
Hernando, a few feet away, lifted his head. "Yeah?"
"How many people do you think were involved in this?"
Hernando didn't even have to think about it. "At least five, maybe six," he said.
Lado leveled his eyes to Alex. "What makes you say that?" He asked Hernando.
"There are three locations," Hernando said. "Almost at the same time. And they ditched the GPSs." He handed Lado a small piece of black debris.
Lado asked, "What's this?"
"That's an improvised explosive device. IED. It's from Iraq. The Taliban use them to blow up güero armor."
"Iraq? Who the fuck...," he said, immediately suspecting my boys. He knew Edward was a SEAL and had done several tours in the Middle East.
But Alex didn't think so. "El Azul's been hiring ex-soldiers," he said. "Probably Mexican demolition guys from the Yankee army."
"You don't know that," Lado said. In fact. Lado knew that not to be true because Lado, the two-timer, was in cohoots with El Azul. "Hernando," he gestured toward the piles of bodies. "Bury them like men, whatever's left. Money to their families."
Hernando nodded and exited stage right.
Alex asked, "What do we tell Elena?"
"That we know shit. Nothing," Lado said as he sipped his frappuccino.
Alex was stressed and rubbed his forehead. "She's going to get really upset if we don't tell her anything and she reads about it in the papers."
"Oh, shut the fuck up," Lado snapped. Alex was a pussy who thought he had a chance with her. Lado was the only one who had tasted her. "I'm the one who knows Elena."
And he was rather possessive.
Lado said, "Let me handle it."
Alex coughed and threw up his hands. "Fine!"
Lado fingered the debris from the IED and thought about my boys again. He knew it was them, but how to get the proof.
He nodded over to Alex. "You going to talk to the güeros tomorrow?"
Alex asked, "You think we should?"
Lado didn't even respond to Alex's weakness and uncertainty. "I'm coming with you."
Meanwhile, Elena was in Tijuana enjoying foot rubs and a lavish lifestyle. The only thing she missed was her daughter, Magda. She was attending college in Laguna. Can you believe that? The same daughter that Dennis said was dead.
Sneaky bastard, that one.
"Caesar!" Elena hollered at the assistant.
She was in her massive lounge room - you know the one. The one with the marble fireplace and the crystal chandeliers. Caesar entered through the arched doorway carrying a laptop.
"Si, señorita?" he asked.
"Has Magda called?" she asked.
Caesar frowned slightly at the sadness in her voice. "No, Madrina. But, I have a..."
"What?" She snapped.
Caesar cleared his throat and set the laptop on the table in front of Elena. "I have this girl that keeps insisting to talk to you."
Elena sighed wearily. I had been a thorn in her side since day one, but she liked my tenacity. It reminded her of herself and that made her chuckle.
"My daughter doesn't want to talk to me, but this one does. Put it on."
Caesar tapped the screen, and a window popped open. There I was, looking worn and desperate. From my point of view, Elena hid her face and voice.
"You have a request?"
Esteban has come through for me. He talked to anyone who would listen and kept it hidden from Lado. That wasn't an easy feat and Esteban took a risk by doing so. The only way any of it was possible, I think, was that my boys were causing so much ruckus and focused Lado's attention elsewhere.
"Yes, I'd like to speak to the man in charge, please," I said.
Elena giggled. How often did people assume she was a man? She gestured for Caesar to turn the camera on.
I was stunned when she came on screen. Elena was gorgeous. She had russet skin, shiny black hair, and big, beautiful brown eyes. It stopped my brain for a moment. This was the monster who took me?
All prior threat to me felt nonexistent, and maybe that was my inherited misogyny, but I couldn't see a woman being as brutal and heartless as a man.
"Yes."
"Oh! I'm sorry." I smiled, a bit embarrassed but also impressed.
"Has Esteban not been providing the essentials."
He stood behind me as an ally, and I knew without his help and kindness, I would have been lost. The one thing I needed more than anything right now was someone there for me.
"No, him, he did. I'm sorry, I'm just having some concentration problems, and I was hoping maybe I could get a little something to take the edge off," I said.
"The edge off? What's the matter? Is it that time of the month?" She asked with condescending tone.
My eyes narrowed, and I spoke in my best Edward voice. "I mean the stuff we're all killing each other over."
"Oooh, I see," said Elena as she leaned back onto her couch and placed her hands behind her head. "May I ask you how long have you been using, Isabella?"
I scoffed. "Since the eighth grade."
That was the first time I used, and that shit was swag. Now, since I've been using Jasper's primo? For about eight years - God, it had been only two, maybe three days, but felt like years, and I fucking missed it.
Elena laughed. "And you're wondering why you have concentration problems? Do your parents know?"
"They didn't care."
Elena thought about it for a second, and though she might not have been with being ignored, something clicked, and her eyes filled with sympathy for me.
Her voice softened. "All right. I can arrange something."
Thanks for reading!