“Serious drug running…” Declan sighed.
There was a brief silence as that bit of information sank in. The idea that someone was re-arming a militia they’d spent years taking apart and weakening its infrastructure as they slowly brought it to its proverbial knees sickened each of them. It hadn’t been an easy task, and someone may be rebuilding a poison they’d worked tirelessly to eradicate. The amount of danger involving a newly armed cartel was almost as disturbing as knowing they might have an ally with access to said arms, and none of this was lost on them. Each of them would lose sleep over the idea.
“Are we sure they aren’t already here? Can this have anything to do with Ivy? The timing…” Dace asked.
“You think she’s mixed up in the cartel?” Luke chuckled. “That girl was all merry sunshine, not the drug lord type.”
“I don’t know, bro. Look at Dec’s wife, Lydia. She was married to one of the most dangerous cartel leaders in history, and she was just as merry sunshine and oblivious to who her husband really was,” Dace fired back.
“Whoa. Let’s watch where we step here,” Declan said, defending his wife. “She had no idea who Esteban was when she married him. It’s possible Ivy was drawn in the same way.”
“I think it’s safe to say the two things happening in close proximity makes it all suspect. We can’t rule out that they’re related any more than we can rule it in – it has to be our working theory for now,” Liam said. His hands danced across his keyboard while his eyes chased the information he was bringing up on several screens. “I’m pulling up CCTV right now from around the alley where Ivy was found, but it only shows a part of the crime scene. I’m tapping into a couple of private cameras in the area to splice the feeds together.”
All eyes were trained on the wall of screens where several videos played at once. Liam was brilliant, the best at what he did, but it was moments like these when he truly shined and brought things to light.
“Jesus,” C.T. said. “This is really fucking illegal. You know I can’t use any of this information because of how it was obtained, right?”
“You were never here,” Liam said, his attention still on his work. “If we find anything worth using, you can subpoena or get a warrant for the shit you don’t have access to and pretend you’re seeing it for the first time…we can call in favors if need be.” Liam sat up straighter and nodded to the wall they all had their attention focused on. “Here we go – it’s uploading. We should see it in about thirty seconds.”
“I count one, two…and three.” Wylie stood with his arms crossed, calling out the details as he saw them. “Fourth guy at the head of the alley…maybe their watch?”
“You see that?” Eva added. “Black SUV. Just like the ones we picked up at the coast. There are thousands of those SUVs out there, but given the circumstance, it feels like more than a coincidence.”
“Jesus. Faces are covered. Of course, they are cowards.” C.T. cringed.
“Based on stature alone, they’re all men. Three men beating on a woman half their size.”
Aside from the obvious details, the group took turns mumbling their reactions under their breath as they watched the assault Ivy had endured at the hands of those thugs.
“Son of a bitch.”
“Bastards are laughing.”
“She fought back. Good.”
Dace remained silent as his expression hardened, and his face turned crimson. Rage coursed through his veins as he watched and counted every kick, hit, punch, and cheap shot they delivered. He counted because he was going to find every one of them. And when he found them, he’d deliver the same brutal beating they inflicted on Ivy…and then some.
Every punch. Every kick. And he’d avenge every deplorable laugh. He’d return tit for tat, exacting retribution one blow at a time. They’d suffer. He’d make sure of that.
“We’ll find them,” Liam said to Dace. “Somehow…we’ll get them.”
Dace nodded.
“Rewind that,” he said. “Did you see that?”
They watched again as Ivy ran from the men, somehow escaping their grip.
“She tossed something under the dumpster as she ran past it – a cellphone maybe,” Dace said, looking at C.T. “Did your team recover anything from that spot?”
“They’re still processing the scene, finishing up actually, but I haven’t heard anything about a cell phone yet,” he said. “I’ll get down there and get on it.”
Dace nodded. “We’ll send one of our teams with you. Use them at your discretion.”
“You think I have a loose end on my crew?” C.T. questioned.
“If it’s the cartel, there’s no telling. Anyone can be bought. Take our team, then let them walk through when yours gives the all clear,” Dace said. “We trust you, Charlie Tango, not the whole force.”
“Understood,” he replied. “Sadly, I don’t either. I hate this shit.”
They watched as the men stood still, letting her just out of reach when they fired their shots repeatedly. With each hit, Ivy jerked, swayed, and ultimately fell to the ground as her purse, still across her body, spilled its contents around her.
“Oh, my God.” Eva spoke, voice shaking. “It’s one thing to hear the report but another to see it.”
One man crept up behind Ivy, gun hanging at his side, while the other two remained in place barrels fixed on Ivy’s lifeless and now blood-soaked body. When the man reached her, he grabbed her wallet and tucked it into his waistband, then stood over Ivy with his weapon aimed at her head. He nudged her with his foot once, then twice. Satisfied she was dead, he turned and left with the rest of the men in the waiting SUV staged at the end of the alley.
“No plates,” Liam noted, tapping at his keys. “I don’t have much to go on here.”
“Look.” Eva pointed at Ivy on the screen. “She’s moving.”
They watched in silent awe as Ivy dragged herself what must have felt like a greater distance than the handful of inches it truly was. She struggled to reach for a pen that had fallen from her purse and dragged it across her arm: Dace O’Reilly.
“She was coming here. She needed our help. My help,” Dace said.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. It may have been a message for someone else.”
“Oh, c’mon. Can we just assume she isn’t the enemy for a minute?” Dace hollered.
“No, brother,” Declan said calmly. “We can’t assume anything, and you know why.”
Dace shook his head, frustration overcoming him and fury leading the charge. “This is all bullshit, and you know it. She was running from something, someone perhaps. She isn’t a threat.”
“Dace…” Eva had his attention with her subtle tone. “We all want that to be the case, my friend, and we’ll do all we can to prove it. She’s safe now, and that’s what matters. She’s here, and we’ll protect her either way, but we need to protect you too.”
He knew what she meant – why he needed to be protected. Dace was vulnerable, and that made him a weak link, which could lead to their collective demise. He’d hardened his heart for so many years, and he’d have to find a way to do so again now, despite having Ivy back. Finally finding her would be his most harrowing case yet.