by Tl Reeve
Alé Romero also wore his uniform askew. His shirt was tucked in, but it was three sizes too big. The top three buttons were open and below it was a grey tank top. Like Jamie, an identical tattoo of the number 18 covered Alé’s throat while a silver cross and black rosary had been tattooed along the sides of his neck. His pants, like his shirt, were three sizes too big and came to his knees, showing off a pair of white tube socks with black stripes. He also had on a pair of white and black Adidas. Alé’s file was different. He’d been picked up as an accomplice to a murder, something he swore up and down he had no part in. So much for gang integrity.
Instead of going to prison, the Los Angeles District Attorney cut Alé a deal. Turn states evidence and be relocated. The kid did and Jamie took him in.
Iliana Duran entered the room next, and Mateo choked. Her uniform was wholly inappropriate. Her skirt had been rolled up, exposing her long legs and the tattoos she had on her upper thighs. The white shirt she wore was tied at her midriff, exposing the black tear drop piercing at her belly button. She wore thigh-high black stockings, or maybe they were socks, Mateo couldn’t tell, and a pair of black and white Chuck Taylors. Like Alé, she wore a fitted jacket and her shirt was open to at least the fourth button, accentuating her breasts. She’d been the youngest of the group and the only girl as well. She’d been picked up on a minor infraction of being out after curfew, however what led to a more serious charge was her congregating with other known WVLS gang members.
Since Whittier began its injunction, it kept gang members from congregating together in hopes of culling the violence that plagued their streets. Being anywhere together with other known gang members after 10pm, came at a price. Having been found in possession of a knife, after curfew, came with a ten-year price tag Iliana had been reluctant to pay.
The final two members stepped into the room and the ragtag group didn’t quite fit together. Jacolbi Stewart, the only white kid of the group, had torn the sleeves of his shirt and his jacket off, exposing his fully tattooed arms. The corners of his lips were pierced along with his brow and ear. He didn’t tuck in his shirt and his tie hung from his collar. His wrists were covered in leather bracelets and cuffs, and he wore motorcycle boots. Like Alex, a silver chain had been clipped to his belt loop and went to his back pocket. Jacolbi’s father was one of the higher ups in the Vagos MC. The kid did odds and ends jobs for his father, desperate to patch in. Like the others, a job went bad and instead of the Vagos taking the fall, Jacolbi did. Everything about his record, up to a point, had been redacted and even Asher couldn’t view the whole unredacted report.
The last boy, Eito Wantanabe, was a little more put together. However, he added buttons and safety pins to his coat. He tucked in his white shirt and his tie had been tied properly. His pants were fitted, and his gold cuff links added a flare to his uniform. He also wore a pair of expensive loafers. He had black eight-gage studs in his ears and another piercing in the middle of his bottom lip. According to his file, he’d been in charge of a small gambling ring. He catered to high-school kids who were young and dumb. Before the small establishment was raided, it was estimated Eito had been worth over seven and a half million dollars. Now, not so much. And, since he’d been caught, his family disowned him, leaving GIP as his only family.
“This won’t work,” Mateo muttered under his breath.
“What’s that?” Alex glanced at Mateo.
“I said, this won’t work.” Mateo stood. “You’re supposed to blend in and protect Bex. Not scare her off.” Bex would be more apt to run after the situation with Los Trios. The team needed to change and tone it down. Blend in. Mateo glanced at Principal Kirk and if the look on his face was any indication, he was second guessing allowing Mateo and Asher run this little mission as well.
Asher placed his hand on Mateo’s shoulder. “Easy. We’ll get there.” He returned his attention to the team. “Since we’re all here now, why don’t you introduce yourselves?”
One by one, each team member introduced themselves then sat back down. There wasn’t a single connector for them, except they’d been in trouble with the law and their gang or family left them swinging in the wind. For this mission to be successful, they had to all work together, and Mateo wasn’t sure they could. Time would tell, of course, but for now, he had his doubts.
“Now, leave all of your bullshit and baggage at the door,” Asher said. “This mission is about protecting a student who’s not only valuable to us, but also the daughter of Raul Iniguez, leader of the Nieto Cartel based out of Juarez, Mexico.”
“What are we supposed to do with her?” Alé asked. “Be friends with her? Keep an eye on her?”
“Yes,” Mateo said. “We have her father under surveillance at the moment. If something should happen to her...”
After the raid on the club had gone sideways, Raul had been on the run. The minute he stepped back into the states, his movements were monitored. Then, he fell off the grid again. What worried Mateo the most, was the fact no one could be trusted around Bex and if the intel AJ and Thomas provided them was true, Bex was in grave danger from everyone.
AJ stepped forward. “Raul isn’t the man you or the cartel believes he is. He’s gotten sloppy and there is price out for him right now. However, the bounty is bigger for Bex and she has become our man focus.”
“Raul is still fucking powerful, though. He has money and friends, even if the cartels are turning their backs on him. At least now, we have a better idea of who is coming at him. The minute he finds out though, he will stop at nothing to take out the Los Trios Cartel and the Pueblo Cartel too. We have to stop this shit before Bex is injured or worse, something happens at this school.” Asher slapped the lights off then grabbed his laptop. “You need to understand what is going on here.” He pulled up photos of Bex and her father Raul on the projector. Then he showed them pictures of the building where Scotty, Hannah, and Christian were held. Then the after photos.
Mateo didn’t know if he would ever get used to how much danger Noah put himself into when he went on those stupid missions, but he was also saving lives. From the little Noah could tell them, the night Murray’s team saved Scotty, Hannah, and Christian, they also reunited at least ten missing people with their families. Unfortunately for as many as they reunited, there were families who’d never see their loved ever again.
“Mr. Iniguez sees his daughter as an asset and a liability. The second is his doing, the first is Bex’s intelligence. The intelligence we’ve gathered shows there are two main cartels ready to make a move and a secondary group.”
“Who?” Alé asked.
“A group of FLDS members. Their compound in Mexico also doubles as a walnut plantation,” AJ answered. “According to the intel we’ve gathered, the plan is to kidnap Bex, and marry her off to someone within the FLDS society. While there, they’ll do whatever it takes to extract Raul’s accounting data from her.
“However,” Thomas said, stepping forward. “If Raul sells her, as he did in the Emporio de Monstruo, like he’d done with others, Raul can protect his daughter.”
“Emporium of Monsters? What the fuck?” Iliana said.
Mateo nodded. “As you can see, the club has been destroyed. Ten people were saved others didn’t make it. However, we still have agents searching for more. Raul makes his money in sex trade, besides carrying drugs to the border. Which for Los Trios and Pueblo, could be seen as cutting into their territory. As it stands, with Raul’s dwindling ranking among other Cartel leaders, it’s the perfect time to go poaching.”
“What is-er-was it?” Jacolbi pipped up. “This Emporium of Monsters?”
“Freaks,” Alé said. “What kind, though?”
“Those who have disabilities,” Asher answered.
Scotty waved then signed, People like me.
Alex whistled. “We’ve heard of it. My father calls it, shēngbìng. It’s unnatural.”
“It is,” Asher agreed, “hence why we were trying to shut it all down before Los T
rios or Pueblo can get away with any of the merchandise and Bex.”
“This chick, Bex,” Iliana said. “What’s her deal? Why would her father do this if she’s his accountant?”
“Let’s start from the beginning,” Mateo said. “Raul didn’t want kids. According to the records given to us, he knocked a woman up anyways, and she had Bex. The woman had been one of his ‘freaks,’ and because she couldn’t care for Bex, Raul moved her here to Virginia far enough away from the cartels, and set her up with a shit life. From day one, Raul has browbeaten Bex to keep her under his thumb. Yet, she was also useful to him.”
“His books,” Eito said.
Mateo nodded. “As far as we can tell, she’s been doing them since she was five, never understand what she’d been doing other than adding and subtracting numbers. He’s kept her hidden for the most part, but the intel we’re receiving on a weekly basis, is that he’s going to move her as soon as she graduates from high school.”
“I don’t understand,” Iliana stated. “She’s done everything he asked. She’s even running his numbers. Why put her in the club?”
“She knows too much,” Asher said. “She’s becoming a liability to him.”
“She’s a weakness,” Alé added with a shrug. “In the cartel, anything seen as a weak spot is disposable. But, besides her math skills, what else makes her a freak?”
“Her father beat her so bad about a year and a half ago,” Mateo said, “she lost her leg in the process.”
“Wait.” Jacolbi held up his hand. “You’re telling us, this asshole Raul would have sold his daughter in his club after everything she’s done for him?”
Asher nodded. “It’s exactly what I’m telling you. With Emporio de Monstruo destroyed, we believe he’ll take her somewhere else and sell her a different way.”
“That’s where we come in,” AJ said. “We believe Los Trios has been working in connection with an FLDS faction in Mexico. They have three compounds in the US that we know of at this time. One in El Dorado, Texas, another in Colorado City, Arizona, and a new compound popped up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We believe they are part of a larger sex-trade organization shipping women back and forth across the border. If they are, and they get their hands on Bex, not only will she be lost forever, but it will create a war between the three cartels, causing untold deaths among the small communities surrounding the three cartels.
“So, we need to find Raul’s main operation outside of Mexico, protect Bex from her father, Los Trios Cartel, Pueblo Cartel, and find this other operation?” Eito prodded.
“Yes, we also believe she has information about her father which might bring the whole of the Nieto Cartel down, as well, making her even more valuable to Pueblo and Los Trios,” Asher stated. “All we want you five to do is befriend her. Keep tabs on her. Get her to talk. Any information she may relay to you, send it our way. I already have a different team in Arizona now trying to get information out of the FLDS compound.”
“Plus, we’ll be right behind you,” AJ said. “We’ll be listening at all times, running our own searches while you do the groundwork.”
“Also, I need you to protect her from the bullies,” Mateo added. “It sounds stupid but...”
“You should show them instead of telling them about the issues here. Remember, they have P.E. right now.” Asher pointed to the clock. “Use the time as a tour and give them a glimpse into the daily hell Bex encounters.”
“Great idea.” Mateo motioned for them to follow. “We’ll be back.”
“We’ve got time,” Asher said.
“How long you been a teacher?” Alex joined Mateo as they stepped out into the hall.
“Ten years or so,” Mateo said. “It’s what I like doing.”
“Bet you’re good at it, too,” he said.
“I like to think I am.” He led them down the hall to the right. “PE is set up for each grade level, but the juniors and seniors are in together. Bex usually has a pass when it comes to physical education, however on occasion, she likes to participate, especially when it’s volleyball day. Her doctors have assured us the activity is good for her and will help with her balance and strengthen her leg. However, those days, when she does participate, are the worst.” He pushed the door open on the gym just as Bex smacked the floor and the three bitches as Noah called them, Sasha, Valarie, and Marybeth stood over her laughing.
Bex picked herself up off the floor with a grimace while she checked the cast on her left arm. She clenched her hands then shook them out while throwing the girls the dirtiest look she could. The majority of the time, Bex would wait until the girls were out of sight before showing her displeasure but, since the kidnapping attempt, she’d been a little more on edge and a bit nervier. Sasha crossed her arms and stared down Bex while another girl, Tabitha, pushed into Bex when she got to her feet, sending her sprawling once more.
The gym erupted in laughter and Alé lunged forward. Mateo put his hand on the boy’s arm and shook his head. They couldn’t get involved. Not yet. Bex couldn’t see them all together. She couldn’t know who they were or how they came to be students at Princess Anne High School. She had to meet them on her own.
“Is it always like this?” Iliana hissed.
“Yes. Worse sometimes,” Mateo answered.
“No one does anything?” Jacolbi asked. “Not even the teachers?”
Mateo shook his head and pointed to the bullies of the high school. “Their parents are the top donors for the school.”
“Money makes the world go ‘round,” Eito said. “Typical.”
“Yes,” Mateo agreed. “It’s why we’re calling you in. You all have your set of skills. You all come from different walks of life. We need your abilities to blend in and keep her safe.” He guided them back down the hall to the conference room. “You don’t have to be friends right away with her. You don’t have to like her even when you do befriend her. Protecting her is the goal in this situation. Getting to her father is the second goal. I know you all have your lives back in Los Angeles, so let’s all agree to do our best with this mission, and then we’ll say our goodbyes, hopefully without Bex being the wiser.”
Alex glanced at the others before nodding. “We’ll do it.”
“Thank you.” Mateo pushed back into the conference room and joined Asher as the team took their seats. “Unfortunately, we have to talk about your uniforms.”
Iliana picked at her shirt. “What about them?”
“You can’t walk around as you are now. You stick out like sore thumbs. You need to blend in,” Asher said then pointed to Alé. “You need to shave.”
“Fuck that, old man,” Alé said. “I look like a baby without this.”
“You are in high school,” Mateo added. “You should look like a kid.”
“Fuck this is brutal,” Alé replied with a sigh. “Any of you laugh at me and I’ll kick your ass.”
“We hope it’s only for a couple of weeks, then you can grow a fucking beard if you want to,” Asher snapped. “Until then, shave.”
Jacolbi laughed. “Anything else?”
Mateo shook his head. “We have files on Bex for each of you to go over. You’ll meet with me in the morning to receive your final instructions and your schedules.”
“As of now, the high school disavows any knowledge of this mission. If something should happen, you’re all on your own,” Mr. Kirk, the principal said.
“We understand,” Mateo answered. “We’ll accept responsibility for everything.”
“It’s on the government’s tab, anyway. Plus, you’re taking Raul’s money as well.” Asher gave the principal a pointed look before giving his attention back to the team. “You’re all dismissed. Mateo and I will see you again at 0730 tomorrow.”
Mateo glanced at Asher and wondered, not for the first time, if they’d made a mistake bringing in a group of troublemakers to help with Bex as Jamie and their new team filed out of the conference room. “Well?”
Asher shrugged
. “Growing pains for sure, but they’ll do it. They’ll keep Bex safe. They know the reasons why they’re here and they understand what it’s like to be the castoff.”
He nodded. “Alé seemed eager to help when he saw what Bex deals with.”
“He’s the key then. As long as one of them is willing to step into the fire, the others will follow. Now, we have to sit back and watch.” Asher gathered up his stuff then started for the door. “We’ll give Noah a rundown of everything when we get back to base.”
“I appreciate it. Have Noah meet me here at four. I have disciplinary committee at three.”
Asher grunted. “Will do.”
“Thanks.” Mateo turned to walk out the door when Asher called out to him, stopping him mid-stride.
“You did good today,” Asher said. “I’m sure Noah will reward you later.”
Mateo busted out laughing. “Thanks for breaking the ice, asshole.”
Asher grinned. “Now you’re getting the hang of it. Good luck.”
He nodded. “Thanks.” He was going to need it. But, at least he’d have his husband and R.O.O.T to support him. Because, he had a feeling, when the dust settled on this mission, they were going to uncover a bigger syndicate than they realized or were capable of containing.
Epilogue
One week later...
Bex Iniguez stared at her reflection in the mirror of her high-school bathroom. She hated it there. Technically, she hated it everywhere. She didn’t fit in. She wasn’t like everyone else. She had quirks and blemishes. She had a fake leg and a shitty sense of balance. She didn’t talk much because she had a stutter and more than anything, even when she could talk, people made fun of her.
