Chapter 98

Veronica is awakened by her phone as it blares in her ear at 3am. She looks at the caller ID to see its Octavio so she smiles to herself before she answers.

It’s been 15 years since Octavio graduated high school. He is a world-renowned neurosurgeon now. He settled in Houston after he met the love of his life Gloria.

“It’s late Oct. Is ever-“ She is cut off by the sounds of her son's screams and cries on the other end.

“MAMA. THEY TOOK HER. THEY FUCKING TOOK HER.”

“What are you talking about?”

“THEY TOOK GLORIA MAMA. YOU HAVE TO GET HER BACK.”

“I will baby. Tell me everything you know.” Veronica says calmly as she quickly gets out of bed. Luis feeling her getting out of bed on the phone he follows her.

Veronica heads into the closet and starts getting dressed so Luis does the same. He calls Vicente, Hector, and Gavin to get ready.

“I don’t know who they are. I just got a video of them beating her mama. It was awful.” Oct says through his sobs.

“Send me the video baby and whatever else you have. We are on our way. We will find her.”

“You have to mama. I love her.”

“Don’t worry. We will find her. I need you to calm down and stay put. Do not go anywhere. Do you understand me?”

“Yes mama. I promise. What if they call again?”

“Don’t worry about it. Answer it like normal. I am going to hang up now but we will be there soon. We love you son.”

“I love you too mama. Please hurry.”

“We will baby.”

Veronica hangs up the phone and looks around to see Luis dressed and has a bag in his hand for them. He wraps his arm around her waist and kisses her forehead. “Let’s go. You can fill me in on the way.”

She just nods and does not say anything.

When they get to the front door they meet Hector, Gavin, and Vicente ready to go as well. They all get into the awaiting car headed to the airport.

“Oct got this video just now.” Veronica starts. “I haven’t seen it yet but he said it’s pretty gruesome.”

They all nod and position themselves behind her so they can watch the video together.

The video shows Gloria tied to a chair while three men punch her. She is screaming and crying while begging for them to let her go.

At the end of the video a man comes into view and takes off his mask to look at the camera. Veronica stills as she loses her breath for a few minutes.

“What the fuck?” Gavin asks in as much shock as Veronica.

“I know that guy. Who is that?” Luis asks them.

“I-It’s Peter. He was my father’s right hand and helped us all those years ago when we did that big sweep. I just can’t believe that’s him. He was always helpful and always loyal.” Veronica says in shock.

“Get Cody on it.” Luis demands.

Gavin nods and calls Cody.

‘Cody?’

‘Yeah.’

‘We need you to track Octavio’s girlfriend, Gloria. She has been taken. The video we got shows…umm…Peter is one of them that took her.’

‘Wait, what?’

‘We need you to track them both now. We are headed to Houston.’

They can all hear shuffling as they assume Cody is now up heading to his equipment.

‘On it. I’ll have it to you shortly.’ Cody says before he hangs up the phone.

They all ride in silence the rest of the way to the airport. As soon as the car stops in front of the plane Veronica’s phone rings.

‘Cody. What did you find?’ She asks as they all head onto the plane and take their seats for takeoff.

‘Jefa. I don’t know how to tell you this but I am not able to track Peter at all but the tracker we have on Gloria is still live. I doubt they have found it yet.’

‘Enough explanation. Where are we going?’

‘To New York. They have her at the old headquarters building.’

‘On it.’

Veronica gets up and heads to the cockpit.

“Head to New York. Land in Newark at Nic’s hangar.”

“Yes, Jefa.” They say in unison.

Veronica heads back to where everyone else is sitting. She calls Nic.

‘Nic. Long time no see.’

‘Jefa. It’s a pleasure. What can I help you with at this hour?’

‘We have a situation and need your help. We will be landing to your hangar in Newark in 3 hours. I need you to send some guys to watch our old headquarters building until we get there. No one in or out without me approving it. Got it?’

‘Yes, Jefa. We will get that done. See you soon.’

“We are headed to New York. Vicente. I need your teams at the old headquarters building like yesterday. They have her somewhere there and we need to know where.”

“Yes, Jefa.” Vicente says as he pulls out his phone to get his teams mobilized.

Vicente to his team leads: MOBILIZE NOW. NEW YORK. OLD SANCHEZ TOWER. FIND GLORIA. DO NOT ENGAGE. REPORT BACK.