B009QTK5QA EBOK (14 page)

“He’s my friend,” Isabel said.

“Check him, Nate,” Laser said.

The guy on the desk slid off the edge and walked over to me. Which was good because it gave Boyd the opportunity to drift over to the wall, away from us.

“Arms up,” Nate said.

I held my arms out and he did an incredibly lazy pat-down. He missed at least three places I could’ve hidden a weapon and I knew that one day his arrogance would probably get him killed.

“Clean,” Nate said, then retook his post on the desk.

“Who are you, dude?” Laser asked, adjusting his glasses.

“Isabel’s friend,” I said. “Just giving her a hand.”

“And maybe giving her a little something else?” he said, then chuckled at his own joke.

Isabel’s face reddened.

“I heard you were kind of an asshole,” I said. “Good to know people don’t lie.”

His chuckled died and he pushed the recliner forward, standing up. He was a good five inches shorter than me and at least fifty pounds lighter. “Excuse me?”

I stepped toward him and kept an eye on Nate. “I said I heard you were kind of an asshole and you proved that right. Are you deaf, too?”

He was taken aback by my coming forward and he took a step back toward his chair before he realized he’d done it. He stopped and sort of wobbled, trying to catch his balance.

Nate stayed in place.

“We’re looking for a girl named Jessica,” I said. “I’m told she’s here.”

“Yo, man,” he said, sticking out his chest, trying to recover. “You better chill.”

“Or?

“Or?” he asked confused.

“Or what?” I asked, stepping even closer, crowding him. “If I don’t chill. What’s gonna happen? Let me know what I’m up against here.” I nodded at Nate. “I’m aware of him. But is that it? Because if you’re gonna threaten me, you’re gonna need a little more than him.”

Confusion ran through Laser’s eyes and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nate start to move.

“Hold it,” Boyd said.

I turned my head. Nate’s hand was at the back of his waistband, but Boyd already had his gun out, locked in on Nate.

Boyd was turning out to be alright after all.

“I got him,” Stevie said and moved behind Boyd and over to Nate. Nate’s hands were up and clear and Stevie pulled the handgun from Nate’s waist and stepped over near Boyd.

I turned back to Laser. “So. Or what?”

Laser swallowed hard and backed up until he stumbled against his recliner. There was nowhere for him to go. “Yo, man. There’s a lot of people here.”

“No,” I said. “There’s a lot of girls here. Not people. Girls.”

“Man, you don’t know
…
”

I shoved him hard and he fell back into the recliner. “Don’t tell me what I don’t know. Tell me where I can find Jessica.”

Laser adjusted his glasses. “Take it easy.”

“No, I’m done taking it easy,” I said. I motioned at Stevie. “Gimme that.”

Stevie hesitated then handed me the gun.

I held the gun and looked at Laser. “Open your mouth.”

“What?” he said.

“Open your mouth.”

“Look, man, I
…
”

I pressed the barrel to his lips. “Open.”

His eyes grew wide and he managed to get his mouth open wide enough for me to push the end of the barrel in.

“Was it like this, Boyd?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice tight, not enjoying the memory.

“Joe,” Isabel said. “Come on.”

I ignored her and looked at Nate. “Your gun, right?”

Nate nodded.

“So, when I blow his head off, it’s gonna look like you did it,” I said. “So, not only am I gonna kill your buddy here, but you’ll get the blame. You see where I’m going with this, Nate?”

Nate swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

“Joe,” Isabel said, her voice louder. “Stop.”

Laser squirmed in the recliner, sucking on the gun.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” I asked him. “Probably about as comfortable as being locked in a room in this dump.”

He couldn’t take his eyes from the barrel.

I looked back at Nate. “I’m going to ask one more time. Where will we find Jessica?”

Nate didn’t even hesitate. “Third door. Middle of the hallway.”

“Key?”

He nodded at Laser. “He’s got ‘em.”

I looked at Laser, who was already pointing to the desk. Stevie walked over and pulled up a ring of keys. He brought them over to me and I handed them to Laser. He flipped through them, then held one out to me.

I took it from him. “I’m going to go check the room. Stevie is going to keep this gun in your mouth. If you move, he’s going to shoot you. If Jessica isn’t in the room, I’m going to come back and shoot you. Do you understand?”

He nodded, breathing heavily through his nose.

I motioned at Stevie, who came over and took the gun from me, careful to keep it inside of his mouth. “He twitches, shoot him.”

Stevie nodded.

“Joe,” Isabel said. “This is ridiculous.”

“I agree,” I said, staring at her, my voice rising. “It is ridiculous. It's ridiculous that some piece of crap is locking up girls and forcing them to do who knows what. It's ridiculous that he’s dealing to them. It’s ridiculous that anyone has to live here and live under his thumb. It’s ridiculous that anyone would get to the point that this is their best option. It’s utterly ridiculous.”

I’m not sure if Isabel recognized it or not as she looked away from me, but I was talking just as much about Elizabeth as I was Jessica and any other girl that was there. When I walked in, all I could think about was Elizabeth ending up in some place like this. Having to listen to some jackass like Laser just in order to survive. So, was putting a gun in his mouth over the top?

Maybe.

But I didn’t care.

I glanced at Stevie and Boyd. “We’ll be back.”

They both nodded.

Isabel followed me down the hall, past two doors and we stopped at the third.

“If she’s here,” Isabel said, “that’s great, but we can’t just leave the others
…
”

“We’re going to clear this entire building, Isabel,” I said. “Trust me. No one is staying here another second if they don’t want to.”

She bit her top lip, then nodded.

I stuck the key in the lock and twisted the knob. The door swung open to a dark room. We both squinted as our eyes adjusted.

A twin mattress was against the far wall amidst a pile of clothes and shoes. I didn’t see anything on the walls. The room smelled like a weird mixture of perfume and sweat.

On the mattress, two bodies stirred beneath a wool blanket. One propped themselves up. A girl. Long, stringy blond hair, her eyes barely open.

“Who is it?” she asked, her eyes still adjusting.

We both stepped into the room.

“Is there a light in here?” I asked.

She jerked to a sitting position. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Relax,” I said. “We’re friends.”

I could see her face more clearly now. Caked mascara. Small nose. Thin mouth. Tiny gold earrings. A long sleeve T-shirt.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m Isabel,” Isabel said. “This is Joe. Are you Jessica?”

She stared at her, trying to place her. “Yeah. I’m Jessica. How do you know my name?”

The body behind her stirred and shifted under the blankets.

“We’re looking for Marc,” Isabel said. “Do you know where he is?”

She sat up straighter on the bed, more nervous now than when we’d entered the room.

The body behind her shook free from the blankets.

His eyes were swollen shut, purple and silver balls. A red jagged cut ran across the bridge of his nose and there were similar cuts at the corners of his mouth. I could see some bruising on his cheeks, too.

“Who is it?” he rasped, clearly unable to see us.

Isabel brought her hands to her mouth and sucked in her breath.

“It’s me, Marc,” she whispered. “It’s Isabel.”

THIRTY-TWO

Jessica helped prop Marc up. He moved with the stiffness and difficulty of someone who’d gotten the crap knocked out of him. Given the condition of his face, I guessed that was exactly what had happened.

Marc ran a hand through his thick, black hair and turned his head in Isabel’s direction. “Isabel? How’d you find me?”

Isabel looked frozen, unsure whether to go to him or stay where she was. Jessica sat close to him, her eyes still moving between us, not sure she trusted us yet.

“We, uh, we’ve been asking around,” she said. “We were worried about you.”

He turned in my direction. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Joe Tyler,” I said. “Isabel has been helping me with something else. She was worried about you. I offered to help her find you.”

“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “Okay.”

I noticed a bottle of water on the floor. I picked it up and handed it to him. “Water. Sounds like you need some.”

He held his hand up and I placed the bottle in his hand. He fumbled with the cap, got it off and took a long drink.

“How did you get in here?” Jessica asked.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Laser is taken care of for the moment. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Get us out?” she asked. “How? And what about
…
” Her voice trailed off.

“Don’t worry about Laser,” I said. “He’s done. You want out of here, you’re free to go.” I looked at Marc. “What happened to you?”

He took another long drink from the bottle, then handed it off to Jessica. “I tried to get her out of here.”

“Laser?”

He nodded. “And the other guy. Nate.”

I glanced at Isabel. I wondered if she still thought I’d been too harsh in sticking a gun in Laser’s face.

“I found out she was here a couple days ago,” he said, touching her arm, as much to steady himself as to show affection. “They let me in, but they wouldn’t let her go. I tried to break down her door. They came after me.” He shrugged. “We’ve been in here ever since, basically.”

“They know who you are?” I asked.

He sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Your last name? Do they know it?”

“My last name is irrelevant,” he said.

It wasn’t, but this wasn’t the time to argue the point with him.

I looked at Jessica. “I assume you want out of here?”

She nodded. “Yes. Please.”

“Okay,” I said. “Here’s the deal. We’ll get out of here. Your debt with Gino Miller has been settled, as well as the debt with Marc’s father. There is nothing to fear there. So no more running and hiding.”

“How do you know about all that?” Marc asked.

“Because I do,” I said. “You’re square. There’s no danger from Miller and your father isn’t holding you to the deal he made with you.”

“How do you know
…
”

“Because I do,” I said. “We can talk more about it after we get out of here. Grab whatever you need.”

Jessica stood and gathered some of the clothes on the ground, stuffing them into a duffle bag. Isabel helped her. I sat with Marc on the bed.

“Anything you need me to get?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I just came to get her. I didn’t bring anything with me.”

“Alright. I’m gonna help you stand. Grab onto my arm.”

He did and we got up together. He was a little unsteady on his feet and leaned into me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Isabel and Jessica filled the bag and left a few things on the ground, things she’d decided she didn’t need, I guess. Or want. Too many reminders maybe.

“You can place them tonight?” I said to Isabel.

“Of course,” she answered. “We’ll just take them back with us.”

“When we walk out, neither of you say a word,” I instructed them. “If either of them talks to you, ignore them. I’m the only one talking. Gino’s guys are out there, but they’re with us. You are safe. Any questions?”

They both shook their heads.

We walked out of the room. The other four were exactly as we’d left them, with Laser a little more slunk down in the recliner. I put Marc’s hand on Isabel’s arm and stepped away from him.

“Go get them in the car,” I said to Isabel. “We’re gonna finish up in here.”

She eyed me, unsure as to what that meant. She started to say something, then shook her head and guided both Marc and Jessica out the way we’d come in.

“Take the gun out of his mouth,” I said.

Stevie pulled it out and stepped back.

“Both of you on the floor,” I said. “On your backs.”