The Last Note (Mystical Marvels Mysteries Book 2)

by Claudette Cleveland

  The new arrivals drank and munched on the delicious food. Most of them even went back for seconds. All the while the girls explained the new information that they had attained either through Dottie’s psychic reading or Birdie’s hacking.

  “Aunt Birdie, you know you’re not supposed to do that. That could be traced back to Mr. Chavez here,” Brad told her.

  “No honey. When I signed on I used your IP address.”

  They all laughed as Brad rolled his eyes. “You still have that bail money don’t you?” This brought more laughter which felt good after such a tense day.

  “Have you ladies thought about starting your own international detective agency? I wouldn’t want you investigating me. Oh yeah, you did already,” Ricardo said making himself the brunt of the joke.

  “I hate to break up the party, but my men tell me that Bloomberg and Harry are not far behind you. Bloomberg picked up some of his thugs in Tucson and they’re armed. Shall we get you ladies upstairs out of harm’s way? Mother, could you show them to a safe place? Maria, you get the kitchen help and take cover in the cellar. Juan, get a couple of the boys to park the cars in the warehouse.”

  Lou questioned Ricardo after the women, except for Erin, had left, “Do you expect them to come in shooting?”

  “Bloomberg is not known for his patience and Harry is dumb enough to go along with him. Remember, they report to Richter, and if I remember right Richter has loyal soldiers everywhere. Erin said you brought some fire power with you?”

  “Yes, it’s in the back of the black SUV. Some hunting rifles and a couple of pistols. We can go get them,” Wade explained.

  “Might be a good idea. We’ll want a barrier between the women and them if they get past my men.”

  Wade got up. “Want to give me a hand Sean?”

  “Right behind you.”

  “Let’s hope we won’t need any of this, but it’s best to be prepared. Desperate people do desperate things and Harry has been desperate all his life. His father was even worse. My sister didn’t make the best choices in her life. We’ve tried to shield my niece from her father’s reputation. I’ve taken on the male role model for her.”

  Ricardo’s phone rang. “Okay, let Bloomberg and Harry in. Tell his men to stay outside the gate. Watch yourselves. They’re mean son of a bitches. They’d shoot their mother for a nickel. Place a couple of shooters in the trees just in case.”

  Lou stepped up and asked as Wade and Sean entered with the guns, “They’re here already?”

  “Yep. Sean, Brad, how about you two hide at the top of the stairs? Any of them start to come up shoot them and ask questions later. Here’s a knife in case one of them gets close.”

  “Got it.”

  “How about if Lou, Erin and I take the front door? Maybe I can talk them into leaving. Wade, you and Juan take the back. I’ve ordered two of my men to watch the sides. They’ll have to climb the enclosure wall to get in except for the gate in front.” Everyone took their positions.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The group downstairs waited for whatever if anything was going to happen. Upstairs in Sophia’s bedroom, which also had a sitting room, the five older ladies schemed.

  “Are we just going to sit here and not do anything?” Vi asked.

  “What do you suggest? We have no weapons. We don’t even have purses with fingernail files,” Birdie said sighing.

  “What were you going to do with a fingernail file?” Vi asked, sometimes wondering where Birdie’s mind wandered to.

  “Just saying. I broke a nail when they slammed me into the van and it’s irritating me.”

  Sophia spoke up, “Follow me ladies.” She led them to a walk-in closet with a safe room hidden in the back wall. Shoving some old clothes aside she pushed on a wood panel. Behind it was a room. She motioned for them to go in. There were racks of guns and knives on one wall. Some shelves held an array of tasers. Drawers were full of ammo. Hanging on another wall were bullet proof jackets.

  The ladies stood there with their mouths open. “Time’s a wasting ladies, suit up,” Sophia instructed.

  Vi found her voice and had to ask, “Why do you have all this?”

  “I married into a drug lord family even though my husband wasn’t a part of the business, his brother and father were. We were guilty by association. I learned how to defend my family just in case. As it turned out, it wasn’t enough. My husband was killed during a government raid. The people who were the guilty ones got away. My husband was a gentle and a somewhat naive man. After I buried him and moved here, I made a promise to myself that it would never happen again.”

  “Well, girls, you heard the lady. Suit up. We’ve got people to protect,” Vi directed while grabbing a vest. “Sophia, are there balconies on both sides and the back of the house?”

  “On both sides, none in the back, what do you have in mind?”

  “We can station two of us on balconies on either side of the house. Sean and Brad are at the top of the stairs, but no one is at the front of the house on the other side of the stairs. One of us should be there to give backup to the boys.”

  “I’ll do that,” Clara spoke up. They all looked at her surprised and her sudden show of aggression. “What? I’m a Mexican. Like Sophia said, we learn to do whatever it takes to keep ourselves and our family safe. Give me a pistol and one of those tasers. I always wanted to try one of these after I saw them on TV.”

  “Do these walkie talkies work?” Dottie asked.

  “Yes, here’s the batteries,” Sophie said handing them out like a platoon sergeant.

  “We ready ladies? Go to channel 4. When you get in position we’ll test them. Vi and me, we’re number one, Dottie and Birdie, you’re number two and Clara, you’re three. All set? Let’s go,” Sophia briefed. While Clara kept the boys distracted they quickly dashed into the other rooms with access to the balconies.

  “Mother, get in the room. What are you doing with that gun?” Sean asked, alarmed by his mother being dressed like a commando.

  “Defending myself and you. I’m just back up for you boys. I’ll be right behind that door up here. I’ll only come out if I think you need help.”

  The two men looked at each other and shrugged. “Well okay, but stay in that room.”

  “Of course son.”

  “One in place. Two in place.” There was silence. They waited. “Three in place. Boys gave me a hard time. Should we check in every 15 minutes unless something happens before that?” Clara asked. “Roger that, roger that,” they all replied.

  The girls sat in chairs and only ducked down behind the wall on the balconies when someone passed below. Number two heard a car coming down the drive. It stopped outside the wall that surrounded the hacienda at the front gate. They could not tell who it was from their location, because the front of the house could not be seen from the balconies.

  Dottie radioed Clara. “Can you see who just drove up, Clara?”

  “No, no one came through the front gate, but keep alert.”

  Another half hour went by. Nothing. They were on their third check in when Vi said in a whisper, “We’ve got two men running along the side of the building. We can’t see them clearly, but they could be Ricardo’s men getting in position.”

  “Stay down unless you see them trying to come up onto the balcony,” Dottie instructed.

  “It appears that they are heading for the warehouse,” Vi reported.

  “There’s voices down below. Now shouting,” Clara said into the walkie talkie. “Now, some shuffling and banging of furniture. I’m going to check on Sean and Brad.”

  At the end of each side of the house in the back were some stairs leading up to the long stretch of a balcony. Vi and Sophia heard someone quietly coming up the stairs. They stayed hidden until they could see who it was. The men’s heads broke above the solid three foot enclosure of the balcony, Sophia saw that they were not employees of her son. She came alert and mimed to Vi that they were not friendlies. Both women aimed their
weapons toward the approaching men as their feet first hit the surface of the balcony.

  “Don’t come any closer gentlemen. There are two guns pointed at you,” Sophia said as she raised up into view.

  The men smiled. “You better be careful ladies or you’ll hurt yourselves with those big bad guns. How about you lay them down and we won’t hurt you little old ladies.”

  That did it for Vi. “No one calls me a little old lady.” She aimed and shot one of them in the thigh.

  “We warned you,” the other one said as he aimed at Sophia.

  “And we asked you nicely,” Sophia said shooting him in the knee. His gun went flying as he grabbed his knee. “Get their guns while I cover you Vi.”

  Vi retrieved their weapons and slip tied their hands behind their backs. “This one you shot in the knee is bleeding pretty badly. Maybe I should get a towel and wrap it around his leg to stop it. What do you think?”

  “Go ahead, I’ll watch them.”

  Vi ran to the bathroom and grabbed two towels. She tied the one around the man’s knee as tight as she could. He winced and moaned. She took another slip tie and bound his ankles together. She did the same to the other man.

  Brad came running out onto the balcony. “Are you alright?” he asked. Looking at the two tied up men brought him to a sudden stop. “You shot them?”

  “Yes Brad, honey. Now get down in case their buddies come to see where they are.”

  “What’s going on downstairs?” Sophia asked. “Is everyone alright? Vi, you better check in with the other girls.”

  “This is number one. We have two bogies hogtied. Watch the stairs number two.”

  Looking at Brad who was speechless, Sophia asked, “Okay tell us about downstairs. Who drove up?”

  Brad was stunned speechless for a few moments. “Where did you get these guns, and Aunt Vi, when did you learn to shoot a gun?”

  “Carried one with me when we were on the road all the time. My first husband taught all us girls how to protect ourselves. Now tell us about downstairs.”

  “Harry and a thug came to the door. He threatened Erin and Ricardo. The thug tried to get a hold on Erin. She used her black belt skills and threw him across the room knocking over some furniture. He had a gun and knife on him, which she took. Ricardo told them to get out and not come back. They left, but I doubt for good.”

  “I would say not. They sent these two up the outside stairs to the balcony, which we figured they would. Do you have a gun, Brad?”

  “No, Sean has the gun they gave us. He knows how to shoot.”

  Vi handed him one of the guns she had gotten off the captured men. “Here hold onto this. They may be coming in force now, since Erin made them mad. Better get back to your post. Shouldn’t leave Sean there alone.”

  Brad shook his head as he went back to the top of the stairs. Standing at the bottom was Erin. “Everybody okay up there? We thought we heard gun shots coming from outside. Tell the girls to keep hidden.”

  Brad couldn’t say anything. He just nodded.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lou and Wade, stationed at the back door, had heard the gunfire as well. Wade ran toward the front door asking, “Everything alright? I thought I heard gunfire outside.”

  Erin yelled back to him, “Brad said the girls are safe and sound.”

  Night was slowly creeping into the area as the painted sky faded. The girls on the balconies traded their regular binoculars for the the night vision ones. They had to admit that Sophia was one prepared woman.

  Dottie whispered to Birdie, “I wonder if Ricardo knows his mother has a hidden arsenal in that sitting room off her bedroom?”

  Birdie smiled as she kept the binoculars pointed toward the stairs. “I doubt it. Remember how protective he was of his mother and how he babied her? It would deflate his manhood if he thought she didn’t need him. That’s ingrained into the Mexican culture … to protect their women.”

  “How do you think Lou would react if he knew what a crack shot you were?” Birdie asked her friend who was trained with a gun better than most FBI agents.

  “He would probably give me a lecture, so I have never told him. I don’t think they realize the dangerous places and situations we were in when we toured. Remember that place in downtown Detroit?”

  Birdie sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I even now have nightmares. That man had a knife at my throat. I still have a little scar where he nicked me.”

  “That took guts for Vi to shoot him when you pretended to faint. She blew off the side of his head.”

  “Trust me, I know. His brain matter was scattered all over me. He would have killed me. He was higher than a kite on something. I think the cops said it was heroin. He had already cut the throat of the guard at the stage door.”

  “Did you hear something?” Dottie whispered.

  Birdie nodded and pointed toward the stairs. She raised her hand and showed two fingers. On their guns were flashlights that at the moment were turned off. The two men crept up the stairs with no idea that two guns were pointed at them as their heads came into view. The girls waited until they were standing on the balcony before Dottie spoke. “That’s far enough gentlemen. Lay your guns down and no one will get hurt.”

  The men laughed and kept coming. “What you gonna do old lady? Hit me with your cane?”

  “No one calls me an old lady.” Dottie shot the gun out of his hand. It went flying across the hard surface of the balcony. The other thug aimed his gun at Dottie’s head and was about to pull the trigger when Birdie shot the arm that was holding the gun.

  “No one aims a gun at my friend,” Birdie said calmly. “Now drop that gun or you’ll have a matching hand to your friend’s.” The man dropped the gun. “Get down against this wall. Dottie you got the strip ties handy?”

  “Right here. Watch them while I tie them up. This one probably may have a bit of trouble shooting at ‘old ladies’ again. His hand looks pretty mangled.”

  “Radio the others so they know we’re alright and tell them we have two more,” Birdie said not taking her gun off them. They were huge men and the women knew that the guns had been the only equalizer.

  As Dottie was reporting in, Brad came running out onto the balcony. “What the … are you two alright?”

  “Sure honey,” his Aunt Birdie replied. “How is it downstairs? Any more ruckus?”

  “No and that has Erin worried. It’s too quiet.”

  “Yeah they’re planning something,” Birdie said. “We’ll keep checking the grounds. We’ve got night vision binoculars.”

  Again Brad shook his head and went back to his post at the top of the stairs.

  “This is three. We’ve got two sneaking around the side of the Hacienda toward you number two. Heads up. This pair has long guns of some kind.”

  “This is two. We’ve got our captives gagged. Roger the heads up.”

  “This is one. Ditto.”

  The two spotted the men with the long guns hiding in some trees, but they never came toward the stairs. Instead they aimed their guns at the windows on the second floor of the house and a loud blast resulted in the room filling with gas. It burst into flames immediately. Dottie and Birdie crawled toward the stairs. “They’ll shoot us if we try to go down and if we stay here we’ll probably burn to death,” Birdie stated. “Any ideas?”

  They thought a minute while the flames spread. “They’re too far away for our guns to reach them. Can you see where they are exactly through the glasses?”

  Birdie came up over the wall just enough to see. She spotted them just inside the hacienda wall in some trees before a bullet whizzed over the balcony.

  “This balcony covers the whole side of the house. Let’s make our way to the other end and see if one of the those rooms down there is not on fire,” Dottie offered. “What do you think?”

  “Worth a try. Getting a bit warm here.”

  They crawled to the next door. It too was on fire. Finally at the last door near th
e front of the house they found a room that was not consumed with flames. “The damn door’s locked and we can’t break that heavy sliding door glass,” Birdie observed.

  “Then we’ll have to break the handle. See anything strong enough?”

  “Even if we break the handle, that’s not going to undo the lock. Come here and take a look at this,” Birdie said as she looked down over the balcony wall.

  “What?” Dottie asked as she crawled toward her.

  “There’s a trellis with bougainvillea growing up it. We can climb down it and make our way to the front.”

  “Are you nuts? That’s a fifteen foot drop at least.”

  “Would you rather burn up or risk a broken leg?”

  “Oh, when you put it like that, all right lead the way. Take the walkie talkie so we can call for help if we need it.”

  They slowly climbed down the vine covered trellis. “I don’t remember bougainvilleas having this many thorns.” Dottie whispered.

  “Be quiet. I hear some footsteps.” They froze half way down, spotting a man walking toward them. He had not seen them as they stayed in the shadows above him. He had come from the back of the house and was creeping toward the front entry. Once he was past them, they continued to quietly climb the rest of the way down. As they made their way toward the front door in the dark, they recognized his form in the glow from the house’s interior lights in front of them, slithering along the side of the building.

  The girls closed the gap between them and the man. Birdie turned her gun around making the handle a weapon. “Cover me,” she mouthed. She hit the man on the side of the head as hard as she could, before he knew they were there. When he fell to the ground, she kicked the gun he carried from his hand. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her toward him so she hit him on the side of the head again. Dottie had kicked his gun further away. Birdie scurried back from him as he moaned.

  “Put the gun to his head while I slip tie him. Don’t hesitate to shoot him if he moves,” Birdie whispered angrily. “I’m going to have a bruise on that ankle he grabbed.”