by Willow Rose
David’s eyes didn’t leave the screen and the picture of his daughter. Tears sprang to his eyes.
“She was your own daughter, for crying out loud,” I said with disgust. “What kind of man are you?”
“I swear to God; I never meant for this to happen,” he said. “This is a nightmare. I told you I had gotten in with the wrong crowd. I was in trouble. I owed money, and this was my way out. I feared it might end up hurting my family; that’s why I left them. To protect them from these people.”
“Yet, that’s exactly what happened anyway,” I said. “You sure messed that one up.”
David’s eyes were spilling over with tears, and he was shaking his head like he had trouble believing it all, like the realization of what he had done hadn’t sunk in until now.
“Please,” he said. “Please, don’t… They said they’d kill me if I didn’t kill her. They were both witnesses, both girls were. They couldn’t let them live to tell what they saw. These people, you don’t joke around with them. I comfort myself with the fact that I didn’t kill my daughter or my ex-wife.”
“Yes, you did. You just let someone else do the dirty work for you. It doesn’t make you innocent. You might as well save it for someone who cares. I don’t have time to listen to your self-pity or excuses,” I said, stopping him before he began pleading for my mercy on his damned soul because I had none left for him right now. It was out of my hands.
“You can repent in front of God, and He’ll take it from there,” I said. “But for now, I need you to tell me where Josie is. You take me to her right now. I will shoot you if you don’t. This is your chance to make something right again or die here. And don’t doubt I will do it. It’ll be the easiest thing in the world for me. See, without my daughter, I’m nothing. If anything happens to Josie, I will lose any will to live. The way I see it, I have nothing to lose at this point.”
I pressed the gun against his forehead, and he whimpered.
“All right, all right. There’s a warehouse on the port. That’s probably where they have taken her.”
“What warehouse? There are tons of them down there.”
“It has a number on the side, two-eighty-one. It’s a blue building. You can easily find it.”
I shook my head. “You’re coming with me. You’ll show me which one.”
I reached over and released his cuffs, then placed them back on his wrists while keeping his hands behind his back, so he couldn’t surprise me. I was done trusting this guy. I was done trusting anyone.
Chapter 43
She couldn’t see anything. The man with the steel-gray eyes had blindfolded her and gagged her, then tied her hands behind her back and tied her legs. They had then put her inside of something like a box. She lay curled up into a ball in this compartment, and she couldn’t move. Josie had never been more afraid in her life, except for the time she had come home and found her dad and mom in the living room, her mom with foam coming out of her mouth, her dad screaming for her to call nine-one-one. That was the worst day of her life. This came in as a close second.
Dad will find me. Of course, he will.
But he might not even know she was missing. Maybe he was still at work and wasn’t planning on stopping by Al’s apartment till tonight? Who knew where they might have taken her at that point? She didn’t even know where they were going, only that she was moving, swaying along inside her bubble.
Where are they taking me?
The man with the steel-gray eyes had touched her chest before she was taken away. He had touched it gently, then placed an ear against it like he was listening to it. Then he had laughed and told her how amazing the human body was and what it was capable of.
“To think that it could tell you about me, huh?” he had asked while gently caressing her cheek. “Yes, I know your heart snitched on me. Aw, what’s that face? Don’t look so upset; it’ll only hurt when we take it out. After that, you won’t feel a thing. I promise.”
The last part was said with a huge grin, and then his men had picked her up, blindfolded her, and taken her away. She had tried to scream and fight them, but it was no use.
Now, as she lay there inside her own darkness, all she could do was pray…pray like her dad had taught her to when in trouble. Pray the same way she had when her mother had overdosed. Pray the same way she had every day for three years while her mother was nothing but a vegetable. Josie had fought not to lose hope during that time, but it had been a tough fight. It was so hard to believe that a miracle could happen after all this time, and she kept fearing it wasn’t going to. She had remembered her granddad’s words every time doubt hit her like a freight train: “Sometimes our lives don’t turn out the way we want them to. That’s when we need faith to kick in. Trust that God knows what he is doing. Trust his timing.”
Back then, she hadn’t understood much of what it meant, but now she did. Once her mother had finally come back, it had been such a big miracle; it almost seemed impossible.
As she lay inside that small compartment she was being transported in, thinking about her mother and the miracle they had experienced helped strengthen her faith. She was afraid, yes, scared to death. But she also knew what God was capable of. And she had to trust him once again. Even though it was hard to, she had to do it. She simply had to because it was all she had.
Without faith, there was only fear.
Without hope, she was lost.
Chapter 44
“It’s that one right over there, the blue one.”
David nodded to show me which building it was since he couldn’t use his hands or fingers to point. I spotted the building and then the number on the side of it. Two hundred and eighty-one. I parked my city-issued Chevrolet behind the neighboring building and got out. I walked to David’s door, opened it, and helped him out as well, holding my gun into his side, making sure he understood the rules.
“No games,” I whispered in his ear, pressing the gun hard into his side.
I let him lead the way as we approached a big white truck and walked past it. I looked into the back of it before we continued to make sure Josie wasn’t in there or anyone who might surprise us from behind. The truck seemed to be in the process of being filled with appliances…what looked like a couple of fridges, several dryers, and at least one washing machine. It wasn’t even half-filled, so I knew someone would be there soon, probably bringing in more, and hurried past it toward the blue building before we were seen.
“No, not the front,” I said and stopped him as he was about to lead us to the big opening of the warehouse. I heard the sound of a forklift coming from in there; maybe there was more than one.
“There must be a side entrance or a back door or something,” I said.
“Over there,” he said and nodded. I turned to see a small door in the side of the building.
“Perfect,” I said.
I opened it as silently as possible and pushed David in first in case there was a guard in there, but he just walked straight in, gun placed against the back of his head.
“Now, take me to him,” I said.
“Are you sure?” he whispered back. “I mean, there’s one of you, and he has his own army.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“I sure hope that God of yours is keeping an eye out on you today,” he mumbled. “You’re walking straight into the lion’s den.”
“And I won’t even smell like smoke when I come out,” I said, “now, show me the way.”
“It’s your funeral,” he said, then walked forward. He stopped at another door that I had to open for him, one that led into the big hall where the forklifts were working, grabbing the brand-new still wrapped appliances one after another, transporting them out to the truck. There was a lot of noise, and no one noticed that we entered. The first guy who did see us went for his gun immediately, and I pulled mine from David’s head, pointed it at him, then fired. I hit him in the shoulder, right in the spot that I knew would make him drop the gun. And it did.
The gun fell to the cement floor below, and the guy fell to his knees in pain, holding his bloody shoulder.
Now, all eyes were on us.
The forklifts stopped what they were doing, and anyone working there stared first at me and then at David. I placed the gun to the side of David’s head to make sure they could all see it.
“I need to see him,” I said. “Now.”
Chapter 45
“What’s going on here? Why have you stopped working?”
Ferdinand came out from behind the glass window leading to the back office. He took one glance at me with his steel-gray eyes, then nodded.
“Ah, I see.”
He looked at me, then at David before he stepped forward.
“Stay where you are,” I said. “One step closer, and he’s toast.”
“What do you want, Hunter?” Ferdinand asked with a deeply annoyed sigh. “Why have you come?”
“I want my daughter back,” I said. “Where is she?”
“Your daughter?” he said with a grin. “You’ve come here looking for your daughter? Well, she’s not here. I don’t have time to have young girls running around here. It would be way too dangerous, anyway.”
“I know everything,” I said. “I know what you two did. I have the video. The one Savannah Hart took on that night at the cemetery. I know you killed Emilia and Jennifer García. I know David killed Savannah Hart and Major Wolfe.”
The grin on Ferdinand’s face had faded. He still stared at me like he was contemplating what his next move should be.
“What did you do with her, Ferdinand? And don’t tell me she isn’t here because I know she is. I know you took her.”
“Well, you’re welcome to have a look around,” he said. “See if you can see her anywhere.”
I threw a glance around the warehouse, my heart pounding in my chest. Where could he be keeping her? A couple of his goons had their hands inside their jackets, waiting for me to make a mistake so they could pull their weapons and finish me off. They had all seen what happened to the first guy who tried and didn’t dare to yet. But it would only take me letting my guard down for a split second for them to make their move.
“No? Well, then, let us get back to work, will you?” Ferdinand said. “We have a shipment that needs to be in Chicago by tomorrow night.”
I stared at the appliances, all gathered up against the wall across from me. One forklift had stopped not far from me with a dryer barely lifted off the ground. I kept staring at it while so many questions piled up inside of me. There was so much I still didn’t understand.
I bit my lip, then turned to look at Ferdinand.
“It’s not just appliances, is it? I mean, I keep wondering what’s so lucrative about importing appliances illegally. Is that worth risking your career? Risk going to jail?”
I walked to the dryer on the forklift, holding David close to me. He was my collateral. My theory was that he and Ferdinand were partners in this, and Ferdinand needed him. At least I hoped he did. I let go of David, then reached over and pulled the bubble wrap off the dryer just enough to be able to open it. I pulled the door open, then peeked inside.
The sight that met me from in there almost made me lose it. I had a lot of theories as to what they were, in fact, transporting, but I could still barely believe what I was seeing.
Chapter 46
Josie gasped for air. It was getting tight where she was, and she was fighting to breathe properly. It was hot too. Unbearably hot. She was constantly sweating, and her throat was scratchy from thirst.
She hadn’t moved for quite some time now and was getting anxious and restless. It was hard not to panic when you couldn’t move.
Please, God, have someone find me. Lead my dad to find me. I know he’ll listen to you. Don’t let me down. Don’t forget about me.
Josie laid still while sweat trickled down her forehead and landed on her lip. It tasted salty and made her feel even more thirsty. Josie would do anything right now for something to drink. After hours inside this place, she was beginning to feel dizzy and like she couldn’t stay awake much longer. She kept dozing off and waking up again, and she knew dehydration was starting to set in. It wasn’t good for her heart, and she had more than once felt a huge pinch, one that made her cry out behind the gag. And now she felt it again. A stabbing pain went through her chest, and she was certain she was running a fever too. The tiredness, the weakness, along with shortness of breath and tightness of her chest were some of the symptoms she could feel if her body was rejecting the heart, she had been told.
She was feeling all of that right now. All of it.
This was too much strain and stress on her heart. Her body couldn’t cope with it anymore.
Hurry up, God. It’s getting serious now. I’m running out of time. Get my dad to me, please.
A few tears rolled down her cheeks as she dozed off, then woke up again, only to realize she was still in the same darkness but feeling even more tired now. She closed her eyes again and thought of her family, of how happy they had been once, how happy she had been when she was just a child. Before everything went bad. Before her mom had…
Josie dozed off once again in the middle of a thought, no longer having the strength to fight the luring sleep calling for her.
In the distance, she thought she heard her father’s voice, but she didn’t know if it was just part of her dream.
A few seconds later, it didn’t matter anymore.
Chapter 47
The anxious brown eyes looking back at me from inside the dryer blinked a few times while deciding whether to trust me or not. They belonged to a young boy, nine, maybe ten years old.
The realization of what I had found made me cry out with distress. I pulled back and looked at Ferdinand, shaking my head in disgust.
“A…a child?”
He narrowed his eyes while looking at me. “Maybe you ought to stop now, Harry. Before you go where there is no way back.”
“Oh, I think we’ve reached that point, don’t you think?” I asked, biting back my tears. “I think we’re way past that.”
I turned to face the stacked appliances leaned up against the wall in front of me, on top of one another, as high as the ceiling. How many were there? One hundred? Two hundred?
Heart throbbing in my chest, I ran to the front of the stack, ripped off the bubble wrap, and opened a freezer. Another set of anxious eyes was staring back at me while the mouth gasped for air. The woman reached out her hand toward me. It seemed she was more dead than alive. I kept the lid open, then ripped the cardboard off the next one, where I found another young boy, maybe fourteen.
Who were these people?
“Where do they come from?” I asked while opening the next, frantically pulling at the wrapping, tears streaming across my cheeks. The cruelty in this seemed impossible.
“Who knows?” Ferdinand said. “Where do any of us come from? We help them to a better future.”
“Refugees?” I said addressed to him. “You’re smuggling refugees? How many of them arrive alive, huh? After hours, maybe even days inside these things, how many survive, huh? What did you promise them? A better life? If they only gave you their savings, is that it? They gave you all they had, thinking you’d help them get into the promised land? And then what? They’ll get arrested and sent back? Or end up in the streets? If they make it that far.”
He shrugged. “They know the risks.”
I stared at him, startled, appalled. These were human lives he was talking about. How could anyone be this cruel and still call themselves human?
“Was Wolfe in charge of it all and then handed it down to you?” I paused. “No, wait…he didn’t know about the refugees, did he? You added that part later when he retired from the force. He was the one who had made a little extra through selling these appliances and making sure the port authorities looked the other way. He had made a small business out of it, then handed it down to you when he left and couldn’t take care of it anymore. But you c
hanged it, and he didn’t like it. That’s why he had to go. He wanted you to stop what you were doing; it had gotten out of hand. Maybe he even threatened to expose you, am I right?”
“You expect me to answer that?”
“You don’t have to. I know when I’m right. So, you had David kill him, but there were witnesses, and you then had to remove them too. But you hadn’t counted on Emilia’s heart causing Josie to dream about you and how you killed her, and about where to find the body.”
“That was an unfortunate turn of events,” Ferdinand said. “Everything else was going so smoothly and had for years.”
One of his goons made a move, and I grabbed David again, then pulled him close to me, placing the gun against his temple.
Ferdinand signaled for his goon to stand back. “It’s too bad, Hunter. You could have been in on it. I would have cut you a deal. We could use someone like you on our side.”
“Who else is in on it?” I asked. “Who do you work for?”
That made Ferdinand laugh. “You don’t seriously expect me to answer that, do you?”
I pressed the gun against David’s temple, hard.
“WHO?”
He laughed again. The sound of his laughter felt like knives to my skin. I couldn’t stand the sight of the man. He made me sick.
Still grinning, Ferdinand reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun, and shot David three times in the chest. David’s body went into spasms, and he slid out of my hands. I stood behind, blood smeared on my clothes, then looked up at Ferdinand, eyes wide with shock.
“He ratted me out,” Ferdinand said. “He was supposed to kill the girl. That’s why he came to your house. But instead, he warned you. Probably because he wanted you to take me down, so he could have everything to himself. I’ve been expecting him to make his move for a little while now. Now, he can’t. And neither can you.”
