Days had passed and the new baby was no longer a baby, he had grown so fast into a toddler and eventually a young kid. He and his mom spent most of the time around the Truth club as their single room house was not so far away from the club. Joe had made frequent visits to the small family together with his friends Antonio and Kelly. All the visits however were not good as sometimes they ended up in a big fight either between Joe and Antonio as their relationship had started deteriorating because of the weakness thing or the fight was between Joe and Claire who mostly argued about taking the kid to a children's home. Joe had made a suggestion that the kid to be taken to a children's home where he can be taken good care of while his mom keeps working but Claire was against it. "He has both his parent alive Joe", said Claire, "yeah but look at the environment here, I don't want the kid to be caught up in this mess", replied Joe. This argument got so much intense and even led to Claire getting her ass whooped by the two merciless men.
Loti was however left to stay with his mom in their single room next to the club maybe became Joe figured out that ladies always win their argument. Either way life wasn't that easy for Loti ,he had to go some days without food as Joe had cut them out of supply because of what he termed as disobedience. Back in Brooklyn Mrs Patricia had been so much affected by her loosing her daughter which had led to her suffering some diseases such as High blood pressure and ulcers. This made her rember how beautiful she was when she was young and how she used to make jokes with her parents. "mom, I have pure blood", "what do you mean about that?", "I mean I know your family has a history of chronic diseases when you get old, but I know that I won't get them since I avoid sugary things, do alot of practices and eat alot of fruits", "my daughter the only one who plans the future is God, the only thing we can do is to pray that He may grant us a bright future". Her mom was a strong Christian and believed in the Catholic Church. At this time she is lying on her bed helpless not knowing if she will ever see her daughter again because she started having this feeling that the end was near. His husband Mr Daniel had also lost hope and he had started drinking alcohol and even smoking cigarettes due to the stress they were undergoing. They had spent almost all of their money savings on the investigations to try and find their daughter and now they were depending on well wishers, the church and family members to help them cater for their basic needs. El Mano had brought tragedy to the Martinez family.
Claire tried so hard to cater the needs of her ever growing son as she was now a single mom. On June 3rd 2003 Loti was enrolled at Quincy St school as he started his Kindergarten studies. His studies had fairly well kicked off as he got good grades at the first exam they sat for. Back at the club the girls had given up on any escape plan after what had happened to Lobos and eventually Garcia. Martina suspected that she knew something and that led to her questioned. Questioning by the El Mano meant that one was tortured until he or she was begging for their own death. Despite the torturing Garcia didn't mention any of the other girls. She remained firm that she was alone and the other girls were not involved. Either way she knew that mentioning the other girls would never save her from death, instead it would increase the number of bodies found on the streets in the morning. El Mano leaked the videos they had of them sexually assaulting her, they then proceeded to kill her, throw her body in the middle of the woods tied up so the wolves, racoons and birds of prey can have her. They shot her 12 year brother on the streets as they had promised to kill 'la familia' too. This was to serve as a warning to the other girls and those who were thinking of messing up with El Mano.
Tasha however hadn't recovered from the guilt she was suffering from." I made her do this Claire..." said Tasha tears rolling down her cheeks, "I wish they could just kill me , I don't think I will ever be forgotten for what I have done, am just like them...." ,"noo that's not how it is Tasha , forgiveness starts by forgiving yourself, it's not your fault, she died protecting us, El Mano are the bad guys", replied Claire. This however didn't make Tasha feel any better as she was found the next morning her wrists cut open and blood oozing. She was rushed to the hospital as this time the El Mano were atleast trying to be humane or maybe they were saving their investment. "let me die, I have fought my fight, kept my faith...it's time Claire", "No Tasha this is not the right time, this is not the time God has planned for you", "God left us to suffer Claire, He doesn't care for us, He doesn't even listen to our prayers", said Tasha turning on the bed she was lying on and facing the wall. Claire stood there dumb not knowing what to do, she couldn't even tell her that God doesn't answer prayers immediately, that He requires one to be patient with Him. Tasha had lost hope in God. After the incident of Claire getting pregnant, El Mano had forced the girls to take contraceptives to prevent such a case again. Claire wished that atleast her friend Tasha would have a baby so that it would give her a reason to live. She remembered that she too had given up in life but she lived for her son as she termed it.
El Mano on the other side had started seeing the girls as a poor investment as they had started bringing problems every now and then. They planned to make a raid in Las Vegas as they claimed that the girls there are atleast familiar with the job. "But what are we gonna do with the ones we have now?", asked Joe, "oooh is it because your baby momma is one of them?", replied El Capone. He was the leader of El Mano but it was rare for him to talk. "noo effe that's not the point...I mean we can't just dump them like garbage, they know us in and out", "then let's kill them ", replied Antonio. "No I don't think that'll a really good idea Antonio, that will be alot of blood on our hands", replied El Capone. "But we already have alot printed on our hands anyway", said Kelly. "yeah and that's enough, we will just find a way to deal with them", replied El Capone. It was rare for the El Mano to have a sitting as this only happened when there was a very important thing to discuss. The plan of a new kidnapping was now ready and the only thing remaining was for it to be executed. They headed out for the kidnapping and left El Capone and Martina at the club. The three were the best for kidnapping and the other two were good at shepherding.
Loti on the other hand started having problems with the other kids at school. They saw him as different from them because of his skin color. He was black and most of his classmates were white. They made jokes about him and most even questioned him about his dad. "dude...of it wasn't for slave trade you would be starving in Africa now.. haha", said one kid. This actions made Loti so angry and most of the time he got himself into fights with his classmates. The school being a catholic sponsored school tried so hard to prevent such racist acts but all was in vein. The kids were so much on different sides even at this young age. After all the roots of evil don't have boundaries, they don't even know age. At this time the three gangsters were in Las Vegas to carry out their hunt. They were able to lure some stupid girls as they called them into their traps. They joined a local dating app which they created a fake profile, set their locations around the neighborhood and said they were in there looking for hookups. The unsuspecting girls didn't know what they were going to get themselves into as they were led by their bodily desires. On the profile was a picture of a young pilot who was a little bit rich at a young age. He was handsome looking with a height all girls want. This profile was so tempting and it was impossible for the girls to pass it without liking or saying Hi. This time they were not looking for desperate young teens. They were looking for atleast a lady who was at her late 20s. The first young lady to fall into the trap was 26 year old Mary. She had been heartbroken by her boyfriend Ken and she saw the dating site as an opportunity to recover from the breakup. She came from a well of family as her dad was a lecturer at Atlanta University and was also a successful businessman owning an aerobics gym. They lied to her that the pilot was from around the radius and not so far from where she resided. A meeting point was agreed at a street.not far from her house. She wore a lovely short dress that she felt was perfect to intimidate the pilot to fly into her. When she arrived at the meeting point however she didn't meet the handsome guy she expected, instead she met the worst nightmares to all girls. "where is the guy we were supposed to meet?...did he sent you here?", asked Mary who had started feeling that something wasn't right."yeah...you know he is a rich guy so he wanted us to pick you up...he is held up with something", replied Antonio smiling. "pick me up with a van?", noticing that the girl would raise an alarm, Antonio rushed towards her and covered her face with a white handkerchief, within no time the girl was unconscious and was carried into the van. Hunt successful. The second girl however wasn't hunted down in a good manner as I can term it. She was too walking on the streets after picking up some groceries for her mom when she was grabbed and thrown into the van, that was cold. The operation of hunting girls went on and on which even included visiting the astounding nightclubs of Las Vegas. At the clubs they targeted strippers and escorts who were in bountiful. The poor girls were lured into the traps by money. El Mano was a criminal group which even meant that they sold drugs and this means they had a lot of cash on their hands. They showed the money to them and with no resistance three girls followed them into the van thinking that they had been hired specifically for a rich man's party. This however came out to be a lie as they found two girls tied into the van. The boys made up that their had was successful and their trip all the way to Las Vegas was worth it. On their way back they used their connections with dirty cops and even ended up having a private escort back to their club Truth.
The boss El Capone was eagerly waiting for his hunting dogs to return and when they did he couldn't believe what a great work they had done. They took the girls to the port where they tied them and locked them up in the 'MAERSK' container. The good product was for export and the low quality product was for domestic consumption. It was a new cycle in the making again.