Vegas Lies ( Lies Mystery Thriller Series Book 3)

by Andrew Cunningham

  She asked the girls what happened.

  Lucy did all the talking. The other girls just sat against the wall, watching Lucy as she talked, but not offering anything themselves. As Sabrina listened to the account of the abduction, the journey to Las Vegas, and the humiliation they endured in front of all the men, her hatred of her captors reached white-hot intensity.

  As Lucy was finishing the story, three men entered the room. Two of them had guns and the third had a plate piled high with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After setting them down, that man left the room and returned a moment later with six bottles of water. The men backed out of the room.

  They all ate, and then the four girls laid down on small mats. Sabrina hadn’t realized how tired she was. She looked over at Mo, who had only moved from a squatting position to a sitting position. Sabrina turned off the overhead light, the only light now illuminating the room coming from a dim bulb in the bathroom.

  She laid down on a mat and put her head down, and was instantly asleep.

  Chapter 37

  Sabrina woke up totally disoriented. With no windows and being twenty feet underground, she had no idea what time it was. Their watches and phones had been taken and destroyed at the abandoned gas station. It could be morning or it could be the middle of the night. The others around her were slowly waking up as well. When they were all up, Sabrina turned on the overhead light. She was hungry. It seemed odd that she would be thinking about food when, right at that moment, Del could be dead.

  Sabrina’s anger returned with a vengeance. She momentarily put aside her hunger pangs. There was nothing they could do for Del, she just had to hope that Mo was right and that he had found a way out of his situation. Right now, they had to concentrate on saving themselves. The thought of these poor young girls being sold into prostitution or slavery was just too hard to bear. What must Peep be going through at that moment? Was she on a plane on her way to some foreign location? She liked that she was angry. She got things done when her back was up. Her mind would start thinking clearly now. She had learned how to take care of herself in prison. There had to be a way out of this.

  She heard a key in the lock.

  “Stand away from the door,” came a voice from the other side. “Like we said before, we have no problem with killing you, so don’t be thinking we won’t.”

  The door opened and, like before, two men with guns stepped in. The third man came in behind them with a stack of bowls and a pot of food. Sabrina thought it smelled like oatmeal.

  Without a word, he set the pot and the bowls on the floor and went back out. He returned with bottles of water and spoons.

  “There are six of you and six spoons. When you are done, there will be six spoons for me to pick up. If there aren’t six spoons, there will be trouble. Understand?”

  Sabrina and Mo nodded.

  He looked at Sabrina and Mo with obvious lust. “You two, I might get to know later.”

  “You’ll die trying,” answered Sabrina.

  He slapped her hard across the face. It stung, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of shedding any tears.

  “I can do what I want,” he said.

  “You’re not man enough,” said Sabrina. “You couldn’t handle women like us.”

  She knew she was maybe going a little too far, but she wanted to see how easily she could fluster him. He gave her a dirty look, momentarily surprised at her defiance. Then an evil smile came over his face.

  “We’ll see,” he said. “Maybe you need a group encounter.” He motioned to his cohorts. “Maybe that will put you in your place.”

  He backed out of the room, the two armed guards following suit. Sabrina heard the door lock behind them.

  Sabrina wasn’t hungry anymore and it looked to her that Mo wasn’t interested in eating either, but the four girls obviously were. She moved over to where Mo was sitting and plopped down next to her, putting her arm around her shoulders.

  “How are you doing?” she asked—lamely, she thought.

  Mo shrugged. “About the same as you, I guess.”

  “We don’t know about Del,” said Sabrina. It was painful to even say that. “But we can be pretty sure that Peep … Priscilla … is still alive someplace. We have to come up with a plan fast to get out of here, because I don’t think they’re going to keep us here very long,” said Sabrina. “And the sooner we get out, the better chance the authorities will have of finding Priscilla.”

  “You mean before she gets lost in the dark sexual underground? And you can call her Peep. Whatever my feelings are about her now, we have a history. She’s been Peep for a long time, ever since Del first met her. She’ll always be Peep.”

  They spent the rest of the day—or night, they didn’t really know what it was—alternately going over their options and, when they couldn’t come to any conclusion, resting. The only viable plan was to attack the guys when they came in the door, but it wasn’t really very viable at all. The men were careful when coming into the room not to give them any opportunity for escape. And being underground, they weren't sure they could get up through the trapdoor.

  Not knowing the time of day was driving them crazy. Sabrina never thought about how time-dependent she was. Just knowing whether it was morning or night would make a big difference in their ability to think straight.

  “We’ll never take them in this room,” she finally said. “We need to get out into the main part of the house, or bunker, or whatever they call it.”

  “How do you propose doing that?” asked Mo.

  “Let them take me,” answered Sabrina. “Get so belligerent with them that they will want to pull me out of here. Once I’m out of this room, I’ll have a chance.”

  “You might also get raped,” said Mo, shaking her head in opposition to the plan.

  “You forget that I was in prison. I can deal with it if it comes to that. My first year in prison was hell, and I had to put up with some unspeakable things from some of the male guards. It was only after the top dog of the prisoner hierarchy realized I could write did I become valuable to them and untouchable. But that first year…” She tailed off.

  Lucy, who had been listening from across the room, said, “We were told that they are not allowed to touch us.”

  “I’m sure that’s true for you girls,” answered Sabrina. “I’m afraid that Mo and I are in a different category. They know that we are experienced.”

  “And a little more ‘experience’ won’t matter,” added Mo, putting quotation marks in the air around “experience.”

  At that moment, the door opened and the same two men with guns came in first. The third man this time was Richard.

  “Howdy girls,” he said. “Just thought I’d stop by and say hi, and let you know that you’ll be leaving here soon.”

  “I thought you weren’t involved in this part of Ludwick’s business,” said Sabrina. “You’re in charge of the drug business.”

  “You know more than is healthy for you,” he replied. “No, I’m not into this stuff, but I’ve taken a personal interest in you two, so I figured I’d see it through.”

  “Where’s Priscilla?” asked Mo defiantly.

  “Winging her way to parts unknown,” Richard answered. “Honestly? I have no idea. I just know she’s on her way to a life the bitch deserves. Don’t try it,” he said suddenly. Mo had jerked as if she was going to jump up and attack him. “Priscilla is gone. Get used to it. It won’t matter much, though. You’ll be gone by tomorrow. You’ll have your own problems to deal with.”

  “You’re not into this stuff,” said Sabrina. “How does your conscience deal with sending four little girls off to a life of hell?”

  “You’re right, it’s not my thing, but if you think you’re going to get me to develop a conscience and suddenly confront my wayward self, don’t bother. It doesn’t mean that much to me. Anyway, I have to get back to Vegas. I just wanted to come by and say my goodbyes. It’s been fun.”

  He exited the room ahead
of the two goons with guns, and the door was closed behind them.

  “We don’t have any time left,” said Sabrina. “We have to try to make our break now, or our lives are over.”

  Chapter 38

  “We’ll wait until they come in to give us our next meal,” said Sabrina. “I’ll see if I can get one of them angry enough that he will try to drag me out of here.”

  “It’s not going to work,” said Mo. “You’re good at street fighting, but there’s no way you can handle three of them. If we can distract them just enough, I can take out the two with guns. From there it will be a piece of cake.”

  “I love your idea of a ‘piece of cake’,” said Sabrina. “How do we distract them?”

  “Sabrina?” It was Lucy. Her voice was small. “I want to help.”

  “Thank you, Lucy, but I don’t want you to get hurt,” Sabrina answered.

  “I was thinking about what you said about Emma,” said Lucy. “I was so unfair to her. The whole time, she was the one trying to keep us from freaking out. She was the only one trying to come up with ways to escape. When she needed my help the most, I let her down. So I’m going to help, and I know how.”

  Sabrina was impressed. It was taking a lot for Lucy to show bravery. She was obviously scared to death, but for the first time, Sabrina could see some determination on her face.

  “They can’t touch us. They’re not allowed. They’ve already seen me naked, so as embarrassing as it is, they can see me again. What if I have my shirt open when they come in? I’ll have it open enough that they can see my … you know, see me. If I don’t take my shirt off all the way, maybe it will be enough to get them looking, hoping to see more. It might distract them for a moment.”

  Mo looked at Sabrina. “A moment is all I need.”

  “It might be dangerous, Lucy,” said Sabrina.

  “And I might be dead in a month, so what’s the difference? If I had been braver before, maybe we wouldn’t still be here.” A tear rolled down Lucy’s cheek. “And maybe Emma would be okay. She might be dead now in the desert.”

  The other three girls hadn’t said anything. Sabrina knew that if they survived, all of the girls would need counseling, but the trauma seemed to have paralyzed the other three. Therapy was going to be a long ordeal for each one.

  “It might work,” said Mo.

  “Are you sure about this?” asked Sabrina.

  Lucy nodded.

  “Okay then,” said Mo, taking charge. “I want you on their left as they come in. Have your back toward the door. If they are coming with food, the one with the food always comes in last. Once you hear them all in, then turn around. The door opens to the right, so the first thing they see will be you. I won’t be behind the door because they will want to see all of us in their peripheral vision, but I will be standing toward the right. Sabrina will be in the middle. Once they know where we all are, their guard will come down. That will all happen in one or two seconds. The moment they look at you, I’ll move.”

  “Can you handle three men?” asked Lucy.

  “Just watch,” said Sabrina.

  Not knowing how long it would be before the men showed up again, the three of them relaxed, but stayed in the general areas they had agreed on for when the men arrived. They would only have a few seconds to take up their positions once they heard the men at the door.

  An hour passed, then two. At least it seemed like it. Without watches, time was an arbitrary thing. They talked on occasion, but mostly remained silent. There was little to say. Finally, they heard scuffling outside the door. Sabrina and Mo jumped to their feet. Lucy got up more slowly, desperately trying to unbutton her shirt in the process. She turned away from the door, still unbuttoning.

  The men yelled for them to stand back while they opened the door, then the door opened and, like before, two men entered with guns drawn and the third man quickly followed, carrying a tray of food. As he came through the doorway, Lucy turned. Her shirt was completely unbuttoned, showing off her belly and her small breasts.

  The men’s attention was quickly diverted and Mo moved like a cat, crossing the three feet between herself and the closest man in less than a second, kicking him hard on the side of his knee and chopping down on his wrist. He screamed and the gun dropped to the floor. She spun and caught the second gun-carrying man in the face with a roundhouse kick. He fell backward against the wall, dropping his gun in the process. Meanwhile, Sabrina jumped at the man carrying the food. As she attacked, he dropped the tray and threw his hands up to ward her off, but it was too late. She caught him with the palm of her hand under his chin, driving his head back. She could actually feel his jaw break. He fell to the floor and put his hands over his mouth and began to moan.

  With a few more well-placed kicks by Mo, the other two were left immobilized. Sabrina and Mo grabbed the two guns and turned to the girls.

  “C’mon,” said Sabrina. “It’s time to go.”

  Lucy had finished buttoning up her shirt and was motioning for her friends to follow. Slowly, as if in a trance, they stood up and moved.

  They passed through the living room to the kitchen, where Sabrina saw a set of keys hanging on the wall. She grabbed them and headed to the stairs leading up to the surface.

  “There’s gotta be a car up there,” she said. When she reached the trap door at the top of the stairs, she pushed it open. The brilliant sun momentarily blinded her and she had to look down to adjust her eyes to the sunlight. When she looked up, she was staring at Ludwick and Richard, not five feet away. They had another man with them who had quickly pulled out a gun and now pointed it at the procession.

  “What a surprise,” announced Ludwick.

  Chapter 39

  Sixty miles. I hoped to God that someone would be driving on that road.

  I looked at my wrist where my watch used to be, maybe thinking that it would magically appear. I looked up at the sky. Probably about four o’clock. Maybe in a couple of hours it would start to cool down a bit. In the meantime, it was hot.

  And people willingly lived in this place? I mean, they actually chose it?

  We were moving slowly. I had found a baseball cap in the gorilla’s car. I gave it to Emma to wear. It was a Yankees hat. That sucked. I was a Red Sox fan. Still, it kept the sun off her head, so maybe someday I’d send the Yankees a thank you note. Probably not though.

  It seemed like we'd been traveling forever when we finally reached the “main” road. That was two miles? Suddenly, sixty miles seemed virtually impossible.

  I looked around me. There were a few rolling hills in the distance, but where we were was completely flat. And brown. Very brown. We turned left onto the road. It was an actual road. It had pavement and everything. Or at least it once did. Most of the remaining pavement was covered by dirt, which didn’t bode well for the amount of traffic we might see.

  We started walking. We had no choice. Sweat was pouring off my body and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to drink my bottle of water. I noticed that Emma hadn’t touched hers yet, either. I admired her willpower. I was regretting my decision to give my kidnapper a bottle. I was too nice of a guy. Considering how worried I was about Sabrina and the fact that this guy was involved in it, I really should have kept the water.

  We hadn’t said a lot to each other during that two miles, each of us deep in our own thoughts. Emma seemed comfortable with me though. That was good. I glanced at her and saw a girl with a determined expression. It made me wonder what she had been through. How does one go from being a happy-go-lucky teenager to a captive with virtually no hope of the future? And then keep trying for freedom? I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking.

  So I asked her.

  “I was thinking of my friends,” she said. “They were so scared. I still feel guilty about leaving them.”

  I noticed that she said “they” were scared. It confirmed to me that she was the strong one in the group. It’s not to say that she wasn’t scared, but I had a feeling that she felt
it was her responsibility to keep hope alive within her group.

  “By escaping, you’ve given them possibly the only chance they’ll have to survive.”

  “Do you think Sabrina is scared?” she asked.

  I had to think about that.

  “I think she is scared thinking that I’m dead. It was obvious that the guy was taking me out to the desert to kill me. But Sabrina and Mo are very strong women emotionally and very skilled physically. They won’t allow themselves to stay scared very long. They will be plotting their escape. Sabrina and Mo are two of the most self-sufficient people I’ve ever known.” I put my hand lightly on Emma’s shoulder. She didn’t flinch. “They would both be very proud of you for your bravery through all this.”

  “I don’t feel very brave.”

  “I know what you mean. I don’t either. But our determination not to give up makes us both brave.”

  We lapsed into silence. We trudged on for two hours, breaking frequently if I saw something that provided even a hint of shade. I again looked at my wrist. Still nothing. I really was going to have to stop that. I figured it was probably around six. It didn’t feel like evening. The sun was still strong.

  Every once in a while we would pass a small turnoff, similar to the one my captor had taken me down. One even showed evidence of recent activity, but I saw nothing that indicated any sort of civilization. No, we were better off staying to the road we were on.

  “So you were in the middle of the desert when you escaped?” I asked suddenly.

  She nodded.

  “I wonder where they were taking you. They must have a house or some other building someplace out here. Maybe they even have a landing strip. It’s certainly flat enough for one.”

  That elicited no response, so I went quiet again.