by Kishan Paul
“I said shut your mouth!” Madam growled, slamming the metal object against the wall over and over. Her threats turned the weeping into unintelligible wails.
“Mumma!”
The terrified call sent a shudder down Ally’s spine. She willed the frightened voice to comply. Instead, the girl continued begging for a mother who would never arrive.
Keys slammed into metal as Madam worked on a lock. Ally prayed for it to not be the door with the cartoon stickers. The door in question slammed open.
“Mumma.” The girl’s cries for her mother grew louder, less muffled.
Ally gripped the knob to her own door, waiting for Madam’s next move when the echo of a slap stung her ears. A thud of a body falling to the floor followed the slap…and then silence. She held her breath, straining to hear the child.
“Get up.” Something heavy dragged across the floor. “Stupid rat, I said get up.” Although the tone was harsh, Ally heard the distinct sound of fear in Madam’s voice.
Unable to stop herself, she poked her head out the door. A faint yellow light glowed, and shadows moved from inside Nikki’s room. Madam’s rambling of insults and curses continued in the otherwise silent space.
“Get up.” Her order came out breathless as if she carried something. Acid burned Ally’s throat at the realization of who she carried.
She crept through the corridor toward the light, a key in one hand, her gun in the other. When she approached the entrance, she positioned her rear on the wall beside the open door and leaned her head in for a quick glance.
“Wake up.” Madam’s back to the entry, she dragged the unresponsive child to the cot, tossing her on to it. The woman’s cell phone hung from her wrist as she worked, the light from its flashlight bouncing as she moved.
Ally fought the urge to run in and shove her away. Impulsivity would get them both killed. She slid across the hall and pressed her back against the door across from Nikki’s. After a quick glance at Madam’s back, she used her key to unbolt the lock beside her. She unhooked it, slid the latch open, and lowered herself to the floor, slipping the key and lock under the crack of the door. A hand on the other side touched hers in the process of accepting her offering. She smiled at the contact. No matter how her story ended, the rest of them deserved a chance to live, and Khalin could make that happen.
While Madam pulled on her phone and texted someone, an empowered Ally rose to her feet. One foot positioned a little farther back than the other to brace herself from the recoil, she aimed her weapon and pulled the trigger. When the gun discharged, the sound deafened her.
But louder than the explosion were Madam’s screams of agony. She gripped her shoulder, her sobs calming Ally. A power she hadn’t felt since the hell had begun smoothed away her fears. She rolled her shoulders, clicked on her flashlight, aiming it and her weapon at the woman’s head. “Drop the phone on the floor and get up.”
Madam’s body shook as she removed her cell. She climbed to her feet and turned to face Ally, her squinted gaze searching to identify the threat through the bright light blinding her.
“Please,” she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Her cries had no impact on Ally. Not too long ago, Tanu’s mother made the same desperate request. A request Madam balked at.
“Drop the phone or the next bullet will go through your head.”
The device slipped next to Nikki’s motionless feet. Ally shifted the light to the right and then back on Madam’s face. “Get out. Let’s walk.”
She gripped her wounded shoulder but didn’t move. “Please,” she choked out a second time.
“I said walk.” Ally snapped.
Madam shuffled out of the room into the hallway. The faint glow from the light on her cell cast shadows down the length of the space. Her back to Ally, she headed in the direction ordered.
A few hours earlier, she’d moved down the same passage, her head up as if she owned the building and the lives imprisoned within. Now she would experience firsthand the hell she delegated on the rest. Ally searched the narrow stretch until she found an unlocked room. “Get inside.”
She kept the weapon pointed at the woman’s head, watching her step into the space. Madam entered the threshold and turned to face her. Before Ally had a chance to hold the woman accountable for all she’d done, the icy barrel of a weapon jabbed the back of her own neck, shoving her head forward. Her blood chilled.
“Drop the light,” the man hissed.
Ally released the small flashlight and listened as the metal cylinder bounced off the cement floor.
“Get the gun from her,” he ordered.
Madam stayed in her spot in the threshold, clutching her wound, tears streaking her cheeks while she stared at the weapon Ally still aimed at her head.
“Take the fucking gun before she kills you,” he ordered Madam.
Understanding flashed across the still trembling woman’s face. She wrapped her hand around the barrel Ally gripped, yanking it from her fingers.
The cold metal he pressed against Ally’s spine vanished, only for it to be shoved against her temple. The world stood still, silence echoing through her brain. There was no fear. No urge to fight. She stared ahead at the woman in front of her, wondering if her face would be the last thing she’d ever see.
A familiar pop of metal filled the silence. Not loud like the gun she’d used, but an explosion of air. Two explosions followed the first. And with them came the bursts of air that swooshed past her. Ally braced herself, waiting for the bullets to tear into her skin. Instead, a dark hole consumed the center of Madam’s head. Her eyes transitioned from fear to shock, and she crumpled backward onto the floor.
The hard barrel pressed against Ally’s skull vanished, as did the fingers wrapped around her neck. Metal echoed against the concrete behind her, alerting her to the spot where the gun he’d held fell. A heavy weight pressed against her back. She gripped the threshold before it forced her to fall. The weight slid lower, settling against her legs. Proof the man who just moments before had the barrel of his weapon to her head was dead.
Again, the silence returned. Like her, the rest of the prisoners occupying the cells had stopped breathing, waiting to see what would happen next.
The crunch of metal echoed from Nikki’s room.
The light from Madam’s cell phone went out, blanketing them in darkness.
Ally blinked, adjusting her vision.
Her heart pounded against her ribs, the hair on her arms stood straight at the realization the shooter was in Nikki’s room.
The dead man’s flesh still pressed against her; the warmth of his blood dampened her feet. She swallowed down the bile rising, patted her toes over his corpse while she searched for footing to get around him. She put a hand out until it touched the cold brick of the wall and used the surface to guide her to Nikki.
Before she’d made it a foot, hands clutched her hips, ripped her body off the ground.
Her back slammed against the wall.
A gloved palm pressed against her mouth, silencing her screams. She kicked at him and bit into his leather grip.
“It’s me,” the restrainer whispered through her muffled calls.
Razaa’s voice cooled Ally’s fears.
A dim light flashed on between them, allowing her to see him. She reached for his face, brushing her fingertips against the goggles covering his eyes and slid them down his cheek.
His hand dropped from her face and grabbed her wrist. “We need to go. Now.” He guided her through the dimly lit passage. Other shadows moved past, and some brushed against her arms as she moved. She glanced over her shoulder, watching them inspect the bodies of the two they’d just killed. One of them followed her, his features darkened by the shadows, but she saw enough to know who he was.
Razaa guided her to one of the empty prisons. She reached for the one who followed her in, her palm pressing into his chest. “Thank you.”
Eddie’s gloved hands sandwiched her face,
tilting it higher. “You okay?”
She flinched when the leather brushed against the cheek Wassim punched earlier. “Yes.”
“Raz is in charge. You will stay with him and follow his command while the rest of us clean things up.”
They dragged something heavy into the room she hid in, alerting her to exactly what things they cleaned up. “He, Tay, and Raj will get you out. Understood?”
Her fingers curled into the thick fabric of Eddie’s vest while he continued to rub her injured cheek. “Where will you go?”
“Wassim.”
She gripped him tighter, shook her head. “There’s a child—”
“She’s fine,” he interrupted. “She has a pulse and is breathing. You’re the one they want, and being far away from you is the safest place for her.”
He was right. Her mind flashed to the top of the building. “Who killed the men on the roof?”
“Moose.”
“Omar’s sister?”
“Safe.” He looked over his shoulder and then moved closer. “Promise me you’ll do exactly what they tell you. No more secrets. No more plans. No more goodbyes.”
Her eyes filled. “I will.”
“Good answer.” His lips pressed against her forehead. “I’ll see you outside.”
Her hand still hung in the air where Eddie’s chest had been. It wasn’t until the door creaked shut that she turned and reached for the others.
They stood in the room, enveloped in darkness. Waiting. Most of it she spent gripping one of Razaa and Tahir’s hands in each of hers. She gave them both a firm squeeze. “You boys don’t belong in here.”
“You don’t belong here either,” Razaa snapped.
“Save the arguments and lectures for once we get you out of here,” Tahir chided.
Their responses made her grip them tighter.
Raj, a new member, cleared his throat. “Nobody cares what happens to me?”
“I care about you too.” A mix of relief and fear consumed her. She knew they’d come, but now that they were here, she feared they’d get hurt because of her choices. “None of you should have come.”
A door in the distance slammed open. Their gloved hands released hers.
Through the gaps between the walls and the ceilings, a light glowed.
Shoes thudded against the concrete.
Something slammed shut, and the metal sound of a lock being secured echoed.
“You check those rooms. I’ll check these. She couldn’t have gotten far,” a man’s voice ordered.
“Where is Madam?” One by one, doors were opened and occupants questioned as they drew closer to Ally’s room.
A few of the inhabitants in the rooms they investigated begged for mercy, pleaded for freedom. Pleas they ignored.
“Sit down, or I will make sure you never walk again,” the man threatened one such prisoner. He slammed the door shut and mumbled as he locked it.
“She probably killed the girl and is wasted out there, and we’re going to get shit because of it,” a second voice replied.
Ally’s heart thumped an erratic beat while they discussed Nikki. Madam texted someone after she’d knocked out the child. The two who roamed the halls must have been on the receiving end of her text. Their flashlights neared, lighting her room enough for her to make out the two bodies piled on the bed beside her.
Razaa motioned her to stand behind the door and positioned her against the wall, posting his body in front of hers while Tahir and the other man stood with their weapons pointed at the door.
The guards passed her and continued toward Nikki’s. The new soldier snuck out of her room with Tahir close behind. Razaa pulled her back, pressing a finger on her mouth.
Aside from the muffled voices of Wassim’s two men, no other sounds were audible.
Ally stood rooted to her spot, waiting for the two to return.
The explosion of guns interrupted her prayers, and her body trembled.
Eddie’s team used silencers. The understanding that those shots could have been aimed at her boys ripped through her.
Razaa gripped her arm tight, warning her of the danger surrounding them.
The terrified voices of the imprisoned replaced the shots. Some cried. Others prayed. It was as if they all knew their end was near.
A loud rapping against her door made her breath lodge in her lungs.
“Sara.”
Her body chilled as understanding sent shudders down her spine.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CREEPING
Wassim knocked a second time. This time harder and louder than the first. “Sara, your son is dying. Don’t you want to say goodbye before he leaves this world?”
Ally lunged for the door.
Razaa wrapped his arms around her waist and held her back. “No,” he hissed, lifting her off the ground while she fought his grip.
“I don’t have time to wait, so I will give you until the count of five, and then I will personally put him out of his misery.” Wassim announced.
Tears streaked her cheeks. “Let me go,” she whispered.
“No.”
“One,” he counted.
Desperation coursed through her.
She fought to break free of Razaa’s hold and when she did, she ran.
“Two.”
Ally reached for the door only for him to grab her a second time.
“He’s lying.” Razaa’s words came at the same time as Wassim’s three.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” she screamed her question, hoping to stall for time.
She turned her face to Razaa. “He’s standing outside the door. He knows I’m here. Regardless of whether I go out there or stay inside, he’s going to open this door and come for me. What he doesn’t know is about you. If he finds you in here, he will kill you. Let me go out to him and keep him busy.”
Tahir’s pained grunt weakened her legs.
“Is that proof enough? Or would you prefer I cut off his hand and throw it in the room with you?”
Ally shoved at Razaa. “I will never forgive you if you don’t let me go to him.”
“Four.” Wassim announced.
“Five.”
Razaa released his grip and grabbed her hand, placing his knife in it.
“I’m coming,” she yelled and tucked it inside her bra.
As soon as Razaa was out of view, she opened the door and squeezed her way into the hall, shutting it behind her.
Wassim stood before her. For the second time, she noticed his smile stretched to his eyes. She shifted her focus lower to the cause of his pride.
Tahir on his knees while Wassim gripped a handful of her son’s hair, keeping him from falling. Blood dripped from the side of his head. She couldn’t make out the extent of his injuries, but he was alive, blinking up at her. Wassim pointed a gun at Tahir’s forehead with his other hand.
Raj, the other guard, lay face down on the floor, a puddle of dark liquid growing around his head.
When she stepped toward Tahir, hands gripped her arms, yanking her back.
It was only then she noticed his men lurking on either side of her. Under the faint glow of a flashlight, their silhouettes loomed tall and dark, casting shadows over her.
She yanked her arm out of the grip. “What do you want, Wassim?”
“You.”
She put out her arms. “You’ve brought a lot of men to find one person.”
“I thought I had you many times before, and each instance, you’ve managed to creep away.”
Tahir swayed, his chest rising and falling in a ragged pattern.
“I’m finished creeping. Let him go.”
Wassim didn’t move, his emotions hard to read in the shadows. “I want you dead.”
“You can have your wish. My life for his.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I will. But I’m greedy. I want more.” Wassim tipped his chin at the people behind her. “Put it on.”
Ally turned to face a giant of a man.
He splayed out his hands, displaying the object he held. The light flashed on the wide black fabric of the belt he offered. Several compartments lined its length, many of them stuffed with wiring and components she’d only seen in pictures.
The sight of it had her inching backward.
“You did say, your life for his. Didn’t you?” Wassim squatted beside Tahir and shoved the gun under his chin.
“If putting the bomb around me will save his life, then yes.” Her words were spoken aloud in the hopes that Razaa would hear them.
While Tahir shook his head, telling her to walk away, she nodded her acceptance of Wassim’s request.
The man stepped closer, positioning the belt around her waist. When he pressed it against her hips, she noticed the wires secured to the inside. He wrapped it tight, and when it clipped shut, she shuddered, not only because of the bruises she carried from Wassim’s assaults, but the weight of what she now carried. As soon as the guard removed his hands from her, her body felt a hundred pounds heavier.
She surveyed Tahir, willing him to live while the guard reached around her, pressing buttons on the belt.
He handed over a small box to the man who held her son’s life in his hand. Wassim removed the barrel of his weapon from under Tahir’s chin. “Check the room. Make sure we get all the rats.”
Ally kept her focus on Wassim and tried to hide the terror from her face as the person behind her released his hold and entered the room she’d just exited.
She remained rigid, her face emotionless, listening to the sounds coming from the room.
“They killed Madam. Stupid bastards,” the man announced on his return.
As angry as he was, he came empty-handed. She locked away her relief and focused on saving Tahir.
Wassim scowled at her injured son. “You will live for now. Go find Hassan and the rest of your brothers. I expect them to meet me within the hour.”
He released his hold of Tahir’s hair.
