"Have a goodnight, Maria," Luci calls out, waving her hand. Maria waves back. "You too Luce. See you tomorrow?" Luci nods and turns around, beginning her walk back home. It's late. More late than a usual closing shift, but they had had a sudden rush of customers and then the health inspectors had shown up.

So, closing had been rough, and the streets of Redwood were now dim and half-abandoned. A car passed by her as she crossed the first sidewalk. Beside her a dog barked from behind a fence, scaring her heart out of rhythm slightly. Luci stopped for a moment to catch her mind up. She was still jumping at shadows, and the feeling that someone was watching her was still there. Like it constantly echoed around her.

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and glanced up at the night sky. Since Redwood was so small, there was little to no light pollution so you could see the stars most every night. She smiles slightly at the little dipper before turning back towards the direction she had been walking in. Luci adjusts her bag and makes her way home again.

She's about to turn onto her street when a car pulls up beside her next to the sidewalk. They pulled up so fast she almost reached for her phone. But it's a cop car so she takes her hands out of her pockets. A man in uniform steps out and walks over to her. "Evening," Luci greets, her heart slowing down. The man smiled, too casual. The kind of smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Another officer steps out of the car, his shadow stretched long across the dry pavement. His boots make little to no sound as they hit the asphalt. Luci noticed the first officers' hands are tucked into their coat pockets, even though it's too warm for them to need to be there. Her shoulders relaxed, even though her hand twitched toward her bag. "Is everything all right?" Her voice comes out small, cautious, but a tad hopeful. Like she hopes she hasn't done anything for them to need to interview her again.

The second cop tilts his head, a faint smell of cheap cologne and weed drifting to her. Something prickles at the back of her neck. Her instincts are still sharp. Before she can think, one of the officers' hands grips her arm, twisting just enough to knock the breath from her. "Hey!" she calls out. "What are you doing?" The officer says nothing, his badge gleaming under the streetlight. Suddenly his badge is meaningless and everything she thought she could trust is gone. Seriously? The warmth of her relief had turned into icicles, and her every instinct is screaming, something is obviously wrong here. She wants to scream, to pull free, but one of them shoves a black bag over her head. And then she almost does scream as they shove her into the cruiser, but something hard knocks her on the head and everything drifts away into oblivion.

The Los Vaqueros base is just how it usually is. The moon is out, lighting the few boys out and about on their night runs. The dust kicks up as a Humvee pulls into the base. Alejandro and Rudy step out, slamming their doors in sync. Their steps are hurried as they make their way inside the tan, air-conditioned building. "Why would they take her?" Rudy asks, out of breath. "It makes no sense."

Alejandro shrugs as they round the corner. "She not just collateral anymore, compa. They took her for a reason." Rudy pulls the door open quickly and steps into the server room. One Vaquero is sitting in a chair with camera footage pulled up. "Show me it," Rudy demands, leaning over the Vaquero. "Rudy, you need to calm down," Alejandro says patting his shoulder roughly. "We'll find out why somehow."

Rudy narrows his eyes at the screen ignoring him. The Vaquero rewinds the footage before pressing play again. Rudy squints at the screen. There she is. Luci. His breath catches just as a police cruiser pulls up next to her. In a matter of a couple minutes they have a bag over her head and shove her in. He had a hunch that the cops weren't all as compliant as they had seemed, but he had nothing to prove that. Until now.

But that isn't what matters to him now. Her safety is the only thing on his mind. The Mexican cartel wasn't something to be joked about anymore. They had taken over most of Senrio, Mexico. That was their depot. "They're probably taking her to Senrio," Alejandro says leaning against the desk. The dimly lit room does ease Rudy's headache. "That makes the most sense, right?" Rudy asks mostly himself. "Well, Las Almas is being taken care of. They know we have more Special Forces there than the corrupted Army," says Alejandro. Rudy's face tightens and he nods in agreement. "That's got to be it."

Alejandro nods too and jerks his head towards the door. "Let's get with TF141 before anything else." Rudy almost shakes his head, but he sighs and nods again before following his Colonel out of the room.

Luci slowly wakes to a pounding head and a dry throat. Her mouth felt like cotton and her ears were buzzing more loudly than usual. She can feel the cold metal of the chair she's sitting in. She slowly opens her eyes and tries to adjust to the blinding lights. The room is cold and white, but clean. There are no windows of course, so there's no way for her to tell where she's at. Why had they taken her though? It's a hard thought to think. She has no ties to anything remotely related to drugs or cartels or whatever else operated around Redwood that she knew of.

The fact that the cops had taken her was a big red sign. How had she not seen it and trusted herself right away? Luci shakes her head. She can't think of that right now. Right now, she needs to focus on how she gets out of here. But there's no windows, only one door, and her ankles are tied to the chair. Her hands are tied loosely in front of her, which is a bit confusing. Did they do that deliberately? The door opens and a Latino woman enters the room. She's dressed sharply. Confident. She had a warm smile on her lips, but like the cop's it didn't quite meet her eyes. Luci watches her for a second before looking away. What was she supposed to say in this situation? "Luci... you've had quite the week, no?" the woman finally speaks. Luci says nothing but looks at her again.

"You know, you remind me of my sister. She had hair like yours. She was a barista at one point," the woman says squatting in front of Luci. Luci's eyes twitch, but still, she says nothing. "Don't have anything to say?" the woman asks quirking a brow. Luci shakes her head. "What do you want me to say?" Luci asks hoarsely. The woman smirks and stands. "I guess I don't know." She takes a few steps back before crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm Valeria, I run the cartel her in Senrio and also in Las Almas." Valeria ponders her thoughts for a minute. "Although Las Almas is getting harder to control by the day." Luci shifts in her chair but doesn't respond. "You know," Valeria says softly, "we aren't all bad. You may think we're a bunch of criminals, but we helped build the schools in Senrio. We protect the people from worse men. The ones that would turn Senrio into ashes."

"I find that hard to believe," Luci says before coughing. "Is it really that hard to believe? Have you been to Senrio? It's only upheld by us," Valeria says turning to the sink next to her. She fills a cup with water before untying Luci's hands. Luci takes the water and drinks it but doesn't answer her. They can't be good at all. It doesn't matter what they did to help the public, it's how they went about it. And if they kidnapped her, how good could they be?

After talking about herself for a long time, Valeria finally leaves Luci alone, untying her completely and leaving her in the room. Luci almost thinks for a moment that maybe she could leave, but there's a lock clicking into place after Valeria leaves. Luci sighs heavily and takes a seat on the mattress raised by rickety wires. How was she going to get out of this? She needed to wait for the right opportunity, because it was clear that Valeria wasn't going to release her. She had only caught a glimpse of a hallway before the door had shut. It didn't look like there were going to be many exits. And of course there was the problem with having no windows.

Her chest tightens and she rests her back against the wall. For a second she wished her brothers were here to help her, but then it drifts to Rudy. Would he know what to do in this situation? She didn't doubt he could get out. But her? She had no sort of experience to leave this situation. Then there was the matter of them taking her in the first place. Did they think she knew something? The only thing she knew was that Mexican Special Forces had been giving them a hell of a time. She'd need to think harder about what to do.

Valeria reappears after some time, Luci couldn't even guess how long. There was no clock on the wall. She brings her food and some more water. Luci almost doesn't eat, but the food looks edible, and she wasn't sure how long they were going to be hospitable with her.

"You're probably wondering why you're here," Valeria begins. "Let me tell you something more about Senrio. People talk a lot about it, but not a lot of people actually know what's going on. There are people who claim to care but never do. The truth is that people are only alive because of us. We make those hard choices so that the people don't have to."

Luci's stomach twists and she presses her face onto her knees, trying not to give her a reaction. But there's a thudding in her chest willing her to say something.

"Redwood too," Valeria's voice softened, like she was sharing a secret. "In your town people understand that there are others that need to make decisions we can't. Like keeping the city from dying. You think we're cruel because we scare people. Because we supply people with medicine. But where would they be without it? What is cruelty if not discipline? Protection requires those hard choices. We make the city better, stronger. Do you think Redwood is safe because of the police? Because of the politicians? No. It's because of us."

Luci closes her eyes. Her fingers brush her cold arms. She knew what Valeria was saying couldn't be right. She was trying to manipulate her, and she knew it. But a nagging in the back of her mind told her that it wasn't all lies. She willed that voice to go away. Valeria sits in the chair and relaxes against it.

"In Senrio there are structures in place that keep our city together. Some call it order, others call it power. But to us... the root of the city is loyalty. People look out for each other in ways outsiders can't understand because they don't see. Others choose not to see it. Some follow because they have to, and others do it for their families." Valeria leans onto her knees, leaning towards Luci, her short black hair brushing her shoulders. Luci wraps her arms around her knees willing her to leave. Valeria's dark brown eyes were almost black, and it felt like she was slowly hypnotizing her.

"Sometimes," Valeria continues, "the world asks us to trust things we don't fully understand. To recognize that what seems dark to one person is protection for another. That devotion, loyalty... they're not always celebrated, but they matter. They endure." Her tone softened almost to a whisper. "The city, the people you see walking the streets... they're safer than they realize. They sleep because of people like me. People who act when no one is looking." The silence that follows presses against Luci's ears, only punctuated by the faint hum of the building around her. She hugged her knees tighter, brushing her fingers along the bracelet. Something flickered in her chest. A mix of recognition, unease. Valeria's words were almost persuasive, almost comforting, but her instincts whispered a warning: none of this is what it seems. After more silence, Valeria finally leaves her alone to eat.

Rudy paces the conference room. He's restless and hasn't slept since he had found out Luci had been taken. Why hadn't they left yet? Screw protocol. She could be gone by the time they found where she was. Screw recon. Ghost, a member of Task Force 141 and the British SAS, is seated at one of the chairs at the table. His skull mask covers his face, but his eyes are full of expression. Even he seems worried. "You alright, Rodolfo?" Ghost asks, leaning onto the table. Rudy glances at him before resuming his pacing. "She was taken under my watch," he says coldly. "We need to get her back. Now. Why are we sitting around like her life isn't on the line."

Ghost wants to agree, but orders from Captain Price were like orders from the Queen. "You know we have protocol for this. We can't go in there half-assed and get our butts kicked because we weren't prepared." Rudy rolls his eyes but doesn't respond. Alejandro enters the room and glances at Rudy. "Hey, cabron. You need to relax. We'll get her, we just need a little more intel. Ghost is right. We do have a protocol, and you know that."

Rudy glares at him suddenly but doesn't reply. He was afraid of what he might say if he opened his mouth. "She may be a part of this now, whether she wants to be or not," Soap says from the corner. Soap is Ghost's go to partner for missions like this. They had been in the same unit and here yet again they were in the same task force. "Thanks for stating the obvious," Rudy says rubbing the heel of his hand over his eyes.

The three other men exchange glances. Ghost finally stands. "I'm going to check with Price and see where he's at with all of this." Rudy watches him leave before his shoulders sag. "We'll get her Hermano," Alejandro slaps Rudy's shoulder trying to comfort him. Rudy nods.

The sun is warm on her skin as Luci relaxes onto a bench next to the building where she had been in for the last fifteen hours. They had finally let her outside after much lying from Luci's end. She thinks they might believe her act that she was buying into everything Valeria was saying. There are women cooking outside and kids running circles around them. Laundry was hanging on clotheslines and the air smelled of cooking and soap. It was almost surreal. Almost... normal.

But there's also guards sharpening their weapons and cleaning their guns. It's what reminds her that none of this is normal. None of it should be normal. Luci wondered if all of this was a front. If she moved deeper into Senrio, would it look differently? She had heard rumors that when people tried to leave the city they ended up missing. Hopefully she wouldn't suffer the same fate.

As she soaks in the warmth, small footsteps approach her position. Luci opens her eyes. A small boy offers her a piece of candy. Luci accepts it cautiously but doesn't make any move to eat it. The child smiles at her and runs away. Who knows. Maybe they planned to poison her through the candy. There's a breath beside her. It's Valeria. "This is what we fight for. All of this," she says softly. "The real question is—what do you fight for, Luci?" Luci doesn't answer. She can't. What does she fight for? Slowly she leans against the wall. She needs to decide what she's going to fight for, whether it kills her or not.