After receiving a text from Raquel saying that she was waiting for him in the hospital's main parking lot, Jay had said goodbye to Henry and Erin and headed out to meet her. In a way it seemed a bit odd, but he felt a lot closer to Raquel as a friend and a partner after being invited to her apartment and sharing dinner with her and Zelina. Small things could make a big difference. He felt happy at the thought of seeing her for the first time since the most wonderful thing in his life had happened – the birth of his son.
The silver mustang wasn't exactly difficult to locate in the lot, so Jay headed straight for it when he came out of the hospital's main entrance. Raquel was standing outside of the car drinking a bottle of mineral water while looking at her phone. She didn't notice him approaching.
"Water, huh? You're pushing the boat out," he said in a lame attempt at humour.
"Hey. Been thirsty all morning. Think I pushed myself a bit hard in the gym before work. Anyway, let's talk about Henry. I'm so happy for you. Tell me about him."
"He's amazing, Raquel. The most handsome baby. He's already got some hair, and he's got Er's mouth for sure. She thinks he has my nose."
"Aw, I can't wait to meet him," she said with a smile.
"You should have come in."
"I'm not sure I'm ready to walk in on my boss while she's in a hospital bed with a newborn," Raquel said.
Jay could understand that. It was easy for him to forget at times that to most, if not all of the team, Erin was a boss much more than a friend. It was sad in his opinion, but it was nonetheless a fact. "Right. Well, you can come see him once they're both home. I actually have a son and a daughter, Raquel. It's not really hit me yet. I'm just... blessed."
"Your kids are the ones who are blessed. They're lucky to have such a great guy for a dad."
"Thank you," he said, giving her a hug. And then he felt himself tearing up as emotions started to hit him. He did his best for Erin, for Clem, for his friends, and would do so for Henry. It meant a lot to have someone acknowledge that, and it had pushed him over the edge in the already emotional state he was in. He backed out of the hug and tried his best to discreetly wipe his eyes. Predictably, she knew exactly what was happening.
"Oh, bless you," Raquel said with a tenderness that belied her appearance. "It's amazing to see you so happy. One day, I hope I can be as good at that stuff as you."
"That stuff?" Jay said as he regained his composure. "You mean family stuff? You already have a fiancée, Raquel. You're not doing so bad. Or do you mean you want kids one day?"
"I don't know," she said frankly. "I just want a normal life. Although things are great, it's all still new to me and part of me expects to fuck it all up at any moment. Z has said I need to simply live day to day and be happy."
"And stop overthinking things," Jay added. "She's right. But I can understand why you don't find it all that easy. It'll come with time."
"I hope so," Raquel said with a hopeful smile. "Right, let me drive you home."
They got into her car and she fired up the powerful engine. "Oh, get a load of this shit," she said, unlocking her phone and handing it to him.
He took it and saw that an article from a Chicago news site was open. It bore the headline 'President McMahon endorses Bayley Martinez in Illinois gubernatorial race'.
"Are you serious right now?" he asked Raquel.
"Watch the video," she replied as she pulled out of the parking lot.
Jay scrolled down and found a video link. He tapped on the play icon and McMahon appeared, giving a press conference at the White House. She was asked if she had any endorsements to make regarding the upcoming elections in several states. Her answer began by encouraging people to vote Republican across the board, but then she said that in particular there were two young women she wanted to endorse, who were running for office for the first time. The first one was a name Jay had never heard, someone over in Pennsylvania.
"Here it comes," Gonzalez said, keeping her eyes on the road.
"And the second one is Bayley Martinez, who is running in Illinois. She's young, vibrant, and she supports a lot of the policies that people voted for when they elected me. It's important to support Republican women and Republican Latinos, so if you're in Illinois make sure you get out and vote for Bayley Martinez in the primaries, and again on election day."
Jay put Raquel's phone in the centre console between their seats and shook his head. "How does she do it?"
It was obvious what he meant. He wanted to know how Martinez managed to talk or slime her way into pretty much any position or situation she wanted. It was remarkable.
"I have no idea. But if I had to bet on it, I'd say she's going to win the primaries now. And I wouldn't bet against her getting elected."
"Surely not," Jay said doubtfully.
Raquel grunted a laugh. "You bet against it if you want. I won't be."
Less than ten minutes later she was pulling up outside of Jay and Erin's house. "There we go," she said.
"Thanks, Raquel. I appreciate it."
"Sure. Call me if you need anything else. And let me know how Clem reacts to meeting Henry."
"Will do," he said with a smile. He got out of the car and made his way into the house.
Before moving off, Raquel read a text that she had received while she had been driving. She started typing out a reply, only to be surprised by the passenger door opening. She looked up, expecting to see Jay having forgotten something in the car. But a Hispanic man in a suit got in, discreetly pointing a pistol at her. He had slicked back hair and looked to be in his thirties. She had never seen him before. At the same time, another Hispanic man got in the back. He was older, maybe late forties, and also new to her.
"Drive," the man in the front ordered her coldly.
"This look like a taxi to you?"
"Drive. Now. Or I'll put a bullet in you."
"And I'll finish the job," the guy in the back added.
Left with no choice, Raquel got the car moving. No one had seen what was happening. She was now essentially being abducted, without knowing who by, what for, or where the men had come from.
"You're probably going to have to tell me where we're going," she said after a few moments, keeping herself calm. She had been in plenty of dangerous situations before, so this one wasn't going to panic her. Besides, if these men wanted her dead they could have blown her brains out already.
"Keep driving. I'll tell you where to go," said the man in the front. "Don't do anything that's going to make me shoot you."
"Let me guess, you're taking me to someone? Since you're obviously Mexican, it's either Bayley Martinez or someone who wants to take out Bayley Martinez. Either way, I'm not interested in what they have to say."
"You hear this bitch? She thinks she's special," Front Seat said to Back Seat in Spanish.
"If she doesn't do as she's told, I'll see how special she is," the older man replied, making it a sexual comment.
Raquel decided that one way or another, one thing that wouldn't be happening was either of those assholes raping her, which was what his threat alluded to. Not without killing her first anyway.
The man in the back of the car continued to needle her as she drove, following the directions of the man in the front. She did her best to ignore the needling, although it didn't really work. She felt herself getting more and more angry at these people and what they were doing to her.
They had her drive on a roundabout route, trying, and to some extent succeeding in disorienting her so that she wouldn't know exactly where they went. But about fifteen minutes later she was marched into an indoor pool area at an expensive house that she had never been to before. She was no closer to knowing what was going on, but giving her that much time for her anger to build up had been a mistake. A big mistake. The side of her that she had worked hard with Zelina to keep locked away was back. She was now the Raquel Gonzalez who had spent many years of her life as a very dangerous person indeed.
"Sit down," the older man said, roughly shoving her onto a cane chair near the pool.
Raquel glared up at him, but her voice remained perfectly calm. "Touch me again, I'll kill you."
"Ohhh!" the younger man cried, enjoying himself and mocking her at the same time. "You hear that, man? If you touch her again, she's going to kill you."
"Yeah, I heard," the older man said seriously. Then, out of nowhere, he slapped Raquel hard on the left side of her face. The blow snapped her head to the side and left her cheek stinging.
"Boom!" the younger man yelled, loving what he saw. He laughed loudly.
The man who had struck Raquel looked pleased with himself, until she sprung up off the chair with surprising quickness for someone of her build and punched him as hard as she could in the nose. He staggered backwards a couple of steps before collapsing beside the pool. Dark red blood poured from both of his nostrils, and his legs were twitching.
"Jesus! Fuck! You killed him!" the younger man cried in horror as she calmly sat back down. The man seemed too shocked to retaliate, even though he had a gun on him. Raquel figured she wasn't going to get shot, at least not now. It seemed obvious that whoever was in charge of the goons wanted her for something.
"I told him not to touch me," she said matter of fact.
"What's going on in here?" a familiar woman's voice asked.
Raquel didn't bother looking at Bayley Martinez. She wasn't surprised in the least that she was the one she had been brought to. The only question was why. If it was revenge, then she might be about to meet a painful death. That made her sad rather than afraid. She didn't want Zelina to have to go through the pain of losing her.
"She fucking killed Gerard!" the younger man cried. "Punched his fucking nose through his brain!"
"I told him not to touch me," Raquel said, begrudgingly looking at the woman she had once worked for, albeit while undercover.
"What do you mean touch you?" Bayley asked.
"He slapped me in the face."
"What were you hitting her for?" Bayley demanded of her man.
"I didn't hit her, boss," he said humbly.
"No, you just had me drive here at gunpoint," Raquel snarked at him.
"At gunpoint?" Bayley asked him. "What the hell were you doing?"
"Boss, you said persuade her to come here."
Bayley closed her eyes for a moment, seemingly trying to control her temper. "Yes, persuade. With words," she said after a moment, using a tone fit for addressing a braindead idiot.
"Oh. You didn't say that, boss."
"Just get out of my sight," Bayley ordered impatiently.
"Are you sure? I mean, look what she did."
"Are you questioning me?" Bayley asked him, raising her eyebrows.
"No. Of course not." The man grovelled.
"Good. Now leave us. And get ready to dispose of that body when I'm done here," Bayley said, dismissive of the dead man.
"Yes, boss," he said, hurrying out of sight.
Bayley's attention turned to Raquel, and a smile appeared on her face. "Okay, let's have a chat."
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A/N: These scenes turned out to be longer than I thought, so we'll see Clem meet Henry for the first time in the next chapter.
What do you think Martinez wants with Gonzalez?