Page 7 of Fighting for Ella

The usual rushhe got when off on a mission with his team was lacking today.

If anything, Miguel would rather be anywhere but there.

Despite knowing the mountain of evidence against Ella, he couldn’t shake a sense that something wasn’t adding up.

Sure, the Prey guys had an explanation for why Ella would set up her friends and get them abducted when she already had the formula for the drug. Even if she had a grudge against them, and so far, no one seemed to be able to come up with a logical answer as to why she would have a grudge and what exactly the grudge would be, that didn't explain the three other Athena Team members own accounts of their kidnappings.

From Scarlett to Lucy to Cassie, all three women repeated versions of the same story. They’d been taken, imprisoned, and tortured into giving up the formula for the drug. If Raul had access to the formula through Ella, why torture them?

Why specifically torture them to get them to talk?

If it was just about revenge for some perceived slight that had Ella setting up the abductions, there was no need for Raul to try to get them to give up the formula. He still could have tortured them, but why was the man so intent on getting the formula if he already had it?

It didn't make sense.

Straight up didn't.

The theory that the abductions were because of a grudge Ella had against her teammates only worked if you just took her into consideration. As soon as you added Raul to the equation, the whole theory became as shaky as a stack of dominos.

And like dominoes, he felt that everything was about to come tumbling down.

Right now, though, it wasn’t his job to figure out if Ella was guilty of all the crimes she had been accused of. There were a few things that weren't up for debate. She had taken the Reactivator from a hidden safe inside a fridge in the lab. She had fled the country on a flight to Mexico. She had gotten off that flight and then disappeared.

With this new revelation about Ella, everyone at Prey had dropped what they were doing, and all energy and resources were focused on finding her. While he and his team had taken one of Prey’s private jets down to Mexico, every single one of Prey’s tech people was going over footage of the airport in Mexico, trying to find a glimpse of Ella so they could figure out where she was heading next.

And they’d found her.

The woman hadn't put on any disguise and hadn't even changed clothes from what she’d been wearing in the lab when she took the drug. She was seen exiting the building wearing her jeans and a pink hoodie that made her stand out. No hat, no glasses, the woman didn't even duck her head as she walkedeven though she had to know her image was being captured by CCTV cameras.

Why?

Prey was the best, a world-renowned company, she had worked for them for the past five years, so had to know they would be looking for her and even knew where to look. The ticket was in her name, she knew they knew where she was heading, yet she didn't take a single preventative measure to try to hide herself.

If he didn't know better, he would almost think that shewantedto be spotted.

Wait.

Did she?

Miguel was so confused. There was evidence that suggested for sure that Ella had stolen the drug, he wasn’t arguing with that, his problem was the why. Unlike everyone else, he wasn’t buying that she just up and decided to sell the drug and have her teammates horribly tortured. No way was he going to accept that until someone could give him a legitimate reason why she would want to do that.

If something didn't make sense, then chances were, it wasn’t true.

They were missing something here.

Ella was smart enough to cover her tracks and yet she wasn’t. She had brazenly taken the drug out of the lab and walked it through the building, knowing she would be captured on camera. She booked a ticket in her own name and made no attempts to hide her appearance, it felt like she was leading them on a journey, hoping they would follow along.

The only reason he could see that she would do that was if she needed help but was unable to ask for it.

She wanted Prey to know where she was, which seemed obvious to him even if it didn't to anyone else, and he wasn’t soldon the idea that someone hadn't threatened her or somebody she loved.

Sure, her family had been questioned and not a single one of them mentioned being threatened, but that didn't mean that Ella hadn't been told that the people she loved would be harmed if she didn't comply with orders.

Was that a real possibility?

Miguel believed it was, and he didn't think it was just because he thought the woman was hot and would have loved a shot at her.

There were plenty of women out there and given the development of his brother hooking up with Ella’s friend, he likely wouldn't have pursued her anyway.

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