by Drake, Aspen
Hunter
The dream I had about Emma has kept me smiling all day. Memories of our night at the restaurant flood my mind as soon as I hop into the shower. But I don’t let myself rub one out. Not yet.
I want to hold out for tonight. The vision of her wrapping her hands around my shaft and sucking my cock down her throat is vivid enough to make me wait so I can experience the real thing tonight.
On my way to the office, I swing by a coffee shop and pick up a dark brew for myself and a box of pastries for the team. They’ve been working long hours, and I want to make sure they feel appreciated. With a bag of warm goodies in tow, I walk into the building.
Rena is waiting with a few of my messages when I get off the elevator. “Morning, Rena.”
“Good morning, Hunter. I have a few messages for you, and your mail is on your desk.”
“Thanks. Here.” I hand over the bag, and she gives me a big grin. “Could you set these out in the conference room? And make sure to grab a couple for yourself.”
“You’re making us fat, you know.” Rena winks then heads into the darkened room where the team is already reviewing yesterday’s surveillance video. It would be easy enough to follow one of the women in and make arrests, but that won’t necessarily lead us to all the other missing women. And if we don’t follow protocol, we’re at risk of the charges not holding up in court.
I stop in my office before joining everyone else, pilfering through the few envelopes Rena placed on my desk before turning my attention to the messages she’s taken in my absence. I spend about fifteen minutes returning phone calls and checking my email heading into the conference room.
The lights have been dimmed and a projector on the table is attached to one of the laptops. The whiteboard on the back wall reflects the projections of the street where the interviews were performed.
Taking a seat next to Alex, I lean in and whisper, “How far have we gotten?”
“About four yesterday afternoon,” he whispers back. “One woman just went in, so we expect to see her come out around four thirty. She may be the last one of the day, but we want to watch and make certain no one else has a late interview.”
A few minutes pass as the tech on the laptop speeds up the video until a young blonde emerges from the building. The tech stops the video and then begins playing at normal speed again. The woman veers left, and we keep watching the video to see if another woman will enter the building.
I’m about to walk out, leaving the guys to finish their review of the film, when something in the frame catches my eye. “Stop right there. Go back a few frames.”
The tech does as instructed, and the blond woman who exited the building a few minutes before comes back into view. Another woman appears behind her and my jaw drops. It’s Emma. She’s giving the woman a hug on the street before they both hop into a car and drive away from the building.
“What is it, boss?” Alex looks at me with curiosity.
“I know her. Not the blonde, but the one she’s with.” I pull my phone out of my pocket then punch in Emma’s name. The phone rings a few times before her voice comes over the phone.
“Thank, god. Emma...”
“I can’t get to my phone right now...”
Damnit. It’s her voicemail. “Alex, see what you can find out about the woman she’s with. Emma, the other woman, isn’t answering her phone, but I know where she lives. I’ll run over and see what she can tell us.”
“We’re on it.” Alex immediately starts isolating images of Emma’s friend.
“Brandon, you’re with me. We leave in two.”
Brandon nods as I run to my office to tell Rena I’m heading out before going to the elevator where Brandon is waiting. We head straight toward Emma’s place.
At Emma’s, Brandon and I ride the elevator to the fourth floor. While walking toward Emma’s door, I try to call her again, but I don’t hear any sounds coming from inside the apartment. I knock lightly, and the door swings open under the pressure. “Emma?” I call through the crack before pushing the door in a little farther. “Emma? It’s Hunter. Are you in here?”
There’s no response from inside. “Brandon, head down to the lot and see if her car is here. Contact Alex to get the make, model, and license. Emma Walt.”
“Yes, sir.” Brandon go back to the elevator as I let myself into Emma’s place. I call out for her a few more times, but no response ever comes. She could be working, but after calling her several times, I should have gotten a text back saying she was busy at the moment.
Nothing seems out of the ordinary until I notice a picture of her and the young woman from the video on a shelf with a frame that proclaims “Best Friends” engraved into the metal. Looking around the room a little more, I notice Emma’s purse sitting on the table in the kitchen. I can’t remember if I’ve seen her carrying it around when she’s working, so it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
I call her again, letting the phone ring and expecting it to go to voice mail. But the voice that picks up on the other end causes a shiver to race down my spine. “Hunter? It’s Brandon. This phone was abandoned on the street. I heard it ringing under the car parked behind us.”
Fuck! This is not good. “Is her car in the lot?”
“Yeah, and Alex just texted that they matched the woman she was with. She’s Jenna Jacobs and she lives in this building. Her address is two doors down from Emma’s.”
“Tell Alex to put out an APB for Emma and Jenna. Something isn’t right here. And bring me that phone.”
Stepping back out into the hallway, I walk toward the apartment two doors down to find the entrance wide open. Once I’m in the doorframe, I can see a turned over end table and papers strewn about from an obvious struggle.
This is definitely not good.
“Boss.” Brandon’s voice comes from behind me. “Here’s the phone.”
I take it from his hand, mortified by the lack of protection on it but glad it isn’t password protected. If she was working, she would probably have been on her way to a delivery for Meals2Me. I scroll through the few apps she has on her phone, even going to the search page and looking up the word Meals.
Nothing. “Damnit.”
“What’s wrong?” Brandon asks.
“I thought maybe Emma was on a delivery and we could use that information to see if someone lured her out of the building. Jenna’s apartment is destroyed, so they took her by brute force.”
“You couldn’t find anything?”
“I don’t see the app on her phone. But I know that’s how she gets her work assignments.”
Brandon takes the phone from my hand and scrolls through the apps. “Maybe she has another phone.”
“What?”
“Another phone. Like a business phone and a personal phone.”
“Brandon, you’re a genius. Get Alex to contact Meals2Me and find out if they have Emma online today. If you’re right, and she has another phone, maybe we can track her location using the app’s GPS.”
A good ten minutes pass before Brandon finds me wandering inside Emma’s apartment. “Boss, Alex was able to get phone traced. He got a hit on a location just outside of town. It appears to be an abandoned warehouse near the pier.”
“Good work. Let’s go.” Brandon and I go directly to the elevator. If I was pissed before, I’m infuriated now. It was bad enough that these assholes are kidnapping innocent women who were only trying to better themselves, but now they’ve snatched the one woman I care most about.
Now, it’s personal.
And I’m about to hang each and every one of those motherfuckers out to dry.
Brandon is quiet as he races along the city streets toward the west end of town. As we get closer to the warehouse, several officers fall silently in line behind us.
Once we arrive, I radio to the cars to park about a block away and come in on foot. Brandon and I park behind a building next to the warehouse and approach cautiously. The windows are spaced out around the building, allowing us
to peer inside and get the layout. The first few windows don’t reveal much more than an empty work room and what appears to have been an office. But then we find the one that opens to the large storage space of the building. Two men are pacing back and forth the large expanse, watching a group of women lined up in the center of the room. Their hands and feet are bound in front of them as they sit on the hard floor.
Brandon talks quietly into the radio on his shoulder. “We have eyes on our victims. Appears to be six women, including the two from the video. They’re located at the back of the store room on the right. Be alert. Two male suspects are armed. Use caution during approach. Wait for our signal.”
The respect I have for my team grows every second. Especially now that my emotions are getting the better of me after seeing Emma tied up and terrified. But Alex, Brandon, and the rest of my unit waste no time picking up the slack and functioning like the group I knew they were right from the start.
We continue to watch as the two men pace with their guns at the ready. Quiet radio bursts hit the air every few seconds as each group announces their position.
Inside, the two men are chatting, and one of them says something to the women. An evil glare seems to be planted on their faces as they study the victims. One of the men points a finger out, and his muffled words come across as harsh and bitter. Then he stomps over to the first woman and punches her in the face. She slumps against the floor as the others burst into hysterics. The woman next to her looks like Emma, but it’s hard to be sure at this distance.
Then the man begins to unbuckle his belt.
“Now.” The word comes out fierce and primal as the thought of Emma being touched by these men sends an instinctual need to protect her coursing through my body.
“We go NOW!” Brandon echoes my command, giving the order through his radio to the teams stationed around the building. The sound of my teams swinging down from the roof and crashing feet first through the windows of the building has my adrenaline pumping. I race to the closest door, hoping to get my hands around the piece of shit who just touched my woman.
Twenty-One
Emma
Waking up disoriented is not how I like to start my day. My head hurts, which is odd since Jenna and I didn’t have that much to drink last night. I few glasses of wine with dinner shouldn’t cause my head to pound. But as my eyes adjust and become less blurry, I realize I’m not in my bed at all.
Memories of this morning come rushing back to me all at once. Jenna was being dragged into the elevator... I tried to chase after them... Strong hands stopped me before an unfamiliar odor overwhelmed me.
Jenna.
I take a quick glance at my surroundings, noticing several other women are there with us. Jenna is to my left, and the girl to my right is crying unconsolably. On my left, Jenna’s eyes meet mine, but she barely shakes her head. Her movement is slow, almost undecipherable, but I catch it.
Then I realize the reason for her panic. Two men are pacing the room in front of us, talking quietly and carrying assault rifles. The sobbing from the woman next to me won’t let up as I try to get a better look around.
“How long have we been here?” I whisper to Jenna.
She answers with a quick shrug before whispering back. “Maybe a few hours.”
One of the guys starts speaking a little louder, so I listen to them as inconspicuously as possible, trying to piece together what they want from us.
“This batch has to be on the boat by five or we aren’t getting paid.” The guy speaking has a mustache and appears to be in his fifties.
“Jerry and Al will be back with the last two girls any minute. As soon as they pull up, we can get everyone on the boat so we don’t miss our payday.”
“If you say so.” The man adjusts the rifle leaning on his shoulder as he checks his watch.
“Quit being so paranoid. We’ve done this before, and we’ll do it again. Like taking money from a baby.” This guy has a huge tattoo covering his neck. I’m not sure what the image is, but from the looks of it, it’s nothing I want to inspect any closer.
Jenna looks more nervous now than she did a minute ago. “Are you okay?”
“A boat? Where are they taking us?”
I shrug. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”
She nods slightly, but I can tell that my words haven’t reassured her at all.
That makes two of us.
The two men continue to pace, but seem to be getting more agitated by the second. Maybe that can work to our advantage.
“You don’t have to do this,” I say, hoping to appeal to at least one of the men. “We can give you money.”
The response is gruff...not that I really expect anything more from a pair of low-life hoodlums. “Shut your fucking trap, bitch.”
“I swear, we can beat you whatever you’re gonna get paid. Just let us go. My family is very wealthy.”
“We don’t need your money, bitch. Our bosses have more than money to offer. So, just sit tight until we get you sold off like the pretty little doll you are.”
The guy with the tattoo chuckles at his friend’s words. His glare makes me want to squirm, but I refuse to let either of these assholes know they’re getting under my skin. His voice drips with disdain. “Yeah. These buyers know how to put toys like you to good use. So, keep stretching out that mouth, slut. You’re going to need the extra practice for where you’re going.”
“What do you think?” Mustache looks over at Tattoo. “Maybe we should break them in. Get them nice and ready for what their new lives.” The man grabs his crotch and rubs the fabric.
“Probably a good idea.” The man with the tattoo is responding to his friend while looking straight at me.
Another sob erupts from the woman beside me.
“Christ. Shut her the fuck up.” Tattoo looks at me and nods at the woman to my right.
I do my best to scoot closer to her. My hands are bound at the wrists, but I’m able to reach her fingers with mine and hold them in her lap.
“Shhh. It’s going to be okay. I promise. But you’ve got to stop crying, okay? Can you do that for me?”
The girl, who looks to be all of eighteen, nods and takes a deep breath, trying to stifle her tears.
“That’s it. Just breathe. We’ll get out of this.” I don’t even know if I believe my own words, but I need her to believe them so we don’t piss off these two men even more. If they won’t listen to reason and are willing to take a test ride of the “merchandise,” god only knows what they are capable of.
Mustache and Tattoo resume their pacing, wearing a smooth path on the dusty warehouse floor. I’m not sure how many minutes tick by as they keep looking at their watches.
Tattoo’s slimy voice calls out to Mustache. “How much longer are they going to be? Fuck, this is ridiculous. I’m ready to get this done, man.”
“Just hold your goddamn horses, okay. They’ll be here.”
“Look, fucker. I was told this would be an in and out job, just like last time.”
Mustache breathes out a huff before stepping closer to the man. “Just calm down. We’re going to get paid. And if you don’t want in on the next one, just say so. But until then, shut the fuck up.”
“Fine,” Tattoo says. “But if they take much longer, I will be trying out that brunette by the end.”
I know he’s talking about me since he seems to be looking at me more than the other women, but it’s too much for the young girl next to me. She breaks out into a crying fit again. Large, agonizing sobs echo in the open space as she completely loses any semblance of calm and sinks into the fear that was bubbling just under the surface.
“I told you to shut the fuck up!” Tattoo walks over to the two of us, and I can’t help but flinch as he sucker punches her straight in her face. The sound of bone makes me cringe as blood splashes across the floor and she slumps back onto the concrete.
I’m just thankful we were already sitting otherwise, she may have cracked her skull on
the way down.
“And you were supposed to keep her quiet.” The sound of the slap comes a split second before the sweltering sting of his palm against my face. Tattoo’s hit is hard, but it’s not a punch.
I’ll be okay, even though I can feel my face flush crimson as pain swells across my jaw.
“You bastard,” I say angrily. “You have to hit women to feel like a man?” I know I’m egging him on, but at this point, I can’t help it. He’s pissed me off.
“No...but I’ll show you what I do to feel like a man, you little bitch.” Tattoo reaches for his belt buckle, pulling at the strap before his finger finds the button at the top of his pants.
My breath hitches at the thought of what he’s about to do. I remind myself not to panic, but I’m losing the battle as my breathing quickens. A scream builds behind my throat just as all hell breaks loose.
Windows crash around us as a squad of cops dressed in black rappel through the broken windows, sending waves of busted glass everywhere. Before Mustache and Tattoo even have a chance to draw their weapons, they’re surrounded by AR-15s and officers calling for their hands to go up.
Next to me, Jenna is pulled up by a handsome man with sprinkles of grey in his hair, despite having the face of a thirty-year-old. “Are you okay?” His voice is soft, allowing Jenna the chance to unfreeze from the shock of everything happening around us.
I watch for her response, but the next thing I hear is like music in my ears. Hunter’s warm, strong voice breaks through the commotion surrounding us. “Emma. Oh god, Emma... Are you okay?”
That’s when my body decides it’s had enough. The strength and stubbornness I had to show in the face of my captors falls down like the glass surrounding us, shattering under the soft embrace that Hunter pulls me into. Words don’t come, only the tears flowing across his chest as I sob quietly in his firm grasp.
“I’ve got you now, baby. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
I take comfort in his words, letting him guide me to my feet. “Wait. Jenna.”
Hunter lifts me in his arms without pause. “Alex has her. He’s on my team. She’s safe with him.”
