“Baby, I know it hurts, but I have to get rid of this condom.”
“Please don’t leave me yet. Feels so good.” She looked up at him through her long lashes and he saw the beginnings of a smile and he felt the most profound sense of relief of his entire life. He pulled out the rest of the way and made his way to the bathroom. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he was amazed at the grin on his face. He shook his head and headed back into the bedroom to find Isabella sound asleep. Caleb was sporting an almost identical grin on his face. They had finally found her.
Chapter 10
It was the middle of the night when they got a call from the Hutchins that there was a problem with the Velarde children. A spry retired couple, Butch and Betty Hutchins had fostered many children over the years. With three extra bedrooms in their home, they had insisted on taking the five Velarde children.
Sheriff Charlie Meade had questioned Carmen and Victor about their older brother Pedro last night. He was doubtful that a rival gang had been involved in kidnapping Pedro, suspecting that Pedro’s gang had been behind the plot all along. When Carmen and Victor defended their older brother, Charlie continued questioning them strongly until Butch finally called a stop to it. It was clear that the kids were shaken, but since most of the conversation had taken place in Spanish, Butch and Betty were in the dark as to the details. They tried to find out what was said, but Carmen and Victor weren’t talking.
Butch woke a few moments ago to the sound of Carmen driving his car out of the driveway. A quick peek out their bedroom window verified what he’d heard and further revealed Victor riding shotgun. He didn’t want to call Charlie. Instead, he called Leif and Caleb. By the time the three of them arrived at the Hutchins house, everyone was up. Anna, Lupe and Maria, ages seven, six and five, were the youngest of the girls and all three were crying. They all spoke English but as soon as they saw Isabella, they crowded around her speaking in a torrent of Spanish. Isabella picked up the youngest, Maria.
Caleb left his discussion with Leif and Butch to help Isabella, plucking Maria from Isabella’s arms.
“Honey girl, Miss Issy has a hurt leg. Can I hold you while she talks to you?” He spoke slowly, knowing that Maria’s interrupted sleep combined with her confusion and tears would interfere with her English language processing. She took a moment, and then nodded. He vaguely remembered seeing Maria while repairing the school, and he knew that the younger students always referred to Isabella as Miss Issy.
“I ’member you from school.” She patted his face. God, she was a living doll. Isabella gave him a long look. Caleb was good at reading looks and this one told him that Isabella didn’t know whether she liked Caleb taking Maria from her or not.
Another of the girls came up and tucked her hand into Isabella’s. “You had to go to the hospital, didn’t you?” Caleb was impressed that the girls immediately started to speak English in deference to his presence.
“Yes, I did.”
“Why don’t you sit down? That way Maria can sit in your lap.” Isabella gave Caleb another one of those looks. He was beginning to understand her unspoken communications. They weren’t the normal smirks he was used to getting from other women. Isabella gave Caleb the cool assessing looks that told him she was seeing to the heart of his motives. Caleb had no problem with Isabella seeing his motives. They would always be in pursuit of her best interests.
The girl holding Isabella’s hand tugged her to one of the kitchen chairs and Isabella took a seat. Caleb was just glad that all the tears seemed to have dried up.
“Do you want to sit down on Miss Issy’s lap?” he asked Maria.
“Nope, stay up high.” She smiled at him. God, she was going to be a heartbreaker. This time, Isabella did smirk at him. He was happy to get any kind of positive response from Maria. He knew how upset she was about Carmen and Victor running away.
Caleb saw Leif approaching. The seven-year-old girl, Anna, stopped him, and he bent down to talk to her. Both Leif and Caleb occasionally acted as recess monitors at school, so the remaining Velarde girls were familiar with them. Though Leif’s demeanor often seemed cold to adults, he was always very warm with the kids, so Caleb wasn’t surprised when Anna decided to talk to him.
“Carmen will take care of Victor, Mr. Leif, you don’t have to worry. She drives the car for my Papa, too.” What was it with these Hispanic girls? Did they all believe that were they could take on the world, or had he just landed among a special breed?
Leif picked up Anna. “I know Carmen is very smart and so is Victor. But Mr. Caleb and I want to help them.” Caleb looked around the kitchen and caught Betty’s smile. She winked at him. Caleb was startled. Was he reading her mind, or was she reading his? He couldn’t help seeing Leif, Isabella and himself each holding a sweet little girl in a vision of them wrangling a tribe of their own.
“What, honey girl?” Caleb realized that Maria had been talking to him.
“You’s going to cub house?” He walked over to Isabella, hoping she could make better sense of what Maria was saying. Meanwhile, Anna scrambled out of Leif’s arms and was making a grab for her youngest sister.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just tired,” Anna interjected.
Leif, Caleb and Isabella looked at one another, and then looked at Maria. Obviously, the girl had something to share that Anna didn’t want them to know. Isabella spoke quickly to the young girl in Spanish while Anna attempted to shush her sister. Maria buried her head in Caleb’s neck, so he caressed the back of her head.
“Maria, we just want to help your brothers and sister. I know Anna is trying to do that, too. But we know how to stop bad guys if your brothers and sister are in trouble. So can you tell us about the cub house?” He kept stroking the baby’s head. God, she was tiny. Finally, he felt Maria nod her head. She turned around and said something in Spanish to her sister, and then spoke rapidly to Isabella. She repeated casino de Tres Craneos a few times. Even with his limited Spanish, he understood that Tres Craneos meant three skulls, which didn’t sound good at all.
Leif came over and knelt in front of Anna, who looked devastated. “Anna, you know we only want to help your family, don’t you?”
The little girl in the pink pajamas looked at Leif and finally nodded her head.
“Mr. Caleb and I were in the army. We know how to protect and help people. That’s what we were trained to do.”
“Are you going to find our Mama and Papa?” It amazed Caleb how the dynamics changed, now that Anna was the oldest Velarde child there. She was working so hard not to cry, to be a good role model for her younger sisters, as she asked about her beloved parents.
“Yes, we’re working to find all of your family. But finding Victor and Carmen will help us find your parents. So can you tell us more than what Maria just told us?” Leif’s voice was calm and respectful. Caleb noticed that it seemed to do the trick.
“They went to find Pedro’s old compadres. They belong to a club, the Tres Craneos. The three heads?” She looked over to Isabella for help.
“The Three Skulls. Is that the name of the gang that Pedro joined, Anna?”
“Si! The Three Skulls. Victor thinks he knows where their clubhouse is, so Carmen was going to drive there to find Pedro.” Caleb was glad he hadn’t eaten anything that morning. He might have thrown it up. The idea of those kids trying to go to gang headquarters to find the whereabouts of their brother scared the bejesus out of him.
“Anna, this is important. Did they tell you, or do you know where the clubhouse is?” Leif asked evenly. All the adults watched Anna intently, while pretending not to.
“They didn’t tell me where the clubhouse is, but Pedro told me that it was Tito’s dad’s Grange.” Now that Anna was talking, she was feeling more comfortable. “Tito is really nice. He once took us for ice cream. I didn’t like his friend Sammy. He seemed really mean. Sammy showed us his play guns and then Pedro told us we couldn’t go with Tito ever again, but I really wanted to because I got to have mint c
ream.” Caleb kept a smile plastered on his face, veiling his concern from the children to keep them talking.
“I had ’nilla cream,” Maria piped up.
“I had strawberry,” Lupe said from Isabella’s lap. “Tito said it was the same place his daddy took him for ice cream when he was little, cause it was cross the street from his garage.”
“Sammy had scary pictures on his arm.” Maria hid her head in Caleb’s neck, and he rocked her.
“Those weren’t pictures, those were tattoos,” Anna said knowingly. She turned to Leif and said, “The tattoos were of three craneos, I mean skulls.”
“Anna, do you think Carmen and Victor might have gone to Tito’s Dad’s garage to find Pedro?” All of the adults in the room watched as Anna considered the question.
“I don’t know for sure. But Victor went for ice cream, too, so he knows about Tito’s dad’s garage. I hope he didn’t go there because Sammy might be there.” Anna’s lower lip began to tremble, and Leif swooped her up into a quick hug.
“You did great, Anna. We’ll go see if we can find them before they meet up with Sammy. How does that sound?”
“Really good, Mr. Leif.”
“Anna, is there anything else you can remember about the ice cream parlor or the garage? Did you see a name on the store or anything like that? Any pictures on the windows?” The little girl shook her head sadly.
Butch and Betty came over and took Anna and Maria from their arms. “Come on, Lupe,” Betty said, holding out her hand to the little girl sitting on Isabella’s lap. “We need to get you girls back into bed.”
“When will Carmen and Victor be back?” Lupe asked Betty.
“The sooner we can let Mr. Leif and Mr. Caleb go look for them, the sooner they can come back.”
Caleb watched as Betty easily managed the girls down the hall toward their bedroom. He hoped Butch and Betty could manage Isabella that well after he and Leif asked her to stay with the Hutchins while they looked for Victor and Carmen.
Betty and Lupe came back into the kitchen.
“Lupe has something to tell you.”
“Yes, Lupita, what did you want to tell us?” Isabella asked the little girl.
“I remember we walked on a street with the same name as our school! We had to walk on that street a long time to get our ice cream. Does that help?”
“Was the name of the street Cesar Chavez?” Isabella asked.
“No, just Chavez. Does that help?” The girl was on her tiptoes with excitement. Isabella bent down and gave her a big hug. “You helped a whole lot, Lupita!”
“And now you have to go to bed.” Butch came up from behind, sweeping the giggling girl high into his arms and up onto his shoulders to carry her back toward the bedroom.
“Do you think I should call Charlie?” Betty asked them.
“Charlie fucked things up enough for one night, don’t you think?” Caleb asked, keeping his voice as light as he could. It was tough considering how pissed he was at his friend. Didn’t Charlie realize that he’d terrified those kids when he came in and questioned them?
“I suppose you’re right,” Betty agreed. “Isabella, shouldn’t you be using both crutches, not just one, honey?” The more he saw of Betty Hutchins, the better Caleb liked her. He waited to hear Isabella’s answer to that question.
“I got a bruise under my arm, so it hurts to use the other crutch.” Caleb and Leif both looked at Isabella in surprise. She hadn’t complained before when they had insisted she use both crutches. However, they hadn’t thought to ask why she preferred using only one. Caleb caught Leif’s eye and was relieved to see they were in agreement. They wouldn’t bring it up now, but Isabella was definitely going to answer for this when they were alone. Neglecting herself to the point of pain was never an option.
“Well, at the very least, you should be sitting down with your leg up,” Betty admonished as she pulled out the kitchen chair that Isabella had just vacated. Butch retrieved a pillow from the living room to put onto another chair, so that she could comfortably rest her leg.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble, Butch. I’m leaving.” Caleb wasn’t surprised that she thought that. He looked at Leif and saw that somehow it was his turn to deliver the bad news. Didn’t matter, since he was keeping track and Leif was definitely going to be on point the next go around.
“Bella, you need to stay here. Leif and I are going to go alone.” Isabella’s face held the impassive expression he was coming to know well. Caleb waited for her to process.
“Why have you decided not to take me?” Her tone sounded merely curious.
“We’re anticipating that it is going to be a dangerous situation. We don’t want you to get hurt. With your leg, it’s possible you will slow us down and be a liability.” He didn’t want to tell her the last part, but it was true. He had really considered taking her with them. She would be able to speak the language and she might be able to diffuse a tense situation. He was confident that under normal circumstances, he and Leif could protect her, but her injured leg brought too much additional risk.
Again, Isabella took her time digesting the information. Finally, she nodded and turned to Betty. “I don’t need to stay here. They can drop me off at their house.”
“It’s no bother. I would be getting up in another half hour anyway. This way you can keep me company. I would love to hear more about the school where you teach. All of the children have talked about it.” Isabella smiled and Caleb knew he was off the hook.
* * * *
Good for nothing Caleb always got off easy to Leif’s way of thinking. Caleb used to joke that he was really black Irish and that was the reason for all his charm and luck. Leif knew that when it was his turn to confront Isabella on something he was going to be stuck with a fight. When Caleb pretended to make a play for the driver’s seat, Leif jerked his chin toward the passenger seat and the bastard just laughed.
As soon as they got onto the freeway, Caleb opened up the console in the middle of the truck, and unlocked the false bottom that contained their weapons and tactical supplies. They’d been carrying guns since leaving the house. It didn’t hurt to have a back-up plan, when going into a situation like this, though. He prayed that gunplay wouldn’t be necessary since Carmen and Victor were in the middle of this mess. As he thought that, he pressed down harder on the accelerator. He didn’t hide his satisfaction when Caleb had to hold on as he sped down the freeway toward Snoqualt. He made it to the little town in record time.
“If you take a right here, we should be three blocks away from a paint and auto body shop and an ice cream parlor. I’d say that’s our target.” Leif found an alley to back his truck into, so that they could make a fast getaway. He and Caleb had worn black jeans and black shirts to Butch and Betty’s. Anytime they got a call in the middle of the night, they always wore dark clothing. Once again, their former military training dictated this habit.
They’d put together a plan, and Leif knew it would be perfectly executed. It always was, when he was working with Caleb. He made his way south to the back of a barbershop and easily found the roof access. His Viking features would have difficulty blending in on the streets of this neighborhood, so they’d agreed he’d take the rooftops. He made his way over to the edge and judged the easy jump to the next roof and then onto to the roof of the garage.
“God damn it,” Leif muttered when he spied Butch’s distinctive sky-blue Cadillac in front of the ice cream parlor. He had really hoped that Victor and Carmen wouldn’t be here. He kept low, peering over the lip of the flat roof. His hair and face were covered with camouflage paint, so nobody should spot him. He waited, and finally spotted what he expected to see. It was a very slight movement, as Caleb came up behind the car and found it empty. He signaled Leif that he was heading toward the garage and melted back into the shadows. It would take Caleb no more than ten minutes to enter the garage unseen, but a lot could happen in ten minutes.
Leif looked around the roof and found wha
t he needed. There was an extra-large air vent that opened over a paint booth. It would be a tight fit, but it would give him the element of surprise if he needed to get inside later. In the meantime, he should be able to hear what was going on below if they had left the door to the booth open. Leif briefly wished that he had paid attention during Mrs. Vanderboe’s Spanish class in high school. The acoustics were good through the vent. He heard men yelling and arguing and then he clearly heard Carmen talking in a calm and soothing tone, and the male voices started speaking again, but this time they seemed less agitated.
“Good girl,” Leif breathed out with a smile. Except for this runaway stunt she’d pulled, he had always been impressed with Carmen.
“Puta!” There was shouting followed by a loud stream of Spanish that Leif had no hope of understanding and a loud crack that was clearly a slap. He heard Victor cry out his sister’s name. This was his cue to make his way through the vent. He decided to go in feet first since he was dropping into the paint booth, which he hoped would provide him some cover. Leif lowered himself silently into the darkened paint booth without being seen. He hugged the walls and looked out to see Carmen being held with a knife to her throat by a huge man with skull tattoos displayed on both arms. Victor was lying on the ground, not moving. There was no time to waste.
“Asshole, drop the knife,” Leif yelled as he barreled through the paint booth door. The big guy just yelled at him in Spanish and pressed the knife deeper into Carmen’s throat, drawing a trickle of blood. Carmen stood there blinking at Leif with saucer eyes.
“I don’t understand you, but you understand me. If you don’t drop the knife, you’re a dead man.” Leif kept his gun aimed at the man’s head. The man jerked Carmen up higher in front of him, trying to block Leif’s shot, but not dropping the knife. Leif wanted this shit over, so he could get to Victor.
Isabella's Submission [Fate Harbor 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 15
