Page 6 of Badass Women 13: Vincintis

The woman seemed to relax on the bed as she let out a relieved sigh.

Frost looked at her questioningly.“What do you know of the Gondos?”

“I know you have two more of them to hunt down.”She looked at Leon.“My brothers came here to join them hoping to get a foot in the door of the cartel.They dragged me along so I couldn’t get away and possibly warn you that they were here looking to join the others.”

Leon frowned.“And who are you, exactly?”

“My name is Ria Conchez, my brothers and I are cousins to Paulo Gondo.”

Leon clenched his hands into fists and he growled, “Just how many of you Gondos are there?”

Ria shrugged.“If you took out the main Gondo men and the twenty-five soldiers they brought with them then you got them all.But my brothers are also here although we arrived too late for them to join the main bunch.My brothers are looking all over town to find them.”

“Who left you in this state and why?”Storm wanted to know.

Ria looked down at the sheet covering her and said, “My brothers, Ricco and Benzo.I tried to run away.They were going to kill my friend.They said that Paulo’s sons ordered this.I tried to tell them they couldn’t do this but they bragged that this would be their way in.You see, we are what most people would call the poor relations.My father was a farmer in southern California, he loved the land and he hated what the Gondos stood for.But after he died, my brothers saw the cousins and they dreamed of having money like they always seemed to have, they also wanted the power that went along with being a member of the cartel.And they didn’t think about what they would have to do to obtain that.”

“So like their cousins, they will try to come here for that power and glory, knowing they have to kill me to get it?”Leon asked her.

Ria nodded.“I think that’s exactly what they will do.”

Frost leaned closer and asked her, “So that’s why they came here?They want to get into the cartel ranks?”

Ria nodded.“They were farmers and mechanics but all that changed when our parents died.My father was killed in an accident while building a new barn.He tripped and fell onto a rotary saw table.He bled to death before anyone found him.A few days after he died, my mother got hit by a car in town when she went to make funeral arrangements.The car had no plates and the police never solved it.So, she died too.I was in shock for a long time after losing them so close together.But I noticed that my brothers didn’t feel badly at all.They were suddenly free, running the streets and getting into trouble within weeks of losing our parents.They sold the farm and we moved into town to a very small, old house.I wondered where all the money went.Then they got the bright idea of joining our uncles in the cartel.You see our mother was Paulo’s cousin so that gave them the idea that Paulo would just take them under his wing and train them to be cartel.But Paulo wouldn’t even let them try.He said they didn’t know what they were doing and they weren’t right for the upper ranks.So he only allowed them to work beside locals in processing the drugs.It was rumored that Paulo had to come here to take over the Boston drug route.Then my brothers followed them here and have been looking for them for two days now.”

“And just what did you do to earn a beating this vicious?”Frost asked.“I mean they really hurt you.”

Ria looked at him and said, “I refused to be a part of it.They wanted to use me to kill someone and I refused.”

“Who were you supposed to help kill?”Storm asked.

“My friend, Lucy.”Tears filled her eyes.“Paulo hates her and wants her dead.Back home, her and I were friends.We needed each other in such a cruel place.Our families are criminal...they are monsters.”She looked troubled as she went on, “They said she was a traitor.She left town just before the others did.”

“Are you talking about Lucinda Martell?”Storm asked.

“Yes,” she replied in excitement as she looked surprised that he knew her name.“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s okay.”Storm nodded.“She came here to tell Leon about their plan to take over Boston and that they were going to kill Leon.”

Ria closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, “I’m glad she got here and I pray she’s safe from them now.”

“She is and will be under my protection from now on,” Storm announced as he looked fierce about this statement.

Staring up at him, Ria studied him then she whispered, “Wow.That’s...just wow.She hasn’t had such a good life.Being rejected by her father.But she told me it was a good thing in the end.Now she is finally free of those bullies.”

“It looks like you have bullies too.”Frost looked angry as he made this statement.

Ria sighed heavily.“I told them I wouldn’t help them to trap and kill Lucy.That I didn’t want to be here if all they brought me for was to kill my friend.Benzo told me I didn’t have a choice.When I told him I did have a choice he hit me then he locked me in a room at the place they are using as a hideout.I waited until they went to sleep and I escaped.Then they used my own dog, Pinto, to track me down and that’s when they beat me up.”She went silent for a couple of minutes.

Frost slowly shook his head as his gaze met with Storm’s.

She then continued her story, “They thought I was coming to warn you about them.I was down and almost unconscious when they shot my dog to punish me.”She paused to swallow hard and looked away as she explained, “They went to get rid of Pinto’s body and I got away from them.”

“I’m sorry about your dog,” Frost told her.

Ria nodded.“So am I.He was m-my best friend...I had Pinto for a long time.They killed him just because they could.They knew it would hurt me.But I kept going even though the pain was so terrible and my grief for my Pinto was so heavy.Then I couldn’t run any further than the beach.So I climbed into the trash bin and I just couldn’t move.”She nodded at Frost.“The next time I opened my eyes, you and Jake were there.”

Leon stepped forward and observed, “You don’t seem too upset that your family didn’t succeed in their mission.”