by A. M. Wilson
Without a word, I slip from the car, tucking my hands into my pockets, and meander through, careful not to step on someone’s final resting place. The sun beats down against my neck as chirpy birds serenade me. The cheery day a juxtaposition to my weary heart.
The simple tombstone marking her final place of rest comes into view. Gray stone, words and numbers carved roughly. No photograph or flowers or ornaments.
Cheap.
Surreal.
I never imagined a day when I’d come back, and she wouldn’t be here to take me into her arms and tell me everything would be okay.
The damp grass from timed sprinklers soaks my jeans as I plop down cross-legged in front of her headstone. The rock cools my fingertips as I trace each letter.
“Hi, Mom.”
I sigh and look around at the markers around me. Hundreds of people gone from this earth, just like my mom is lost to me. Tears pool on my lower lids. I blink rapidly and swipe my arm across my face.
“I have missed you so much. I’m sorry it took me so long to come and visit. If I would have known…” My voice trails off like the breeze stole it as it blows past.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter much. You were gone long before I was freed,” I say softly. I chase a tear from my cheek with my thumb.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. To take care of you like all the times you took care of me. I’m sorry the past year of your life was spent ill and wondering what happened to me. I wish you could have lived peacefully and comforted instead of tormented about where I was. It wasn’t your fault, Momma.” My voice breaks on the last word. I kick my legs out behind me and lay my stomach on the rough grass, my head turned to the side and pressed into the ground.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you waited for me to come home or not. You wouldn’t have found me. The police wouldn’t have found me. I want you to know that. I’d never blame you for what happened, and I hope that wherever you are, if you can hear me, that you don’t blame yourself, either.”
Dirt gathers beneath my clenched fingers.
“I love you, Mom. For as long as I live and beyond.”
I don’t know how long I lie there, pressing myself to the ground as if I could somehow reach her below the many inches of disturbed earth. The remainder of my goodbyes I speak with my soul.
I do know the second I’m no longer alone.
“You alright?” His soft voice is a balm to my battered heart.
“I think so,” I answer what I feel is the truth. I flip to my back and gaze wistfully at the cloudless blue sky. And if I’m not right now, I will be.
Alex extends his hand, and I grasp it, allowing him to tug me to my feet.
“I hate to do this, but if you’re ready, we have to go.” Urgency and stress underline his tone. We set a swift pace to the car.
“What is it?”
“Tonight’s the night. Everything is ready.”
It takes me but a second to catch on. Sickness settles in my gut, the putrid taste climbing my throat. I’m strong enough to survive this.
“When?” The only word that matters when life is hanging in the balance.
“Now. We’re meeting at Elias’s, and we’ll split up after dark.”
An hour or two.
“What happened to waiting?”
We reach the car and climb in, Alex firing the ignition and driving away before I’m even belted in.
“Elias secured another car just this morning. Richard says there was talk of movement. That they might be down a few men tonight for the regular girls. He said this is our shot if we want to take it.”
“And we want to take it,” I mutter to my linked fingers on my lap.
The car is jerked to the right, dirt and rocks kicking up behind us, and we come to an abrupt halt.
“Do you want this or not? Because I’m all in, blossom. My guys are all in. For you. But if you don’t want this, if you’re changin’ your mind, tell me because I’m more than ready to waltz into the merry fuckin’ sunset with you.”
I peer out the windshield sight unseeing.
“My mom is dead.”
“Yeah, I know,” he replies quietly.
“Your sister, too.”
“Probably.” His voice grates the word.
“So many good women have died for nothing. I feel like, I don’t know. Like I have this purpose now. Like I didn’t survive only to live my own life but to help others similar to me. And maybe that means I can’t save anyone I used to know. Maybe I can only do good work with those who are already saved, but I want to try. At least this once.”
Alex smoothly pulls the car from the curb and sets us back on our course.
“Then I’m in.”
This man. I think back to what Elias said about his lack of self-preservation and vow to myself, to him, to God and the universe, we will make it through this.
I take my courage and feel it, cradle it, encase it in steel, and infuse it through my blood and bones.
Tonight, I pay a visit to the devil who owned me.
Chapter Twenty
Sin
While Shelby and I grabbed changes of clothes, Richard and Elias prepared for our mission. The cars, my black SUV and a junky nondescript Honda Accord we purchased just this morning, were outfitted with GPS and dash cams recording both inside and out. Tiny Bluetooth earbuds were obtained for each of us so we could communicate without messing around with our phones or relying on unsecured walkie-talkie channels. Shelby changed into basic blue jeans, black tennis shoes, and a long-sleeved black sweatshirt while I wore my standard outfit of dark wash jeans, black tee, and combat boots.
“Are you sure I’ll be okay in this?” She gestures down the length of her slim body.
I smirk. “We aren’t going for full-on assassins, baby. Sturdy, casual attire will do.”
She pops her hip out and glares.
“And you won’t be doing much more than sitting in the car anyway,” I tack on as an afterthought, injecting enough tone so she knows it’s also an order. Fuck knows this can go sideways a hundred different ways, but if I have to keep her in my peripheral the entire time and make sure she doesn’t go rogue, it’s fucked before we even begin.
She paces Elias’s kitchen, the place her shattered mug and soul once lay at my feet what feels like eons ago. She’s cute all riled up. It’s not the same fear as before. It’s anxiety, sure, but also strength and retribution.
Elias and Richard enter the kitchen, each outfitted similarly in jeans and boots. I look at the men who have had my back since day one and refuse to let me down.
“We ready?”
I get a couple of nods.
“I’ll be heading to Sinclair’s. I won’t be of much use, but if you boys get into trouble, I can have an officer sent. The GPS is ready to go on my laptop, so I’ll set up as soon as I get there and be conferenced in with you both.” With that, Richard heads out. After what happened with my father, he’s less than eager for another mission, but the old man doesn’t have it in him to say no.
“How about you?” I ask Elias. He’s regarding Shelby with a look of respect and gives me a raised eyebrow.
“Ready as ever. I have the shit Honda as my ride. I’ll be waiting in the parking ramp off 7th until I hear from you.”
“And we’ll be circling the blocks starting with 4th Street and up to 9th. We’ll make four passes, but if we don’t see anyone, we may park and wait a while before trying again.”
Elias gives me a chin lift. He checks his weapon and tucks it in a holster beneath his jacket.
“This is for you.” He crosses the room to the kitchen counter by the fridge and offers a small teal rectangle to Shelby. “It’s a stun gun.”
The repressed growl rumbles my chest like thunder.
He ignores me with a chuckle and goes on to explain. “You slide this switch here and then press this round button.” He gives a test fire. A bright burst of light and loud crackle spits through the air, sending Shelby bac
k a foot. He grins. “This is a safety pin. Wear this strap around your wrist. If anything goes south and someone tries to take it from you, it’ll be disabled.”
“Thanks. I hope I don’t need it.” She grimaces as she plucks the box from his hand.
“Anything else?” Impatience rises, and I remind myself to be cool.
“No. Just…” Elias steps closer and snags me in a one-armed grip. With a smack on my back, he retreats. “Be careful. Both of you.”
“Yeah. Same, brother.” My eyes hold the gratitude I can’t properly express out loud.
Elias pulls Shelby into her own hug, this one longer and warmer. He releases her with a gentle push and kisses her quickly on the crown of her head.
“Stay safe. I know he can be a jackass but listen to Sin. See you out there.” With a final clap on my shoulder, he’s gone.
“Ready to roll, blossom?”
Her alabaster skin glows beneath the kitchen lights. The column of her throat works over a forced swallow. She lifts her chin, injecting herself with bravery and steel.
“I’m ready.”
***
“What do you see?” Elias’s voice filters through the Bluetooth in my ear.
“We’re coming down 7th now. So far, no sign of anyone Shelby recognizes.” I feel her eyes burn on me as I navigate the SUV down one road and then up the next, careful not to go too fast or slow, insignificantly over the speed limit.
“Keep going,” he urges. “I got a feeling about tonight.”
“Feelings, eh? You get those often?” I joke, easing us onto 8th.
“Fuck off,” he mutters.
“Pay attention, you idiots,” Richard scolds in our ears.
Shelby turns her attention back out the window, pulling a black cap lower over her brow. I threw it at her once we made it downtown and requested, as gently as I could in my heightened state, that she put it on. Those fuckers who left her for dead on my doorstep need to believe it ended that day. The last thing we need is anyone recognizing her.
“There. By that hotel.” She follows with her head as we pass by a small gathering of people, faces distorted by the inky shadows.
“I’ll circle back.”
“You got a lock on her?” Elias joins back into the conversation.
“Hold,” I tell him.
“How sure are you?” I ask Shelby, whose knee begins bouncing erratically.
“It’s the red shoes. I’d know them anywhere.”
“Could be a coincidence.” I take the next turn to circle the block again and glance at her as she sucks her pouty lower lip into her mouth and bites down.
“It could be, but I know it isn’t. Please believe me,” she whispers.
“Stay down,” I order, turning another corner. “We’ll check it out.”
She obeys, slinking down in her seat enough, so just the top of her head is visible above the window. She pulls the cap lower and aims her eyes in the direction of the pack.
I decrease speed incrementally, only one to two degrees below the limit and drive past.
“Anything?”
“It’s her,” she whispers frantically. “Send him in.”
I settle my palm on her erratic knee.
“It’s go-time, brother. Black leather miniskirt, red tube top, and bright red high heels. Turn right onto the one-way out of the garage, and it’s the hotel by the corner. You can’t miss her.”
“I’m on it,” Elias replies. “Get to the meeting point. I’ll be there in a few.”
“We’re heading to the empty lot now,” I answer.
With one little pit stop.
I circle the block again, waiting at the corner until I see Elias pull from the garage. He slows by the hotel and pulls off to the curb. I watch the target sashay to his passenger window. Just as she’s about to get it, I cut the corner and peel my way loudly down the block, shooting past at reckless speeds.
Shelby sits back up and grips her shoulder strap. “Did he get her?”
“Hang on. I’m waiting for confirmation.”
“Why’d you do that?” she asks a little breathless.
“Distraction.” Hopefully, if anyone starts asking questions, witnesses will remember the car flying by, not the one picking the woman up.
She gnaws her bottom lip. Considering the circumstances, it still makes me want to kiss her. I stow that thought away for later times. I can’t be getting rock hard during a rescue attempt, even if she is enticing no matter the circumstances.
In a handful of minutes, I pull into an empty lot behind an abandoned warehouse. Elias and I checked it out earlier this week, even going as far as contacting the realtor about buying it so we could inspect it for squatters. Everything seemed clear, so we wrote it down as a rendezvous point, although after looking around inside, I’m tempted to buy it for us. We could turn it into a shelter or a rehabilitation center for sex trafficking victims.
Those thoughts will have to wait as Elias’s voice comes back into my ear.
“Got her. On our way to you now. Ah, fuck!”
My hackles rise. “What?” I bark.
“What’s wrong?” Shelby asks beside me, straightening in her seat.
“She’s, ah, settle down! You’re okay! Shit, woman, stop,” he rants, alternating between soothing and stern. “She’s freaked out.”
“She’s freaked,” I relay to Shelby, helpless to the situation.
“Tell her you’re taking her to Chloe.” Her voice is steady, but I don’t miss the slight wobble to her chin as she pronounces that name. I tell Elias what she said.
“That helps, thanks. Few minutes.”
Tense silence engulfs the SUV as we both stare out the windshield and wait. Seconds tick past until finally, the flicker of headlights rounding the corner snaps me into alertness.
“Stay here,” I demand as gently as I can through heightened apprehension and angle out of the vehicle, palming the gun at my hip.
Elias nearly flies out of the vehicle as soon as it’s in park.
“She’s gonna run!” He shouts at me before circling around the back. I take the front and advance from the other direction as the terrified woman does exactly as he predicted. Years of practice in those shoes are not enough to outrun two physically fit men on a mission. We corral her easily, Elias linking her arms with his behind her back as gently as he can.
“Just settle, girl. Settle,” he croons, always the one for composure and care to my brutishness. Though I suppose some of that has changed a bit for me.
A car door slams. My spine goes rigid as Shelby waltzes out of my car and pauses in front of the hood.
“Clarissa.” The crack in her voice pulls at me to go to her, but I stay put.
“C-Chloe?”
She shakes her head. “Not anymore. It’s Shelby now.”
“W-what are you doing here?”
Shelby looks behind her at Elias. “Will you let her go?”
“That depends on if she’s gonna run or not.”
Shelby shakes her head in exasperation. “You’re not going to run, are you? We’re here to help you.”
“No,” the broken woman mumbles. Elias releases her, and she immediately takes two steps forward, nearly crumpling on her trek to Shelby.
Shelby takes her own strides and catches the lost woman in her arms.
“Shh. I have you. It’s okay,” she soothes.
Elias and I stand back and watch as Shelby takes over and comforts her. Her hand runs along the length of her back and into the woman’s hair. She whispers and urges and cajoles until finally they both stand back up and walk to the SUV.
“I’m going to get her changed,” she calls as a warning over her shoulder for the men to stay away.
With the girls out of earshot, I ask the question that’s been burning at the back of my mind.
“Anyone see you?”
“Sure, but that’s expected. Did anyone make me? I don’t think so. They saw a john picking up a hooker in a shitty car and then that s
tunt you pulled. Nice, by the way. I think every head turned your direction. By then, she was in the car, and I took off around the block.”
The sound of crying picks up out of nowhere. Elias and I share a look and jog to the trunk of the SUV.
“What’s the problem?”
Shelby looks at me a little helplessly with tears in her eyes.
“They have her sister. I-I didn’t know.”
“We can’t leave her,” the woman sobs in Shelby’s arms. She’s now wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a gray long-sleeved fitted shirt. Her head rests in the crook of Shelby’s neck. “They threatened to kill her so many times. It’s how they kept me in line. I-If I don’t go back, they’ll do it. She’s only sixteen.”
Fucking shit.
This just got a hell of a lot more complicated.
I attempt to gentle my tone. “Do you know where she is?”
She nods weakly and wipes her arm across her eyes. “Y-yeah. Blue Chain motel in Cottage Grove.”
Fucking shit!
We didn’t want to have to infiltrate the hotel. Evidence pointed at the desk attendants being on the payroll. It’s too risky.
But how do I tell this woman she has to stick with us and leave her sister for dead? I can’t place worth on one human being over another. Elias and I share a look over the top of the SUV. He’s thinking the same thing I am.
“How do we get to her?”
“You go to the reception. Password tonight is delicacy. The person working should give you the room number. That’s it. She’ll be in the room alone, although there are one or two guards who pass by regularly.”
“How do we know she’s alone? There will be other men coming to see her tonight, right?”
“I think it works on the hour mark. The fee will get you fifty minutes, which gives us ten minutes to clean up before the next guy.”
“You think?” I growl, liking this information less and less by the second. This plan is weak. Flimsy. If any of us were smart, we’d go home. Whether or not she wants to come with us is up to her. Fuck, but I can’t ask her to abandon her own sister any more than I wanted to do the same after mine went missing. To that, I can relate more than I ever fucking want to.
