Tony: Alvarez Security Series (36 page)

Matt spoke up, looking at Tony, “For us? We’ve got a raid to plan. We shouldn’t need you for the raid, but we’d love your intel in the planning.”

“Anything you need, you got,” Tony said.

“I’ll head home then?” Sherrie asked.

“Yeah, baby, that’d be good. Lock yourself in, take a bubble bath, have a glass of wine and relax. You deserve it,” he said with a kiss.

Looking into his eyes, she smiled. “That sounds amazing,” she admitted. Walking out together, she left in her car, seeing Tony standing by his SUV until he was out of sight.

With a quick prayer for Betina and the other girls trapped in that life, she headed home.

*

Tony and his
crew were circled around the conference table looking over the information that Lily and BJ had been able to pull together. Matt and Shane were on a conference call with their police chief.

Lily said, “I’ve traced Hernando’s money beyond the grocery and laundry. It seems that he’s able to fly under the IRS radar by using workers that don’t get paid, so they never show up on any of his filings. That’s how he uses so many workers—he doesn’t pay them.”

“What do they work for if not to get paid?” Gabe asked. “Who’d want to work for free?”

“It looks like Quentin rents some low-rent apartments that were meant for a small family and he has about eight workers stay there. Hernando gives them enough food for one meal a day,” she added.

Shane agreed, “With this setup, Hernando gets loner kids, ones who are ready to hit the streets if they aren’t already on the streets and offers them a deal. They work for him and he and Quentin take care of them in their own way. Then Quentin launders his club money through the businesses that Hernando and others like him run.”

“And Hernando doesn’t have to follow any child welfare laws as to hours per day or week worked,” Matt said.

“A modern-day Fagan,” Tony said. “They do his dirty work and he takes care of them in the most minimalistic way possible.”

“Hernando’s laundries have expanded to twenty-four-hour service and have multiple hotel contracts. He’s rolling in the money and doesn’t have to pay most of his employees. He’s now moving into supplying girls for Quentin’s clubs.”

“Quentin runs the club legitimately with legal aged girls to serve and dance, but gets some underage girls to be in the upstairs rooms,” Matt said.

“And with the underground tunnels, they can get the younger girls in the back rooms without anyone noticing from the streets.”

“No way Quentin’s a one-man show,” Tony stated.

Matt spoke up, “Hell, he’s only one man in a whole industry, but we haven’t identified his immediate boss yet. We just know Hernando works for him, but no idea, as of yet, who Quentin reports to.”

“We’re getting search warrants right now to hit the grocery, laundry, and the club simultaneously. Best we can tell this is a huge operation and the DA was willing to let the investigation continue on its course so we could get the higher-ups but, now that we have Betina’s statement, we’ve got to hit them hard and fast.”

“Surprise is essential,” the Chief said, and then signed off as Tony’s group wished them luck.

Jobe looked around the table, “This one feels weird, Captain. We just provided some information that the police didn’t have and yet we’re not going after the bad guys.”

Gabe nodded, “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“How do you all think I feel every time you go out after all I’ve done is give intel?” Lily piped up.

“We did our job and we did it well. This time it’s up to the police to go after their mission,” Tony said.

Tony looked at his watch, seeing that it was just after noon. He walked out of the main conference room and toward his office as he called Sherrie. It went to voice mail but then he grinned…
maybe she took my advice and is having that bubble bath.

*

Jogging up the
club stairs, Hernando relished seeing Betina used, knowing that she’d be perfect for servicing men now. Seeing the door open, he assumed the client had left, but hoped that Betina had not escaped. Stunned, he looked down seeing the man barely lifting himself off of the floor with his pants around his ankles and Betina nowhere to be found. “You dumb fuck!” he screamed at the man trying to pull his pants up. “You let her get away.”

“Me, a dumb fuck? I paid for a scared virgin and you promised me that! Instead, I got my balls shoved up to my throat! Someone’s gonna pay,” the man growled, looking down on Hernando.

“She shows up with the police and no one’s gonna get paid, you asshole. You can’t even subdue and fuck a kid?” Hernando’s panic was rising. Where could she have gone? Would she have gone to the police? No, then she would have to admit her part in recruiting.

Looking around wildly, his mind furiously worked to think of where she would be.

“Fuck!,” the man bit out. “The thieving bitch took my cell phone.”

Hernando’s heart sunk. With a cell phone she could have called someone to pick her—Ms. Mullins. Goddammit! That’s exactly who she would have called.

Turning, he bolted out of the room and ran down the stairs with the yells of the dissatisfied client ringing in his ears.

Driving home quickly, he ran into the house, heading back to Betina’s room. Marcella walked out of the kitchen. “What are you looking for?” she asked as he rummaged through papers on Betina’s desk.

“Quiet, woman. That bitch daughter of yours is going to get me in trouble and if she does, your meal ticket is gone.”

“Betina? What has she done?” Marcella asked, her curiosity overriding the angry vibes pouring off of Hernando. She pulled his arm from the desk, “Tell me what you are doing!”

He whirled, backhanding her across the face. “I told you to be quiet. I offered her a chance to make money for helping me and she’s trying to get me arrested.”

Her face stinging, Marcella stood dumbly looking at the man in front of her. The one she hoped would marry her. And now, he appeared ready to kill her daughter.

Seeing Betina’s backpack sitting next to the desk, he dumped the contents on the bed, watching as papers fell out in disarray. Shuffling through them, he saw one with Court Services at the top. It had Sherrie Mullin’s name and phone number on the form. Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly input her information and easily pulled up Sherrie’s address.

Smiling at his ingenuity, he turned once again, this time to see Marcella standing in the doorway blocking his path.

“I don’t know what you want with Betina, but I won’t let you hurt her,” she said, her voice shaking with anger and fear.

He charged her, knocking her out of the way. She fell back, hitting her head against the doorframe. Slumping to the floor, tears streamed from her face as she saw him run out of the house.
What have I done?

I
t had been
a long evening and Tony was anxious to get home. The group was moving toward the back door of the offices leading to the parking garage when Doug leaned his head out of the security monitor door.

“Tony, wait,” he yelled. “Looks like movement outside of Sherrie’s house on the back side. Can’t pick it up very well, but it appears to be a—”

Just then the sound of an alarm went off inside the room, causing Tony, Gabe, Vinny, and Jobe to hustle inside.

Fuck – someone’s broken in! And they’re there with Sherrie.

*

Sinking into the
hot bubbles had been the perfect way to end her day. Sherrie grinned, thinking back to when Tony surprised her at the cabin when she had been soaking in the tub.
Hmmm, I wish he could come home now.

Deciding she had become a wrinkled prune, she rose from the tub and donned her flannel pajamas bottoms and one of Tony’s t-shirts. Sliding her feet into socks, she padded pack into the bathroom. After brushing out her hair, she went downstairs to her kitchen.
What was it Tony suggested next? Wine? Oh, yeah.

Pouring a glass of wine, she made her way toward the living room. A loud crash from her sliding-glass door triggered the alarm and as she whirled around, tossing the glass, she saw Hernando stalking toward her. Her feet rooted to the floor, she watched as he moved closer. As her eyes dropped from his angry face, she saw what was in his hand. A gun.

“You bitch,” he shouted over the screaming of the alarm.

Jolted out of her surprise, she darted toward the front door, only to find her escape thwarted as he clamped her arm in his vise grip.

“Where is she?” he growled, squeezing her arm. “Give her up and I’ll leave.”

“Go to hell,” she said, gritting her teeth at the pain in her arm. “She’s where you’ll never find her.” Her head jerked to the side as his free hand slapped her face. Stars danced behind her eyes as she tried to regain her balance.

“Then you’re coming with me, bitch,” he yelled, backhanding her on the other side of her face. He started dragging her through the house toward the shattered door.

Her feet hit the broken glass and she screamed as she began to fall. Still dragging her behind him, her legs and knees went through the glass. The sound of sirens filled the night air, even interrupting the sounds of her alarms.

“Goddamnit,” he screamed again, dragging her backward. Shoving her toward the sofa, he growled, “You’re gonna be my ticket outta here.”

The piercing alarm continued to shatter what was left of Sherrie’s nerves and one look at Hernando showed the same. “Let me shut off the alarm. Please,” she begged, watching him pace waving the gun wildly.

His eyes landed back on her and he lifted his hand with the gun pointing straight to her, saying, “Do it. But one step outta line, bitch, and you won’t make it outta here alive.”

Her rubbery legs and cut feet barely held her as she made her way over to the panel by the front door.
Can I make it? Can I get outside?
A cold metallic object pressed into her side.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said as though reading her mind.

Her hands shaking, she quickly pressed the code into the panel, silencing the alarm. The sudden quiet was as jarring as the alarm. Only now she could hear her heart beat erratically inside her chest.

By now, the flashing lights of the police were illuminating through her blinds. Keeping her head still, she glanced upwards at the security camera. Tony’s words ran through her mind.
I have this placed watched. A live feed goes into my place. I employ several people who monitor the video feeds.

Hernando threw open the front door, holding Sherrie in front of him, the tip of the gun pressed to her head. “Back off,” he shouted. “You get any closer and she’s dead.”

With his arm around her in a vise, her gaze darted out of the door trying to see in the dark. Movement. Police cars. Flashing lights.
Tony? Are you there too?

“Mr. Velasquez, this is the Richland Police. You need to lay down your weapon and let Ms. Mullins go. Once she is free—”

Hernando’s answer was to slam the door, dragging Sherrie behind him as he moved away from the windows in the front of her house. Sweat pouring off of his face, he pushed her down on the floor in the hallway between the kitchen and the stairs. “Sit there bitch and don’t move. I know how this’ll work. They’ll call and talk, wanting me to give up. But I’ll outsmart them all. You’ll be my ticket outta here.”