Against the Odds

by Tori Carson

  “I understand.” Crissy looked eager as she stood waiting. She ran her hands down her body as if smoothing out her clothes. She seemed to have no idea she was completely naked.

  Tears rolled down Alexa’s cheeks. Looking at the bed and Crissy’s lack of attire, Alexa knew exactly what they had planned for the girl. Though Alexa continued to struggle, all she accomplished was shredding the skin around the handcuffs.

  The man in jeans took his place behind a movie set camera then shouted action.

  As the man in camo appeared under the lights, Crissy rushed to him. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him. He said something Alexa couldn’t hear then Crissy fell to her knees and began unbuckling his belt.

  A shadow fell across Alexa’s face. She turned to watch her brother kneel down beside the cot. A feeling of cold dread washed over her.

  “Why are you crying, Lexi? Upset because Crissy gets to go first?” He sneered down at her.

  Alexa tried to breathe deeply and keep from panicking. Danny’s eyes were soulless voids. His lips looked permanently curled into a cruel parody of a smile. He’d gained a few pounds, yet his face was gaunt. His hair was now more gray than brown. Time had not been his friend.

  He turned to watch the scene play out. “Did you know she’s fresh off the bus from Iowa? Yeah, I picked her out myself. Her dad’s a pastor in some backward-ass town. I thought I was getting a virgin, but no. The cunt has a popped cherry.” He shook his head. “Damaged goods, barely worth all the time and trouble I’ve invested in her.”

  Danny rubbed his hand along his jaw as he scrutinized the couple on stage. “Damn, she’s good at giving head. Look at that. His dick is halfway down her throat and still she’s sucking him off. Huh, she’ll serve us well.”

  “John, what dose did you give her?” Danny asked someone behind Alexa.

  “Just five cc’s. Imagine what will happen when we increase it.”

  “Fuckin’ A.” Danny turned back to Alexa. “We found a little concoction that’ll take away inhibitions. In no time, she’ll be addicted to the rush.”

  Alexa could just imagine what Danny had in store for Crissy and all the girls like her.

  “This film is my insurance card.” He waved Alexa’s attention to the stage.

  Crissy wrote, ‘I’m daddy’s little whore,’ down her body in blood red lipstick.

  “This ‘audition’ tape insures she’ll keep her mouth shut and do as she’s told. You’d be surprised what these girls will do to make sure their parents and friends never receive copies of it.” Danny laughed as if it were all a big joke. “It’s funny what bothers different girls. Some of them give in as soon as they see themselves up on the screen naked as the day they were born. Other’s break down when they see the close-up of them getting their ass fucked while they scream for more. Each one has a different trigger, but they all cave in the end.”

  Alexa’s stomach turned and she wished she could cover her ears. Her brother had always had a cruel streak, but she’d never expected him to sink to this level.

  “She’s a fairly smart girl. We’ll lay out her options and she’ll choose wisely. She’ll have a roof over her head, a place to sleep and enough food to keep her alive.” Danny turned his gaze back to Alexa. “And then there’s you.”

  A shiver ran down her spine. Like being in the sights of a predator, she knew her life hung in the balance.

  “You’re as dumb as box of rocks. You don’t even know when to die.”

  * * * *

  A couple of hours ago, Sid had lost Alexa’s signal completely. When Sammy had texted to say Grumer had had an allergic reaction to the narcotic cocktail they’d administered to get the truth out of the bastard, Sid had been tempted to go to critical care and force the answers out of him. Why the fuck hadn’t he shot him full of Benadryl and gotten the information that they needed?

  Sid felt like he was blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back and had been asked to create a museum quality copy of the Declaration of Independence. The penalty for failure was a firing squad. No, actually that would be preferable, because he didn’t want to live in a world without Alexa.

  Thanks to the terrorist assholes on 9/11, the flight restrictions were such that he couldn’t just commandeer a helicopter and search until he picked up her trail. Nowadays it was impossible to do that covertly. He’d have to alert the local authorities, and since Desman had cops on the payroll, that wasn’t an option.

  He ran both hands through his hair and slammed his two-way radio against the side of the van. For the last couple of hours, Sid had been driving around the docks. Each unit had been given a different quadrant to search. They should have picked up a trace by now. He kept thinking they’d want her near the shipping lanes so Desman could get her out of the country quickly. What if that had never been his idea?

  Being with the NBIA, he always thought in terms of crossing national borders, but what if Desman had plans for her here in this country? If Desman was just a paranoid SOB—and after the sustained drug use Sid had read about in his file that would make sense—maybe Desman hadn’t suspected Alexa was working with law enforcement. Maybe he was following his normal routine.

  He closed his eyes and concentrated. The answer was just outside his field of vision. He had the pieces of the puzzle, he just had to figure out how to assemble them.

  Sid pulled his cell phone out, found the thumbnail picture of Teague and hit dial.

  “Send me the addresses of all the warehouses Mr. G used.” Through wiretaps and surveillance intel, they’d learned the crime family Desi was associated with had recently taken over Mr. G’s remaining operations. Before Teague had laid claim to Chantel, the chief’s daughter, Teague had taken out both G and his top enforcer. By working with Sammy and a few other uncover agents, Teague had been instrumental in closing several of G’s human trafficking lines. Sadly, all he’d accomplished was slowing the ring down, not actually stopping it.

  One of the most frustrating aspects of Sid’s job was knowing that cutting off the head of the beast didn’t mean the horror ended. More often than not, the monster just grew another, sometimes even more heinous than the original.

  Teague been working non-stop to gather as much data as possible on the new boss. For the most part, it seemed they had continued the operations using the same buildings and equipment. Since Teague had a back door into their computers and they hadn’t switched them out yet, Sid was hopeful they’d gather the needed evidence to put these assholes behind bars for the rest of their lives.

  Within seconds, Teague had sent Sid the necessary information. Damn, the list was longer than Sid would have liked. One address stood apart from the others, though. It was only a couple blocks from Desman’s Designs Studio. He remembered Alexa telling him a dirty cop had taken her to a warehouse the night of the fire. Could it be the same place?

  It turned his stomach to think an officer of the law would recruit runaways for a sex slave ring, but he’d heard it happened. No occupation was free of bad seeds.

  His next call was to Sammy. “I’ve got a possible location. I just sent you the address.”

  “I remember the place. G used to use it as a ‘training facility’ for the women. He used to make his snuff films there too,” Sammy informed him.

  “Sir, unit four has picked up her signal near Eighth Ave and Thirty-Seventh Street. I’m heading there now,” his driver told him.

  Finally, a real break. Eighth and Thirty-Seventh was about two blocks from G’s warehouse.

  “Are you listening to the radio chatter?” Sammy asked.

  Sid reached over and turned the volume up. “It looks like the signal is coming from two different dumpsters.”

  Sid’s stomach bottomed out. Oh, God no. It’d been hours. Anything could have happened in that span of time. The words ‘snuff film’ were swirling inside his brain. Had that been Desi’s plan all along?

  “Ray, go check it out.”

  Sid recognized the voice of Vincent,
the agent in charge of the New York NBIA office.

  An unprofessional groan told him ‘Ray’ was the rookie. He was also the only one dressed in a sanitation uniform, so it made sense to order him to go dumpster diving, but Sid didn’t like leaving it to a greenhorn.

  The sound of boots clanking as Ray climbed the side of the metal container rang loudly in Sid’s ears.

  “Oh, God,” preceded a horrible bout of retching.

  “Get him out of there before he destroys any evidence,” Vincent barked into the radio.

  Sid put a fist-sized dent into the side panel of the van he was riding in.

  “We’re three minutes out, sir,” his driver advised.

  * * * *

  Danny’s cruel smile turned Alexa’s blood to ice. “I have special plans for you. A few years back, I tried to have you declared dead, but that asshole Hawkings threatened to hire private investigators to look for you. He never believed you killed Ezzy and set fire to the warehouse.”

  Now she knew why he was using an outside lawyer. Tears pooled in her eyes as she remembered the kind old man. Thank goodness Danny hadn’t tried to harm him.

  “I have it all planned out. In a few months, your body will be discovered. Aside from virgins, do you know what brings the highest dollar in hookers?”

  She refused to acknowledge his question. It wasn’t like she could answer with a gag in her mouth.

  “Rape fantasies. I imagine that after being raped four or five times a day by any man who can front me enough money will take some of that extra meat off your bones and give your dead body the proper two-bit whore look that will send Hawkings into a not so early grave.” Danny continued to taunt her.

  “He’s never cared much for me, but your picture still hangs in his office. If it weren’t for the mandates in the fucking will, I’d have fired his ass and he knows it.”

  Crissy screamed, drawing both their attention. She was on her hands and knees while a dark-haired man was between her legs, slamming into her with such force it had to be excruciatingly painful.

  “Smile for the audience, Crissy. Let your fans know how much you like your ass fucked,” the cameraman encouraged.

  Crissy turned toward the camera and her lips angled upward. Pain was etched in the lines of her face but she repeated the phrase. “I like to be ass fucked.”

  Alexa renewed her struggles to get free. Her heart was breaking for Crissy. She couldn’t believe her own brother could be a part of something so cruel.

  “There’s no need to be jealous, Lexi. I’ve already got a few customers lined up for you. The first one paid me ten grand for three days. After he has his fill of you, he plans to whore you out to his friends and make up most of his fee. He warned me, they can be brutal.” Danny shrugged. “The dumb-ass played perfectly into my hands. I told him he’d have to pay a little more since you’d be out of commission for a few days.”

  Danny laughed viciously and shook his head. “Like I’d let you lay on your ass and recuperate. What the fuck, does he think I run some kind of charity house?”

  He grabbed the strap of the gag and leaned down within a few inches of her face. “You’ll fuck whoever I say, whenever I say, regardless of the condition you’re in.”

  Alexa’s heart beat erratically. Danny was unhinged. He wasn’t trying to scare her. He was simply sharing his plans.

  “Toward the end, I figure the only dipshits willing to screw you will be those already infected with every venereal disease on the planet so it won’t much matter. You’re worth more to me dead than you are alive,” he murmured as if to himself as he watched the stage.

  Danny turned his full attention back to Alexa. “I just have to make sure I set the scene first. Within a week, begging for scraps of food will be second nature. Your stomach will shrink to where you couldn’t eat a full meal even if it were given to you. A good night’s sleep will be measured in minutes instead of hours. Just long enough for one customer to leave and another arrive.”

  Bile rose in her throat. She couldn’t believe any human could have such a flagrant disregard for life, and to think he shared her DNA made her ashamed. What had happened to him?

  “More, bitch. Let me hear you beg for it!” the man on stage with Crissy ordered.

  “Fuck my ass harder, I love it,” Crissy screamed for the cameras.

  Alexa rolled as far over as she could with her hands cuffed to the cot and vomited what little she had in her stomach. The gag kept it from all leaving her mouth and she feared she’d choke to death. Shaking her head, she tried to drag in a gulp of badly needed air. Snot was running from her nose and tears ran down her cheeks.

  Danny jumped out of range before she dirtied his shoes. He tossed a slew of curses at her before he disappeared into the shadows.

  She wiped her face as best she could on the side of the thin mattress. No matter what the alternative was, she refused to be at Danny’s mercy. Disregarding the agony, she forced the handcuffs farther up her arms. Bending her wrist till the pain sent stars dancing in her field of vision, she felt the catch. Just a little more and she’d be able to push enough to get loose.

  The man on stage yelled as his body shook from an obvious orgasm. Alexa drew several deep breaths and demanded her stomach stop rolling. If she thought about poor Crissy, she’d never find the strength to escape.

  “Perfect. That should do it,” the cameraman advised.

  “Someone needs to teach this bitch how to suck cock or we need to bust out a few of her teeth. She scraped me with her molar. I think I’m bleeding,” complained the guy on stage. He climbed out of bed then tossed Crissy over his shoulder.

  “How did I do?” Crissy asked softly as he dumped her back onto the cot and secured her hands.

  “Don’t worry, honey. You’ll get better as time goes by. Now that we’ve got that tape made, we can take off the kid gloves and start your training in earnest.” He grabbed his cock and examined it. “Son of a bitch. She scratched me good. Where’s the god damn pliers? I’m ripping that tooth out.”

  Alexa cringed away from the man as her stomach rebelled again. With nothing left in her tummy to lose, she began to dry heave. Once she could catch her breath again, the man was gone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sid’s phone buzzed. He looked down at Teague’s face on the screen and hit the answer button. “Got something?” Sid asked, hopeful Teague had good news for him.

  “Alexa’s picture was uploaded to a sex trade site about an hour ago. Based on the computer’s IP address, I think she’s being held at G’s training facility. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

  Is it the phone connection or is there something off about Teague’s voice?

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Sid asked, wondering if he really wanted to know.

  A heavy sigh confirmed Sid’s fears. “She’s listed in the rape fantasy section. From what I’ve seen, that’s basically a death sentence. We gotta get her outta there, man.”

  Sid’s stomach plunged. Things were moving too fast. Just this morning he’d held her tight and promised her he’d protect her. His throat tightened as he hit the end button. He couldn’t hear anymore. Sid pounded the side of the van again. “Hurry the fuck up!” he shouted at his driver.

  The pinging sound from Sid’s cell notified him he’d received Teague’s text. A quick look confirmed it was the same warehouse Sid had suspected. It was also about two blocks away from the dumpster where Alexa’s signal had been picked up and where they were in route to.

  Sid’s radio crackled to life. “False alarm, folks. Just a bunch of wigs and a mannequin from the cosmetology school around the corner. There’s a bag of women’s clothes in here too, along with enough fish carcasses to keep a brood of cats happy for a lifetime. We’ll take the bag to the IT geeks, but I’d bet a week’s salary they dumped her clothes in here and that’s where the signal’s coming from,” Vincent informed the task force.

  Relief overwhelmed Sid, causing a fine tremor to run the length
of his body. His logical side kicked him in the ass. Just because the mannequin hadn’t been Alexa didn’t mean she was safe. He couldn’t think about how vulnerable she was. If her clothes were in that bag, she didn’t even have the shank they’d hidden in the heel of her shoe. An image of her huddled alone and naked popped into his head. It was enough to send him busting down every door in New York until he found her.

  “Let’s meet back at the office and we’ll figure out where we go from here,” Vincent suggested through the radio.

  “Fuck that. There’s every reason to believe she’s being held at G’s old training facility. We need to go in, before they move her. I’m sending out a weblink now. You have two minutes to log in. We’ll go over the plan from there.” Sid quickly set up the webcast and pulled all the intel Teague had been feeding him to create a simulated version of the warehouse.

  * * * *

  The lights over the stage were turned off, plunging the warehouse into darkness. Alexa heard the other girls whispering to each other, but she couldn’t make out any of what they were saying. She’d planned her escape so many times, she had no doubt she could find the window without any trouble.

  Alexa knew this was her best chance to get away. She shoved the handcuffs as far up her arms as she could maneuver them then forced her wrist to find the catch. On the third try, it sprang open. The metal clanking against the cot sounded unbelievably loud. She froze and counted to ten, waiting for the lights to click back on and the men to surround her. Reaching behind her head, she unlatched the clasp on the gag and spit it out.

  A few more seconds ticked by before she eased her feet to the cement floor and crouched. The rush of cold reminded her she was still alive and she made a solemn vow to stay that way.

  “Crissy, listen to me.” Alexa’s eyes were slowly adjusting to the low light. She could make out Crissy’s form tossing and turning on the cot. “Your parents love you. Don’t think that anything these men do will ever change that. Do you hear me? They will always love you.”