by Amy Rachiele
A large hand-drawn map was spread out on the table, the floor plan of a huge building. Bill’s drawing and discussion of the plan made it much more concrete and much less surreal.
*****
I followed Will out to the van.
“My heart is hammering in my chest, I’m so worried about her,” I told him.
“I know. We’ll do everything we can to keep her safe.” He squeezed my hand reassuringly and kissed my forehead.
“You ready?” Bill called out.
“Yup,” Jake yelled from the house.
Jen came towards the van, her face solemn, but determined. Her outfit looked perfect. She didn’t even look like herself. That was the point. The plan was carefully strategized.
When everyone was seated, Bill started the engine.
“It’s important that no one deviates from the plan,” Bill ordered.
“Jen, don’t leave Derek’s side. And don’t do anything stupid,” Jake commanded.
“And, you...just stay out of the way and get those pictures,” Will instructed me.
“This is a snatch and grab only,” Bill reiterated. “We get in and get out! I’ve got your back.”
This barking and directing continued almost all the way to the warehouse where Kara was believed to be. The repetition didn’t help me at all; it just made me more nervous and scared for everyone.
*****
Bill dropped Will and me at an area just outside a gate near the warehouse. He checked the walkie-talkies before we moved toward the window I needed to be at.
Derek and Jen went in the front way – the felon’s entrance – with Jake hiding in the shadows as their backup. Bill positioned himself on a nearby building. He needed to be able to watch from up high.
“You’ll be fine over here,” Will assured me. “Derek said this is a secure area. Stay low and in this recess.”
I nodded and anxiously touched the bag I was carrying. My camera was in it. Will leaned in and gave me a sweet kiss.
“I need to go. Sit right here,” he whispered.
I knelt down and waited.
Chapter 14
Kara:
Kara’s thick hair is knotted and dirty. It is heavy and matted from not being washed for so many days. The brick and cement prison makes her despair grow, and, with each passing day, she is losing more and more hope. The ugliness of resigned defeat tip-toes across the back of her worn-out mind. Over and over again, Kara wrestles with the disappointment of her father never coming to get her. Is his love only as deep as his pockets? Is he really willing to sacrifice his daughter?
A door slams across the cavernous room. The scuffle and screech of sneakers on concrete carry across to Kara’s ears. Her blindfold is on today. Something is going on. There is a ton of commotion in the room.
“Let me go you rat bastard!” A girl yells and snarls at someone.
“You’re not going anywhere, bitch!” responds a guy, sounding remarkably like Derek. Kara’s heart pitches to her throat. Please, please let it be him!
“What have we got here?” The distinct sound of Tommy’s voice sends a cringe through her bones, the same cringe that she gets every time he opens his mouth. Tears leak out, soaking the blindfold. Her captivity and fear make her think she’s only hearing what she wants to hear...Derek’s voice.
“I found her under the bridge looking for a hit,” Derek says in a low tone that Kara has never heard before. “She’s new.”
A struggle ensues again, and Kara hears the girl shrieking. She is trying to get away. Kara’s heart plummets. Derek! It can’t be him. It can’t be! He would NEVER do that.
“Throw her in the cage,” Tommy orders, his voice holding a hint of suspicion. “Brian! Mouse! Take her!”
“I can do it,” Derek says forcefully.
“Fine!” Tommy barks. “Meet me upstairs when you’re done.”
Feet shuffle across the floor, and the poor girl cries out. Kara shudders for her. God only knows where he’s taking her. NO! It can’t be him!
“Mouse, keep an eye him and the present he brought me,” Tommy barks.
Kara feels someone standing behind her and hears a voice whisper, “We are going to try and get you out of here.”
Brian! She would know his voice anywhere after this nightmare; he has been her only saving grace.
“Brian!” Tommy bellows.
“Coming!”
He gently pats her shoulder in reassurance as he leaves. A thread of hope blooms, and Kara waits...alone.
*****
Joy:
I focused the camera through the dirty warehouse window, but immediately had to turn away to gag and spit. Seeing Kara with her head hanging low, and her chin against her chest made bile rise from my stomach and fill my mouth. Her knotted hair draped in front of her face, and I could barely make out the silver duct tape across her mouth.
I’ve never reacted that way before. Even seeing Will beaten didn’t cause such an immediate bodily response to the sight. But this entire week had been a week of firsts. What Tommy had reduced this poor girl to was abhorrent.
I wanted to smash in the window and crawl through to her. The feeling was almost too compulsive to stop myself. I waited with anticipation for the entire operation to go down, just wanting it to be over.
I shifted for a better angle, the asphalt hard underneath my knees. The small gun that Will gave me, in case I needed it, was digging into the skin of my lower back uncomfortably. I focused through the window again, questioning whether or not there would be enough light. Using the flash would just draw attention and could jeopardize everything.
Bill was on top of the building next door, training a rifle at two of the visible exits. Jake had hidden behind a recycling dumpster directly beside the door Derek took Jen through. I conveniently caught all this on the walkie-talkie in my bag. Derek being part of Tommy’s gang for a long time really helped with the planning to get Kara out. But I was so nervous that my hands were sweating. I wiped them on my dark jeans.
A gentle hand touched my back, and I sucked in a breath to let out a screech, but I hold onto it before it gets out.
It was Will. Thank God!
“Just a few more minutes,” he whispered. “They’re going in.”
I nodded and my heart rate spiked again. I wondered idly if all the racing my heart had done this week was healthy.
Will continued his job of recon. His job would be to take out anyone that may be going in the warehouse...quietly. So he was constantly circling the perimeter. I prayed that he would not run into any trouble.
Movement caught my eye through the window, and I snapped to attention when I saw the side door open. Even though the window was small, I could see about ninety percent of the entire expanse. Derek was roughly pulling Jen across the floor. I couldn’t hear them, but I knew there was vicious bantering going on between them.
I readied my camera and aimed it at the scene. I clicked the shutter multiple times, trying to steady the camera when my hands were shaking so badly. I took a few shots that encompassed Kara, as well as Derek and Jen. Kara’s lifeless body perked up shortly after they came into the room. I could only imagine what was going on below me. A new person entered my view and my entire body went rigid.
It was Tommy!
His ruthless and arrogant stance was just as frightening as it was when I had first seen him a few nights ago. Part of me wished this camera lens was the barrel of the gun, that pulling the trigger would be as easy as clicking the shutter.
Two more people entered, one I recognized from the night of the football game...nervous guy. The other I had never seen before.
I took more pictures capturing the images of everyone, hoping and praying that they would come out clearly enough to be used as evidence against the criminal activity. Fear churned in my stomach.
I watched the scene unfold before me, like one of the twisted horror movies Jen and I would go see faithfully on opening weekends. Derek dragged Jen forward towards a huge
metal door. Nervous guy followed quickly behind them. Tommy barked a few orders and left the room after them.
It was just Kara and the guy I had never seen before. He approached Kara and spoke in her ear. Then he left, too.
“What the...” I thought to myself, perplexed that she was alone again.
Before I even realized I was doing it, I was pushing on the warehouse window, my camera placed gently against the wall.
It was like I was outside of myself. My body had a mind of its own, unconnected to my rational-side.
Body said, “She’s alone! Go get her!”
Rational-side said, “Stick to the plan. Keep snapping pictures.”
Rational-side had always won over Body, which, in the past, had given me my comfortable bubble to live in. Tonight, though, Rational-side was being stepped on, squashed by Body, as my camera was abandoned by the window.
I crawled through the window as quietly as I could, pushing aside the cobwebs and dead bugs that fill the window sashes. Dust crept up my nose, and I scrunched my face up to keep a sneeze away. I lowered my body down, butt first, and dangled from the edge of the window. Body did not take into account the drop from point A to point B, and Rational-side was laughing her ass off.
I forced the thought that this was no different than when I let go of the fire escape ladder and fell into Derek’s arms...other than the big exception that no one was here to catch me.
Not able to gauge the drop, I let go. I landed on my feet and a short, sharp sting traveled up my calves. That’s it. I did it!
I crossed the cement floor quickly to Kara.
“I’m Joy...” I whispered to her. “I’m here to help you.”
I reached behind her and grabbed her hands. They were a jumbled mess of scratchy, cheap paper towels and duct tape. Scissors! I need scissors! Kara mumbled and lifted her head at me.
I pulled the duct tape off her mouth as gently as I could. As I removed it, I caught glimpses of her mouth; her lips were sticky, reddish-purple, and swollen. Horrific!
“Derek?” she panted.
“He’s here,” I said as I reached down for her ankles, peeling the duct tape away with my fingernails. After a few good pulls, the tape came apart. I worked on her other leg. Her jeans were covered in the tacky glue left over from the tape.
Kara quickly stood. Thankfully, her hands were not tied to anything.
I glanced around hastily, wondering to myself, Now, how in the hell do I get her out of here? Voices trailed down from above. Someone – or a bunch of someones – were coming.
“This way...” Kara uttered to me, her voice sounding unused.
She led me over to a door with a broken sign that said ‘Restroom.’ I was immediately assaulted by the wretched smell of urine and feces. It was powerful and stunned me for a second.
Kara scurried to the back wall where there was a window. I looked at the row of sinks, thinking we could stand on the last one to boost ourselves up.
“My hands...” Kara pleaded. They were still behind her back.
One of the mirrors over the sinks was broken. I rip off my sweatshirt, like Jen did at the diner, to protect my hand and used it to break a jagged piece off. I already had a bandage and stitches from the escapade. I didn’t need anymore. I sliced at the tape on her hands, using the jagged edge to saw a few times, and they snapped apart.
“Thank you...” she breathed.
She headed for the sink and jumped up. While standing on it, she yanked and pulled on the metal lock of the window. Hysteria and self-preservation were fueling her.
“It’s stuck...” she huffed. Kara struggled with everything she had, grunting with every tug. I couldn’t help but obsessively look at the doorway, waiting for someone to come in catch us.
I shrugged my sweatshirt back on and lay the piece of broken mirror on the sink next to me so it wouldn’t clatter noisily to the floor. I joined her at the back wall where Kara was feverishly struggling to find freedom using the window.
My mind raced...What if it’s a huge drop?
What if we can’t get it open?
Shit! What do we do?
“Kara. This way!” I called to her.
I went over to help her down from the sink. I took her hand in mine and reached back with my other to retrieve the gun I was given from my lower back. Kara stiffened when she saw me pull it out, but then she took a protective stance behind me. Hand-in-hand, we worked as a team moving forward to the dreaded door. We had no idea what was out there or what had happened since we’d been in this repulsive bathroom.
Kara used her free hand to open the door just a crack. She peered through it and opened the door wider. I held the gun up in front of me, not sure if I could really pull the trigger if I needed to.
“We’re going to that metal door,” I whispered to her. Kara shook her head in horror.
“I’ve seen people go in and not come out,” she said in a panic.
“I think that’s where Derek was going,” I informed her. She nodded her head, reluctantly letting me know she was hesitant, but that she wanted to be where Derek was.
Chapter 15
Derek:
Derek has to do everything within his power to stop himself from taking his gun and shooting every last person remotely affiliated with Tommy. And when he’s done, he wants to shoot Kara’s father – his boss – right between the eyes.
He blames himself. This is his fault! He should’ve taken care of her better. How could he know this would happen? He never saw this coming. It is so revolting, he couldn’t even have dreamt it if he wanted to.
Derek focuses himself. He has to. The plan is moving forward, and Jen is playing a spectacular role. He almost blew it when he saw Kara slumped over and broken. His anger is being subdued through sheer will, but suppressing it is sending tremors through his body. It wants to come out and bring terror on Tommy’s thugs...and then Tommy himself.
In the cage, Derek finds two girls drugged up and incoherent, slumped against the walls. Jen sucks in an astonished breath and runs over to check on the girls.
Derek races to the back wall of the room. He stands on a couple of crates that hold food barely fit for human consumption...food they feed the girls while there waiting to be transported. Derek jimmies the bars on the window and unhooks it. The window grate is very heavy, and he tries to set it down as quietly as possible.
“They’re half dead,” Jen says in a quiet shriek. Derek looks over as Jen taps their cheeks trying to wake them.
Derek pulls screwdriver out of his pocket to wedge it between the window frames to open the window. He is very short on time and sets all of his attention on getting it open. He jams the flathead in and pushes. It’s stuck. He uses his palm to hammer the screwdriver deeper in between.
“I hear someone coming,” Jen says in a papery whisper. She stands and stares at the door, her eyes are bright with fear.
On the other side of the window, he sees fingers through the frosted glass. Will is helping him get the window open. With Will pulling and Derek pushing, it opens.
Will sticks his head in.
“Jen, come on!” he says with an urgent whisper, his hand is extended through the window. Jen hesitates.
“What about them?”
“Derek will handle it. Come on!”
Jen stands motionless, struggling with what to do. “Joy will never forgive me if I don’t get you out of here... Now!”
“Go, Jen. I need to go back for Kara.” Derek says almost pleading.
Footsteps come closer to the metal door; it is the only thing that separates them from the bedlam that will ensue if they’re caught.
*****
Joy:
The entire warehouse floor was empty of people. In the center, all alone and unoccupied, was Kara’s chair. It was very eerie and unsettling to think that, just moments ago, Kara was immobile there. In the back of my head, an unnerving question sits. Why? Why isn’t anyone in here?
We snuck closer to our target,
sticking close to the wall. I waved the gun in each direction my eyes gazed, waiting for some form of danger to jump out from the shadows. The thumping of my heart was reaching a painful level. I peeked behind me at Kara, and she had the same quivering demeanor I did.
The huge metal door was shut tightly. I took a few seconds to ponder the best way to tackle opening it. Should each of us stand on the side of it like in a cop show? Or should we open it, and plow through hoping for the best? This whole scenario was laughable considering I spent most of my time in class or my tiny dormitory apartment, not skulking around rescuing people from dirty warehouses used by felons.
I motioned for Kara to stand on the hinge-side of the door, while I move myself to the other side. I bent my elbow and held the gun up high, like I’ve seen a million times on television. I nod at her.
Her face contorted in a perplexed expression. I definitely watch too many movies, assuming my nod was all I needed to let her to know to open the door.
“Open. It.” I mouthed with exaggeration.
She nodded back at me and reached for the doorknob with a shaking hand. She swung the door open, and I swiveled inside with my gun raised. And what I saw made me thankful that my nerves didn’t cause me to pull the trigger.
Jen was crouched on the floor in front of two girls who looked like they could be dead. Derek was by a window standing on some boxes and there, and, his head poking through, was Will. My heart skipped about four beats when I realized everyone was okay...so far.
Will looked at me astonished. Derek pulled out his weapon, then realized it was us and jumped down and ran to Kara. He scooped her up and crushed her to him, pressing his lips to her mangled, raw ones. She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him back and crying.
“I wasn’t sure it was you...I waited for you...I waited for my dad...he didn’t come,” her voice choked and she gasps on her sobs.
