*Warning, this chapter is relatively short I apologize*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I woke up with a screaming pain in my left shoulder. Looking around, I noticed that Gomez was sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked up and noticed that I had awoken.

"Good morning, muchacho," he greeted.

"Morning?" I asked.

"Oh, no, not quite. It's only about 5 pm."

"Good," I said. "Because we still have to figure out what we're going to do to get Ava back."

He nodded. "Your shoulder will be fine. Abuelo stitched you up and said you're all ready to go, you just need to be a little more careful."

I nodded as I slowly sat up, the pain coming in bursts. "Let's move," I said.

He nodded and helped me up. We started heading out of the house.

"Ariana," Gomez said to his sister. She approached us.

"Yes, hermano?"

"We are going to go get our friend back. We will be back later on tonight. Please, hide yourself when we return."

"But...why?" she questioned.

"If Taco has found Ava to be of some value, then he won't let her go so easily. If we have to take her by force, there's a chance that Taco will come searching for her again."

Ariana nodded. "I will let the rest of the family know." She hugged him. "I love you, hermano."

"And I love you too."

"Please be careful!" She begged.

Gomez cast her a wicked grin. "Always."

"Com'mon," I pleaded. "We're loosing daylight."

Gomez pulled away from his sister and walked with me out to his car. He started it up and began pulling out onto the street.

"So, what exactly is the plan here?" I asked him. "We can't just ask for her back."

"It may take some coaxing," Gomez said. "But, Taco and I have a very...unique relationship. I'm sure he will comply when given the right offer."

"What are you going to offer him?"

"The weed, obviously," he answered. "I have nothing else of value that he will accept. That is, of course, unless he wants me to work for him again."

"Would you accept that trade?" I asked. "For Ava?"

He widened his eyes and slightly shook his head. "Erm...I'm not sure, man. Taco is a very dangerous man, and a ruthless pimp. Working for him would not be the wisest choice if you want to keep your sanity...or your life."

I shivered. The man that Gomez had just described had full control over Ava. And I knew her. She was probably trembling alone in a dark corner of some rape house, beaten and stripped of her dignity.

Oh my god, I thought. How can I be thinking this? I do the exact same things to her, so why is it bad to me to think about someone else doing it to her?

From that moment on, I swore to myself that I would never try to hurt her again. I couldn't stand to loose her again. I had taken her for granted and now look. She was at the hands of a merciless drug lord.

"Gomez," I said. "We have to get her back."

"Trust me, you don't need to remind me."

We drove up to the house that we had lost Ava at. We parked across the street and stared at it for several minutes.

"What do we do?" I asked Gomez. He was about to open his mouth to speak, but someone suddenly banged on his window.

The two of us jumped in our seats and turned our heads to see who it was. Gomez rolled down the window only to have a gun pointed to our faces.

"What the hell do you want?" the blond boy from earlier demanded.

Gomez and I both put our hands up...Well, I tried to, at least.

"Calm down. We are here to negotiate."

"For what?"

"The girl."

"Ah, the Ava Wave."

I furrowed my brows. The Ava Wave? What the hell kind of a name was that?

"Please. Taco knows that she was already a wanted abductee when you two kidnapped her. The police are looking all over the place. She won't try to run if she's with us."

"And what makes you so sure?" he spat. "I'm sure that Taco could hide her a hell of a lot better than you can."

"We don't want to hide her. We brought her here to stay only for a while. We had no intentions of selling her, as I'm sure that Taco does."

"What do you have to offer him?" the boy asked. "I'm sure that you have nothing of worth in this crap excuse of a car of yours."

"Remember the weed you smelled earlier?"

The boy cocked his head. "I'm listening."

"I have about 20 pounds of it back there. Give back Ava and he can have it all for free."

He lifted his brow. "Don't move." He walked back across the street and into the large house.

"Are you really going to offer him all of the weed?" I asked incredulously.

"Listen Lex, I'm not a monster. I think that I am a good man. I just don't want Ava to get hurt, that's all. I know you love her. I want to help you."

The blonde boy returned. "Taco says that he already dumped her."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"He said that she was being a pain in the ass and that since she was already being heavily sought after that he wasn't going to risk prison. So he dumped her."

"Where?" Gomez asked calmly. "When?"

"A couple of hours ago. He doesn't know where. He sent someone else to do it. That person still hasn't returned."

Gomez placed his hands on his head. "Okay, tell Taco this. Tell him that his old friend Gomez has come to town for a little visit. And if I don't get Ava back by sun up, hell is going to rain down upon him."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah? You're two guys. How are you going to do that?"

"I have a gang bigger than you think, muchacho," Gomez answered. "And my buddy here, he's a violent serial killer. Please, use your imagination."

Gomez screeched away from the house and started down the street, leaving the blonde boy in a puff of exhaust smoke.

"Turn your head and make sure that no one is following us," Gomez ordered. I did as he asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"I know that Taco is lying. And I just gave a completely empty threat. We are going back to get her later, but I have no doubt that Taco will try to counter my threat. Just keep an eye out."

"Well, no one is following us so far," I said. "And I hope it stays that way."