WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT WHEN CARMA'S INVOLVED?

CUATRO

RETURNING TO THE PRESENT.....

Collecting my printouts, I locked up the office and went home. Padre has been trying to nail the gang with anything its members have been accused of and charged with since I was around seven years old. There is a good heart inside of Padre, but for me, it’s as black as coal. I can’t be positive of the actual reasons why he does some of the things he does, or if they are done using legal measures, but he manages to win. Except when the charges are against this gang.

Marco Rodriguez is now the alleged leader of Padres de las calles. Details from officers deep undercover have been less than helpful and informative. No one knows where orders are coming from or who is giving them. Drugs are coming in and being distributed. Money flow is not a problem. Marco is a man I became acquainted with when I was a little girl, and he’s been a hated man by me ever since. Before today, I never knew his last name. Though I never forgot his face.

As I read on, I learned operation AWOL has been in full swing for almost three years. The only useful piece of information has recently been gathered. If it is true, then the missing women are used during initiations of new recruits or those looking to move up the food chain. One hundred and fifty-seven women were reported missing within a four-hundred-mile stretch. One thing the women have in common is taking off without sharing their destination. Families and friends claim it’s unlike them. It wasn’t only the women missing, so were their cars. Cell phones were unable to be tracked due to being shut off or possibly destroyed. Credit cards and ATM cards were never used or found. It’s as if a magician made them disappear into oblivion.

Umberto Diaz, another sick fck I had the displeasure of meeting. He’s the unofficial hitman of the gang. It’s said he’s the one who takes pride in each task and never questions his orders. A few wrinkles around the eyes did not change his features. His right ear has a chunk missing. My guess is a last-ditch effort from one of his victims to save themselves. Like most of the gang members, Umberto doesn’t have a criminal record. Arrests? There were plenty. Which makes me wonder how authorities know he’s an enforcer for the gang. Surveillance photos have never caught him in the act of anything criminal.

Rodrico Alonso is described as quiet and shy, but do not, under any circumstances, piss him off. His record is full of assault and battery charges. All but four have been dropped for various reasons ranging from the victims not showing up to court, or them dropping the charges, and in three cases, the victims disappeared.

The memo is from the gang task force. Two of their undercover officers could be in danger and ‘MIKEY’ is certain he saw one of the missing women recently. Unfortunately, five women whose bodies have been found dumped in remote areas are not believed to be linked to the gang. Yet, their names have been added to the case. Angelique’s name was there as well. I believe Padre knows the women are connected with the gang's sickening activities.

Keeping my rage under control was difficult as I continued to read about the heinous acts the gang is accused of committing. Jacking cars, making and distributing drugs, murder, torture, r*pe. The list went on and on. A few suspected members were squeaky clean, others not so much. Known members didn’t hide in the shadows, they had lengthy records, and since operation AWOL started, there hasn’t been anything concrete to break the gang up and send them to the concrete shoeboxes they deserved to die in.

The next morning, I spent hours scouring the internet looking for answers to my random questions. Sure, it would be easier if I had a friend on the force to help me out, but then that would out me and what I’m doing needs to stay between me, myself, and I.

“No, Mr. Winston. You do not seem to get it. Your client has unpaid fines from OSHA. The machinery was not up to their standards. Had the proper repairs been made, my client would not have lost his arm. No matter how you want to spin it, liability falls on the company. Unless you want to make an offer, we are through.” After all the meetings and phone calls, you would think he already knew playing games with me was not something I would allow.

“Miss Sanchez, you have a visitor, but they are refusing to tell me who they are.” I am expecting Román. Why wouldn’t he give his name to Rosa?

“It’s fine. Send ‘em on in.”

I was too busy looking for a file, but I heard the door open and close. I turned around, open file covering my face, not paying attention. The gasp made me look up. Her hands covered her nose and mouth and her eyes watered.

“What are you doing here? I was expecting your dad.”

“Harmoney, no. Is that why you ran?” She pointed to the obvious growth on my body.

“Your father wanted me gone, to protect weasel boy. When I left, I swear I did not know. There was no reason to assume either. Two months later, and after seeing Alixxander on TMZ with his new girlfriend, is when I found out. He moved on. I was not looking to disrupt his life.”

“Look, I know he caused you unimaginable grief. Is it fair to keep his child a secret? He would want to know no matter how things ended.”

Yep, I’m expecting. It’s a very long and dramatic story in my life and, in the end, I question whether I made the right choices. How about if I tell you about that time in my life before we venture further into the present?

RETURN TO THE PAST......

Having Alixxander visit my humble abode turned me into a neurotic mess. I can’t tell you how many times I cleaned the same surfaces. No specific arrival time was given. That ate away at me as well. At ten to eight, Alixxander was a no show, so I figured I’d go for a run to clear my crowded mind.

Heading outside, I paced the porch, granting Alixxander more time. Passersby gave me all kinds of weird looks. Like they had not seen a chunky chica in sweats before. Another fifteen minutes ticked slowly by, and I gave up waiting. His work and cell numbers were upstairs, but that was a fine line. I was nowhere ready to walk it so soon. Jogging down the stairs, I looked up and down the street and there wasn't a soul around. I figured fck it. It was time to give up, he wasn't coming. Foregoing my run, I turned to the locked outside door when I heard a man's voice behind me.

“Going somewhere?” Scared the fcking sh*t out of me. I spun around, grabbing at my chest, not realizing my other hand was there already. “Hey relax. It's me, Alixx.”

He thoroughly scared me for reasons I thought were dealt with. So much so, my heart felt like it shot up to my throat. When speaking to Alixxander I address him properly, he pretended we were friends and insisted I call him by his first name. We were barely colleagues and I insisted we should address each other properly and respectfully. It’s disrespectful not to anyway. Trying to make small talk, he noticed my running attire and asked if I was headed out.

My heart continued to pound faster than my fastest sprint. Maybe once my heart returned to its normal rhythm I would go for a run. Wanting to just talk, he climbed two stairs, then extended his arm, waiting for me to take his hand. I agreed to talk but refused the gesture of help. What did he not understand about appropriateness? We knew nothing about each other, so we had nothing to talk about. My heartbeat unhurriedly returned to normal as we sat silently looking all around, avoiding each other. I became bored, so I played with my keys. Placing each blade between my fingers, I made a fist. It is a self-defense move Abuelo taught me when I was eight. I carried around a useless set of keys as a weapon.

“There aren't many women that know that trick.”

Considering I was a single woman in a strange place learning the layout of the city. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? Alixxander became interested in my singleness. I told him no husband or family. I never said no boy/girlfriend. There was someone, but the relationship ended shortly before I took Román’s very generous offer. It ended badly, but I knew to tread carefully when it came to the details I chose to share. I was worried about being fired if they found out about my s*xual preference. Discrimination is one thing that never goes out of style.

To avoid an awkward situation, I simply told him my ex refused to accept it. Humanity is never satisfied with the answers they receive. I attribute it to the fact that most tend to lie, making them unnaturally suspicious of everyone else. Alixxander proceeded to ask how I got out. Not wanting to talk about him, her, he, she, they, or them, he realized that and was kind enough to apologize for prying into my personal life. Even today, I wish to forget my old life ever existed for good reason.

“Can you answer one question for me?”

Dropping my head and giving him the side eye, I said, “Depends.”

“It took you all of what, twenty-four hours to accept my dad's offer? Why?”

Taking into consideration how well-known and respected Román Savage was, twenty-four hours was far longer than any sane person needed to accept the offer extended to me. Before I accepted, extra research needed to be done, as well as some digging into the employees. Consider it a personal requirement. A few scandalous affairs took place, but nothing nefarious about their work ethics.

My family aided in a faster decision as well. Most of all, I wanted to be out of Padre's shadow. Going head-to-head with him showed me who he truly was, and I did not care one bit for it. Never mind how he treated me after the incident. Other issues started to arise as well. I can’t believe I wanted to be exactly like him when I was a little girl. At a too young age, I wanted to be less like him when I found out money was all that mattered to him. It took me far too long to realize the word ‘money’ is in my name on purpose.