The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (44 page)

“Why?” Sarah asked, gritting her teeth as she envisioned bashing the woman’s skull in.

“Just do it,” Cate replied. “I can’t dress you with your arms tied up like that, now can I? And know that if you struggle, we might just have one of the guys down the hall cut off a pinky toe on one of them two pretty girls of yours. We’ll even make you pick.”

Sarah whimpered quietly and nodded as she stood and turned around. Cate drew a tiny knife and severed Sarah’s bonds quickly.

“Good girl,” Cate said. “Now face this way.”

“Please,” Sarah said, turning around as tears streamed down her face. Cate folded the knife up and handed it to Jen. “Please help us. We can all get out of here if you’ll help—”

“Help you?” Cate said with a quiet laugh. “Do what? Escape? Listen, no woman leaves this place unless she’s being put on display out front or dropped in the river. It’s a pretty penny to buy your freedom and there’s only one way you’re getting paid. Now, whatever hopes you had of getting out of here, burn them away from your mind now. What’s coming is coming and there ain’t no avoiding it.”

“Okay,” Sarah said, turning to her girls. “I’ll do anything. I’ll do whatever you ask to whoever you want so long as you don’t let them touch my daughters.”

“Honey, we don’t have any say in that,” Cate replied.

“Please!” Sarah said, begging. “Just help them!”

Cate gazed back at Sarah silently, her face bordering on concern. The woman opened her mouth to speak, but the radio at her hip blared out.

“Hey Cate, it’s Saul. Hank brought in a batch of girls this morning, right?”

Cate glanced over at Jen before unfastening the radio from her hip.

“Does any morning go by without Hank bringing in new girls?” Cate answered.

“Don’t get bitchy with me now,” Saul said. “Those four girls he brought you—that woman, the fighter, and those two girls—they with you?”

Cate eyed Sarah, hesitating with the radio at her mouth.

“Please,” Sarah said, stepping closer. “Help me.”

Cate paused a moment longer before sighing and shaking her head.

“They are. I’m looking at the woman and her two little girls right now.”

“Good,” Saul replied. “What room?”

“Twenty-seven,” Cate replied. “But they ain’t dressed yet.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Saul replied. “We got a young gun looking to get a taste of some young girls. They won’t stay dressed for long. You can dress the woman later. We’ll be there in a few.”

“You want me and Jen to move the mom first?” Cate asked. “The two girls are her daughters. I don’t think she’d—”

“Keep her there,” Saul replied quickly.

“You sure you don’t—”

“Backtalk me again and I’ll backhand that mouth of yours,” Saul growled over the radio. “Hank told me that group put up quite the fight. This will be good to break ‘em.”

“Fine,” Cate replied, turning to Sarah.

“No,” Sarah said, stepping back between her daughters. “Cate, please, let us go.”

“Honey, if you want those girls to live you better not try anything.” Cate tossed the dress to Sarah. “Now put that on and—”

Sarah lunged forward with a roar. Cate quickly raised a black stick twelve inches long that had been hiding behind her coat. The buzzing tip of it lit up blue just as Sarah’s chest struck it. Electricity coursed through her, causing her muscles to seize up as she dropped to the ground convulsing.

“Don’t make me do that again,” Cate said, lowering herself while speaking in a low voice. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Go to hell,” Sarah growled as she slowly crawled back toward her daughters, her muscles twitching and weak.

“Jen, why don’t you go see to the next batch. Saul will be here shortly and I can take it from here.” Jen nodded her head and left the room, eyeing Sarah with pity. Cate hesitated before standing with a frown. She walked over to Sarah’s daughters, smiling as she knelt down in front of them. “I know what is about to happen to you girls might seem bad at first, but it’s just a natural part of life. There’s nothing wrong about it.”

“Shut up, you bitch!” Sarah roared as she crouched down, a wounded mother bear growling as a pack of hunters closed in.

“Girls, if you don’t fight, they won’t hurt you,” Cate said. “Remember that. I’d hate it if they had to toss your bodies in the river too because you couldn’t obey. The water’s cold, but death is colder.”

Cate stood and walked to the door, her black baton dangling from her wrist. Sarah turned to her terrified daughters. She wanted to tell them it would be okay, but she knew they’d see right through her lies. So instead, she simply embraced them and wept, praying for a miracle.

“God, please,” Sarah whispered in the dark. “Help us.”

“It all started a couple of months after that interview with the president when six farm families approached us.” Saul spoke casually as he, Judah, and a guard walked through the dim interior of the complex. Judah smiled back quietly and as he fought down the urge to draw his hidden knife and stick it in the other man’s back. “They wanted to set up a partnership and barter food for protection. Like everyone else, we were too weak and afraid to know what was best for us. We knew we needed to band together with others. My group numbered a few hundred at the time and we were discussing the terms of a partnership when a few of our boys decided to have their way with one of the farmer’s daughters. The farmers got violent after that and wanted our men to pay for what they had done, but we weren’t exactly willing to comply. We ended up killing most of the men, though we lost eight of ours in the process. The boys wanted to keep the women who had survived as payment for our losses, but eventually others wanted in on that action too. With a few more…acquisitions, we had a trade that was bringing in men from all around the region. Food nourishes, water hydrates, safety encourages, but I’ll tell you what, sex sells! It wasn’t long before our operation blew up something huge. We now control downtown and have about two thousand armed men helping us maintain this empire. Work hard like the others and you’ll have whatever you want.”

“And all these men risk the road just for a night of sex?” Judah asked.

“Men and women, but they come for a lot more than that,” Saul replied. “We keep the girls as cheap as we can. Most of the men come for the inexpensive prostitution, but they’d end up paying outrageous prices for food, ammo, clothing, and everything else we got going on here. It’s kind of like putting the milk in the back of the store, if you know what I mean. Those who come here have to pass by everything else to get what they really came for. By the time they’ve left, they’ve filled their cart with way more than they needed and wonder why their pockets are empty.”

“So you keep things running downtown while others venture out to find the girls?”

“Believe it or not, we got more girls coming to us willingly now days than not,” Saul replied. “Not all of them are that way, but they’re becoming increasingly desperate. We take good care of those who are willing to work with us. Those who aren’t…well, we do what needs to be done.”

Judah nodded quietly as they turned a corner, doing what he could to calm himself. He looked into the open doors, fighting back tears as he glanced at one broken woman after another, each sitting on a bed alone. Despite Saul’s words, Judah had a hard time thinking any of them were truly there by their own choice.

It pained him to think about how quickly America had fallen. It hadn’t taken much more than a few months of chaos to bring a once decent society to its knees. He wanted to help every woman he saw, but Judah thought of himself as nothing more than a frightened teenager trying to keep his fear and asthma at bay. He knew he’d soon need to crush those fears and summon the courage of a raging bull if he were to save his family. Two minutes passed by, his heart thumping increasingly faster with each second. Eventually, the three of them rounded another corner, passing by a closed door before approaching another.

“Here we are,” Saul said.

“I want to go in alone,” Judah said quietly.

“Stage fright, huh?” Saul said with a smile as the guard laughed. “Well, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll get over that quickly. Besides, there ain’t no way I’m letting you in alone with two new assets. Last thing I want is to find out the new guy decided to bust in the teeth of a pretty dame on his first go.”

Judah paused momentarily before nodding his head. Saul smiled, grabbing the door handle and pushing the door open. As Judah’s eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, he almost gasped.

He quickly found his mother as she huddled in the corner with his sisters—naked save her bra and underwear. Eva and Grace were still clothed, though a few clean dresses their size were draped on the side of a bed. None of them looked up as Judah, Saul, and the guard entered. Judah wanted to run over to them and cry with them, tell them everything was going to be alright. But he knew the moment they saw him, they’d likely reveal his identity and give him away. He glanced around the room for Alexandra, but she was nowhere to be seen. After a moment of hesitation, he glanced over at Saul. Saul smiled back, nodding his head in approval.

“Well,” Saul said. “Get on with it.”

Judah forced a grin onto his face—an act no more difficult than summiting Mount Everest without oxygen. Judah looked back to his weeping family and slowly walked forward.

“Now I’m going to need the three of you to keep your mouths shut if you know what’s good for you,” Judah said loudly as he approached. Sarah opened her eyes wide and glanced up at Judah, surprise filling her face. Eva and Grace looked up, their shocked eyes focusing on him as they realized who was talking. Sarah turned to them and squeezed their arms.

“Girls, listen to the man,” Sarah said. “Just do what the stranger says and it will all be alright.”

“Wise words,” Judah said with his best attempt at a growl. “I’m not going to hurt you if you play along nicely.”

“Okay,” Sarah said quickly as she rose slowly. “Just don’t hurt them. Please, don’t let your men harm us.”

“Oh, I’m not going to hurt them,” Saul cut in with a wicked grin. “I can’t say the same about my friend here.” Saul paused, looking Sarah up and down before smiling. “Now you are a pretty one, aren’t you? I think I might have you for myself.”

Sarah hesitated before forcing an uncertain smile onto her face and looking over at the Cate. “Why not the both of us?”

“What?” Cate said, her eyes wide. “I’m not here to—”

“Then what are you here for?” Sarah asked angrily before shaking her head. “You just going to watch? You going to sit it out like you said you always do?”

“She said that, did she now?” Saul asked.

“I never said—”

Sarah stepped forward, raising her voice and cutting Cate off. “I’ll make you a deal. You make sure not to hurt my daughters and Cate and I will do whatever you two want.”

“There is no way I’m going to—” Cate began.

“Deal,” Saul said with a smile. “Judah, listen to the lady and take it easy on her girls.”

“But Saul,” Cate protested. “I’m not—”

“You’re nothing more than a whore,” Saul spat. “I see you’ve grown soft being out of rotation with the new girls. Maybe a few beatings and a week or two back in the swing of things would do you good.”

“Saul,” Cate began, “It’s not like that.”

“Then get those clothes off and prove me wrong,” Saul growled.

Cate shot a red hot glare over at Sarah before slowly removing her coat. Judah glanced over at her as she tossed the coat to the side, wondering what his mother was up to, before his eyes found the baton dangling on Cate’s waist. Sarah looked over at Judah quietly. Judah unbuckled his vest and tossed it to the floor. He then reached up like he was going to pull his shirt over his head. Instead, he grabbed the hilt of his knife and drew in a deep breath.

“Wait until Hank hears about this,” Saul said as he turned to Cate, dancing on one foot as he started to tug his boot off. “It’ll put his afternoon with that thrashing bitch to—”

Judah drew the knife and lashed out at Saul. The knife cut through Saul’s throat like a jetliner through the clouds. Sarah reached down as Cate was tugging her shirt off and ripped the baton away. She stuck it against Cate’s chest, pressing the button and electrocuting her. Judah leapt toward Saul’s shocked guard, ramming the knife through his chest as surprise filled his eyes. He reached out with his left hand and covered the man’s mouth, suffocating his scream as he plunged the knife into his heart three more times.

Judah glanced back just as his mother smashed the baton against Cate’s face, knocking her to the ground. Cate fell, moaning as she hit the ground. Sarah growled as she lunged atop Cate and proceeded to beat her relentlessly with the long Taser. She bellowed as the black stick rose and fell and rose again, flecks of blood flying through the air. After a few moments, Cate’s body stopped twitching. Sarah looked up at Judah, white hot indignation filling her wide eyes. She glanced down at her blood-soaked body and shook her head.

“We don’t have much time,” Sarah finally said before standing and approaching the corner of the room. She reached down into one of the buckets, doing what she could to grab handfuls of water and wash the blood from her body. “Quick, Judah, pour it over my head. Girls, each of you find one of those dresses and put it on. We’ve got to get out of here fast.”