Paul embraced his mother's waist, holding her closer as they went onto the second floor of the warehouse, showing that she was his, because a few men of the gang were looking at her with the wrong kind of eyes, whatever that meant. Madison also felt watched as she leaned into him.
Two guys with guns outside a room looked at them as they neared. Marco, inside the room, continued yelling at the couple he had as prisoners, pushing for the location of the Colonia with growing dissatisfaction in his voice.
ES "Where is the colonia?! Where is it!!!"
ES "Is it north of here, la colonia?"
ES "What's the matter, Antonio?" one of the two guys asked him.
ES "We are looking for Marco. These people have a good trade that needs him to finish it."
The guy looked at him for no more than a second, turned around, and knocked on the door. Marco's yelling inside stopped as he opened the door. "What?" he said as he looked outside, soon fixing his eyes on Antonio and the three behind him.
ES "Antonio brought people to do business."
Marco looked at Antonio, and he quickly started talking. ES "These guys are looking for information. They are willing to exchange it for worthwhile items. They brought ice, fresh fish, and other things."
Marco listened, and his face was getting angry at Antonio, as he could have done the deal himself.
ES "And they are even willing to give guns."
It was then that Marco's face changed into a smiling one.
ES "You should have said that from the start," Marco said as he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
ES "What can I do for you? What kind of information are you looking for?" Marco asked as he eyed Elena, Madison, and Paul, seeing the protective behavior of the young man with the older woman.
ES Elena spoke with him first. "We are looking for the place of a gang that is in Rosarito. I know you should know where they may be staying."
"And we are looking for my son, Nick. He is somewhere here in Tijuana," Madison quickly said.
ES "Hold on, hold on," Marco stopped them. "I don't understand what you are saying, woman," he said, looking at Madison. Then he looked at Elena. "What gang is the one you are looking for?"
.........
A while later, after they talked and explained about the gang and Nick, they concluded the deal with the things they brought, and it seemed it was indeed Nick the one they were talking about before. Marco left the place for a while and later came back with the information about the gang, along with two possible locations. For the matter of Nick, it cost more, as he felt slighted by Nick in a previous dealing with him. Paul and Madison paid for him to not be hurt and to be retained if found by them again, the payment being a machine gun with ammo and ten FX-05s by tomorrow when they came back.
Paul was embracing Alicia as the group watched three guys, along with Antonio, take the things from the van.
ES "So that's it, Aunt," Antonio talked with Elena when they were about to leave. "I hope you find my brother alive..."
ES Elena pleaded with him. "You can come back home, Antonio. Help us look for your brother."
ES "This is my family now, Aunt."
ES "They're not blood, Antonio. Your brother is, and he needs help now."
ES "You two should have stayed with me, and he would not be in the situation he is now."
ES Antonio looked at his aunt for a moment before he turned around and left. "Good luck, and don't come back, Aunt."
After the guys from the Pelicano left, only the group was left beside the van.
"What now?" Oscar asked, worried for his brother.
Chris was also anxious. "We need to attack these guys now. We need to rescue my mom!"
"We will rescue them, don't worry. But first, we need to take a look at those two places before deciding what to do," Paul reassured them.
"Let's go back."
They separated and started getting inside the vehicles. Paul was waiting for the girls to get seated in the back of the van when Alicia rushed out and started gagging, as if wanting to puke beside the van. Everyone rushed out of the car to see what was happening with her.
*Puag**puag* Alicia tried to puke in the street as she leaned against the van, but nothing came out of her mouth except saliva and some foamy liquid.
"Alicia? Baby, what's the matter? Are you feeling sick?" Madison bombarded her with questions as she worriedly caressed her back while she continued retching.
"I... I..." Alicia tried to speak when the nausea came back. "Uagh..." she retched again as her throat contracted, trying to throw up.
"Did the food from last night make you feel unwell or something?" Paul asked, also worried beside them as he looked at his sister trying to puke her soul out of her body.
"I'm... I'm okay," Alicia said as she got hold of herself when the feeling of nausea passed away. She stood with trembling legs as she looked at everyone, who had a worried look on their faces. "I'm fine now, don't worry, everyone."
"Here, drink this." Andrea passed her a bottle of water.
Alicia took it and started washing her mouth as she spit the water out, removing the acid and the bad taste from her mouth before she drank the rest.
"What happened, baby?" Madison continued caressing her back.
"I suddenly felt a strong nausea, and I wanted to puke so much that I could not hold it in. So I rushed out of the van, not wanting to puke inside so it wouldn't smell bad when we go back."
"Did your belly hurt or feel bad in the morning since waking up or something?" Paul asked her, trying to figure out what the problem was.
"No..." she said with certainty, but she was also uncertain why she had this nausea. "I didn't have a problem since waking up."
"Weird..." Paul said. "Maybe now it is taking its toll. We don't have anything here for gastric juices or nausea. We need to get back to the hotel for that."
"In the meantime, drink this medicine," Paul said as he bit his hand and pushed it near his sister's lips.
Alicia looked at her brother's bloody hand and pouted at him for hurting himself so quickly and nonchalantly. She took his hand in hers and started licking the blood, drinking it all. Alicia's body shuddered in pleasure as she drank every drop with her eyes closed. As she opened them, she looked at him with a much healthier face.
"How do you feel now?"
"Much better, thank you."
"That's good. Let's go. Chris and Oscar must be on pins and needles waiting for us to fly back."