Page 23 of Fighting for Julia (Laguna Beach Cops #6)

“Then take my sister’s warning very seriously. Any tricks and you’re a dead man. As you have seen, we don’t need guns to kill you.”

“Who…who are you?”

“Your worst nightmare. Now shut up and drive.”

The communications radio suddenly crackled with a voice. “Officer Ruiz, what is your location?”

Axis jammed the pistol hard into Officer Ruiz’s side. “Tell him that you and your buddies are fine. That the beach is quiet. Say anything else, and they’ll find what’s left of you after the vultures feed on your carcass. Entender ?”

He nodded and reached for the old-fashioned microphone attached to the radio. In rapid-fire Mexican, Officer Ruiz checked in without revealing his location and repeated what Axis told him to say.

After he signed off, Axis smashed the radio with the butt of his gun. “Do you have a cell phone?”

“Sí.”

“Give it to me.”

Officer Ruiz pulled it from his back pocket and handed it to Axis, who dropped it at his feet, stomped it to pieces, then tossed them from the dune buggy.

There weren’t any warning signs advertising the location of General Escobar’s compound at the base of one of Mexico’s mountain ranges.

As soon as they drove through a wrought iron monogrammed gate, snipers opened fire on them.

Bullets struck and killed Officer Ruiz. He slumped over the steering wheel, blood seeping from his lifeless body. The dune buggy veered out of control.

The danger, the bullets riddling the dune buggy, the popping tires, the coppery scent of Ruiz’s blood, excited Axis and Axalia.

They huffed and snarled like rabid animals.

They laughed, too, as they crouched low in the footwells of the ruined dune buggy.

When the assault ended, they heard footsteps pounding the ground toward them.

They dropped their guns and slowly peeked over the steel frame of the dune buggy.

Six mean-looking men with mustaches and short beards surrounded them, AK-47s in their large hands.

Tattoos of skulls and crossbones, eagles, and hearts with arrows puncturing them stained their skin.

One tattoo they all had in common was imprinted on their exposed necks. Its shape and meaning eluded Axis.

One man, taller and more muscular than the others, detached himself and strode forward. He handled his AK-47 with practiced ease. In perfect English he commanded, “Surrender! You are trespassing on private property owned by General Jorge Escobar! You are surrounded with nowhere to run.”

Axalia whispered, pupils dilated with bloodlust, “Axis, there are six of them, and they don’t know we’re armed. We can take ‘em out.”

Axis cocked his head, considering. “No. It’s too risky. We’ll surrender.”

“Okay.”

They slowly raised their hands.

“We’re unarmed!” Axis shouted.

With careful movements, they climbed from the metal wreck.

The leader raised his AK-47. So did his men, ready to shatter Axis’ and Axalia’s feeble bodies with a barrage of bullets. These cutthroats wouldn’t be satisfied with a single shot to the head. No. They would turn them into Swiss cheese for the vultures to feast upon.

If this was how Axis was going to die, he at least wanted General Jorge Escobar to know his and his sister’s names.

“Aren’t you curious about why we’re here?” Axis challenged the leader.

“I don’t give a shit.”

Axis dared to flash an arrogant smile. “You should. Ever hear of Julio and Lola Escobar? Their daughter, DEA agent Julia Washburn, is our half-sister. We’re Axis and Axalia Anderson.”

“Liar!” one of the men shouted in Mexican.

“Kill them!” another urged.

“You know we can understand you,” Axis boasted in Spanish.

The others murmured angrily, demanding Axis’ and Axalia’s immediate execution.

The leader raised his fist. “Silencio! We will take them to the General. He’ll decide what to do with them.” He paused. His dark eyes gleamed with cruelty. “But first we extract our pound of flesh for their audacity.”

Two men grabbed Axalia. They held her arms prisoner and forced her to watch the four other men brutally beat her brother until he lost consciousness.

His bright red blood stained the sparse grass.

Axalia remained cold and detached on the outside.

But on the inside, she burned with murderous rage.

She memorized their sweaty faces. Later, she’d find and kill them.

The leader kicked Axis one last time with his booted foot, and her brother moaned. Axalia’s heart wrenched. She trembled with anticipation. She wouldn’t take a beating as meekly as Axis had. The leader’s bruised hands bled her brother’s blood.

“Do you know what’s in store for you, little girl?” He spat on the ground. Lust shone in those dark eyes now, alongside his innate cruelty. “You’re gonna take us all at once, and we’re gonna rip you to pieces from the inside out.”

“I’m a virgin. You can roll dice to see who gets my virginity. But I guarantee you this. My face will be the last one each of you sees.”

The men threw their heads back and roared with laughter. One of them who held Axalia captive squeezed her arm in a vain attempt to elicit a squeal of pain from her. She stood resolute, immune to it.

“You’re too sweet of a piece of tail to be a virgin,” he declared in English close to her ear but loud enough for the others to hear. He forced her hand down to the bulge in his crotch. “You know you want this.”

“I know no such thing.”

The leader rubbed his chin. “How old are you, chica ?”

“I’m seventeen. My papa was Axel Anderson. A great revolutionary hero.”

The compadres laughed again.

“Revolutionary hero, huh? Well, Miss Anderson, we’ll have a doctor determine your virginity. After that, you’ll be servicing us until there’s nothing left of you.”

“Or you,” Axalia tossed the retort in defiance.

Their laughter echoed in her ears as a pair of men dragged Axis’ bruised and battered body between them toward a series of cinder block buildings set in a U around a courtyard with—of all things—a baby-faced angel water fountain. She’d smash the vile statue as soon as an opportunity arose.

The grass grew greener and thicker the closer they approached the compound. The sun glinting off the white stucco facades of the two-story buildings almost blinded Axalia. Her eyes watered in the brightness.

Once they reached the courtyard, men, women, and children ventured out to see what was happening. The leader barked at the onlookers to stop gawking and return to their work. They obeyed without a single emotion registering on their faces.

Axalia smiled. She recognized those vacant expressions. Yes! Yes! Yes! She and Axis had finally found a place where they belonged.

They entered a low-lying building that ran perpendicular to the mountains.

Axalia preferred its cool, dim interior to the glaring warmth of the day.

When the men led Axis away from her, though, a small knot of worry formed in her stomach.

It swelled after the leader hooked her wrists to a chain dangling from a wooden crossbeam and raised her body two feet off the ground in a rectangular room. She was completely at their mercy.

“No one will touch you,” the leader assured Axalia. His deep voice resonated with a strange possessiveness.

The heavy metal door banged shut. Keys jangled in the lock. Finding herself in this predicament caused laughter to bubble inside Axalia despite her concern for her brother.

A cold bucket of water drenched Axis. He groaned as much from pain as in protest of this new assault. Every inch of his body ached.

“Wake up, dog!”

Spoken in English, the harsh command, followed by a vicious kick in his ribs, roused Axis from his stupor. He opened his eyes and blinked until his vision focused on a pair of black boots.

“General Jorge Escobar,” Axis muttered in a raspy voice. He swallowed and tasted blood.

“You think the General is at your beck and call? You think to command him to appear in your miserable presence?” The assailant stomped on Axis’ face, shattering bones in his cheek.

A wave of dizziness and nausea hit Axis. When it passed, his gaze traveled from the man’s boots up to his dark bearded face. Axis’ jaw felt loose, but he summoned the courage to speak. “His…his granddaughter…is alive. My…half…half-sister. Lola…”

At the mention of Lola’s name, Axis’ captor let out a low, menacing growl, yanked him to his feet, and slammed him down hard in a cold metal chair. Without a word, he secured Axis’ hands and feet with zip ties. Before he left, he threw a right hook that decimated Axis’ other cheek.