In Love by Design (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod) (39 page)

She laughed
, as I exclaimed, “That damn asswipe Reggie!” She shot me a reproachful glance when I mumbled crankily, “As for you, boy or girl, I hereby pronounce the name of your third child to be Hedda!”

As we approach
ed Reggie’s without any sirens flagging us down or a black Taurus giving chase, Tre gracefully accepted my apology for my low blood sugar threat when I promised to reconsider her child’s name.

Driving past,
I caught winking glimpses of my brother’s lake house blazing with light through the towering oak’s bare branches in his front yard. Christmas tree lights blinked merrily on and off in the living room windows. A dozen cars and trucks were parked outside and the annual poker party was in full swing.

It
was only 9:30 PM, so I assumed Luke was showing some holiday spirit and hadn’t separated all the men from their weekly paychecks quite yet. I found myself hoping James Byrd was there and giving my boyfriend a run for his money.

At the farm,
I unlocked the back door to Luke’s house and herded everyone into the kitchen. During this shuffle, it was with the deepest regret that I unobtrusively closed and locked the wedged open door to the Bat Cave.

Luke may have shown Anna his control room, but I
wasn’t allowing a bunch of strangers down there. I didn’t know if Luke received only text alerts on his phone from his security system, or if he gets a visual, but I did a dancing circle, waving and smiling for the hidden camera. Either way, if Mr. Tricky checks his phone he’ll see I was back at the farm.

Tre
was glancing around Luke’s house with interest and slowly followed the group while I showed Mia and the five Mexicans the two spare bedrooms.

Mia
was staying here, too, until the women and children could be relocated tomorrow, so I explained they’ll be sharing these rooms and beds. I took Mia aside and told her that everyone was welcome to come to the dining room for a meal when Jazy and Anna arrived, but otherwise, I preferred the group to stay in their rooms and get a good night’s sleep. Mia cheerfully agreed, and I offered them the use of the bathroom to take showers. I couldn’t imagine they’ve had much chance to bathe properly holed up in Diego’s office and sneaking to use the restrooms after hours. I got them down extra pillows and blankets found in a closet while Mia translated.

Remembering the
spartan conditions of the main bathroom from our earlier exploration of Luke’s house, I grabbed a stack of towels and wash clothes from the linen closet in the hall. I added my own bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a tube of toothpaste to the pile. The women all carried backpacks, so they probably had toothbrushes and combs of their own, or they could use their fingers because that’s where I drew the line at sharing. They all talked noisily and gestured to each other to sort out the arrangements, as Tre and I waited patiently by the bedroom door.

None of the three
adult women seemed older than thirty and my mind attempted to understand how desperate their lives must have been to embark on this escape into another country. Defenseless, and with their children in tow, Minnesota was a very long distance to travel dependent on the kindness of strangers for your very lives.

Regardless of my sympathy,
and even my admiration for their bravery, I still don’t know these women and that included the fiery, idealistic Mia Besosa. I don’t get any bad vibes from the group, but they won’t have unsupervised run of Luke’s house and I will have my purse on me at all times. After Luke got home, he could decide where they could hang out tomorrow until they leave.

‘If he doesn’t kick your
butt out for turning his home into a three-ring circus!’
warned the mean mommy voice.

“Geez, don’t you ever need sleep?” I grumble
d under my breath, but Luke’s house did resemble a circus over the next couple of hours.

Jazy and Anna arrived with the food and all ten of us pulled up chairs around the dining room table
. We chowed down sausage and pepperoni pizza like we hadn’t eaten in days. Anna and Mia were kept busy translating, as we all got better acquainted. Soon we were all busy talking and laughing while Rosita, Maria, Guadalupe, Maria Jr., and Gabrielle took turns showering.

Tre kept an eye on the group for me when I discovered the second door in the back entry hall led into
a large laundry room.

I totally agree
, my abducted weekend into supposed sexual slavery just wouldn’t be complete without doing a load of laundry or two.

So I had Rosita
bring me all their dirty clothes, and soon the swishing of the washing machine and the tumbling dryer added background music to the general noise and confusion. I quickly changed into yoga pants and a T-shirt, and threw Mia’s work clothes into the washer, too.

During a moment of blissful isolation in the kitchen, I checked my phone for messages and was disappointed to see nothing from Dickie or Luke. Dickie’s time
was almost up. I looked up from my phone when Jazy came into the kitchen carrying a pile of dirty paper plates and napkins.

She
tossed them into the garbage and asked, “So, what do you think about Diego? Do we have to take him down for getting some on the side? Or has he been freaked out like a little wimp at having five girls hiding in his office and that’s why he’s been acting like an idiot to Mac?”

I laugh
ed helplessly at Jazy’s blunt rendition of the situation, but I nodded. “I absolutely think he’s been freaked out. I sincerely don’t believe Diego will ever cheat on Mac.”

“Really?” Jazy
was surprised because “ever” wasn’t a word in her vocabulary. Skeptically, she raised her brows. “Then why doesn’t Mac trust him?”

“
Our sister has issues,” I replied, shrugging. “Mia hasn’t told me everything yet, and I don’t know how she convinced Diego to help in the first place, but I do know she swore him to secrecy. It must not have crossed his mind to have bargained with Mia to be allowed to tell Mac before he agreed.”

Jazy shook her head and
chuckled. “I’m sure boy toy’s life has been a living hell!”

I agree
d, smiling ruefully. “Poor Diego’s been caught smack dab between a rock and a hard place named Mia and Mac. God forbid, he had to honor his sainted word above anything else--even his wife.”

My little sister
wasn’t burdened with insignificant issues like honor where the opposite sex was concerned and shook her head again. “Sheesh, men!” She frowned and asked, “What was the money all about then? Why do you think Diego was so friggin’ stupid to ask Mac for the money, if he wasn’t going to tell her anything?”

Lifting my eyes, I tapped my chin with a finger. “Hmm, let’s see, men and logic…”

Jazy and I laughed together.

Her
eyes got a faraway gleam and she whistled softly. “Now wouldn’t it be way cool to work at your desk all day knowing people are hiding a few feet away, and if you get caught you all go to prison?’

I
shuddered and reared back to look at this pretty creature that shared my blood, with her curly hair, charming dimples, and blue eyes as soft as dewy pansies. “Holy Crap, no! Don’t you remember poor Anne Frank?” At Jazy’s blank stare, I threw my hands up. “Young Jewish girl, hiding in the secret annex? Ring a bell?”

“
In Northfield?” Jazy asked doubtfully, twirling a curl.

“In the Netherlands!” I
answered on a groan, covering my face.

Jazy laugh
ed loudly and punched me lightly on the shoulder. “That was too easy! You must be slipping, Bel,” her eyes narrowed suspiciously, “or something really is wrong?”

I peek
ed at her over my hands and murmured fervently, “Oh, thank you! I really was worried about you.” I frowned at her, and prodded back, “Were you teasing about the working at the desk part or just the part about Anne Frank?”

Jazy only laugh
ed again while filling a glass with water and guzzling it down in one long drink. “Ah! That pizza was good and salty!” Filling her glass a second time, she held it up to drink but stopped to inquire, “Hey, did you decide if you’re working with James Byrd or not?”

I s
aw Tre motioning to me from the dining room and started walking that way while answering, “Yeah, I am. I’ll tell him when we meet on Monday.”

Jazy follow
ed me into the dining room and the pleased approval in her voice was obvious. “That’s so awesome!”

A
round of hugs later, Jazy, Tre, and Anna all left to go home. I begrudgingly promised to call them all tomorrow with a status update. It was only fair after all their help.
Rosita and the girls were all beat and went off to bed, each carrying a stack of clean, warm clothes from the dryer in their arms.

It
was 11:23 PM, and after I compulsively verified again that I have missed no calls, Mia helped me finish restoring the kitchen and dining room to their former immaculate conditions.

Afterwards, w
e sat down together at the Formica table in the kitchen with a glass of wine each. I listened for a solid thirty minutes while Mia told me the story of how she came to be hiding five Mexican females in Diego’s office at Dos Santos’.

To make a very long, incredibly
detailed, and emotionally overwrought story short, I will relate the highlights, as I understand them.

Mia Be
sosa claimed proudly to be a descendant of Manuel Besosa, a patriot and pioneer of the Puerto Rican section of the Cuban Revolutionary party in the late 1800’s. He was credited with designing the Puerto Rican flag and his daughter, Maria Manuela Besosa, claimed to have sewn it.

Mia’s
the youngest child of a large brood, and an ardently idealistic young woman with plenty of brains, spirit, and too much family money. Her father’s a busy, important businessman and her mother’s a busy, important socialite. Unfortunately, Mia’s has no NanaBel in her life kicking her ass into more productive routes and she spent the majority of her teens reading romantic historic novels and dreaming of adventures.

At eighteen, she
started hanging out with a dangerous crowd that fancied themselves as Freedom Fighters for the people. This appealed to Mia’s romantic, idealistic nature and the group used her, playing up her lineage and bilking her for money. Neither parent noticed their youngest, headstrong daughter falling in with the wrong crowd until two months ago.

Mia
got arrested vandalizing government property in protest against the Puerto Rican government’s “regime of oppression”. She was the only one caught and arrested after being deserted by her supposed friends. Her furiously embarrassed parents got her off the hook through their political contacts and shipped the disheartened troublemaker far away to their Dos Santos relatives in the States.

At least
Diego was smart enough to put Mia to work at the store. He couldn’t be blamed that his young relative promptly got involved in an underground movement helping women and children escape from three different Mexican border cities and crossing illegally into the U.S.

Mia inform
ed me these cities were considered some of the most dangerous in Mexico. The violence has escalated in the past years due to the Mexican government cracking down on the powerful drug cartels. Tijuana’s infamous for being a hub of human trafficking and known for brutal rapes and femicide. Juarez and Mexicali were known for the number of collateral damage deaths occurring as a byproduct of the ongoing warfare. Thousands of people have been murdered in Juarez alone over the last three years, and that city was considered to be doing better in comparison to previous times.

Learning
a lesson from her Freedom Fighter days in Puerto Rico, Mia worked alone in Faribault doing her part for this cause, but she came to the attention of a Faribault cop named Chuck Trotter about a month ago. Not that he suspected Mia was doing anything illegal, but because she’s a hot girl that caught his eye while he was shopping at supermercado de Dos Santos.

I
was perplexed at what planet this Chuck Trotter was from because Mia described him as a forty-something bald man with a pig nose. When this old, unattractive pig man dared to approach her and actually had the nerve to press repeatedly for a date, Mia was not gentle in her scathing rejections. One dark night in the store parking lot, Officer Trotter got physical and tried to force Mia into his car. She screamed bloody murder and went crazy. He backed off when he saw some people exiting the store and looking their way. Mia was scared, but too nervous to report him to anyone and cause trouble for Diego or his family. She decided to let it go because Trotter seemed to have gotten the hint. Mia said he was always leering at her, but he never tried to talk with her again.

Maybe that would have been the end of it, but
Officer Trotter happened to see Mia drive by one evening while on duty and out patrolling the streets. Being a total creeper, he followed her, saw Mia drop off several Mexican women at a meeting spot in a deserted warehouse parking lot, and got suspicious.

Ten days ago, the same day she had
the responsibility and a short window of opportunity, to move Rosita and the others, was the day Officer Trotter cornered her again. He demanded $10,000 and Mia’s sexual favors for his silence based on what he had seen her do that other night at the warehouse. Chuck threatened to arrest her if she didn’t comply. Mia’s young, but no longer naive. She suspected Trotter had no proof of anything and was trying to terrorize her.

Mia called Trotter’s bluff and
she was right, but he’s stalked her since that day. Mia has been scared to death, since he always showed up whenever she drove somewhere. He also came into the store under the pretense of shopping and talked lewdly to her when only she could hear.

Later the same night after Trotter threatened Mia with imminent arrest; Diego
unexpectedly came to work after hours. Diego walked in on Mia moving Rosita and the girls into his office. She had no choice but to involve Diego and beg for her cousin’s silence for the week. Having missed her connection, and having nobody else to depend on or ask for advice, Mia had to find a safe place for the girls. They needed to wait out the time until the following Saturday when they could safely be moved on their way again. Mia’s solution was the secret room in her cousin’s office at the store.

When she first started working at Dos Santos’
and was in Diego’s office, Mia had noticed the missing window, as well. When questioning Diego about it, he’d shown Mia the hidden space of three feet by twelve feet. He explained it was created when he had the room framed-in and dry walled. Diego had a small entrance panel installed in the back of the closet to get at the electrical wiring, but he had no intention of ever using the space as a secret room to hide illegal Mexicans. However, Diego was not able to say no that night to Mia’s hysterical tears and the wailing of three women and two terrified girls.

Still worried about Trotter finding out, Mia had tentatively asked Diego if he could get her $10,000, just in case. She lied and said it was for the Mexican women. She swore up and down she would pay him back and not do this dangerous work anymore, if Diego would only help her out this once.

Mia
had just punched out after her shift tonight and was checking on the girls before she left the store when Team Ninja burst out of both ends of the closet.

After her story, we
sat in companionable silence for a few moments sipping our wine.

I
sighed. “I just served a minor a glass of wine, didn’t I?”

Unburdened of worries for the first time in a month, Mia
giggled girlishly and nodded yes. I sighed again, but had to giggle a little, too.

I held up my glass and
toasted, “To the Night of the Ninjas!”

Mia look
ed confused, but valiantly held up her glass. “Salud!”

W
e clinked our glasses before we each drank a swallow of wine.

“Did you call Diego and let him know his office has been evacuated?”

“Yes, I called him from the van while we waited for you to lead,” she made a spitting gesture, “that pig away from the store.”

I patted her hand. “
Mia, here’s the deal, as I see it. Don’t ask me how, but you leave Officer Too Hot To Trot to me, okay?”

She smiled
at the name, but agreed slowly while her forehead creased with doubt. “Okay, I guess.” She shrugged. “What can it hurt to let you try?”

“Exactly.”
I grinned widely at her pragmatism. Summing up, I said, “You said you gave your word to Diego not to do anything dangerous any longer. I can clearly see that you’re an honorable woman who keeps her word, right?”

“Yes,” she nod
ded, sadly.

I bit my cheek. “
I also see that you have a huge heart and a big fat brain, but,” Mia giggled at this statement and I frowned at her for interrupting. She made a big deal of straightening up and zipping her mouth. “BUT you definitely need to be on a choke chain before you hurt yourself or others.” I nodded at her affronted gasp. “That’s right, you heard me, little sister. You are in desperate need of a mentor and work direction. We need to get you doing your thing through legal channels and get your cause backed by big money and media exposure.” She was looking less outraged and more intrigued by the second. “You are about to become the spokesperson and driving force behind the…what should we name your cause? Bitches without Borders? Bite this, Coyote Ugly? Brave Girls against Border Bad Guys? Borderline Crazy?”

As she
listened to me carrying on and making up crazy names, Mia laughed. Nothing was remotely funny about the reasons behind the need for Mia’s cause, but I was glad she has a sense of humor. Her expressive brown eyes were glazed with happiness, or maybe it was the wine.

Impulsively, s
he reached over the table and clasped my hands in hers. Thin nostrils flared in her fierceness when she proclaimed, “You will be my mentor, Anabel!”

Blinking in surprise, I sat back. “
Huh. I was thinking more along the lines of this brilliant woman attorney I know who would eat you up with a spoon and love to help your cause. And then there’s this fantastically handsome, insanely rich financier who won’t be able to resist your downtrodden little feet…”

Mia
was flinging her head back and forth while forcefully smacking her fist on the table to emphasize each shouting word. “No! No! No! I want you!”

“Well Geez,” I griped, giving
the little fiend the evil eye. “Have a tantrum, why don’t you! Do you know how many spoiled brats I have in my life already that I have to deal with on a daily basis?”