Into You

Chapter 9

One short lift journey later and they were all stood in the impressive reception area of Cabello Industries. All around the walls were large pictures of weaponry, troops in action, tanks, planes and ships. There wasn't much mistaking what this company did, even if it did sound like your average manufacturing company by name.

Alejandro led them through the network of corridors to his large office, his arm held protectively around his eldest daughter all the time. Dinah was on her phone talking to Normani; Alejandro and Camila were chatting to themselves. Lauren was being pretty much ignored, a humble employee simply along for the ride.

She did her best to be professional as they raced through the office. She did her best to look out for danger. Dinah had told her that the security here was pretty lax, but she had also noticed the two, competent looking guys by the reception desk who had nodded at them as they passed and relaxed slightly, remembering that Normani had sent people here to shore things up.

Still, it doesn't hurt to stay professional. 'Get complacent, get killed', that's what their officers had taught them when they did their MP training; they weren't wrong.

As Alejandro closed the door behind him, Lauren felt she needed to speak.

"Excuse me, Mr. Cabello? May I say something?"

"Lauren, the hero of the hour; of course you can, my ears are all yours."

"What you just did was extremely unwise, Mr. Cabello. We've just gone through an open office into this room and you never gave me one second to check if it was safe in here. I think after yesterday and today, we have to accept that the threats to your family are real and act accordingly. Could I ask, in the future, that you give me the opportunity to verify that the room is clear before we enter, no matter how safe you might think is?"

She could see Dinah staring at her out of the corner of her eye, a small smile on her lips. Alejandro Cabello just looked at her as if she'd taken away his favorite toy, before breaking into a broad grin, dazzling her with his pearly white teeth.

"That's why I like you, Lauren; you're always right at the top of your game, aren't you? I'm sorry, you're absolutely right; I'll make sure I take more care next time. You keep telling me when I do stupid things, Lauren and we'll get along just fine; and while you're at it, you can stop with the Mr. Cabello nonsense, too. You saved my baby girl's life. That makes you like family."

He glanced past her to the grinning Dinah, "Dinah Jane, I hope you're paying this girl a lot of money. Otherwise, I'll be tempted to snatch her away from you."

They both laughed at his comment; She knows it's a joke, but she couldn't help but feel like a horse being traded at a country fair. Fortunately, Miss Cabello came to her rescue by turning up the volume on the room's large television which had been flickering away showing the CNN channel. She watched in horror as the blurry footage of yesterday's events came on screen.

'This footage, taken by the passenger in a nearby vehicle captures the dramatic moment yesterday when terrorists struck in the heart of rural Miami,"'

They finally cut away from the grainy video feed to an interview with a series of 'eyewitnesses' who described the events in a way that was so farfetched they resembled the truth in only the slightest manner.

'The driver of the vehicle, Lauren Jauregui, until recently a Sergeant serving with the US Military Police in Afghanistan; was escorting the eldest daughter of industrial magnate Alejandro Cabello, President, and owner of Cabello Industries, back to her home in Coral Gables when the attack happened. Miss Jauregui, who left the army after being seriously injured in a Taliban ambush in December 2009...'