Page 39 of Mace
“Well, that’s not gonna work for us. I’m willing to give you your merchandise back in exchange for Alicia’s mother.”
“You mean my wife. Hell the fuck no,cabron. I want my daughter back, not to give up my woman.”
“I’m afraid that’s the only deal on the table right now. Take it or leave it.”
“So, Alicia wants her mama, does she? How about this deal, you give me my merchandise, or I hurt the person you wish to save?”
Suddenly, he switched on his camera and pulled a woman with long blonde hair and clear green eyes into the frame. He tangled his fist in her hair and slammed her forward into something. I was moving towards Storm before I thought to stop myself. When he pulled her back into the frame, she had a bloody nose. Celt jerked me back and held onto me, whispering, “Don’t interfere, let Storm work the plan.”
“Are you going to comply with my demands or are you going to watch me destroy her?” he sneered.
“I’m not your fucking daughter,” Storm pointed out. “I don’t care if you hurt your wife. It’s nothing to me. Unfortunately, every time you hurt your wife, I’m gonna destroy some of your product.” He turned the phone around so the older man could see Hornet throwing handfuls of his drugs into theburn barrel. My club brother was wearing a respirator as he gleefully threw in the packages. We were all standing upwind, but to be honest I was a bit worried we weren’t far enough away from that shit.
“Stop it you idiot! Do you have any idea the value of what you just burned could fetch on the open market?”
“Don’t care,” Storm replied. “Our club isn’t into selling drugs or illegal weapons. That means if you don’t follow my directions exactly, they’re all gonna go up in flames and I’ll be turning over your weapons to the cops. They have a program for the disposal of junk weapons.”
The man tossed the woman aside and yelled, “My weapons are not fucking junk!”
“Well, they’re nothing to write home about either. Look, we’re willing to trade, but for every scratch and bruise on her body, I’m gonna burn a brick of your merchandise. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes,” he responded through gritted teeth.
“Good, I understand you’re supposed to be in town in the next couple of weeks. Let’s plan to meet at the same location you killed those gang members. The crime scene where you murdered five people will be last place the cops are likely to think you’ll be, right?”
“Yes, they don’t usually revisit crime scenes.” I could see the hatred glaring in his eyes, it was wild and a little unbalanced. Of course that could be because we were intent on taking his family away.
“Now, I want to talk to your wife.”
“Not a chance.”
Storm didn’t argue, he just turned the phone around and motioned for Hornet to burn some more of his shit.
Before Hornet could get it from the crate to the barrel, Ramirez croaked out, “Stop. Okay, you can talk to her. I don’t fucking care. Just stop burning my product.”
When he turned the phone around, Storm looked her in the eye and said, “Alicia sends her love. She’s safe. We’re coming for you, so be ready. Soon you’ll be safe and sound with your daughter in America. That’s our club’s vow to you.”
Before she could respond the phone went black and the call ended.
Hornet was the first one to speak. “Holy shit, boss. That was some hardcore shit right there.”
Celt ground out, “That fecker’s a dead man.”
I spoke up, “He’s mine. I don’t care about any of his men. But I’m gonna make damn sure he can’t ever come for Alicia or her mother again.”
Storm said the same thing we were all thinking. “This is one we handle ourselves. No cops before or after the event. We do them and dump them, it’s as simple as that.”
Grit, who had been standing back saying nothing, finally spoke. “This was a good plan. It worked perfectly. What we need is another good plan.”
Hacker jerked his head towards the back door. “We’d better get crackin’.”
We all walked solemnly into the clubhouse. Storm’s idea to use the man’s own drugs as leverage had been a smart one. But it was clear as day that Celt had been right about the drugs coming before anyone and anything else for the cartel. I don’t know why I was so surprised to see him casually bashing his wife’s face into the table that way. Maybe, because I’d never been exposed to domestic violence first-hand. I realized at that point what a blessing my upbringing had been, while at times my mom might have struggled after my dad died, she and my grandmother and all our people instilled into me a sense of right and wrong. A sense of honor.
The whole situation with Alicia’s family was fucked up as could be. The thought of her growing up with this man hovering around and abusing them was heart wrenching. I doubled down on my vow to make sure he never got within striking distance of Alicia ever again. I’d do whatever to took to keep her safe, I would even kill if it came down to it.
Chapter 15
Alicia