Hell And Back

by Natasha Madison

  I scan the room. Nothing seems to be out of place, no signs of a struggle. I continue scanning the room looking for my girls. Lilah sees me first, and she immediately jumps off the police officer’s lap and runs right to me, crying.

  I scoop her into my arms as she wails out her terror. “Ackson, they take Momma,” she says between sobs.

  “Who, baby girl, who took Momma?” I ask her. “Who?”

  She hiccups, her sobs, her breath coming out in choppy pants. “Daddy and his briend.”

  I look over at Mick, who is texting the security guys we called on the way here.

  Brian arrives and comes straight to us. “So, he came in the side gate from what we could tell by the censor times.” He looks at his phone. “Front door censor indicates it was disengaged and reengaged twenty minutes ago. The silent alarm was activated about twenty seconds later.”

  I look down at Lilah. “You did so good, baby girl. Just like we showed you.” I kiss her stain-streaked face. “So brave, my baby girl.”

  “I want Momma, Ackson,” she says as her eyes start to close as the trauma of today finally hits her.

  “We got the name of the hotel. We are sending two cruisers there right now.”

  I look at him, about to ask questions, when my mother runs into the house.

  Her eyes are open wide with fear as she scans the area. Tears start falling when she sees Brenda being lifted on the stretcher.

  She sees me sitting on the floor holding Lilah. “Jackson.” She gets on her knees next to me, stroking Lilah’s hair softly.

  I look at her straight into her eyes. “He did this.”

  Her hand covers her mouth, and she gasps in horror. “He came here, into her home, and he took her. He beat Brenda, badly as you can see. And he did this in front of Lilah.”

  “Jackson.” That word is ripped from her, pained, but it’s all she gets out before Mick steps forward, drawing my attention.

  “Jackson, Bella has her phone on her. We have a location.”

  I hand Lilah to my mother before I get up.

  “You aren’t going to like this,” Mick says.

  My fists clench at my sides. “Tell me,” I say through gritted teeth.

  “Same motel Ryan sent us to.”

  I look at my mother. “I have to know if you will keep her. If anything happens to us, to me, to Bella, you will keep her.”

  “Jackson, get Bella and just bring her home. Both of you just come home to Lilah.”

  I nod my head, looking at Brenda, who is being wheeled out on a stretcher. She’s hanging in there, thank God. She’s been shot in the side, and hopefully nothing vital was hit. Her eye is swollen, and there’s an egg-shaped bump forming on the side of her head. Clearly, she was whipped with a gun.

  “Mom, I need you to promise not leave her sight. Do not leave Lilah alone for a second, not even to go to the bathroom. I’m going to have someone staying with you both, but I still want you to promise not to let her out of your sight.”

  “I promise, Jackson. Go get Bella.”

  I nod at her, looking over at Mick as I turn to walk out of the house for the second time today. I pray the next time I walk back in, it will be with Bella.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Bella

  They toss me into the backseat, closing the door right behind me. Looking at the door, I notice the door’s handles have been removed.

  I quickly scan the area, trying to see if I can escape. Chuck must see what I’m doing because he turns around and points the gun at my leg.

  “I would hate to fucking shoot you in the leg before I fuck you, but I will. Make one move, bitch, I’ll go back and get that little bitch we left behind.”

  I sit up straight, looking out the window at the houses while we pass through. My hands are shaking in my lap.

  We pull up to a rundown motel, and my heart starts beating faster. The motel’s sign is only partially lit.

  We pull up in front of room number eight. The door opens, and Adam grabs my arm to yank me out. I look up at the motel’s worn exterior, and I absently notice it must have been brown at some point, but years of not performing routine maintenance and weather have faded it to a dark, dingy tan. Each door is supposed to be white, but like everything else covered with dirt and grime and faded from the sun, they look dirty and yellowed. The number on the door is gold-plated with pieces of the gold chipped off. Each window has those plastic vertical blinds covering it. Some are missing pieces and some are closed.

  I try to talk to Adam before Chuck gets out of the car. “Please, Adam, don’t do this. Think of Lilah,” I whisper to him.

  Chuck closes his door, pulling out the key to open the room. Adam drags me right in with him.

  I look around, taking in the filth of the room. The smell of urine is so profound, my eyes burn and I can’t hold back the gag. It’s unbearable.

  There is one bed in the middle of the room, dirty sheets askew, half on the bed, half off. One lone chair in the corner of the room is blue with obvious blood stains on it. Carelessly discarded, used needles litter the floor all around us.

  An old television sits on a cheap, dusty stand facing the bed. The television is on, tuned to The Shopping Network.

  I continue scanning the room when my eyes land on three teenage girls huddled in a corner of the room and chained to the wall.

  All three are wearing sheer camisoles, with no bras and sheer underwear, leaving little to the imagination. All three are filthy with greasy, stringy hair, and it’s obvious none of them have bathed in quite a while. Their eyes are puffy and closed, like they are napping.

  Their arms show round, fingertip-shaped bruises, but it’s the swollen, red needle marks along the inside of their elbows that have me gasping aloud.

  Their hands are clipped with a chain to the wall. I can see the dirt under their chipped fingernails. My heart aches for these young girls as I take in what appears to be dried blood crusted over on their inner thighs. Their panties are almost non-existent, brownish reddish stains covering them in the front.

  One of the girls must hear the commotion of us coming in and rolls her head in our direction and opens her eyes.

  They are vacant, like she’s here but she really isn’t here.

  Chuck walks over to her, nudging her leg to the side, squatting down next to her. “Look at this, Lori, we brought you another bitch to train.”

  The minute he says her name, I know she’s the girl Jackson is looking for, Marissa’s daughter. Clearly, she didn’t run away. She’s been kidnapped.

  These girls were taken from their families and have been forced to stay here.

  She doesn’t say anything. Only a groan escapes out of her mouth as her head lolls from side to side against the wall.

  He leans down, pinching her nipple. A pained whimper escapes her. She tries to raise her hand to slap him away, but it falls limply down with a thud.

  “Jesus fucking Christ, Adam. How much shit did you give them?” Chuck asks, looking over at Adam, who stands next to me.

  “Just enough to last the night. It’s Friday night. We already have eight guys lined up.”

  I turn around to look at him, and that’s all I can take. I heave and vomit bile all over the side of me.

  I don’t even stop when Adam kicks me, sending me flying across the room. I lose my balance, hitting my head on the corner of the one nightstand in the room.

  I land face down on the wet, urine soaked carpet. I reach up to touch my forehead and wipe at the blood dripping down the side of my face.

  “Don’t fucking touch her face. She’s going to be our money cow.” Chucks leans down, gripping my hair, and pulling me up.

  My cries of pain fill the room. Adam ignores it as he goes looking for his next fix.

  Chuck grips my chin, squeezing it so hard I think he might crack my jaw.

  “Did you miss me, Bella?” he asks while he pushes me against the wall by the bed. The paint has started chipping off of it, and there are dirty
, yellowed streaks where water must have run down the walls at some point.

  I look away, trying to block out what is happening. Chuck has me boxed in and is dragging the gun down the middle of my chest, bringing the V of my T-shirt down with it, exposing my white bra. “Hmmm, look at these tits. They filled out good,” he says while he takes the barrel of the gun and rubs it over my nipple.

  A sob rips from my mouth before I can stop it. “Don’t worry, beautiful Bella. If you don’t want me in that pussy, I’ll take your ass.” He goes to the next nipple.

  Chuck turns around and looks at me. “You’re not worth all this fucking bullshit.” He slaps me across the face, and the stinging pain rattles through my skull.

  “Get a needle ready. Someone is going to fly with unicorns,” Chuck tells Adam as he throws me onto the bed like a rag doll and begins roughly ripping off my clothes.

  “Hurry the fuck up, Adam. I want to fuck her before the johns get here and we sell these bitches tonight.” Chuck has ripped off my shirt and bra, leaving me just in my shorts.

  Adam walks out of the bathroom, syringe filled with a brown liquid. I try to block myself, but Chuck yanks my arm back, twisting it.

  “Hurry up and shoot her up,” Chuck says while untying my shorts button.

  Adam comes over, gripping my hand. “Please don’t do this, Adam, please.”

  Chuck sits on me so I can’t move while Adam ties an elastic band around my arm.

  “Don’t worry, Bella, you’ll love it.” He smiles at me as he grabs my arm, tapping on it, looking for a vein. He roughly shoves the needle into my flesh and shoots the liquid into me.

  It burns at first, the liquid warming up my veins. It takes about five seconds for me to feel like my body is disconnecting from itself.

  It’s like I’m here but my mind is going away.

  I can’t fight off whatever is going on. I don’t think I can move my hands. I just close my eyes, letting the feeling of being able to fly run through me.

  I feel my shorts being ripped off my legs and then I hear a thud.

  “What the fuck is this? FUCK! FUCK!! FUCK!!!” Chuck yells.

  “Turn it off. It could be tracking our location,” Adam says.

  I guess they must have found my phone. That’s right. Jackson must know where I am. I just have to hold on. He’s coming to save me. This will be over soon. I hope.

  I hear a phone ringing somewhere in the room. “FUCK! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!” Adam comes running out of the bathroom, whipping off the elastic band, a drop of blood coming out of the vein he just shot up in.

  Chuck turns around to look at him. “It was Jasmine at the front desk. She said the cops are on their way up. They’re here. They fucking found us.” He is pacing the room now.

  That’s the last thing I hear before I think now is a good time to just take a little nap.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Adam

  This whole fucking day has been a clusterfuck. Starting with the phone call from Ryan telling us the cops were at his door.

  Then we put our plan to grab Bella into motion. If anything just to fuck with Jackson. Finding her was so fucking easy. All I did was watch my mother’s house.

  She led me straight to them. She’s a fucking fool, that woman. I sat there laughing as I waited for the right moment.

  What I wasn’t counting on was her having company. The fact Chuck was slowly fucking losing his mind didn’t help matters either.

  The second I get the needle in my vein, I close my eyes to savor the fucking feeling. Those eight to ten seconds are the fucking best. Just letting it flow through me, getting lost in the nothing.

  The phone in my pocket starts ringing. Jasmine’s name comes up. She’s the clerk at the front desk. She turns her head and ignores what we do. We give her blow. Easy as one, two, three. Sometimes if I’m in the mood, I even let her suck my cock.

  “What?” I answer her.

  “The cops are here. I saw five cars zoom by the front desk heading your way.” The needle drops from my hand.

  “FUCK! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!!” I run out of the bathroom, whipping off the elastic band, vaguely noticing the drop of blood coming out of the vein I just shot up in.

  Chuck turns around to look at me.

  “That was Jasmine at the front desk. She said cops are on their way up. They’re here. They fucking found us.” I start pacing the room now.

  I pace back and forth in front of the blaring television. Chuck gets off the bed and buttons up his pants. Bella is passed out, naked on the bed.

  He walks to the curtain, pulling it aside to peek outside.

  “What the fuck?” He turns, looking at me. “It’s fucking surrounded. How the fuck did they find us so fucking fast?”

  I shake my head, grabbing and pulling the hair on my head. “How are we going to get out of here, man?” I ask him, while he turns and looks wildly around the room.

  “There is no way out. There isn’t even a fucking window in the damn bathroom!” He keeps looking around the room for an exit that just isn’t there.

  “This is all your fault!” Chuck looks at me. “All your fault and that bitch’s.” He points to Bella.

  “I fucking told you not to take her. I told you we were going too fast.” I shake my head. I can’t stop pacing, and I can’t stop the shaking that is wracking my already tweaked body.

  I look over at Chuck. “I fucking told you it was a bad idea!”

  Those were the last words I ever said. In the next instant, Chuck raises his gun and fires it at me.

  Once, twice, three times, and I’m finally, finally, fucking free.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Jackson

  I jump in the passenger seat of the car since Mick is driving, and I immediately call for backup.

  The address they gave us is about twenty-five minutes out, but with the way Mick is driving, we should get there in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes max.

  There are five undercovers on-site, waiting around the corner, scoping the place out.

  There is a black Honda parked right in front of room eight, which is the room we think they are in.

  We let the on-sites know when we are two minutes out. I want into the room the minute we get there.

  “You loaded?” I ask Mick, knowing he understands I’m asking if he has more than one gun on him.

  “Got two on me. A couple in the back, locked.”

  I nod, preparing myself for the war that is about to be waged at the motel.

  The moment we get there, I walk in the front door and straight to the reception desk. “Adam Fletcher, what room?”

  She looks at me, smacking her bubble gum. “Who are you?”

  I take my gun out and place it on the counter, her eyes going as wide as saucers. “You really want to do that right now?”

  She shakes her head. “Room eight.”

  I don’t even wait to hear her finish before I walk back out, talking to the team that has gathered. I open up the trunk so Mick and I can grab our vests and put them on.

  “Room eight confirmed. We know they are armed. Brenda has a bullet hole to prove it.”

  I look around at the twenty officers who have showed up, plus the ten of Brian’s guys, all waiting for the war to start.

  “We just saw movement,” Brian says while looking over at the room.

  “It’s go time. Seems they know we are here.” I turn to walk away from the car to attack the door from the side.

  We’re a few feet from the door when we hear a shot fired. My stomach drops, and I rock to a halt as my feet stop moving. Two shots and my breathing stops. Three shots and I brace myself on the wall outside room seven.

  I hear shouting all around me. The door is kicked in. I snap out of it and run through the door where my past is holding my future.

  “Drop your weapon!” Mick commands, upon entering the room. “Drop the fucking weapon now!” he warns again right before he fires a shot at the man’s leg. The man cries out in pain as
he drops the gun to staunch the blood flow in his leg.

  I enter the room, taking in the scene before me.

  Bella is on the bed naked, and three young girls are chained to the wall and clearly drugged.

  My brother is slumped on the floor in front of the television, which probably fell over when he was shot. I see three bullet wounds in his chest.

  I rush to the bed, checking Bella for a pulse. It’s there, thank God.

  I cover her with the filthy sheet and gather her in my arms to walk out of the room. I look down at Chuck, who is cuffed in the middle of the room, blood seeping out of his leg.

  Brian, Hulk, and Roger are all working to remove the chains from the three other girls in the room.

  I make it to the car just as the ambulances start to arrive. Six in total. I run with Bella to the closest one. Placing her on the stretcher, they start asking me questions I don’t have the answers to. The one thing I know is there is a puncture wound in her arm and her head is bleeding.

  “Sir, we need to know what she is on,” one of the paramedics asks as the other starts taking her vitals.

  “I don’t know. We just found her.”

  “We need transport. I’ll draw her blood for a tox screen. They’ll run it when we get to the ER, and we’ll know in about thirty minutes,” he says to me while gathering up the items he needs to draw her blood and his partner heads up front to drive.

  I look toward the motel room and see Mick walking out holding a girl who is so jaundiced, she looks yellow. Her blonde hair is stringy with filth, and if I didn’t know better, I would assume she’s a junkie.

  “I need help,” he calls as he places her on a stretcher right outside another ambulance.

  He looks over at me and calls out, “It’s Lori. We found them.”

  I don’t say anything more because the door to the ambulance I am in is shut, and we are rushing off to the hospital where I hope and pray we are in time and they can wake her up.