masterlist | previously released chapter | buried skeletons masterlist
characters featured (in order of appearance): ezekiel "ez" reyes, afa, kevin jimenez, felipe reyes, marcus alvarez (mentioned), gabriella adéline carter, angel reyes, gilberto "gilly" lopez, johnny "coco" cruz, luisa "adelita" espina, miguel galindo (mentioned)
author's note: here is chapter five! i'm super excited for this one because a familiar face finally makes their appearance AND a significant part of the plot is revealed! there is some spanish at the end, and while i did my best to get it correct, please don't hesitate to tell me if i need to change anything. don't forget to send in your submissions for an OC and vote in the poll i created! if you have any thoughts or comments, pretty please leave them below, because I love talking to you guys about this story! <3 (gif credit: @thedevilsmoonshine)
warning(s): language, death (mentioned), drugs (mentioned), past trauma, a teeny tiny amount of fluff
word count: 3.8k
"It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die. 'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky." - A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
Ezekiel couldn’t help but let out a few strained huffs as he worked to maneuver Afa’s body through the tunnel. He didn’t enjoy exhausting himself in this manner, but he didn’t have much of a choice––he was a prospect, and prospects did prospect work.
Yet, the large body of the man who was dumped on the makeshift dolly in front of him wasn’t as heavy as the words spoken by his cousin not too long before he returned to the tunnels.
As his father swung the door to his meat freezer open, it was revealed that the last person Ezekiel wanted to see at the moment was standing on the other side.
“They don’t waste an ounce, do they?”
EZ paused for a moment at the question, his second cousin attempts at small talk already making him want to leave. However, he knew he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t part of the deal.
“The cows,” KJ identifies as EZ steps into the room, ignoring the faint smell of fresh but raw meat. “They use every part.”
Ezekiel still says nothing as his father reluctantly closes the door behind him, not comfortable with leaving his youngest son alone in this situation.
“What’s this?” Ezekiel asks, arms raising up and slapping back down to his sides as he looks at his cousin. “Thought we never meet face-to-face.”
To Ezekiel, this was one of the most important parts of their deal. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if one of the patched members, or worse, his brother spotted him exchanging words with a fed.
“This couldn’t wait,” KJ sighs, finally looking over at EZ, the nonchalant look on his face morphing into one of seriousness. “Need to know what happened out on the 111 yesterday.”
The prospect bites his tongue in apprehension, taking a moment to think of the most ambiguous statement he could manage.
“We got jacked,” he shrugs.
“By who?”
Ezekiel looks away, shaking his head at how uncomfortable he felt sharing this information. Unfortunately, his feelings weren’t bestowed with the gift of being a bullet point on any of the papers of the contract that defined his DEA deal.
“Club’s still tryna figure it out,” EZ specifies, but both of them recognized that he knew more than he was letting on.
“Samoans?” KJ asks, the silence that followed from EZ being enough of an answer for him. “Nothing goes down on the street that I don’t know about.”
Although Ezekiel was already aware of that fact, he still swallowed painfully hard as it was clear that he wasn’t the only one that knew more than they were letting on.
“This only works if I can trust you, EZ,” KJ reminds his cousin, who sighs before dutifully playing his role of the powerless informant.
“Base Town Tribe did the heist. We tracked down the shot caller. The rebels hired them. Los Olvidados.”
KJ nods at the information, content that he was finally getting what he came for, asking, “Samoans give up any names?”
“Hell no,” EZ replies, hoping he’d given enough to get his cousin off of his back for the time being.
“But you know El Padrino’s in town,” KJ observes. “Did Galindo play the daddy card? Bring Alvarez down to handle the clusterfuck?”
“I’m not at the table,” Ezekiel tells him, knowing there was nothing more he could get off his chest tonight. At least, nothing more that wouldn’t end up getting him killed.
“Right, but you’re moving up. ‘Lot faster than I imagined,” KJ points out, and Ezekiel says nothing. “I hope you’re keeping your head straight.”
Even though Ezekiel couldn’t tell if KJ was being sincere or not, it still didn’t make the situation feel any more reassuring.
“Hey, you point that level of concern at my old man. He’s the one carrying the weight of this. And no more secret meat locker chats,” Ezekiel adds, not wanting to take the risk of being spotted with him by anyone.
“You don’t get to make that call,” KJ tells EZ, who clenches his jaw at the reminder “Shit happens. Players change. There’s no formula here. Gotta stay fluid.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Ezekiel questions, his agitation at being seemingly thrown around like a rag doll once again testing his temper. “My deal doesn’t change.”
“You killed a cop! Your deal was a gift,” KJ exclaims, stepping up in the face of Ezekiel. “And I’m the one that made it happen. So If I say jump, you say how high–”
“Fuck you!”
Both of the men quiet at Ezekiel’s interjection, but not for long.
“You know what you signed up for, cuz. Don’t get cocky,” KJ mutters, voice calm but eyes sharp as they bored into the orbs of the man across from him.
The rules were simple, and if he broke them, he’d be right back inside. “And don’t go making any big plans.”
“What I signed up for was feeding you intel on Galindo. Only Galindo. My brother, the M.C.––nothing touches them. And there’s only one plan, cuz,” Ezekiel emphasizes the empty word, his heightened irritation enabling him from spotting how his father had cracked the door open to hear what they were discussing.
“The day the DEA has enough to move on that cartel is the day that I walk away. From you, the M.C., this town, all of it. I get my fucking life back.”
“You sure you’d walk away from everything?”
Ezekiel pauses at the unexpected question, thrown off by the knowing look on his cousin’s face.
“From Gabriella? I mean, you seem a little sweet on her, and I can’t say I don’t understand why. She seems like a wonderful person.”
(The first time KJ had seen her with his cousin was a few weeks ago. EZ, being the prospect, was given the task of picking up the large order of food for the rest of the club. Knowing he couldn’t fit the food on the back of his bike, Gabbi happily offered her truck and company to the prospect. The journey into town was filled with lighthearted jokes and belly laughs that continued into the restaurant as they paid for the food.
KJ, not having seen EZ beam like that with anyone other than Emily, was immediately interested in what it was about the ‘Princess of the Mayans’ that made his cousin smile that widely.)
Whatever was raging throughout EZ’s system before was nothing compared to the fury he felt now. Gabriella wasn’t supposed to be a part of this. Even though Ezekiel hadn’t known her when he made the deal, none of the dirt from it was supposed to touch her. As he said before, the only person this would reach was Miguel Galindo.
“She has nothing to do with this,” Ezekiel growls out, the thought of his new friend getting sucked into all of this because of him making his skin crawl. “She doesn’t even know anything.”
“You really believe that the goddaughter of Marcus Alvarez doesn’t know anything? You really think she doesn’t know more about the cartel than some of the older members of the MC? Sorry, Ezekiel, but she’s not as clueless as she seems. Trust me.”
Ezekiel couldn’t stomach the thought of Gabriella getting tied up into the relentless thorns of his deal. Every time he looked at her all he could think about was KJ contaminating the woman with the poison that was the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She was now in the same position as Ezekiel’s father, and the fact that she had no idea made it even worse.
With his cousin’s words lingering in the back of his mind and the literal dead weight he was pushing over the many hills of the tunnel, the younger Reyes had no chance of catching the conversation between his brother, Gilly, Coco, and Gabriella who walked a few feet ahead of him.
“I wanna bring him in,” Angel announces, catching wary looks from the three that had stopped in their tracks.
“My brother,” Angel continues, Coco and Gilly looking back to make sure that Ezekiel was out of earshot. “You see what’s been going down the past couple of days. He’s fuckin’ smart, man. He already knows we’re working something else. He can help.”
“He’s nine months shy of a patch, carnal,” Coco points out, Gilly nodding beside him.
Angel looks down towards his brother, shaking his head.
“I can’t keep lying to him. It feels wrong. If he bends, that’s on me,” Angel proposes, turning to Gabriella, who’d been silent up to this point. Of course, he wanted Gilly and Coco to say yes, but the most important answer would come from her.
After all, she did happen to be one of the two shot-callers of Los Olvidados.
“Take a vote,” Angel finalizes, seeing that Ezekiel was catching up to them. Coco and Gilly nod at Angel, moving to follow him as he walks deeper down the tunnel. Gabriella, however, travels at a slower pace behind them, biting her lip in deep thought.
More people brought the possibility of more support and increased the army of the forgotten which would better their chances of achieving their goal. But more people also brought the possibility of more people possessing the knowledge of what their next steps were––and if that person fell into the wrong hands or uttered the wrong word, Los Olvidados would come crumbling into a bloody mess of true nothingness.
However, Gabriella had a feeling that Ezekiel knew better than that. His intelligence and clever nature, if he were willing to utilize it for them, could prove to be an advantage, and Gabbi hoped that Adelita would see that for herself.
The rest of the trip was filled with the quiet crunching of loose dust underneath rubber soles and EZ’s continuous heavy breathing. After a few more minutes, the five of them finally make it to the end of the tunnel.
Gabriella pushes open the gate, Angel and the others working to push Afa’s body up the slight hill.
“We’re gonna need the truck to haul him out,” Angel announces, his brother following him to the vehicle to prepare the back for the fallen Samoan. As Gabriella moves to help them, Coco briskly stops her and pulls her back down towards Gilly and himself.
“You two down with this?” Gilly ponders, motioning to the Reyes brothers. “Bringing in the prospect?”
“I get it,” Coco answers. “It’s hard to play family. What about you?”
Gabriella purses her lips before speaking low enough so only the two men next to her could hear.
“Right now, I don’t see a problem with it,” she starts. “But I won’t make a decision until I talk to Adelita about it. We always make these types of decisions together.”
Both Coco and Gilly nod at Gabbi, figuring that if she was confident enough to go with it, then they should consider it as well.
“I say we trust him, ‘till we don’t,” Coco finalizes, Gilly and Gabriella agreeing with a shared nod. Gilly then stands, signally for the rope with a quick whistle. He catches it once Ezekiel throws it down, Gabriella and Coco then adamantly working to tie the rope around the dead body and get it inside the trunk.
It wasn’t long before Afa’s body was settled in the back of the truck and everyone else was piled in the vehicle. Gilly took the chore of driving to the destination, and after a handful of minutes, the engine was shut off as they arrived.
While Ezekiel immediately headed to the back of the car to retrieve the body, everyone else began to make their way up a sand-covered hill.
“You want me to grab the body?” Ezekiel questions, thrown off by where everyone was in such a hurry to get to.
“Just come with us,” Angel answers, following Gabbi who was leading the way down the path to the camp. The path becomes progressively darker as they travel further along, Gilly pulling out a flashlight to make sure no one tripped over anything on their way. The sound of whistling began to dance through the air, catching only Ezekiel off guard.
The small gleams of light produced by the small fires near the camp had grown bigger as they finally arrived. Before they knew it, every nook and cranny started to leak with the dark silhouettes of the people at the camp as they were slowly surrounded.
“Holy shit,” EZ breathes out as it becomes evident that most of these people emerging around him were children, or at least, younger than him; many of whom, holding large guns.
Now completely surrounded, one single member makes their way out of the group and points a finger at EZ.
“Está bien,” Angel calls out with a reassuring nod. “Mi hermano. Mi sangre.”
(It’s okay. He’s my brother. My blood.)
The masked stranger finally pulls their finger out of the air, taking a few steps forward. There is a beat of silence before they remove their mask, and Ezekiel’s eyes widen when he registers where he’d seen the person’s face before.
“You may call me Adelita.”
Her tone is soft but unwavering as she speaks, commanding all of the attention to herself.
Ezekiel looks at his brother before offering, “EZ. Ezekiel.”
“It’s good to meet you, Ezekiel. Thank you for your help,” Adelita affirms gratefully before turning to look at Gabriella.
Ezekiel holds his breath as he watches Gabriella and Adelita look back at each other, not sure if the tension between the two of them was something he had to be worried about. However, his question was promptly answered as the two women break out in wide smiles, pulling the other into a tight hug.
“¿Todo el mundo está bien?”
(Everyone is well?)
Gabriella’s quiet question causes Ezekiel to look over towards Coco, Gilly, and his brother in confusion. He receives a couple of shrugs and a look from his brother telling him that he would explain it all later.
“Sí, sí,” Adelita quickly answers, squeezing Gabriella one last time before letting her go. Her facial expression falls back into the serious and determined one of before as soon as she looks away from Gabriella.
“Come,” she tells the group of Mayans and Gabriella, not waiting for a response as she turns and begins to make her way back to the camp. Ezekiel in particular followed with more questions than he believed he could hold but kept silent in hopes of getting some of them answered on their own.
Making their way into the tent (who’s inside resembled that of an army base), Adelita dropped her mask, ready to get started.
Gabriella leads the rest of the group behind Adelita, smiling and placing kisses on the heads of the children she passed as they all filled inside.
“Do you have our package?” Adelita asks, Gilly answering by handing her the backpack they collected at the bar a few days ago. Ezekiel watches with curious eyes as Adelita unzips the bag, pulling out the familiar blocks of heroin––Galindo’s heroin.
“All 12 keys,” Angel informs her, and Adelita nods with a thank you.
“Galindo figured out it was the Samoans,” Gabriella announces with a sorrowful look on her face. “Got them to talk. He knows it was us. I’m sorry.”
Although this would be a minor setback for them, it was still a setback. Now Los Olividados was on everyone’s radar, and while that was positive in some aspects.
They were turning heads. Making noise. Creating a reputation for themselves.
But this also increased the amount of danger they were in.
“It just unraveled. We couldn’t shut it down,” Gabriella sighs, kicking herself for not doing something more to prevent the hole Los Olvidados had dug for itself.
Adelita glances at Gabriella before sighing also. “We knew that was a risk.”
“He knows you’re at the border,” Coco informs Adelita. “And they’ll flip over every rock on both sides of the fence. Should head south. Just wait out in the mountains.”
Adelita lets out a breath, turning to Gabriella. They share a silent conversation for a moment before Adelita glances back at Coco.
“El diablo... na nos espanta,” she declares, before leaning over one of the children to give quiet directions. “El ratón... diles que es tiempo.”
(We no longer fear the devil.)
(The mouse… tell them it’s time.)
“Adélita, you guys have kids here,” Angel reminds the woman, sending a look towards Gabriella in hopes that she would back him up.
“Todos hemos sentido la mano salvaje del cartel.”
As Adelita speaks, she strokes the hair of one of the children and looks over at Gabriella. “Conocemos el terror de ver a nuestras masacradas de familias. O cómo se desvanecen.”
(We’ve all felt the savage hand of the cartel.)
(We know the terror of watching our families slaughtered. Or how they vanish.)
Gabriella’s gaze drops to the ground as her partner speaks of the atrocities and traumas most of the people in the tent were forced to experience. Each of them had their own sad origin story of how they ended up in Los Olvidados. At some point in their lives, the cartel had taken everything from them, and the only solitude that came from that sorrowful fact was the sacred bond that each of them shared. They were the only ones that truly knew what it was like to lose everything to the money-hungry cartel––and they were going to be the ones that made sure no one else would go through that suffering again.
“Ahora... Miguel Galindo conocerás ese dolor. Conocerás ese miedo.”
(Now… Miguel Galindo will know that pain. He will know that fear.)
Gabriella sighs deeply at the statement, wishing that Adelita would consider a different plan. What they were about to do––no matter her past with Miguel––broke her heart. There were countless times when she tried to talk Adelita out of it, try to look for another way to get what they wanted.
Still, Adelita wouldn’t budge.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Gabriella pulls her gaze from the floor and settles them on her partner. Already knowing what they would be discussing, Gabriella only nods in response.
“I’ll meet you guys at the car,” she tells the Mayans, who reluctantly begin to make their way towards the exit of the tent. Coco and Gilly pat Gabriella on the arm before retreating.
Angel turns to Gabriella, lightly grasping her arm to pull her towards himself and his brother. “Everything good?”
“Yeah,” she promises, “just business.”
Angel could always read Gabriella better than most; nearly as well as Marcus.
Visibly, she was good at hiding how she was feeling. She knows that body language gives everything away, therefore, she also knew how to carry herself in a manner that made people think everything was alright.
But Angel knew her better than that––more specifically her eyes. He had looked in them enough times to know how she was feeling, the brown pools of honey revealing her entire being to him no matter how hard they worked to bury the emotions.
“Sure,” Angel groused, biting his tongue in lieu of pressing any further. “Just remember that I’m here for you, alright? Whatever you need. Don’t shut me out.”
Instead of giving a verbal response to the older Reyes, Gabriella pulls Angel’s head down towards her and graces his forehead with an affectionate kiss.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Gabriella whispers as she pulls away from him, thumbs stroking across Angel’s cheeks before finally letting him go. Angel nods one last time, then moving to follow Gilly and Coco’s path. Gabriella was about to make her way over to Adelita, but the fact that Ezekiel hadn’t followed his brother out caused her to stay.
His gaze was stony as he looked at her, almost hurt by the fact that he was in the dark about something like this. But his gaze quickly softened as he remembered that he had no right to be upset over this––not while he was hiding his DEA deal from everyone. His secret was just as bad (probably worse), as he was just a pawn being used by the feds. Los Olvidados was just getting revenge for people they’d lost.
“Ditto what my brother said,” he mutters. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I want you to know that I’m here for you too.”
After his proclamation, he was pleasantly surprised to receive a peck on the cheek from Gabriella. The kiss was shorter and shyer than the one she gifted to Angel, but it warmed Ezekiel's heart nonetheless.
“Thank you, Ez.”
Ezekiel leaves Gabriella with one last smile before removing himself from the tent.
Gabriella, finally making her way over to Adelita, inwardly cringles as a sour feeling rises back up into her stomach at what was occurring somewhere along the interstate right now. Immediately noticing her mood shift, Adelita pats the empty spot next to her, signaling for Gabriella to sit down.
Plopping herself down, the two take a moment to sit in silence. Their eyes run over the few children still working diligently in the tent, and are briefly reminded of why they are doing all of this in the first place.
“I know you still don’t like that we’re doing this,” Adelita starts, looking over at Gabbi. “But this is the only way.”
“We’re kidnapping a kid, Adelita,” Gabriella exclaims quietly. “A baby, at that. You do realize how wrong this is, right?”
“Isn’t what the cartel did to all of our families even worse? Isn’t what they did to your family even worse?”
Gabriella visibly flinches as she thinks of the names she hasn’t uttered in years, the stress of the kidnapping and unwanted memories spurred by her family forming themselves into gathering tears.
“Gabriella, all of this pain you are feeling right now is what Miguel Galindo will soon be going through,” Adelita tells her. “You and I started this journey to make sure the people who took everything from us pay. To stop the cartel from spilling any more blood, no matter the cost. This is the next step if we want to succeed in that.”
Adelita’s hand was tightly gripping Gabriella’s now. She knew that her close friend currently needed the cordial support rather than coldness of a strong-willed (and sometimes ruthless) rebel leader. Adelita, although she would never admit it out loud, also had reservations about taking Galindo’s baby––at first.
But Los Olvidados couldn’t take the risk of lightening up. Not when they were this close. The cartel was ruthless. They tortured and destroyed, never giving a second thought to the agony they caused––and Los Olvidados had no choice but to do the same. Fighting fire with fire was the only road to not only warranted vengeance, but the desired triumph that they hoped would one day pay off.
I love that everyone has this detailed analysis of what would happen if Kurt Sutter were in charge of Mayans season three, but we all know if Kurt were here we’d be in Mexico searching for Adelita’s lost child only to find him at a convent.
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