After I introduced myself to Grace and relayed information to Liam, I went around and checked out the rest of the girls. We had murmured conversations about who they were and what they had experienced while here. Seven of the nine women were Hispanic while Grace was black and the only white girl other than myself was Cara, one of the girls Joey had been investigating. The other two girls that Joey had said had gone missing from the clubs in New York, Molly and Julie, were not here. When I asked questions about them, in both English and Spanish, the girls said they hadn’t seen Molly or Julie. The seven Hispanic women each stated that they had been taken in Mexico and then brought to wherever we were now.
They were in relatively good shape. No broken bones and I observed minimal bruises on their skin. They said they were fed twice a day and had a bucket in the far corner to take care of business. The worst part was that the cartel men would come in and drag them off to one of the rooms. Here in the fenced-in area they felt relatively safe but that changed once they were taken from here. I didn’t ask for details but I could see it was bad from the haunted look in their eyes.
I was just finishing talking to one of the girls when the metal door of the room scraped open and a mid-sized man with a handlebar mustache and the beginnings of a beer gut entered the room. Each and every one of the traumatized girls curled into themselves and refused to make eye contact with the newcomer. Mustache man walked along the side of the fence and looked over the girls as if he was a hungry customer at an all-you-can-eat buffet. He finally stopped in front of the youngest girl, Esmerelda, and pointed at her.
“Nina. Ven” The man called to the girl and she visibly shook in response and started muttering no no no no under her breath.
When Esmerelda didn’t move towards the gate in the fence, the mustache man’s face started to turn an ugly shade of red and he stomped over to the gate and began unlocking it. It was clear that this man meant to enter the fenced area and drag Esmerelda out. Well not on my watch. I calmly walked so that I was in between the rest of the girls and the gate that Mustache man had successfully opened. I stood, squared my shoulders, and told him, “If you want to get to her you will have to go through me.”
Mustache man cocked his head at me and I wondered if he spoke English. It didn’t really matter. I was done being a passive kidnap victim. There was no way this man would get close to any of these girls ever again. When I slowly walked towards him, he reached behind him and pulled out a knife. Wrong move mustache man, I thought to myself as I reached to grip the hand that held the knife while spinning and landing a kick to his middle. The hit knocked his grip loose and I grabbed the knife out of his hand. I flipped the grip in my hand and advanced on the man. After taking a step I dropped to my knees and dragged the blade across the back of his knees slicing through his tendons.
The man collapsed into a heap while letting out a high-pitched scream. I rose from my position on my knees, still brandishing the knife, and waited to see if anyone would come to investigate the mustache man’s screams. When no one immediately came I brought the heel of my barefoot, I had removed the heels a while ago, down on mustache man’s temple to knock him out and silence his screams. The girls and I all held our breath as we probed the ensuing silence for signs of people coming down the hallway. Instead of rushing feet, the sound of gunshots rang out.
This must be the rescue mission, I thought to myself as I mapped out the best way to secure the girls before Liam reached us. I had the girls all back up to one corner of the fenced block and was moving to close the large metal door when it scraped open. A Hispanic man that rivaled Liam in size burst through the door followed by Jefe. They scanned the room and both their eyes rested on Mustache man bleeding and unconscious on the floor before focusing on me and the knife I gripped in my right hand. I positioned myself between the two men and the girls in a way that mirrored the initial standoff between me and the mustache man. Hopefully, this one would have an equally satisfactory ending.
“This was you, wasn’t it?” Jefe demanded in a low dangerous voice. “You brought the FBI down on my head.” If Jefe wanted to talk then I would talk. Anything to buy Liam time to reach us and help me defend the girls.
“All I did was get kidnapped from a bar. It was Creeper that brought me here,” I replied logically. I was surprised when Jefe’s face split into a huge grin.
“Defiant till the end I see. ¡Amo tu fuego! But this little ruse to bring my operation down is going to cost me a lot of time and money. Someone must pay for that. And I am afraid, fuerte belleza, that person is going to be you.”
He looked over at his giant friend and nodded his head. The huge man strode towards me with a wary eye on the knife I held. The closer the man got to me the smaller I felt. I tried to stay on the offensive and stepped forward while swiping the knife right to left. I saw my cut draw a line of crimson across his chest, but he seemed to not feel the cut and didn’t falter in his pursuit of me. The move brought me close to his chest and he crushed me to his body with an enormous amount of strength with one hand while ripping the knife from my hand with the other. He then reached and grabbed one of my shoulders and spun me to face outwards towards Jefe while bringing the knife to gently rest below my chin.
My hands automatically rose to grip the large man’s arm and I tried to pull it away from my throat but wondered if he even felt my efforts. I was trapped, and Jefe wanted blood. And while I may be forced to give him that blood, I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear. I stopped struggling and gave Jefe the same fuck you glare that I had used with him earlier. He started chuckling under his breath when suddenly, a SWAT agent darted through the open-door way and pointed his weapon at Jefe. More SWAT flooded into the room, but my attention was caught by the sight of Joey striding purposefully toward me with his weapon drawn and a look of pure fury on his face.
The rest of the room dropped away, including the knife being held to my throat. My whole world shrunk to focus on Joey advancing with his gun pointed straight at me with hatred blazing through his eyes. It was my nightmare come to life. The man I had loved saw me as nothing more than the criminal I was forced to become to survive. All the barriers I had carefully constructed to keep the fear and horror of the day at bay, came crumbling down and I was swamped with emotion.
When Joey stepped forward, I flinched away and took several steps backward. Fear of him and what he would do now that he knew the truth about me short-circuited my brain and this time I tried to run instead of fight.
The surprise of being able to step away from the large man I had thought would end my life snapped me out of my daze enough to look around. Three SWAT agents had their guns drawn and pointed at the large man who was slowly moving to lie on his stomach with his hands behind his head. Joey was standing in front of me, but he no longer had his gun out. And his look of fury had transformed into one of concern as he held his hands out in a calming gesture. The roaring that had filled my ears the moment I saw Joey, started to recede and I started to comprehend what Joey was saying to me.
“… you’re okay now. You’re safe Payton. No one is going to touch you….” I understood then that Joey was here to rescue me and the other girls as an FBI agent. I looked over and saw Grace was up in Liam’s arms as he hugged her to him. Tears ran down both of their cheeks. It was over. I had survived. We had found and saved Grace, and I had survived. I had kept my promise to Liam and had helped rescue helpless women who had been kidnapped. I was one of the good guys.
When Joey moved to step closer to me, I flinched away again and decided to go stand next to Liam and Grace. I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with Joey and all of the accompanying emotions right now.
When Liam noticed me, our eyes locked and I saw immense gratitude and relief within their depths. A sense of purpose flooded me at that look. No one had ever looked at me like the hero before. I clung to that look to block out the feelings of shame, guilt, and fear that Joey had invoked in me.
Liam released one arm that had been supporting Grace and moved to include me in their embrace but I deftly sidestepped out of his reach. I needed to not be touched right now. Liam seemed to understand and tilted his head towards the exit. I followed his lead and the two of us walked out of that warehouse with Grace cradled safely in Liam’s arms.
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