Page 38 of Mouse Trapped

He kicks a stone on the ground, and then another. Finally, he looks up. “That’s saying she’s got to give up. Isn’t it better for her to fight while she’s still here? There’s such a risk. Even with you. If she returns to Colombia…”

“What do you want me to say, Drew?” I suddenly round on him. “That everything’s going to turn out right? What have we got left to fight with?”

Now this young kid’s up in my face. “With everything we’ve fucking got,” he shouts. “She’s innocent, she committed no crime. We should prove that. And find reasons why she can’t return and fight for asylum. There’s things we can do, Tse.” He turns away, then swings back. “Take me back to Tucson. If you won’t do it, I fucking will. We’re talking about my sister’s life here, her happiness. I’m not going to give up on that. Ineedher. She’s been my mom for the past six years. I’m not going to let you take her away from me. There must be something we can do.”

He’s challenging me. My eyes flare. I open my mouth but nothing comes out. Instead I start questioning myself.What have I been doing? I’ve given a lawyer all my savings, but what have I actually done? Looked for information from behind my computer screen, hoping to find the answers there. Perhaps I should have been doing more. Questioning Todd Jenkins for a start, getting him to tell the truth, not giving up when I hadn’t been able to find him at home. Going back time after time untilI’d seen him face to face. That’s what my brothers would have done. Not taking no for an answer. And doing more to find out what Mariana would be heading back into.I might be paying the lawyer, but I’ve given her nothing to fight with.

It’s taken a fifteen-year-old boy to show me by doing what I thought was right, handling my problems alone, I may be wrong. Drummer’s voice echoes in my head.Every man who sits around that table would be there at your back.Perhaps it is time to involve them.

Drew’s staring at me as though he can see wheels turning in my head. “I’ve researched Colombia. It would be a nightmare for my sister. Two years’ military service is mandatory once someone leaves high school, I don’t know if she’d have to do that. She’ll need to pay taxes on anything earned in or out of the country. Which means she could be liable for back tax on everything she’s earned in the US. She wouldn’t be able to pay it. She doesn’t speak the language or know anything about the country. And on top of all that, she’d have to stay out of the way of our father.”

“I hear you. And I suppose she hasn’t got a passport.”

“Or identity card.” He kicks another stone. “Just her birth certificate back at the trailer.”

I don’t waste another moment coming to a decision.

“Weare going back to Tucson,” I announce, my tone set. “Go pack your things, Drew, or the essential stuff which will go in the saddle bags. Anything else we can collect later.”

Hopeful eyes are turned to me. “We’re going to fight?”

I look around the Rez, my Navajo blood stirring within me. “Yes, Drew.” My voice is full of determination. “We’re going to fight.”

A seven-hour bike ride as a pillion passenger who’s not used to riding has to be tough, but though Drew rubs his ass at the extra stops I put in, not once does he complain. With the breaksfor him to stretch and fill his teenage stomach a few times, we don’t arrive on the compound until after midnight. I take him straight up to my room where he again demonstrates his young years by falling fast asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. While I lie awake, wondering how I’m going to explain him, and everything else, to Drummer and my brothers in the morning.

“I can’t believe I’m on a biker compound,” Drew says through a yawn as he walks out of my bathroom. “Ma would have a fit if she knew.”

I bet he’s right on that. “She’ll know soon enough.” I reach over the bed and grabbing my jeans, slide into them.

He walks to the door and looks out at the balcony and the view beyond. “Not quite what I expected.”

“It was an old vacation resort that burned up,” I explain before disappearing into the bathroom myself, “club bought it cheap and rebuilt it.”

“Wow.”

“Come on.” Drew’s gone outside and is leaning on the balcony when I come out, having showered and shaved in minutes. I’m as prepared as I can be for the day ahead.

Drew’s gazing around, his eyes wide, taking in his new surroundings, as we walk down to the clubhouse. Last night when he arrived it had been dark, now he can see it in all its glory. He pauses for a moment to admire all the Harleys parked up before following me into the clubroom, his nose twitching as he smells bacon. Rolling my eyes, I lead him straight to the source.

He stops dead when he comes face to face with Peg, Blade, Wraith, Dollar and Bullet, and takes a sideways step to move behind me when, almost as one, they put down their forks.

Blade lifts his knife, points it at Drew, and growls, “Who the fuck is this, Mouse?”

I knew it was coming. “Friend of mine, I’ll explain later. Need to have a chat with Drummer first. Kid wants some food.”

“How old are you, kid?”

A timid voice from behind me responds. “Er, fifteen.”

His tender age seems to relax them, but as I wave Drew forward to take a seat, he appears tentative as he sits down.

Sam’s eyes travel over him, then she smiles, puts together a plate and brings it over. “What’s your name?”

“Drew.”

“Well, Drew. If you’re a friend of Mouse, you’re welcome. Hey, guys. Introduce yourselves. Make the kid feel at home.” Her tone is pleasant, the glare she gives my brothers is almost as scary as her old man’s.

Knowing my brothers are understandably suspicious of strangers, and the trouble they may bring along with them, seeing Wraith shaking his head at Sam, I do the introductions for them. “Wraith here is our VP, Blade our enforcer, the bearded one’s Peg, our sergeant-at-arms, and that’s Dollar who looks after our money.”

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