Authors: Laura Marie
She gathered a bunch of roses to bring into the house so she could place them in a vase on the island in the kitchen. It was something that Elloisa always did. The kitchen island looked so bare without them.
She sighed as she entered the house. Her husband Jerry liked to see the roses, too, although he wouldn’t admit that. He was a man and he felt at fault. If he hadn’t been involved with the undercover case against Armando Sintorez, then Elloisa would still be here. Teressa felt the tears fill her eyes. All she could do was pray that her Elloisa was still alive and not in pain.
* * * *
“Elloisa! Elloisa!” Armando screamed off the balcony, and Ramos came running outside.
“¿Qué hay de malo?” Ramos called to his boss from below.
Armando looked down over the balcony to the courtyard.
“Get everyone together. My Elloisa has escaped. Now!” Armando yelled as he held the back of his head. The blood covered his hands and he felt dizzy.
Why would she do this? How could she attack me like she did?
The anger inside him was more intense than anything he ever felt before.
Elloisa would pay for this and probably with her life.
He heard the roar of the engines as the Jeeps were started and men were yelling down below. They would track her down. She couldn’t have gotten that far on foot.
He held his head as the dizziness overtook him. Ramos appeared at the doorway.
“What the fuck happened?” Ramos yelled and Armando held up his hand to signify that Ramos not yell or ask questions. Armando’s body swayed, and Ramos grabbed him, helping him to the bed.
Armando looked at the rumpled sheets. Images of his Elloisa and what just took place infiltrated his mind.
“What do you want me to do to her when I find her?” Ramos asked.
Armando leaned against the headboard, holding a towel against the back of his head as the blood continued to flow.
“Get her back here, Ramos. I will be the one to punish her.”
Chapter
2
DEA Headquarters, New York City
John Falco stood behind his desk and looked out the window. He couldn’t believe the information he just received. It was a damn miracle. He swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat. This would surely bring peace and closure for the Givani family. His best friend Jerry had been a great agent, but losing his daughter was the ultimate sacrifice. It was the main reason behind him ending his career. Rightfully so and John understood completely. His daughter meant everything to him, and her abduction destroyed him.
Through his numerous connections, he had information coming in from various sources in the last few weeks about Armando Sintorez. The notorious drug lord was on the DEA’s most wanted list. Who would have known that Jerry’s own sons would undercover an operation so big and one that led back to Sintorez? The problem was that neither Salvatore nor Jack knew it yet. It wasn’t John’s place to tell them or to give up one of his many CIs for information. Confidential informants were hard to come by. Especially when dealing with men as ruthless as Sintorez and Avalar.
The good news was that Agent Gustavo Montoya was working undercover in Sintorez’s operation. He hadn’t been invited to the estate yet, but it gave him closer access to do some of his best work.
If it wasn’t for Gus’s great memory and efficient military survival skills, Elloisa wouldn’t have been identified.
John struggled with the decision of calling Jerry. He really shouldn’t yet, but if he called John’s son Mathew, he could probably make some reason up for initiating the call then gently ease into this new information about Mathew’s sister. Mathew was working for the DA’s office as an investigator. He could let him know what was going on and let Mathew make the decision.
Of course, he didn’t want to get their hopes up. The chances of Elloisa surviving and Gustavo getting her out alive were slim to none. According to John’s sources, Elloisa had become Armando’s prize possession and obsession. She went everywhere with him, including meetings with other higher ups. She could potentially be the best informant the bureau had ever come across.
If she made it across the border, there would be more bloodshed here in the States. Armando would send men to retrieve her or even attempt to kill her. If that happened many innocent civilians could die. If other gangs learn of Elloisa’s knowledge of Armando’s business dealings, any number of those gangs or dealers could want to capture her.
John had a feeling that this was the beginning of the end for Armando Sintorez.
He owed his friend the information. Jerry and the family needed the heads-up to prepare for what was to come. Releasing a sigh, he made the call, opting to inform Mathew of the news.
* * * *
Mathew Givani was speaking with the District Attorney, discussing the conclusion of a case they had just finished in court.
“The judge ruled fairly. I think twenty years to life is the best we could hope for. They are in their forties,” the District Attorney stated.
“Hey, we had such concrete evidence and our witnesses were foolproof. Killing four men, covering them in lime, then burying them is pretty brutal,” Mathew stated.
“Your witness was right on the money with verifying the location of the bodies and crime scenes. We lucked out when we found the knife,” the DA responded.
“We sure did. But when you think about how big that freaking hole was they dug, they probably dropped it by accident. You could fit an elephant in that hole.”
The DA chuckled.
“Excuse me, Mr. Givani. There’s a phone call for you.”
“Can you take a message?” Mathew asked Donna, his secretary.
“It came in on the secure line, sir,” she whispered.
“Excuse me,” Mathew stated to the DA then headed to his office.
* * * *
“What do you mean she’s alive? Are you sure?” Mathew asked. His brothers and parents were not going to believe this. This had to be some kind of sick joke.
No, it couldn’t be.
His friend in the Drug Enforcement Agency knew what had happened to the family. He wouldn’t joke around about this.
“John, please repeat that. I don’t think I heard you correctly,” Mathew said, hearing his own voice quiver. He could just imagine what John thought.
“Mathew, I need you to listen clearly to what I’m saying. Elloisa is alive.”
“My God, John. Are you certain that my sister is alive? Because I don’t think my parents could take another false alarm. I know I sure as hell can’t,” Mathew replied. He instantly thought about the call he received a few months after Elloisa’s disappearance. Someone had spotted a woman they thought looked just like his sister crossing the border from Mexico to the US. After the family got all excited and waited by the telephone on pins and needles for confirmation, it turned out to be a false alarm. The woman they found was not Elloisa.
“Armando has been holding her prisoner at his compound in Mexico,” John stated firmly.
“How do you know this?”
“Come on, Mathew. Would I be calling you if I didn’t have a good source?”
Mathew knew that John was risking a lot by informing Mathew about Elloisa. However, John also knew that the whole family had been suffering something terrible since the accident and the botched DEA mission. There were only speculations as to how Armando found out about Jerry, Mathew’s father. His undercover work was remarkable and untraceable, or so they all thought.
Mathew also knew that John wouldn’t notify him of this information unless there was more at stake for the bureau. Friendship couldn’t overrun protocol.
“Where is she? How can you be sure? How do we get to her?” Mathew asked as he paced across the green industrial carpeting. His baby sister was alive.
My God!
“There is a mission in progress to gain inside information and insight into the Sintorez organization. The ultimate goal was to capture Sintorez. It has been going on for the good part of a year. We finally just heard from our agent inside the compound. He’s the one that identified a woman with the same description, age, and name as Elloisa. He is just about a hundred percent sure it is her. She is still alive, Mathew.”
John paused a moment, and Mathew could hear him breathing heavily.
“What do we do now? What do you need from my family and me?”
“We are doing everything we can to make contact with the woman, confirm without a doubt that it is Elloisa and that she is being held prisoner, and then we’ll try and get her out of there. The Sintorez Estate is monitored with guards and surveillance cameras. Our agent on the inside found a loophole in the security. I don’t know what it is, but he’s real good.”
“What about a backup plan in case he fails?”
“He won’t fail, but I do know that your sister sometimes leaves the estate with Armando’s bodyguard.”
“I hope this agent pulls through.”
“I should get word soon. When I hear something, I will call you immediately.”
“I appreciate what you have done, John. I know you are taking a risk. What do you mean ‘confirm that she’s a prisoner’? Do you think she wants to be there?”
“It…from the agent’s perspective, Elloisa is well taken care of. We’ll have to wait to know more. I would do anything for your family. Are you going to tell the rest of them?”
“I will talk to my father, but no one else until we are sure she is alive and safe. Please keep me updated.”
“I will,” John said then hung up the phone.
Mathew hung up then collapsed into his leather chair. He rubbed the palms of his hands over the dress pants he was wearing. He hadn’t realized how nervous and shocked he was until he hung up the phone. His palms were sweaty, and his heart raced. Controlling his breathing, he settled down then looked towards the table next to the chair he sat in. He took the picture into his hands, an eight-by-ten of the family from three years ago.
He traced a finger over the frame as he stared at his baby sister Elloisa. Stunning at twenty-three years old, she was so innocent, unaware of what her family and brothers were involved with. Yet she had to suffer the consequences of their actions.
The family thought she was dead. The tears stung his eyes and he thought about his father. Their father Jerry quit the department immediately after the incident. He hadn’t been the same since and refused to seek counseling or talk about what had happened.
Did Elloisa know that they searched for her? He wondered if she even knew the truth about what had occurred. He thought about the circumstances that led to that night. Their dad was an expert at his job and had trained his replacement, never mind so many others in their unit. As a DEA agent doing undercover work in New York City, he had known the dangers but lived for the adrenaline rush.
Mathew could relate to that feeling. It was why he worked for the District Attorney’s office as an investigator. He always hoped that one day he would find out what happened to his sister.
His dad was part of a special task force and was working inside the Sintorez operation. He was trying to put a face to the infamous Sintorez. Mathew’s father had no idea his cover had been blown, and no one had known what Sintorez looked like until it was too late. Now, at least, Sintorez was identifiable.
Sintorez had become irate when he found out that Jerry was an agent. It wasn’t until much later, after Elloisa’s disappearance, that the family found out through snitches that Sintorez’s plan was to wipe out the whole family until he had seen Elloisa.
Sintorez had sent the family a tape stating how long he had been following Elloisa and what he had in store for her. When they saw his face, they were shocked.
Elloisa hadn’t a clue, and she fell in love with Sintorez. More than likely, his lies kept her away from her family. He probably told her they were dead.
Sintorez stated on the tape that Elloisa would be their father’s ultimate sacrifice for betraying him.
Mathew sighed.
When Mathew figured out who Sintorez was, he tried to get to his sister and inform her. It was shocking to realize that the man she had been dating was indeed Armando Sintorez, a drug lord on the DEA’s most wanted list. It had been a blow to the whole department, never mind their own family. The man had dined with them. He had access to their home, to their lives, and ultimately to Elloisa. He remembered the night he found out who Sintorez was and tried to get to his sister. Armando Sintorez had already spread the lies and set Mathew up, making him look as if he were engaged in illegal activity. Still, he fought to get to Elloisa and inform her of the truth, but he didn’t make it and had been shot.
Sintorez took Elloisa away. They had tried to locate them, but it was no use. The family had taken three months to trek through Mexico, and it had become too upsetting and worrisome for their mother, so they came back to the States. The family believed that Armando finally settled back in Mexico, and they never saw Elloisa again.
* * * *
It had destroyed the family. For a while no one discussed what had happened, but the loss of Elloisa, the only girl of the family, was heart wrenching. Their mother, Teressa, was an emotional mess. His two brothers, Jack and Salvatore, continued to work as DEA agents but in a joint task force in the city. He wanted to call them and tell them that Elloisa was alive. But he knew he needed to wait. If it turned out to not be Elloisa, he would cause more heartache than when they first lost her.