In the back room at Integrity Auto, Ruby Riot was having a sit down with her Vice President, Sarah Logan. The topic of conversation was the auto shop being broken into a couple of nights back. The office had been trashed, and the petty cash box had been stolen along with a car, a Ford Mustang, that had been in for some minor repairs. The reason for the current conversation was that someone Shayna Baszler knew had advised her that he had been offered the chance to buy the stolen car. He had given the name and address of the guy who had made the offer, which Riot now relayed to Logan, along with the fact that he lived alone.
"Get over there and work him over. If it was him who robbed us, deal with it. If not, find out who did," Riot instructed. "And take the Prospect with you. It's time she showed us she can do something more than tend bar and ride around at the back of the pack."
"You're sure this is the job for her?" Logan asked.
"Would you want her interrogating you?"
"Good point," Logan said. "Okay, I'll take her and we'll get it done."
"Call me when you have, one way or another."
Logan nodded, then left the room. She went straight across to Lynch's, where Victoria Fernandez was working a shift tending bar. "Prospect! Get your ass over here!" she called as soon as she walked in.
Perception told Gonzalez that she wasn't about to be told to unblock a toilet or detail a bike. No, this was something different, something more significant. She obediently walked over to Logan.
"Your shift is over. Got something else for you to do this evening."
"Okay. Whatever you need."
"Of course whatever I need," Logan snapped. "Follow me."
At this point, Gonzalez was used to being spoken to like that. It was part of being a Prospect. She would likely endure that treatment the entire time until she was promoted to a full patch, assuming her undercover assignment lasted that long. She followed Logan out front, to where their bikes were parked. Getting ready to ride, she took her leather gloves out of her jeans pocket and pulled them on. Her helmet was hanging on her bike's handlebars.
"Right," Logan said before going to her own bike. "Got a lead on who robbed the shop. Guy named James Ellsworth sold the car that was stolen to someone who called it in to Baszler. We're going to go and find out if it was him who robbed us. If it wasn't, you're going to get him to tell us who did."
"And if it was him?" Gonzalez asked.
Logan raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't ask questions you know the answers to, Fernandez."
"You want me to kill him?"
"No, I want you to suck his dick and squeeze his balls," Logan said with impatient sarcasm. "Of course I want you to kill him. You got a problem with that? If so, you'd better take that cut off and get the hell out of here fast."
"Don't have a problem. Was just being clear about what we're setting out to do here."
"Then let's go. Follow me."
Within moments, the two women had their bikes fired up. With Logan in the lead, they rode off up the street.
The two bikers cruised to a quiet stop outside of a run down little house in a seedy neighbourhood. It was a good place to be on this kind of mission, Gonzalez thought. A bit of noise or shouting wouldn't be noteworthy to people who lived there, in contrast to more upmarket neighbourhoods where busybodies always had their curtains twitching.
"I want you to take the lead on this. This is where you get your first chance to show us you're worth having in the club," Logan said once they were off their bikes and standing at the bottom of the house's short driveway. "Get us inside, then question him about the car and the robbery. Think you can do that?"
"Sure. Want me to rough him up a bit?"
Logan grinned. "A bit of pain never hurt anybody."
Gonzalez had to chuckle at that. "So what's this asshole's name?"
"James Ellsworth, apparently. I don't know anything about him other than he lives here alone, and he sold the car to Baszler's friend. So, I'm not sure exactly what we're going to be dealing with."
"Okay, leave it to me. I've had to throw people out of bars before, so I'm not new to getting physical with guys. Plus, most importantly, we've got surprise on her side."
Logan eyed her for a second. "You done something like this before?"
Gonzalez cautioned herself not to appear overly competent. It didn't fit with Victoria. "No. It's common sense. Surprise is always a big advantage. That'll get us in. Then, if he doesn't talk, I'll start fucking him up."
"That I can believe," Logan said, pleasing Gonzalez. One thing the bikers had to respect was her size. She had proven with Baszler that she could beat any of their asses easily in a one on one fight. Labelling her a Prospect didn't change that.
"I'm going to knock. When he opens it, I'll bust in," Gonzalez said.
Logan pulled out a pistol. "Just in case," she said.
Gonzalez nodded, glad to see the weapon, although she would prefer it not to be used. "Once we're in, you check the place out and make sure there's no one else here, while I sort Ellsworth out."
Logan nodded her agreement with the plan. There was no reason to waste more time, so Gonzalez led the way up to the front door. When she got there, she gave it a firm knock.
Real life not being like an action movie, there was no shotgun blast through the door to greet them, nor indeed anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments, the door opened. Without waiting to assess the man who was there, Gonzalez punched him hard in the face before he could even say anything, knocking him flat on his back in his dimly lit hallway.
Gonzalez and Logan stormed inside, and the door was closed again only seconds after it had been opened. Only now did Gonzalez assess the situation. The man, presumably Ellsworth, was a short, skinny, ugly man who wouldn't have posed a threat to Logan, let alone Gonzalez. He was also out cold, either from the punch or from cracking his head on the wooden floor when he went down.
"Damn, girl. You don't know your own strength," Logan said, looking at him.
"Clear the house," Gonzalez said, all business. "Start in there." She motioned with her head towards an open door leading to a living room.
Logan didn't bother objecting to being ordered around. She went into the living room and confirmed it was clear, then did the same with the kitchen and a small bathroom.
"We're clear down here. Heading upstairs."
While Logan went upstairs, Gonzalez grabbed the unconscious Ellsworth under his armpits and dragged him into the living room. There was a little wooden dining table in their with four chairs. The table was used for piling mail and other assorted junk onto rather than for eating, apparently, but the chairs were what caught her eye. One of them would be perfect.
Leaving Ellsworth lying in the middle of the floor, she went and made sure the curtains were properly closed, then fetched one of the dining chairs and put it down next to Ellsworth. She judged that his skinny little arms would pass through the vertical wooden uprights that made up the back of the chair, perfect for tying him to it.
"Upstairs is clear. He's the only one here," Logan reported, walking into the room. "Damn, he's still out cold."
"Yeah. But he won't be for long, so find something we can tie him up with."
Logan left the room again as Gonzalez picked Ellsworth up and sat him on the chair. Sure enough, his arms fit between the uprights. Now all she needed was something to tie his wrists with to keep them there.
"Will this work?" Logan asked, returning with a roll of silver duct tape.
"Yeah, it'll work. I'm good with this stuff." Gonzalez pictured her muñequita for a second before getting to work on the less enjoyable task at hand. Ellsworth's wrists were soon taped together behind the chair. In addition, she taped each of his ankles to a chair leg, ensuring that he wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Good timing. He's walking up," Logan said as Gonzalez tossed the tape roll aside. "I'll let you do the interrogating."
"Alright," Gonzalez said. She helped speed up Ellsworth's return to consciousness by slapping him hard across the face. "Come on, asshole! We've not got all night."
Ellsworth groaned a bit, then seemed to snap into alertness. "What the fuck? Who are you?" he yelled.
"Keep your voice down or I'll kick your teeth down your throat," Gonzalez growled at him.
The threat had the desired effect. Apparently he believed her. "What do you want?" he asked at a more reasonable volume, struggling with the bondage.
"Sit still," Gonzalez ordered. "You're James Ellsworth?"
"No, I'm Leonardo DiCaprio," he replied sarcastically, which still gave them the answer they needed.
"There's a chance you can come out of this without me having to hurt you any more, Ellsworth. You sold a Ford Mustang earlier today. It was stolen from us. What I want to know is did you steal it? And don't think about bullshitting me because that would end very unpleasantly for you."
Ellsworth seemed to find his situation impossible and Gonzalez's threats convincing. He coughed up right away. "I didn't steal it. I bought it cheap, then moved it on for a profit. Don't even know who you people are, or where your car was stolen from."
"If that's true, and it had better be, then who did you buy it from?"
"Listen, if I rat him out, he might come after me."
Gonzalez looked at Logan. "I'm pretty sure I saw a kettle in the kitchen. Would you go boil it for me?"
"Sure," Logan said, heading for the kitchen.
"What do you want that for?" Ellsworth panicked, resuming his pathetic struggling.
Gonzalez leaned over him, almost nose to nose. "I want it because if I don't have the name of the person you bought the car from by the time it's boiled, I'm going to pour it over your ass. How painful do you imagine that's going to be?"
"Alright! Alright! His name is John Morrison. I swear, I had no idea the car was stolen."
"Forget the kettle for now," Gonzalez called through to the kitchen. Logan quickly returned to the living room. "We have a name. John Morrison."
"And where do we find this John Morrison?" Logan asked.
"And before you say you don't know, if you even try that I'll go boil the kettle myself," Gonzalez added.
Ellsworth reluctantly gave up an address, Logan typing it into her phone.
"That's good, James," Gonzalez said. "Now, that name and address had better check out. Because if we don't find this John Morrison, and if he doesn't know anything about the car, I'm going to come find you. If Morrison finds out we're coming for him ahead of time, I'm going to come find you. And if I do? There are worse things you can do to someone than kill them. You understand me?"
"Yes. Yes, ma'am," Ellsworth said, plainly terrified. "The name and address are real, I swear. Now untie me."
"You'll get free eventually. I hope for your sake we won't see each other again."
With that, Gonzalez followed Logan out of the house. They wasted no time on conversation. Top priority was to get on their bikes and make themselves scarce.
They drove a winding route for about five minutes before Logan pulled over. Gonzalez pulled up beside her.
"Jesus Christ, Fernandez. Remind me never to get on the wrong side of you," Logan said with some admiration.
"I did a good job?" she asked, feigning naivety.
"A good job? Even I thought you were going to torture him. I'd better call Ruby with the address. When I get a chance to speak to her later, I'll let her know how well you did today. Keep it up, and you'll make it in this club."
"Thank you," Gonzalez said. The comments were as good for her as they were for Victoria Fernandez. Later, she would have to pass it on to Sergeant Lindsay.
When Gonzalez got back home to the safe house later that night, thankfully quite early for once, she saw lights on inside. She knew what that meant, and it made her smile. Zelina had decided to come for a visit, which was okay as it fitted in with the whole 'Victoria Fernandez' story.
"Hi! Z?" she called out when she walked in.
"Hey," Zelina said happily, coming out of the living room. She was wearing a shirt that was way too big and too long for her, one of Raquel's that she must have gone upstairs to borrow, and a pair of shorts that showed off her sexy legs.
"So happy to see you, beautiful," Raquel said as they hugged. They kissed each other lovingly.
"You too, mami. Sorry I've not been over for a few days. Been really busy. Come and sit down. I've got wine in the living room. Would you like something to eat?"
"No, thank you. I just want to relax with you for a while. A glass of wine sounds good though."
Walking into the living room, Raquel took off her leather cut and placed it over the back of a chair. Meanwhile, Zelina poured a glass of red wine and put it on the coffee table beside her own.
They were soon cuddled up together on the couch. Zelina asked how Raquel's day had been, but Raquel said she preferred to unwind a bit before going into it. Instead, Zelina turned on the TV and rested her head on her mami's shoulder. Raquel put an arm around her, feeling truly happy – a rare occurrence for her.
A news channel came on. There was a breaking news situation going on, and it was in Chicago, they saw. The outside of a mall was shown, with more police cars and officers scattered around than it was possible to count. The banner at the bottom of the screen said that there had been a possibly terror-related incident, with at least two people opening fire at innocent shoppers, leaving multiple people dead and many more injured.
"Holy shit, this can't have happened long ago," Zelina said.
"Here in Chicago, too," Gonzalez said, horrified.
"We understand that an off duty police officer shot and killed both attackers," a male anchors was saying. "And we believe this to be the officer in question."
A still photograph appeared on the screen. It showed two senior uniformed police questioning a third person, who was the focus of the photograph and the comments from the anchor. It was Kim Burgess.
A/N: What did you make of how Gonzalez did in her first real job for the MC?
And how about that ending?