Suddenly, a loud whistle cut through the room, and Styx came walking over to Ky, Hick, and Wrox. The room was silent as he raised his hands and signed something.
“What?” Wrox said, clearly not knowing sign language. I had no idea what he was saying either.
“Take him to the shed, out back. Tie the fucker to the chair and leave him. I’ll decide what to do with him later.”
Ky stepped back from Hick. Styx pointed at Letti’s husband. He took the man from the room. Styx signed again. “Edge? Did you hear what Shark was saying before he died?” Ky spoke for Styx.
The man with strange hair nodded. “Said they were ambushed and taken to a warehouse somewhere. Said he was beaten and questioned.” Edge paused, then said, “The kids were taken too. All three of them.” My stomach crashed to the floor as Flame roared and started destroying the bar furniture around him.
“Flame!” Maddie’s voice rang out around the room, and her husband stopped in his tracks. His face, which had appeared expressionless to me when I first met him, now looked broken and torn.
“Ash . . .” he rasped. “Ash . . .”
“I know,” she soothed and slowly wrapped her arms around him. “We will get him back.” But when her eyes briefly met mine, I thought she didn’t look as confident as she sounded.
“We’ve gotta get them back,” Smiler declared and stood beside AK. “They’re fucking kids. They ain’t meant for this shit yet.”
“Here.” Our attention snapped back to Edge as he held something in the air. He had been in Shark’s pockets. He was holding a USB drive.
“Be back soon, babe.” Tanner released me and rushed from the room. In seconds, Tanner was back clutching a laptop. He took the USB from Edge and the screen came on.
I lost all the blood from my face when Diego’s face filled the screen. A cry slipped from my mouth. Tanner looked back at me. He must have seen I was crumbling, as he came to me and pulled me to him.
“You have something of mine,” Diego said. “So I have taken something of yours.” The screen cut to the three young men. The camera wasn’t perfectly clear, but it showed the boys tied to chairs, their faces and bodies beaten and spattered with blood. Miguel, one of Diego’s men, held each of the boys’ faces up by their hair to show the camera it was them. One by one, AK, Smiler, and Flame made noises of anger and rage. They rocked on their feet and looked ready to find Diego and kill him in the most painful way possible.
“You have my fiancée, Adelita, and I want her back.” I felt like my legs might have given way if Tanner hadn’t been holding me. But I stood tall. I had to. I had to face this. I had to face Diego and his threats. “In three days, we will meet at the old abandoned town close to where you live. I have been reliably informed by our associates who live close to you that you know it well.” Tanner’s breathing changed. The Klan. The Klan had informed him of this place. “There, we will make the exchange. Adelita for these three young men.” In that second, the bubble burst. The bubble I’d been living in with Tanner for the past few days burst, and the reality of our tenuous position was cruelly exposed.
I was going back to Mexico.
Tanner held on to me tighter as though he could feel me slipping from his grasp. As though he could sense, that this, us, like this, was coming to an end. Its inevitable conclusion.
“Three o’clock in three days.” Diego stood back, and Miguel put a gun to one of the prospect’s heads. I knew it must have been AK’s nephew by the way he suddenly kicked a chair across the room. “If Adelita is hurt, one of your prospects will pay the price.” Diego stared down at the camera, and my skin crawled. It was like he could see me through the lens. Cold shivers broke out over my body. “Until then . . .” The screen went blank; the room was thick with silent anticipation.
My eyes lowered to the ground. When they lifted, everyone was looking at me. I inhaled deeply, hating what was I was about to say . . . but it had to be done. “I will go.”