LUKE took a seat toward the back of the church while Marty sat up front with his family. He hated being so far away from Marty, but it was better for him to have a panoramic view of the church, just in case.
From where he sat, he had a clear view of the side entrances to the sanctuary. Crispy stood by the one on the right, while another agent named Simmons guarded the one on the left. Some of the guests motioned toward the agents and whispered among themselves. Surprisingly, no one made a fuss. What had gone down at the party yesterday had no doubt already made its rounds through the family rumor mill.
Some last-minute guests arrived and took their seats. They had made it past Estevez, who stood out front checking invitations. He had strict orders to detain Rogelio Sandoval if he showed up, and other agents kept an eye on the perimeter in case he tried to approach from a different direction.
The church was on virtual lockdown, but Luke still couldn’t shake the nerves that fluttered in his stomach.
He didn’t have time to worry over it, though. The processional music started, and one by one, the bridesmaids paraded down the aisle. As soon as Christian saw Luke, every ounce of spray tan he’d used over the years faded almost entirely, and he stumbled over his own feet. Luke did his best to maintain the scowl on his lips. Christian had been an asshole to both him and Marty, so he didn’t see anything wrong with intimidating the jerk for as long as possible.
When the bridal march began to play, Luke and everyone else stood up as Sophia, escorted by her father, walked down the aisle to her future husband. The worry and fear she’d expressed earlier had completely disappeared. She was one big smile and practically glowed.
Although he didn’t really know her, he was happy for her. Finding someone to spend the rest of your life with was definitely something to be cherished. He’d truthfully never thought something like that would happen to him, especially considering how guarded he’d lived since his parents’ deaths, but as he glanced over at Marty, whose smile rivaled his sister’s, he had to admit it was entirely within the realm of possibility now.
Life definitely took him in interesting directions, and for the first time, he wasn’t dreading where it would take him next.
“Agent Myers.”
Luke turned in his seat to see Estevez crouching in the aisle. “What is it?” he whispered.
“We have a situation outside.”
Luke tensed and stood quickly. He motioned for Crispy, who started walking in his direction.
“No, sir. It’s nothing like that,” Estevez said. “There’s someone outside who wants to get in, but he doesn’t have an invitation. He’s being rather insistent that he’s family. He even knows the names of most of the wedding party.”
Luke exhaled and motioned for Crispy to head back to his post. Crispy stopped and raised an eyebrow. When Luke nodded, Crispy turned around and went back to where he’d been standing. “I’ll take care of it,” Luke said. “You stay here and keep an eye on things.”
Estevez nodded as he stepped back to allow Luke to pass.
“Don’t you take your eyes off Marty for one second,” he whispered in Estevez’s ear.
Estevez glanced up at him and smiled. “Believe me, sir, I won’t.”
Luke proceeded through the double doors that led to the atrium and then out the front. His breath immediately hitched in his throat. He reached for his gun, but the barrel of someone else’s pistol pressed against his lower back.
“Ah, Special Agent Luke Myers,” the older man said in a thick Spanish accent. Although they’d never met in person, Luke had seen enough pictures of El Dragón to know that he was in serious trouble. “It’s good to finally meet a man I’ve heard so much about.”
“You didn’t come all the way here for little old me, did you?” Luke flashed a wry grin in hopes of starting a fight that would draw the attention of any of the agents that might happen to patrol by.
El Dragón eyed him before he took out a cigar. He bit off the tip and popped it in his mouth, then chewed on it in silence for a few seconds. “I did not,” he finally said. “I’ve heard so much about you these past couple of days, though, that meeting you in person is, how do you say? An added bonus?”
“Well, we’ve met. What now?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” he replied with a wink over his cigar.
“There are agents everywhere. You know that, right?”
El Dragón chewed on his cigar and chuckled. “Your FBI is not much different than my country’s federales. Those you can buy, you do. Those you can’t, you eliminate.”
Luke scanned the area around the church, searching for signs of the agents who should be walking the grounds. He should have seen at least one of them by now.
“You fucking bastard!” He lunged forward, but the goon behind him wrapped an arm around his neck and rammed the barrel of his gun into his spine. Luke got the message. If he didn’t calm down, he’d be shot and left for dead right here on the front steps of the church. He couldn’t do that to Marty. Or Sophia.
It probably wasn’t the best omen to find a dead body outside the church on your wedding day.
Plus, if the other agents had been taken out, that only left Crispy, Simmons, and Estevez inside. They were the only ones left who could protect Marty and his family. Luke had to do everything he could to keep them safe.
“I get it. No one’s going to come to my rescue.”
El Dragón winked. “Exactamente.”
“Then let’s go.” He gestured toward the white SUV with dark tinted windows that idled in front of the church.
El Dragón nodded to the man behind Luke, who shoved him forward. “You will be leaving, but I must stay.”
Luke spun around, trying to climb back up the steps that El Dragón ascended, but the hired gun pressed his gun to Luke’s stomach. “What? Why? Your trouble’s with me, not with anyone else.”
“Today isn’t just about you, Agent Myers,” El Dragón said from the top of the steps. “It’s about my niece too.”
Luke’s world suddenly spun. He was related to Sophia and Marty? That could only mean one thing. “You’re Alma Valdez’s brother?”
He paused with his hand on the front door and glanced over his shoulder. “Sí,” he said with a smile. “And it’s time for me to take my place in this family.”
MARTY kept glancing over his shoulder to where Luke had been sitting. He wasn’t there. Some other dark-skinned agent had taken his place in the pew. Marty did his best not to worry, to focus on his sister exchanging vows with Danny, but icy tendrils crept across his flesh.
Something was wrong, and every cell in his body screamed for him to get up and go outside.
The door leading into the sanctuary creaked open, and Marty turned all the way around in his seat, hoping to see Luke. Two men in suits entered the church, flanking an older Hispanic man who looked familiar. Marty couldn’t place where he’d seen him before. He had thinning white hair and a huge nose, and when he gazed toward Sophia at the altar, he smiled.
The grin gave Marty the willies. It reminded him of a killer whale speeding toward a pod of seals.
“Will you turn around?” his mother whispered in his ear before a stab of pain tore through his arm.
He turned around and grimaced, rubbing where she had pinched him. He suddenly felt as if he was eight years old again. “Jeez, Mami. That hurt.”
“It will hurt even more when God strikes you with lightning for not paying attention in church!”
“I was looking for Luke.”
Her lips drew into a thin line. “He’s a big boy who can take care of himself. Now pay attention!”
Instinct made Marty want to obey, but another drive took control of his body. It was something much stronger than following his mother’s orders. He stood up, and even though his mother whispered for him to sit down, he left the pew and headed toward the back of the church.
The old man and the men who sat with him in the back watched as Marty walked down the center aisle and out the door.
Once he was outside, Marty surveyed the front area and the parking lot to the right. Luke was nowhere to be found. Marty sprinted down the sidewalk, looking for the agents who were supposed to be patrolling the grounds. When he couldn’t find any of them, the ice that had spread across his skin earlier bit deep to the bone.
“Is everything okay?”
Marty spun around. The agent who had taken Luke’s place in the pew stood behind him. His hands were shoved in his pockets and a grin danced across his face. Why did Marty feel as if he knew this guy?
“I’m looking for Agent Myers,” he finally answered. “Where’d he go?”
“A situation popped up that needed his undivided attention,” the agent replied. “He asked me to keep an eye on you while he was gone.”
Marty detected the faint hint of a Spanish accent hidden beneath the man’s excellently spoken English. He immediately tensed and backed up a few steps.
“What’s the matter?” the agent asked, taking two steps forward.
“Who are you?”
“Special Agent Raymond Estevez,” he answered.
Marty took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He had to get back inside and get to Crispy and tell him Estevez was their mole. Marty might not have seen him in the alley with his cousin, but he would never forget the voice. “Okay, well, I’m gonna go back inside.”
Estevez stepped in front of him. “You look tense. Is there something the matter?”
“No,” he said, trying to get around the agent. “Just need to get back to my sister’s wedding.”
Estevez gripped his forearm and pulled him back. “Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”
“I’m not,” Marty replied, feigning a smile. “I’m just worried about Luke.”
His grip on Marty’s arm grew tighter. “You must think I’m as stupid as your cousin, don’t you?” He pulled Marty against him and the gun Estevez now held at his side. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Marty sneered up at him. “How could you betray your own people?”
“The same could be asked of you, sobrino.”
Estevez spun him around to face the old man he’d left in the church. His two pissed-off-looking friends stood on either side of him like snarling pit bulls.
“Who the fuck are you?” Marty asked. “And why are you calling me your nephew?”
“That’s because you are my nephew,” the man said with a nod to Estevez. The agent shoved Marty forward and over to where the old man stood. “I’m your Tío Beto.”
Marty’s head throbbed as realization suddenly dawned on him. If Estevez was the mole and he was following his uncle’s orders, that meant only one thing. “You’re El Dragón?”
He opened his arms as if he expected a big hug. “That is me.”
“Why are you doing this?”
The light in his uncle’s eyes died. “You blame me for what you have done?”
“What the hell do you think I did?”
Tío Beto slowly descended the steps and leaned over him. His uncle’s nostrils flared, and the breath that escaped him smelled like rancid jalapenos. “You chose the police over your family.”
“This is about Rogelio?” Marty asked. “He’s the one who tried to kill me!”
Tío Beto stood back up. “I know,” he said with a sad nod. “I’m very disappointed in my family, which is one of the reasons I’m here. Ever since my mother, God rest her soul, fled with my sisters to America, this family has been broken. They don’t stand together as they used to. They have let pettiness come between them, and it needs to stop. This family needs structure. It needs a leader, a father figure who will remind them that blood comes above all else. It’s a lesson Rogelio is learning right now.”
Was this real life, or had Marty somehow fallen into one of his comic books? Whatever the answer, his uncle was insane. Although Marty was still angry with his cousin for what he tried to do, Rogelio was still family. Marty didn’t want anything bad to happen to the boy from his childhood.
That was what being a family meant, not whatever perverted version his Tío Beto subscribed to.
“What are you doing to him?” he asked.
His uncle sighed and smiled down at him. “Unfortunately, you will find out.”
“So I have to pay for defending myself?”
“You will pay for working with the police against your family. Rogelio will pay for following an order to kill his cousin.” He glanced over his shoulder and nodded to one of the thugs behind him. “And Estevez?”
Estevez stepped forward, ready to do whatever was asked of him. “Yes, sir.”
The sound of rushing air whirred by Marty as Estevez’s body tensed before falling to the cement sidewalk. A bloody circle bloomed across his forehead.
“You killed him?” Marty gasped, stepping away from the body.
Tío Beto nodded. “He had to pay for ordering your cousin to have you killed.”
One of his henchmen lifted Estevez’s body and flung it over his shoulder before carrying it away.
“Let’s go,” Marty’s uncle said, nodding to the parking lot. “I have much to get done before the reception.”
The remaining thug placed his hands on Marty’s back and urged him forward. Even though Marty’s legs trembled and threatened to give way beneath him, he stumbled in the direction he was led. If he’d been anywhere else, he would try to run or at least scream for help.
He wasn’t anywhere else. He was in front of the church where his sister was getting married and where most of his family had gathered. If he didn’t do what his uncle wanted, they would likely pay the price.
The cost had been too high already, for his cousin and even for Estevez.
All he could hope for now was that Luke would be able to save himself and live to fight another day.
LUKE didn’t have much time. He had to take out the driver and get back to Marty. While El Dragón might be Marty’s uncle, the man had a fierce reputation for dealing with threats, which Marty had unfortunately become.
Thankfully, the idiot thug who now drove Luke toward his death had secured his hands with zip ties, as if Luke didn’t know at least four ways to break free of this type of restraint. The trick was getting free and taking out the driver before he had a chance to grab his gun and shoot Luke in the head.
Once he was loose, he’d only have three seconds at most, which in his experience was more than enough time.
Luke wiggled his wrists together to bring the locking mechanism to the middle of his hands. He brought his hands up to his mouth and used his teeth to pull the zip tie even tighter than it had been secured.
“What the fuck are you doing?” the man asked him in Spanish. He glared at Luke through the rearview mirror.
“It hurts,” he lied. “I’m trying to loosen them up a bit.”
“Pinche cabrón,” the man cursed, calling him a fucking dumbass. “What does it matter? You’ll be dead soon.”
“Right,” he said with a nod. “So what does it matter?”
His answer earned him a scowl. “Sit still or I shoot you now.”
Luke nodded and sat back. He had his restraint exactly where he needed it and pulled tightly enough it would snap. All he had to do was bring his hands down hard across his stomach while chicken-winging his arms, and the tie would pop right off.
His captor returned his eyes to the road.
It was either now or never.
Luke raised his arms and brought them down. A second later his hands were free. He lunged forward, wrapped his right arm around the man’s right shoulder, and hooked the bend of his arm around his neck. Luke clasped both hands together and squeezed, exerting pressure with his bicep and forearm around both sides of the man’s neck, along his carotid arteries.
The thug flailed, trying to reach for his gun, but Luke squeezed tighter until his face flushed red. The car swerved along the highway. If Luke didn’t end this fast, they might both end up dead.
A few seconds later, the man passed out as the car sideswiped the cement barrier along Interstate 10. The vehicle skidded a few feet before coming to a stop.
Luke flew out of the rear passenger-side door to the sound of screeching tires and blaring horns. He opened the front passenger door, undid the man’s seatbelt, and pulled him out of the car.
“Are you okay?” asked a driver who had come to a screeching halt in the next lane.
Luke pulled his card out of his wallet and handed it to the man. “I’m Special Agent Myers from the FBI. I need you to call the number on that card and request backup at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church on Zarzamora Street.”
Before the man could respond, Luke hopped in the vehicle and sped away.
ABOUT ten feet was all that separated Marty from the car that would take him away from the family he’d likely never see again.
“Marty!”
He whirled around to see Crispy exiting the church and walking down the path toward the parking lot. Marty’s uncle pulled open the car door and quickly got inside. No doubt if Crispy got a good look at him, he’d identify his uncle as El Dragón.
“This man’s life is in your hands,” his uncle said from the car’s interior. “Remember that.”
Marty nodded. “I’ll take care of it, but you’re going to have to call off Thing One and Thing Two.”
Tío Beto gestured for his bodyguards to stand down. Though they visibly relaxed, they remained ready to kill Crispy if it was needed.
“Where are you going?” Crispy asked as he drew closer and palmed his revolver. He eyed the two men standing on either side of Marty and then tried to see inside the car.
Marty stepped forward. “Whoa! Calm down, Crispy,” he said, waving his hands in surrender. “That’s my Tío Beto,” he said, pointing to the car. “We’re headed to the hotel to set things up for the reception.”
Crispy stopped and studied him carefully. “The wedding’s not even over yet.”
“I know,” he said, trying to force a smile on his trembling lips. “But my tío here is in charge of the setup, and there’s a problem with some of the deliveries. I wanted to take care of it before Sophia found out.”
“I see,” Crispy said, lowering his gun slightly. He surveyed the surroundings and then glanced back at Marty. “Where’s Luke?”
Marty shrugged. “Estevez told me he had something to take care of.”
“Uh-huh,” he replied, taking on a casual demeanor but continuing to close the distance. “And where’s Estevez?”
“I assume he went back inside.”
“Come over here,” Crispy said with a backward head tilt. “I want to tell you something before you leave.”
“Kill him,” his uncle said from the car.
Before Marty could react, the goons at his side pulled out their guns and fired. The world around him exploded, and Marty dove to the ground as bullets zipped by overhead. A loud thump caught his attention. When he looked up, the dead body of one of the guards lay on the ground next to him.
Marty tried to scurry away, but his legs refused to obey. They kicked feebly against the pavement as he floundered like a fish.
“Freeze!” It was the other agent who had been inside the church with Crispy. The sound of gunfire had clearly brought him outside, where he leveled his gun and took aim.
The other thug squeezed off a round. Gunshots thundered around Marty again, and somewhere in the distance, people were screaming. Marty turned back toward the church. Crispy was on the grass, blood staining his shirt. Beyond him, people stood outside the sanctuary in panic, some trying to help the wounded agents to safety.
“Get back inside!” he shrieked.
“Get in the damn car!” His uncle exited the vehicle and pulled him up by his shirt collar while his minion ran to the driver’s seat.
“Beto?” Marty’s mother screamed as she exited the church and saw her brother about to toss her son in the car. She, along with Marty’s father, ran down the steps toward them. “Don’t do this.”
Tío Beto turned the gun on his sister. “Quítate, Alma,” he said, warning her to stop.
A roar of anger escaped Marty’s throat. He punched his uncle in the face, hard. Pain once again streaked through his hand, but he ignored it. He’d never been this furious in his life. His uncle claimed loyalty to the family was his most important ideal. He had no clue what being loyal even meant.
It wasn’t about using family to further your position or to rule over them with fear and intimidation. It was about love and sacrifice. That was what bound a family together.
Tío Beto stumbled sideways from the blow. Marty used that to his advantage. He lunged for the gun and gripped the barrel. He pushed it toward the car and away from his family.
The gun went off, and a bullet bounced off the side of the car.
“Pinche mamón,” his uncle cursed, calling him a dicksucker. “I’m gonna kill you.”
Marty slammed his forehead into his uncle’s nose. His uncle fell on his ass, blood spurting from his face, and Marty’s world immediately spun. He might have just given himself a concussion. That never happened in any of the superhero movies he watched.
His mother’s screams got his attention. She was pointing behind him. Marty turned around and caught a glimpse of the thug once again standing outside the car. He aimed his gun right at Marty. Marty closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet to hit him, when tires suddenly screeched to a halt a few feet from him.
A single shot echoed all around him.
Marty held his breath, waiting for the searing pain of hot lead ripping through flesh and muscle. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes to find the thug who had tried to kill him sprawled on top of the hood of the car with a bullet wound to the back.
“Marty!” Luke stood by his side, tears streaming down his face. “Are you okay?”
A haze from the head blow settled over Marty’s vision, and his ears rang from all the gunshots. “This happens to us way too often, you know?”
Luke let out a nervous laugh and pulled him into an embrace. “I agree. Let’s not do this ever again.”
“What happened to you?” Marty asked, a sob caught in his throat. “I was so scared something bad had happened.”
“I know. I’ll tell you all about it later,” Luke replied, kissing the top of his head. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
Marty squeezed Luke and sighed. “But you’re here now.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” Luke lifted Marty’s chin and pressed their lips together.
“Maricónes!”
They turned to see Tío Beto had crawled over to his gun and pointed it straight at them.
Without thinking, Marty jumped in front of Luke as his uncle squeezed the trigger twice. A baseball bat slammed into Marty’s chest twice in rapid succession. He fell backward into Luke’s arms.
Marty found it difficult to breathe as more gunshots fired around him. The next thing he knew, he was looking at the world from the bottom of a swimming pool. Luke and his parents stood over him, asking him questions, but he couldn’t understand a word they said.
He was extremely tired, and all he wanted was to close his eyes.
So that was exactly what he did.
“YOU’RE a lucky man, Mr. Valdez,” the ER doctor at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital said after examining Marty. “The protective gear you were wearing stopped the bullet. You’ll have some soreness and a bruise for a few months, which will be annoying at most. I am concerned with the nasty bump on your forehead, though, so I’m keeping you overnight to rule out a concussion.”
Great. Not only did he ruin his sister’s wedding, but now the reception would be canceled as well. There was no way his mother would allow the party to go on without him. Marty’s uncle might have failed at killing him, but when his sister saw him, he’d be dead meat.
“Thanks, Doctor,” Marty said.
As soon as the doctor left, his parents, his sister—who was still wearing her wedding dress—and his almost new brother-in-law thundered into the room like a herd of buffalo.
“Martín!” his mother exclaimed as she rushed to his side. She caressed his face and offered a small prayer of thanks to God. “I’m so glad you’re all right. I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’m fine, Mami,” he replied, glancing over her shoulder toward the open door and the hallway beyond. Ever since he’d arrived at the hospital, he hadn’t seen Luke once. Where the hell had he gone?
Sophia stood next to their mother and squeezed his hand. “Yeah, well, you look like shit,” she said, smiling through her tears.
“Sophia!”
“Ay, Mami,” she said wrapping her arm around their mother’s waist. “I’m just joking.”
“I’m so sorry I ruined your wedding,” Marty said.
Sophia leaned over the railing and tenderly kissed the top of his head. “You would’ve ruined it if something bad had happened to you.”
“But all our relatives came to see you get married,” he said, switching his gaze back and forth from Sophia and Danny. “What about the reception? And the caterer? All those beautiful flowers! Oh my God. What are you going to do?”
“We’ll figure it out,” she answered. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I ruined everything.”
“You ruined nothing,” his father said. He gazed down at Marty with pride in his eyes. “You saved your mother and so many others. You were very brave, and I won’t hear any more talk about you ruining anything.”
Marty nodded and smiled at his father. He was a man of few words, but when he did speak, he made them count. Still, Marty felt stupid more than anything else. His lies were what brought them all here.
“I’m sorry for lying to you,” he said, locking gazes with each one of them. “Making up a fake boyfriend was stupid. Dragging you all through this nightmare was even worse.” He lowered his gaze and focused on his fidgeting fingers.
“Hijo.” His mother gently took his chin in her thumb and index finger and lifted his eyes to hers. “I’m the one who is sorry.”
“For what?” he asked in a sniffle.
“It was my brother who did this to you.”
“What Tío Beto did isn’t your fault.”
She nodded vigorously while his father placed his hands on her shoulders. “I knew what and who my brother was, and I kept that from the two of you to keep you safe. I figured the less you knew about the kind of person my brother was, the safer you would be.”
“You didn’t know what he was up to,” Marty said. “My lie was what got us caught up in this mess.”
“No,” she said with a firm shake of her head. “I am the parent. The blame is with me. I could have called the police the moment I saw him at the party yesterday, but I didn’t. I kept his secret because he was my brother, and he paid me back by trying to hurt my son. And what makes all this even worse is what I did to you, Martín. I had no idea what an awful person Christian was. I’m angry with him for hurting you the way he did, but I’m mostly angry with myself. I should never have tried to force you two back together again. I only did it because I wanted you to be happy with someone and not alone all the time, but it wasn’t my place. You’re a grown man. Maybe I couldn’t see it before, but I can definitely see it now.”
The tears Marty had managed to hold back burst free and poured down his face.
“Can you ever forgive me?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand and pulled her into his arms. “There’s nothing to forgive,” he managed through his sobs. “You’re my Mami, and I love you.”
By the time Marty and his mother had gotten a hold of their emotions, everyone had red eyes and runny noses. Nothing brought a family closer together than love and forgiveness.
His uncle and his cousin had never truly learned that lesson.
“Did they arrest Tío Beto?” Marty asked after blowing his nose. “And what about Rogelio? Does anyone know what happened to him?”
“Your uncle is in police custody.”
As soon as Luke entered the room, Marty’s smile spread from ear to ear. He’d been worried that something had happened to Luke after he’d passed out in the church parking lot, that maybe Luke had been shot and no one had wanted to upset him by telling him.
He was relieved that wasn’t the case.
Luke walked to the other side of the bed, where he took Marty’s hand and held it in both of his with a smile that looked just as wide as Marty’s felt.
“What about Rogelio?” he asked.
“Police got to your cousin before he was too badly injured. He’ll be recuperating for a while, but I foresee that the both of them will be spending many years in prison.”
“Thank you, God!” his mother praised.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” Luke lowered the railing and sat on the bed next to Marty. He leaned against the mattress and pulled Marty into his arms. “My lieutenant needed to be debriefed, and I had to check in on Crispy.”
“How is he?” Marty asked from where he rested his head on Luke’s chest.
“He’s complaining a lot, which means he’s gonna be just fine.”
“Thank you, Luke,” his mother said from where she beamed at the two of them. “For protecting my son.”
“He’s the one who protected me.” Luke gazed down into Marty’s eyes and kissed the tip of his nose.
“We protected each other,” Marty replied.
His mother clasped her hands together, barely able to contain her joy. “That’s what we do for those we love.”
Marty and Luke smiled at each other and replied at the same time.
“Exactly.”