Aarón tensed as if her order had shocked him as well. Then, instead of biting down, he stayed still. His jaws clamped around Steve's neck with just enough force to keep Steve pinned down as he continued to struggle futilely to free himself.
"Aarón!" Tina said impatiently. "What are you waiting for?"
His brother growled in response, the deep rumbling sound vibrating from Steve's throat down through his bones, but he still didn't move.
Steve couldn't understand it. Back when he and his brother had still been living under the same roof, Aarón would have cheerfully murdered him, given half a chance. And that Tina would have done everything in her power to save him.
What the hell is going on?
"Don't tell me that you've gone soft now!" Tina spat.
She turned to snatch up a beautiful and very heavy stone sculpture of a Maya jaguar god from a niche in the foyer.
Then she rushed towards the brothers, sculpture held high. And Steve realized that she intended to kill them both.
* * *
It was a beautiful morning in San Diego, warm and sunny in contrast to Bearpaw Ridge, where the days held a crisp edge of coming frost and the leaves had already begun to turn.
After a forty-minute drive north from the airport, the GPS in Maggie's rental car had instructed her to exit the freeway.
Now she was following a gleaming white Land Rover down a winding road lined with tall date palms and stands of eucalyptus trees. A tall wrought-iron fence ran along the base of the hills that rose on either side of the road.
Ahead of her, the Land Rover made a right turn into a broad driveway.
"In fifty feet, turn right," instructed the bland female voice of the GPS unit.
Sure enough, a sign indicated that this was the entrance to Rancho Valentino Estates, the exclusive gated community where Delfina Vicario-Lopez lived.
As instructed, she turned into the same driveway as the Land Rover had and found herself in a round plaza labeled "Visitor Parking."
Ahead of her, the Land Rover pulled up to a guard kiosk at a tall wrought-iron gate with gilded spikes. The tinted window rolled down, and Maggie caught a glimpse of Valentina Lopez’s profile as she spoke to the security guard on duty.
Oh shit. If Steve and the doctor are at his abuelita's house as planned, they’re in for a nasty surprise. I have to do something!
But now Maggie faced a dilemma of her own. How am I going to get past those gates?
The presence of the guard made it impossible to simply tailgate Tina as she drove in.
Maggie pulled into one of the visitor parking spots in front of the gates and tried phoning Steve again.
He still wasn't answering his calls.
On a wing and prayer, Maggie pulled out her phone and went to a popular people finder site.
A quick search returned a Delfina Vicario-Lopez in San Diego, with an age that seemed about right for Steve's abuelita, but her address and phone number were both obscured.
A button on the screen invited: Unlock this listing for just $9.95!
Praying that this was the correct person, Maggie paid.
To her relief, the unlocked listing proved to be a Rancho Valentino address. Hallelujah! That's gotta be Steve's abuelita!
She dialed the listed number, desperately hoping that Delfina would answer her phone, and that she would agree to let Maggie through the gate.
If this doesn't work, she thought, then I'm going to have to leave and find somewhere to climb that fence without being seen.
She didn't want to shift into her jaguar shape in broad daylight when she didn't know whether there were any hidden security cameras around. But she was ready to do it if she had to.
Miraculously, someone answered on the third ring. "Hello?" said a woman's voice.
"Mrs. Vicario-Lopez?" Maggie asked.
"Yes, speaking. Who is this?"
Hoping Steve had been right about his grandmother, Maggie replied, "My name is Maggie Ornelas, and I'm a friend of your grandson Steve. I was wondering if he was there."
"Yes, Estevan came to visit me today," Delfina said, her English accented with the flavor of her native Mexico. "He brought a doctor with him, and he's going to help me prove that I'm not, as they say, losing my marbles."
She sounded perfectly coherent.
"I need to speak with Steve. It's really important," Maggie said.
Delfina paused, then exclaimed, "¡Caramba! I think that my grandsons are fighting in my living room. Such a terrible commotion! It sounds like they're killing each other out there!"