by Susan Stoker
As the girls aged, their sleeping accommodations didn’t get any better. Austere and depressing. Even once the girls graduated to the smalls, there was no evidence of any kind of entertainment. Milena had no idea what the girls did day after day to occupy themselves, and was scared to ask.
But it was the “classrooms” that made her want to run screaming out of the building. Each room had a king-size bed and was extremely luxurious compared to the living quarters of the girls. There was dust on all the surfaces, but it didn’t disguise the expensive comforters and sheets on the beds. Milena didn’t even want to think about what the girls went through at the hands of perverted men in those rooms.
She didn’t say anything. After antagonizing him earlier, she didn’t want to risk upsetting Jeremiah further. She simply let him talk on and on about how he was going to make his new school bigger and better. She forced herself to look in the direction of the disgusting man when he was talking to her, but kept her eyes on JT.
Her son was now being held back up against Jeremiah’s shoulder and still seemed to be out of it. Milena was scared to death that something was wrong with him. That he wasn’t just knocked out. She’d been relieved he was asleep earlier, but he’d been so still for a long time. Too long. She kept her eye on him, and sighed in relief when she saw his back moving up and down with his breaths.
“Are you listening to me?” Jeremiah asked.
Milena jerked and brought her eyes up to his. She had no idea what he’d just said. “Of course.”
Jeremiah tightened a hand around her son’s throat. “Liar,” he said.
“I’m sorry!” Milena begged. “I was just thinking about how well run this school must have been.”
“It was,” Jeremiah said, moving his hand.
Milena sighed in relief, but knew Jeremiah was only one tantrum away from killing her son right in front of her eyes. The only thing that had kept him alive this long was the fact that Jeremiah wanted to use the toddler to help start a new perverted school.
“This was the second school I’ve started, and the most renowned. Did you know I was awarded the key to the city of San Antonio? I was revered and respected. I was helping my girls. Then you had to go and ruin it.”
“I know you think I turned you in,” Milena repeated her earlier claim quietly, “but I didn’t. I swear.”
Jeremiah shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. But hiring you was obviously a mistake. You were here, what, a few months before I got shut down? It’s taught me not to bring in outsiders, no matter what. I’ll just have to help my girls give birth myself.”
Milena tried not to react. The last thing a pregnant teen or girl needed was her abuser helping her bring a new life into the world. And God forbid the baby was male. She had a feeling he wouldn’t live even an hour. There would be no more adoptions. No more of Jeremiah even attempting to fold himself into whatever town or city he settled near.
Jeremiah looked at his watch. “Come on. We don’t want to be late.”
“For what?”
He ignored her question, but motioned for her to proceed him out of the room. She trudged through the door, hoping like hell TJ had had enough time to figure out where she and JT were and to arrive with the cavalry. It had been about an hour since she’d woken up; Milena had been sneaking glances at her watch, trying to keep track of time.
They went down several hallways, through a cafeteria kitchen, and into a large ballroom. Their footsteps echoed eerily in the empty room, and Milena shivered. She hadn’t heard anything from outside the school the entire time they’d been there. No sirens, no one yelling for the Joneses to give up. Nothing but silence.
Her heart sank with the thought that she was on her own after all. That TJ hadn’t found her yet.
At the far end of the room, they approached another door, and Milena stopped in the doorway. Standing on the other side were Jonathan and Sadie.
“Sadie!” Milena exclaimed. She stumbled when Jeremiah pushed her roughly from behind and barely caught herself from falling by grabbing a chair.
“Are you all right?” Milena asked when she’d recovered.
“Yeah. You?” Sadie asked.
Milena nodded.
Sadie’s head jerked up, and Milena gasped when she saw Jonathan holding on to her hair. He’d tugged it, forcing Sadie’s head back. He held a knife up to her throat, and Milena swallowed hard.
She was terrified for her friend, but saw that Sadie looked more pissed off than scared. Milena wasn’t sure that was the smartest reaction, but she had no idea what Sadie had been going through while Jeremiah had been giving her the grand tour.
“Father,” Jonathan greeted solemnly.
“Jonathan,” Jeremiah returned.
The four of them stared at each other for a long moment before Jonathan spoke again. “I’m not coming with you.”
“I know you’re not,” came Jeremiah’s calm response.
Milena didn’t know what was going on between the two men, but there was an extremely weird vibe in the room.
“I’m taking Sadie,” Jonathan said belligerently, as if he was afraid his father wouldn’t agree.
Milena watched as Jeremiah eyed Sadie. His gaze went from her feet up to her head and back down, before he finally said, “Her hair is the exact shade of red you like, and she’s got nice wide hips.”
Jonathan smiled then, and Milena shivered. The other man might be younger than his father, but he was no less evil and perverted.
She suddenly felt as if she might be sick. This is what Jeremiah had done. He’d raised Jonathan to be just like him. And he wanted to do the same thing with JT.
No. She’d rather both of them were dead than allow him to be taken from her and made into a monster like Jeremiah had done with Jonathan.
“She’ll give me beautiful red-haired babies,” Jonathan agreed.
Sadie struggled in his hold then. “I’m not going to give you anything, asshole!” she snarled.
Jonathan dropped the knife he’d been holding and moved his hand from her hair to her throat. He kept her head forced back as he cut off her air.
Sadie immediately began to fight. But even though she was tall, Jonathan was taller, stronger, and easily able to keep her off balance.
Milena took a single step toward her friend before she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at Jeremiah, and saw that he’d put his hand around JT’s neck again.
“Stop, please!” she pleaded. “I’m not moving. Let him go. Please!”
She stared into Jeremiah’s dark blue eyes, hoping she’d see some sort of compassion there, but when she saw nothing but evil, she started to panic.
He waited a beat, letting her know he was in charge, then slowly moved his hand to JT’s back.
JT’s eyes opened into slits, and Milena could see the confusion in them. She willed her son to go back to sleep, to pass out, something, but instead he awakened further.
“Mommy,” he said in the most pitiable voice.
“There, there,” Jeremiah said, turning so JT couldn’t see Milena anymore. “You’re okay now, son. Just relax.”
Milena’s hands curled into fists, but she’d learned her lesson.
TJ is here somewhere. Don’t do anything rash. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did. There was a sense of…expectation in the air. She hadn’t heard anything outside, but she could feel that TJ and his friends were there. They simply had to be. There was no other alternative.
“It’s time for us to part ways,” Jeremiah told Jonathan. “I wish you the best of luck.”
“You too, Father,” Jonathan responded.
Milena felt as if she was in the middle of the twilight zone. The two men were being extremely polite and remote to each other. It didn’t make any sense. But she didn’t have time to wonder about what was happening because Jeremiah grabbed hold of her upper arm and was propelling her out of the room.
She managed a quick look behind her to see Sadie being dragged ou
t of the room by Jonathan. He’d taken hold of her hair once again and was forcing her to walk hunched over as he headed for a door on the opposite side of the room.
Right before she left the room, Milena’s gaze swept over the lone window…
She blinked—whatever she’d seen, it was there one second and gone the next.
But it was enough.
Confirmation that what she was feeling was true. Help was here.
She hadn’t recognized the face at the window because it was too dark outside, but Milena knew without a doubt rescue was at hand. The man had a look of absolute fury and concentration on his face. He’d been looking at the doorway Sadie and Jonathan had disappeared through.
Taking a deep breath, Milena tried to concentrate. The next few minutes were crucial. She couldn’t screw up. She wished JT was still unconscious, but maybe it was better that he was awake. Her boy was normally easygoing and happy, but when he was scared or uncertain, he turned into a little demon. That might work in their favor. Milena had a feeling Jeremiah didn’t deal well with tantrums.
Jeremiah dragged her through another room and down a long hallway. Then suddenly they were outside. Milena blinked and tried to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. They’d exited out the front of the school and the dim glow above the door didn’t do enough to light up the area around them. Milena couldn’t see anyone else. No cars other than the van she and Sadie had been transported to the school in and what was obviously Jeremiah’s sedan.
She couldn’t hear any other voices, as if the three of them were the only living things around for miles. Not even the birds were chirping. There was no wind. It was as if Mother Nature was holding her breath.
Milena reassured herself that she’d seen someone in the window. TJ and the others were there. They simply had to be.
Jeremiah turned then and faced the school. He looked up and shifted until JT could also see the building. “Look at this, Joel. This is what we will make again. You and I. Together.”
JT, of course, wasn’t paying any attention to the man holding him, he only had eyes for his mother.
“Mommy!” he yelled, holding his arms out for her.
Milena stood stock still, trying to figure out her next move. The hair on her arms was standing straight up. The air felt electric. She might not be able to see anyone around them, but she knew they were there. Knew TJ was there. Somewhere.
“No, you have no mommy,” Jeremiah told the toddler. “I’m your daddy, and you’ll do as I say.”
“No!” JT screamed. “I want mommy!”
“Get over here,” Jeremiah ordered Milena, pointing to the dirt at his feet.
Milena moved as if in slow motion. She instinctively knew whatever reason Jeremiah had for wanting her on her knees in front of him wasn’t a good one, but she didn’t resist. Not looking away from the evil man’s eyes, she moved as slowly as she could, without making him more unstable than he already was.
He’d turned until his back was to the school, and she was now facing him and the majestic front door.
Jeremiah was having a hard time controlling a squirming and screaming JT. Her son didn’t stop trying to get away from the man holding him and there was a real chance he’d fall, but Milena tried not to panic. Jeremiah didn’t want to kill JT. He was only trying to control him. She couldn’t overreact. Not now. Not when this was about to be over.
She didn’t know how she knew that, she just did.
She took a deep breath and slowly sank to her knees in front of Jeremiah. She waited without a word to see what he was going to do next.
“Your mommy doesn’t exist anymore,” he told her son. “We don’t need women. Women aren’t good for anything. Girls are what are precious. Women are expendable. You and me are a family now. I’ll teach you everything I know. Long after I’m gone, you’ll carry on my legacy, Master Joel. Schools for girls will be opened everywhere. You’ll make sure of it.”
Milena tuned out Jeremiah’s words, but didn’t take her eyes from him. JT was frantic now, which would’ve broken her if she wasn’t concentrating so hard on Jeremiah.
The pedophile leaned over and pulled a gun out of an ankle holster. He stood and held it up to her head, but the gun wavered. He was having a hard time controlling the thrashing toddler in his arms and aiming at the same time.
“I’ve waited a long time for this moment,” he told Milena. He stared down at her for a second, then ordered, “Beg for your life. Beg for your son’s life.”
“No,” Milena said firmly, breaking her meek-and-mild demeanor for the first time since she’d been handcuffed to the chair. “You aren’t going to spare me, no matter what I say.”
Jeremiah sneered then. A look so evil, Milena felt dirty just for seeing it.
“He’s mine, bitch. You’re going to die knowing your sweet little boy is a rapist pedophile…just like his dad.”
Milena opened her mouth to respond—
But didn’t get the chance before Jeremiah’s head exploded.
It was literally there one second, his evil grin seared into her brain, and gone the next.
Blood sprayed everywhere, but Milena didn’t scream or even blink. Her hands were reaching out for her son as he fell.
She managed to grab JT from the dead man’s arms before he’d even hit the ground.
* * *
TJ let out the breath he’d been holding but didn’t take his finger from the trigger. There was a chance he’d miscalculated the wind, the distance, something. But the sight that greeted him after he blinked made him sigh in relief.
Then he calmly put down the rifle, turned to his right, and vomited up everything he’d eaten that day.
It was the first time in his career that he’d gotten sick after killing someone, but then again, he’d never had to shoot a man who was inches away from the two people he loved more than life itself.
* * *
JT was screaming. The kind of sound that made Milena’s head hurt and want to put her hands over her ears, but she didn’t. Milena felt strangely calm as she attempted to soothe her son.
She heard noises to her right and stood on wobbly legs. She backed away from what was left of Jeremiah, holding JT close to her chest as the little boy screamed in terror and confusion.
Even in the dark, she recognized TJ’s friends, Daxton and Cruz, as they rounded the side of the building, their pistols at the ready.
“Shit! Are you all right?” Cruz barked as he neared her. His words were loud, to be heard over JT’s wailing, and Milena simply nodded.
“You’re covered in blood. Are you sure you’re okay?” Daxton asked in a slightly calmer tone than his friend.
“It’s not mine,” she reassured him. She’d felt Jeremiah’s blood and brain matter splatter on her as he was shot, but at the moment it wasn’t registering.
She wanted TJ.
Wanted him more than she’d wanted anything else in her entire life, but he’d be here as soon as he could. She knew that without a doubt. The second Jeremiah had led them outside, Milena had known they were going to be okay. TJ was out there with his rifle. She knew it.
Knew without a doubt that he’d use the skills he’d honed throughout his time in the Army to save their lives.
It was obvious the two men in front of her knew it as well, since Daxton merely nodded, taking her word for it that the blood wasn’t hers.
“Milena!”
She spun at the sound of her name, and was relieved to see Sadie coming around the opposite corner with Quint and the man she’d seen at the window earlier. He had her hand clasped in his—and didn’t look like he was going to let go anytime soon.
Surprisingly, Sadie didn’t seem inclined to let go of him either.
“Jonathan’s disappeared,” Quint said as soon as he got close to his friends. His voice was also elevated because of JT’s crying, so Milena could still hear him. She’d learned long ago how to carry on perfectly normal conversations with a screaming baby in her arms.
<
br /> “What happened?” Cruz asked.
“Crazy asshole thought he had me cowed. That’s what happened,” Sadie said. “He took me into a room with a huge bed and told me he was going to put his baby in my belly right that second. That he couldn’t wait another minute to start his future family. The motherfucker had one of my arms attached to the headboard—with restraints that were permanently mounted to the bed, I might add—when he turned around to reach for something in a drawer next to the bed. I…”
Sadie looked unsure for a moment, looking down at the ground. She took a deep breath then continued. “I kicked him in the head and he fell backwards. I ripped off the Velcro cuff and ran. Straight into him.” She gestured to the man still holding her hand.
Sadie tilted her head and looked at her friend. The words she was saying were typical Sadie. Strong and confident, but there was something about the way she wouldn’t meet her eyes that made Sadie uneasy. She opened her mouth to ask her friend if she was really all right, when Quint spoke.
“After she literally ran into us, I went after Jonathan while Chase got Sadie out of there,” he told the group. “I had to have arrived no more than thirty seconds after Sadie escaped, but he was gone.”
“Gone? How is that possible?” Dax asked, clearly frustrated.
“I have no clue. But he wasn’t in that room. There was a small pool of blood from some sort of wound—maybe from his head where Sadie kicked him, or from where his teeth used to be—but he was gone,” Quint explained.
In the distance, sirens could finally be heard.
“You’re going to the hospital,” the man holding Sadie’s hand told her.
“No, I’m not. I’m fine,” she insisted.
“You’re going to the hospital,” he repeated.
Sadie merely rolled her eyes then tugged at her hand. “Whatever. Let me go.”
They stared at each other for a heartbeat, and Milena knew at any other time, she would’ve smiled at the thought that her stubborn, badass friend had apparently met her match. But the smile wouldn’t form. She was hanging on by a thread. She needed TJ.
