Falling With Grace

“It’s your mamá.”

Nadia’s breathless panic tingled down my spine. “What’s happened?”

“She wandered outside the gates, and we can’t find her.”

I snapped my fingers at Javier and pointed to Ramirez and Felipe to follow as I spun on my heel toward my vehicle. “How long has she been missing?”

“An hour. Maybe?”

“Maybe?”

“I don’t know.Ay dios mío, Elias. I’m not her caretaker.”

I growled and tossed my phone into my pocket, then turned back to Javier. “I want everyone available out there scouting for her. She has an hour’s head start. Find her.” I tossed open my car door. “And get thatputaout of the barrel and bring her to me.”

Javier nodded and issued commandsas he dialed someone on his phone.

I started my car, threw it into drive, and peeled out of the warehouse, leaving a plume of smoke in my wake.

Pressing the button on my steering wheel, I dialed Mamá’s caretaker.

“Señor Hernández, I don’t—”

“Those words should never leave your mouth when it comes to her.”

“I’m sorry. Señor Hernández. I only turned away for a moment, and then she was gone.”

I clenched my fingers around the steering wheel. The leather groaned under the strain.

“Señor Hernández? Are you there?”

I pressed theend callbutton and pushed down the pedal, the engine roaring with its response.

Minutes faded away, bleeding into a blur of desert.

My mind raced like a scalded cat as I sped down the highway, my thoughts circling back to the girl in the barrel. Her determination, strength, and will would be her undoing.

Why wouldn’t she be happy to rid herself of Ortiz?

I’d thought for sure she’d jump at the chance to end his life, just as I would.

My phone rang out across my car speakers. “Yes.” I flipped on my blinker and turned on my street.

“We’ve found her. Three blocks away. Eduardo will grab her and bring her back,” Javier said.

I pressed on the gas. “Give me the location.”

Javier relayed the information, and I turned the corner, then parked in front of the older-styled home, with a full front garden.

I stepped out of my car and marched my way towards her.

She stood with her back towards me, her hands moving across the pepper bushes, pruning the dead leaves and aerating the soil beneath it.

Mamá grabbed the small watering container beside her and tended to the garden as she used to do when I was a child. A rare smile permed her lips.

The house owners stood at their door, staring through the storm doors welded with security bars.

Even though we offered the best protection in this city, there have been times when someone lost their head and broke into homes. They’d never get away with it for long. We always found them and dealt with them in our own way.