“Getting there,” Javi said. “We started moving toward the building, nice and slowly, but then the dudes in the house came piling back out.”
“What?”
“Yeah, we were shocked as shit. We had to dive into the shadows. The guys poured back out of the house they just walked into. And they were hustling like they stole something.
“At this point, the boys and I freaked the fuck out. We were already thinking the worst. We weren’t sure if the royals knew we were coming or what. But all the guys inside the building just packed the fuck up, and boom, they were out of there. Gone.”
I narrowed my eyes as a headache formed in the center of my forehead. “Wait… you mean all the guards? They walked out? Without Maddy’s dad? Why would they do that?”
“No clue. We thought about calling you guys, but we knew you all were knee-deep in shit yourselves. Best-case scenario, you were fighting your asses off. Worst case, the same thing had happened to you, and we didn’t want to fuck with your head.
“We sat still for almost thirty minutes. We were sure they’d come back, but they never did. We snuck up even slower than we were going to. The door was hanging wide open, man. Didn’t even need those security codes. We spent another thirty minutes checking the house. Right about this time, I started getting worried that they’d wired the building to blow or something. We still don’t find jack shit. Finally, we head to the basement, and there’s Big Poppa himself. Maddy’s dad is just tied up on his stomach like a trussed turkey ready for the Thanksgiving oven.
“We untied his ass and got out. We didn’t even bother going back to our car. That's why I’m out of breath. We’ve been cutting a path across the city. Making our way to the bus depot. Going to buy a ticket to the next town over, then hop a flight. I was worried they’d ambush us at the car or something. Probably just me being paranoid, but we didn’t wanna take any chances.”
“Okay, okay, that’s… it’s good that you got her dad. Give me a head’s up when you’re on the road.”
“You got it.”
I looked at Diego. “Did you hear all that?” I asked.
He looked as confused as I felt. “Why would they leave a hostage? That makes no sense.”
My brain went into overdrive, trying to think of a reason for the bizarre behavior. A memory popped up, something that we’d seen in our initial recon of the locations. I grabbed Diego’s arm. “Cameras. Did we say the locations had cameras?”
Diego nodded slowly. “Yeah. But we didn’t find any direct lines out of the houses. The teams inside used them to monitor their areas. Even Luis said so.”
“We fucked up,” I said, feeling my heart start to slam in my chest. “Someone else was watching. Fuck!” I ran my hands through my hair, panic building like a wildfire.
Diego put a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down. “Nico, bro, chill. If they saw, why would they all run? Why wouldn't they have just sent backup? They could have had us dead to rights. Why just cut bait and leave the…” Diego trailed off.
I looked into his face and saw the dawning realization and horror forming there. The same thoughts had begun to worm their way into my own mind. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Maddy’s number. The phone rang and rang, then went to voicemail. I tried Dad’s number next—nothing. Then Mom’s—again nothing.
My eyes were already burning, on the verge of tears, when I logged into my security account and pulled up my home cameras on my phone. The first footage I brought up was the front gate of the Lorenzo community. Uncle Miguel was on guard duty. I watched as three black SUVs pulled up to the gates. A single figure dressed in black leaped from the car and raised a rifle at Miguel. My uncle tried to raise his own weapon, but the figure fired, cutting him down. Diego and I sucked in a collective breath. A fist of anxiety, shock, and remorse twisted inside my chest.
The cars moved away, headlights off, into the neighborhood. I knew exactly where they were going. They’d be there in seconds. I flipped through my video feed, cursing the program for not letting me move faster. I pulled up the living room. My parents were sitting on the couch, and Maddy was walking from the kitchen, a strange expression on her face.
My phone didn't allow access to the intercom. I was screaming in my head for them to run. Almost like she heard me, Maddy broke into a sprint toward the stairs. An instant later, the front door burst in. The next several minutes were chaotic. Maddy made it to the panic room. My parents fought the royals in my living room. I could hear Diego’s ragged breathing over my shoulder as he watched the feed.
We watched Mom and Dad get shot and go down. It was like my heart vanished from my chest. They fell to the floor, unmoving.
“No, no, no, no…” Diego muttered. His voice was thick, and I knew he was either crying or on the verge of it.
The next few minutes were agonizing as Maddy was taken. I sped up the video and almost sobbed with relief when Mom and Dad started to stir. “They aren’t dead,” I hissed to Diego. “They’re alive.”
“Oh… oh, thank God,” Diego muttered.
I had to sit down. My knees felt like jelly. So much emotion in such a short time—it was almost too much to bear. I sped the feed up until I was in the present time. Mom and Dad had shifted back to humans and were writhing on the ground, holding their heads. It looked like they had splitting headaches or something.
Mom rolled over and crawled toward the stairs. She was going to check on Maddy. They didn’t know she’d been taken. I turned the video feed off and called Dad.
“Nico?” Dad’s voice was groggy.
“Dad, it’s me. Me and Diego. Are you all right?”
“My… damn… my head feels like it’s splitting open.”
“Tell Mom to stay downstairs.”
