I’d already made up my mind that I was going to take control. From the looks of my companions they were all too scared to think straight. Or so I thought.
“How the fuck should we know? Aren’t we chained here just like you?” A hiccup followed that outburst from one of the younger girls. She looked Latina, about fifteen and beautiful.
She was too pretty to be here facing this horror, they all were. What a strange thought. Why is it that we never think shit should happen to beautiful people? Save that one for later Kelly. Now is not the time to pick apart stupid shit.
“You don’t have to bite her head off, she was just asking.” One of the others answered but the fear in her voice was evident.
I wish I had something to say that would make the situation better, but the first girl was right. We were all in the same predicament, so unless I had a solution there was no point in asking unanswerable questions. Something else my daddy had taught me.
I looked around the room for anything that could be of help, but it was depressing. We must be in a basement because there were no windows.
“I heard one of them talking when they thought we were asleep.” I turned in the direction of this new voice. She was an attractive girl about my age. Frail stature with wide eyes and a look of innocence that was rare these days. The words pampered princess came to mind.
“What did he say?” I turned to her as much as my chained body would allow. “He said something about having to use a different safe house and that the place was hot so they’d have to be careful. And then something about a tunnel.”
She shivered after imparting those words and though they shed no new light on our predicament, at least it gave me something to think about instead of dwelling on the fear that was now threatening to choke me.
I found myself wanting to remember everything as if one day soon I’d be telling this unbelievable story to someone else.
I guess that comes from living in this age of technology where people would rather video record something than step in to help. We’ve all learned to disassociate from reality. Because surely this couldn’t be my life.
I tried moving her words around in my head to make sense of them, but in the end it was no use because I still didn’t know where we were.
We’d arrived here under cover of night and had exited the truck in some underground garage and led straight here to this room.
The water and sandwich they’d placed beside me was still untouched and will stay that way unless they force fed it to me.
My mind flashed to my family and what they must be going through, but as with all the other times that happened, I brushed it aside. I had to think. Now was not the time to get lost in despair.
My daddy had been and will always be a navy man and he’d taught me how to protect myself. All I need is a chance any chance and I’ll take it.
I already knew there was no way out of the thick iron chains they had around my wrist and ankles so I will have to use my wits.
When the door opened and one of our captors entered, it burnt a hole in my tongue not to call out and demand to know where I was and why I was here.
That was the female in distress thing to do, it was natural. My daddy didn’t raise no female, he raised a fighter.
I struggled to remember everything I’d learned about being in this situation. Most of it was common sense so it wasn’t too hard, though a heavy dose of Sun Tzu wouldn’t hurt.
There were only but so many avenues opened to me here however. Usually I’d go with know your enemies but that one wasn’t going to work here since I didn’t know how long I’ll be here or how many of them they were.
My other favorite is attacking my enemy’s alliance with his friends, but that wasn’t going to work here either so I was gonna have to wing it.
I didn’t waste my time even as the others around me asked all the questions that were stuck in my gullet. Instead I watched the man whose face was half covered by a bandana.
He was maybe four inches taller than I. Short by male standards since that would only put him at about five foot seven to my five-three. He wasn’t overly muscular but he wasn’t scrawny either. In short he looked nonthreatening.
It doesn’t matter. I’ve thrown men twice his size, no sweat. When he growled at the girls to shut up I caught his accent and tried to place it.
Definitely American, from somewhere in the mid-west. I forced myself to relax when his eyes finally landed in my corner.
I could see from the way his eyes crinkled that he was smiling behind the cotton he had covering the lower half of his face.
I had the urge to move back even closer to the wall to escape his leer but forced myself to stay still. I dug my nails into my palms, which were out of his line of sight.
I didn’t hold his gaze for long but instead stared down at my lap. It wasn’t wise to stare down a wild animal in these types of situations lest they interpret it as a challenge.
I didn’t flinch when he came to stand next to me; a size nine shoe or there-about. Scuffed work boots, brown. Jeans frayed at the edges and covered in grease stains.
“Why you ain’t eat that sandwich girl?” If this were an old western this fool would’ve spat a wad of chewing tobacco on the ground.
Instead he pushed the paper plate closer with his boot. I fought my baser instinct to tell him to go fuck himself. Asshole!
I reached my chained hand out and lifted the bread and whatever was in the middle of it to my lips still without acknowledging him. Leave him guessing.
He might have the upper hand when it came to the physical right now, but I’m sure I could take this dolt in the thinking game with half my brain cells on idle.
I took soft bites and spent an inordinate amount of time chewing. If I ate any faster I’d throw up and no way am I going to show any kind of weakness in front of this jackass.
“Cat got your tongue girl? I know you can talk, I heard you scream. Or maybe that’s the only way you know how to communicate.”
He knelt and reached out as if to touch me. Now here you’d be tempted to glower this asshole into oblivion… and I can’t believe the things I’m thinking at a time like this.
Instead of the bitch brow that I’m famous for, I gave him a smile. Not a come hither, not that of a simpleton; but one designed to make him wonder if I’m about to give him the ride of his life or take his nuts and feed them to the dogs.
He got the message alright. And in the split second where he forgot that I was chained and couldn’t get at his inbred ass, he was the one moving back. What a sitzpinkler!
I didn’t smirk at him in victory, but went back to slowly chewing whatever it was I was eating. I couldn’t taste anything beyond the fear. Daddy where are you?
He’d always taught me that no matter what no matter where, he’d always come and get me. I never stopped believing him. Now would not be the time to start.
Graduate of the year finally remembered that he was the one with the upper hand and tried to regain some footing by acting tough, but I’d already seen him flake. He’d cowered before a chained female. I knew it and he knew it. Weak!
I refused to look at him and instead pretended great interest in my food while he searched for something to say.
I ignored every word that came out of his mouth. There was no rule saying I had to talk to this cuntbucket. Oh dear heavens, now I’m beginning to sound like my daddy. I could almost hear him saying, ‘give him hell honey, until I get there.’
“You won’t be so high and mighty when the big man gets you.” That one got my attention. The big man. So they were taking me to someone in particular. To be sold, ransomed?
Daddy had never shielded me from too much. Whatever he could share in fact from his time in active service, he’d shared with mom and I. So I knew there were some people out there who might have it in for him.
Although he never shared names and places, he always made sure we knew that although he’d made our world as bright, loving and safe as it
was, there was another element that existed right outside our door.
My daddy isn’t the most trusting guy in the world. Everyone is suspect until he no longer thought so. I’d have to say mom and I were about the most well prepared females for all man-made disasters because of that.
We knew every martial arts technique, or most of them, not to mention Krav Maga, which was pretty much all you needed to kick major ass if your hands weren’t chained to a wall.
Asshole in chief had a lot to say and some of the others started weeping softly. The more they cried the more pissed off I became, which was good. I’m gonna need that when I kick his ass.
While he was focused on them I studied the hallway beyond the door he’d left open. I couldn’t hear anything beyond these walls and no one was moving around out there.
Had they left him alone as watchman? That might work in my favor. If I could talk him into removing my chains to go the bathroom maybe… but he can’t be that damn stupid. And even if I overpowered him, what about the others? I can’t leave them here chained up like dogs.
No, until I knew where the others were I couldn’t make a move. I pushed the chewed bread into my cheek with the rest to spit out as soon as he was gone. How was I to know if he’d drugged it or not?
I brought my attention back to him as he taunted the already scared young girls like the bully he was. With each word he exposed more and more of his weakness to me.
The others may not realize it, but I knew that any grown man who had to go to that much trouble to instill fear in already traumatized females was nothing more than a scared gutless douche nozzle. Without the chains he probably wouldn’t have dared step foot in here.
One thing was certain, this was not their first time bringing girls here. The chains were very secure and were made especially to fit smaller wrists and the room had obviously been occupied before. But it was also the ease with which they’d carried out the operation that said they were naturals.
I took all this in as he returned his attention to me and tried to get me to react. I gave him another look this one a more vapid rendition of the first.
No trouble here sir. I’m just dumb with fear. Asshole! If my hands were free I’d rip his balls off and feed them to him. I guess he felt his manhood was intact which is what I wanted him to think as he turned and walked away.
The room was quiet as he left and the tension thick. Someone whimpered in her throat and yet another tugged at her chains in vain.
“Don’t do that, you’ll only hurt yourself. Save your energy.” I directed my statements to the young innocent looking girl who looked like she just wanted to be home in her bed, safe.
“Energy for what? Don’t you get it? These men are traffickers we’re never going to get out of this.” The Latin queen answered me again and I nodded.
“That might be half true, they may be traffickers, but we’re not out of the fight yet.” I didn’t say any more just then because I had to think. If it were just me I could concentrate on myself, but there were others here younger than I, I’m not leaving them behind. Not if I can help it.
11
Kelly
We were there for hours getting to know one another between bouts of fear and tears. The tough Latin queen from before turned out to be the softest when she broke.
All she wanted was her mother and all I wanted was to get across the room so I could put my arms around her and offer comfort.
The waiflike kid never stopped whimpering but no one told her to shut up because we all knew what she was feeling. I was suddenly more upset for them than myself.
They were still so young, some of them no more than babies. What the fuck did these sick fucks want with them? As if I didn’t know.
“Let’s exchange names and hometowns in case we get separated.” I kept my voice steady so they wouldn’t know I was afraid. One of us had to be strong for the others and it appears that was gonna be me.
“What good’s that gonna do?” It was the Latin queen again. I looked at her with steady eyes.
“Because we’re getting the fuck outta here one way or the other. And if I get separated from any of you I wanna know who I’m looking for then maybe that could give me some idea of where to look.”
I saw the flash of hope before she buried it. I know morale is just as important as physical strength so I kept at it. “Now we’re all gonna use our heads and think. Whatever you were before today, whatever your thinking, we’re in this together.”
“If one of us escapes then we need to know what to tell the cops. Best case scenario we all make it out together.” Good, now they weren’t looking so beaten and the snivels from the other corner had stopped. Well kinda.
My adrenaline was kicking in and I just knew I wasn’t gonna die today. There were five of us in that room. I don’t know how, but somehow I’m gonna get us all out of this.
All I needed was that one chance. I guess mom is right, I am my father’s daughter as she’s always accusing me of whenever I get what she calls ‘difficult’. Bring it on motherfuckers.
“So go ahead.” I got the little lights of hope that I’d been aiming for from the younger girls. The other one who was about my age gave me a look like she wanted so badly to believe, but she knew it was bullshit. I warned her with my eyes not to say anything and she looked away dejected.
The more I listened to them the more stern my resolve grew. I wasn’t meant to die this way. I had things to do, dreams to fulfill.
I’ll be damned if Ricky Jarvis groping me in the funhouse on our seventh grade field trip was going to be my one and only foray into sex-land.
Poor Ricky had gotten a bloody nose for his troubles and I’d come away with a healthy distaste for anything male. Pig.
More time went by and the fear was now mixed with anxiety. After listening to the others I knew there was a pattern here; that this hadn’t been by chance. They were all daughters of men or women who’d served.
I didn’t mention my suspicions to the others, but I was ninety percent sure this had something to do with daddy and his service. If he knew someone was after him there was a good chance he’d know where to look for me.
I comforted myself with that thought, but knew it was a long shot. If he’d known he’d have kept me under lock and key.
I scanned the room once more for anything, any way out. Since there were no windows the only light came from the sliver that leaked through beneath the door from the one out in the hallway. I hadn’t shared my plans to try an escape with the others, but I was on the lookout for any opportunity.
I heard the drone of voices out in the hallway and strained to listen. All I got was something about a trip to California but they could’ve been talking about a vacation for all I know.
The next time I heard the key in the door I knew this was it. I braced myself and prepared for whatever. A few hours had gone by so it might be night outside, and since they were worried about this safe house, maybe they were in a hurry to move us.
There were two of them this time, the second one built much bigger than the other. I concentrated on working the kinks out of my hands and feet to get the blood flowing again once freed, and winced at the pain.
I felt hot and sticky and I needed a bathroom break like yesterday but didn’t want to bring unnecessary attention to myself by asking. I was amazed when they actually offered before leading us out into the hallway.
The men stood outside the door while we took turns in the stall that had been set up like that of a girl’s middle school restroom.
Not many houses with that little attachment I’m sure, something else to make note of. I took a deep breath and psyched myself up to be ready for anything as it became obvious that we were indeed on the move once again.
If I thought I was afraid before, nothing prepared me for what I felt when we stepped from what felt like a hundred foot tunnel into darkness and smelt sea air.
That could mean only one thing; we were leaving the country most likely by ship.
Well that puts a different spin on things.
QUINN
After our run we went back to getting things together so we could leave. Each of us had a duty to perform to make sure that the compound was secure.
It had been getting dark out when we decided to do a last walk through of the mansion and that’s when Cord found a book with codes. Codes that only the seven of us, and the man who wrote them would understand. I took the book and moved to the secure computer with the others following behind.
It was a bit of a shock to see the words as they unfolded on the screen. Not just the meaning, but it was like hearing from the old man again. Like he was reaching out from beyond the grave and the eight of us were going to work on this last job together. I knew my brothers felt pretty much the way I did, gut punched.
The codes only left us with more questions than answers and now we were left wondering who the people the commander mentioned were. We were pretty sure the ‘he’ was the Desert Fox but had no clue who the ‘she’ that he asked us to protect could possibly be.
That made the shit worst. If the old man was going to such lengths to protect her identity then she must be of importance to what was going on here.
At least we knew now that the CO had definitely known about what was going on-on the water and had been making moves to put a stop to it. He wasn’t dirty, like some had tried to make us believe.
Not that any of us believed that shit for a minute. The old man was made of better stuff than to be on the wrong side of this sick shit.
He also knew about the tunnel that we’d found, he’d got that far. After the shock of finding the codes had worn off it was decided that we would blow the tunnel and put it out of use instead of waiting. We set the time for later tonight and went back to work.
I needed a hot shower to wash the cobwebs from my head but that shit wasn’t about to happen any time soon. There was a new urgency in the air now too, like we didn’t already have enough on our plate.
SEAL Team Seven Books 6&7 Quinn and Devon Page 7
