Page 33 of Mace

She nodded, looking incredibly anxious. “Alright. What do you want to know?”

I turned the laptop around so she could see the text messages. I gave her minute to understand what she was looking at before asking, “Are you passing information to the feds about your father’s cartel dealings?”

Her eyes lifted from the screen to me, and I could see the worry etched on her pretty face. “Yes. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Maybe and maybe not. You wanna tell us what’s going on?”

She shrugged and launched into a long and detailed explanation. “My mother was always paranoid that my father would take me away from her. She’s American, I was born here too but he took us back to his hometown when I was two. She tried to make the best of her life, but she was always afraid that he might take me away,” she paused and looked at my club officers before continuing. “I know to you it sounds crazy, that no one could do that to another person, but you don’t know what life is like for us under the control of the cartels. We had no rights, we had no way to escape. So we made a plan.”

“A plan that involved the feds?” I asked calmly.

“Yeah. She told me that if my father ever took me to the US that he might try to traffic me.”

“She doesn’t trust your father at all, does she?”

“No. Only a complete idiot would trust Juan Ramirez. I’ve always been scared of him and his men, I spent my entire childhood trying to stay out of his line of sight.”

Storm spoke, his voice polite and coaxing, “Tell us about the plan you and your mother made.”

She glanced around nervously and began answering his question. “She told me that if he ever took me that I was to keep calling federal agencies and offering to trade information for protection until one of them took me up on it. That maybe that way I could get ICE or the Department of State to look into my case.”

I snapped the laptop closed. “This is all about you thinking you needed protection. You have me and my club protecting you. Why make a deal for what you already had?”

She reached out to move a strand of hair that was hanging over my eye and tucked it behind my ear. For the first time, I remembered that I left my hair loose.

“I made the deal with Marshals before I ever met you. When I first came to America, I was scared and didn’t know what my father had in mind for me. So, I followed the plan my mom came up with. The first federal agency I called jumped at the chance to work with me. It was my only way out, until I met you and you whisked me away to safety.”

It was Hacker who asked the next logical question. “So, why continue to communicate with the feds after Mace rescued you and you accepted protection by our club?”

Her head lifted to look across the room the room at him. “Mostly I did it for my mother, I was scared if she was left there, that my father would beat her as punishment for me leaving him. I assumed the feds would want to advocate on her behalf and see that she was rescued too. When I was with my father here and my mom was in Mexico, I wasn’t worried, but since I escaped…” she paused, and looked down at the floor before glancing at me. “How could I live happily ever after with Mace while my mom was still trapped in a living hell with my father? I needed safety for both of us, not just myself.”

I reached out to cover her hand with my own. “I volunteered to fetch your mother and bring her here, but you said no. Remember?”

“One of our main worries was us getting swept up in my father’s illegal activity if or when he gets arrested. My mom and I were never involved, but my father is a vindictive man. If he’s ever arrested, he won’t just leave us to our own devices. He’d want to make sure we’re locked us as well. He might marry me off, but he wouldn’t want anyone touching my mother. He’s honestly jealous enough to implicate her just so she’ll end up rotting away in a women’s prison somewhere. At the very least, he’ll say we’re accessories after the fact or something along those lines.”

“I promised to help you, Alicia. Our club could have gathered evidence to prove your innocence. I told you we were all in. I feel like there’s something you’re still not telling us that’ll make all this finally make sense.”

She nodded but her mouth snapped closed, and her head tilted back so far, she could look at the ceiling. She stayed that way, as if ignoring me and my club brothers would somehow make the question go away.

I gave her hand a squeeze. “Talk to me, sweetness. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

Rosie reached over and put her arm around Alicia. “Stop haranguing her. Give her a minute to think, damn it.”

A long silence spun out in the room as Rosie told Alicia to take as long as she needed. It took her a few minutes, but she finally brought her head back down to stare at me. “You… you’re too late. My father has already returned to Mexico. He’s beaten her again and is holding her prisoner just like he has for years. Only this time he’s punishing her for me escaping, my greatest fear has come true.”

She snapped her mouth closed as if she realized she’d been on a little rant but grudgingly added, “He told me to meet him when he returned to the US or he would hurt her every day that I didn’t show myself.”

Stone cold fury spiked in my chest and a long string of curses spilled out of my mouth. “It’s great that he’s bringing her to the States, that’s one less problem to deal with. Now, all we have to do is figure out where they are and rescue her.”

Thunder spoke up. “When are you due to meet him?”

“Two weeks’ time. I don’t want to go back but I can’t leave my mother in the lurch. And my handler is really pressuring me to link back up with my father. It’s the only way they’re gonna figure out where he is. They want him bad after those five gangmembers he killed. They have it in their mind that if they can nail him, they’ll not only bring down the cartel he’s working with, but he’ll give them information on the Latino gang he attacked.”

Thunder whistled, “Your handler is pretty fucking ambitious. If you’re not real careful he’s gonna keep pushing until you wind up dead.”

I saw a spike of panic surge in Alicia. Her hand started trembling beneath mine and her expression morphed into one of terror.

I took both her hands in mine and asked, “Why didn’t you come to me, darlin’? You know that I’d give my life to keep you safe.”

---