I shook my head. “No se, Mamá. Vamos.” I gestured at all of them to follow me as we quickly walked to the front room. All the men stood in a circle, huddled around the captain.
“What do you mean you can’t track him?” the captain was saying. “He just talked to Mr. Adams ten minutes ago, Judy. He was supposed to be at Dance Hall Boys in West Hollywood.” He paused as we all stopped abruptly. “Yeah…well, get them there fast! We may have a man down, Judy. You understand what I’m saying. I need someone there like yesterday.” He was speaking rapidly but I understood enough of the language to know that Rex might be in very real danger.
Marcello walked over, bending to take the bag out of my hand. “Come on. We need to get all of you into the BearCat, right now, Cachi.” He turned but I stopped him with a hand on his sleeve.
“Marcello, what happen to Rex?”
He frowned at me. “I’ll tell you in the truck. Let’s go.”
“Marcello?”
“NOW, Cachi!”
“Okay.” I put an arm around Mamá, taking her bag from her shoulder and followed all the agents outside to a large SWAT type truck in the driveway. One of the agents ran to the back doors, unlocking them. He threw the doors open and then held out a hand to Mamá. She took it and allowed him to hoist her upand into the vehicle, doing the same with Tio Francisco and Tia Carlotta who looked just as shocked as Mamá did.
He held out a hand to me next, and I jumped up into the back of the truck followed by the captain, Marcello, and the other man. The one who’d unlocked the truck, shut the door behind us, ran to the cab, and we were racing away from the house a minute later.
I glanced to my left only to find Marcello staring at me. “Marcello? Rex—he is in trouble?”
He reached for my hand and I took it, squeezing hard as fear lanced through me. “He’s not answering, Cachi. We’re worried, but my friends are on the way to the club with an army of men.”
I felt tears burning behind my eyes as I stared at him but willed them away. Rex needed me to be calm and collected or he might not get the help he needed. “What is danger, Marcello? Is cartel?”
He frowned, nodding slowly. “Yes, we found out that they were tracking you and the other valets.”
I shook my head. “What means…tracking?”
“It means that they know where you live, and there have been discussions and activity since the shooting yesterday. We thought the cartel wouldn’t bother with the valets because none of you knew anything about their business. But then tonight, our listening devices picked up Luca Hernandez—the man who was throwing the quinceañera—ordering his men to kill all of you.”
I listened to the English words, replaying them in my head until they made sense. “All the valets are to be kill?”
He nodded. “Yes, so we sent FBI agents to everyone’s house to take them and their families to safety.” When he suddenly looked away, unable to meet my eyes, I took hold of his chin toturn him around to face me. His brown eyes were a stormy, dark color, filled with regret.
“Someone die, Marcello?”
He nodded. “We were too late. One family was killed and another—we got there just in time to save the family.”
I felt my eyes widen and the bridge of my nose started to tingle as tears came. “The cartel—they kill…a family?”
He nodded, looking bleak. Gone was my light-hearted friend, replaced with a man who would probably look haunted for the rest of his life. “One of the valets and his mother and father were murdered before we could get them to safety. That’s on us, Cachi. We didn’t figure all this out fast enough.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth as it filled with saliva. I retched behind my hand before suddenly Marcello was holding a bag in front of my face. I immediately threw up, vomiting over and over until there was nothing left. Tears flooded my eyes, spilling over and running down my face as I thought about an innocent family being slaughtered by the cartel. Only then did I realize Marcello was rubbing slow circles on my back and whispering words of encouragement.
Mamá was on the other side, clutching my hand and fussing over me.
I closed the bag and set it on the ground, ashamed that I’d thrown up, and unable to stop the tears when I looked up at my friend. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand and met his kind stare. “Marcello? Is Rex dead? The cartel, they kill Rex?”
He took hold of my hands. “Listen, we don’t know anything yet. Candy—the captain—has the rest of his team rushing over to the club to find Rex. I don’t want you to worry about him untilthey get there. He’s probably just fine, but we just have to wait. You understand?”
I nodded sharply, feeling myself trembling as I stared at my friend. “I pray now, Marcello.” I glanced over at Mamá who was already holding her rosary, praying quietly in Spanish. When I glanced back at Marcello, he was holding something in his hand. He held it out to me.
A rosary.
My eyes filled with tears as I took it from him and closed my eyes, starting my prayers. I barely noticed when he scooted closer and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
Chapter Thirteen
CACHI