Truth or Lies?

by A. Gomez

  We managed to unplug and hide at least sixteen jammers before Debbie came around one of the corners. We froze. I hid my gun behind my back.

  “Isabel,” Debbie sounded surprised. “What are you still doing here?”

  “Well, we’re trying to escape but it’s proving to be somewhat of a kerfuffle,” I slurred. “Plus, I was just having a few drinks with the boss man… and he had a couple chocolates,” I snickered, trying to control my urge to laugh even louder.

  “Seriously?” Caroline eyed me annoyed. “You can say kerfuffle but you can’t say my last name?”

  I began to giggle, “I know, right? Go figure!”

  Debbie looked at her watch, her eyes then flickered to me. “What’s behind your back? And why is Caroline out of her room?”

  “Wait. What? Caroline is here?”

  “I don’t have time for games, Isabel. Caroline, she’s right beside you. Why is she here with you?”

  “Oh! My! Gosh! Caroline is here?” I had a ridiculous grin. Caroline snickered. “Now we can play a game!”

  “Isabel, are you drunk?”

  “No. Are you?” Caroline let out a loud laugh. I laughed with her.

  “Where’s Victor? I’m calling An,” she turned to leave.

  “Wait, wait. Before you go, since we’re all here now, I know the perfect game we can play—cops and robbers! We’ll be the cops and you can be the robber.” I aimed my gun at her and shot her twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the thigh. She dropped with a thud. Debbie was screaming.

  “Shut up,” I said aiming my gun at her face, “or I’ll kill you.” She quickly stopped. I leaned over her and whispered, “That’s what happens, Debbie, when you’re a robber… you get shot.”

  “Damn, Isabel Grace. That’s not bad for being drunk.”

  “And it was easier to shoot her too, since I’m buzzed. I didn’t mind it so much this time,” I declared. We swiftly taped her legs and hands together like a calf in a rodeo. We heard several heavy footsteps running in our direction. “Caro,” I whispered, “let’s hide. I hear giants coming our way.”

  “Those are Chang’s men, Isabel! They heard the gun fire!” she hissed.

  “Oh, yeah,” I snickered. “Duh.”

  “Isabel Grace, of all times to get drunk… at least you’re a funny drunk, I’ll give you that.” Caroline frowned. “Just aim your gun and be ready.”

  “Always,” I scoffed. “We are the orcas and they’re the sharks,” I said, checking my magazine. “We will hunt them as a group, take their liver out, eat it and rip them in half.”

  “Uh, Isabel? What the hell?” Caroline was puzzled.

  “What? Haven’t you ever watched Shark Week?”

  She rolled her eyes. We hid behind the sidewall and didn’t have to wait too long before the men found Debbie. It was two henchmen. They didn’t bother helping Debbie. They drew their guns and started walking in our direction. I got down on one knee, wishing I had my huntin’ rifle so I could have better control. I came out from behind the wall and put two bullets in each man. They dropped like a sack of potatoes. Their guns fell out of their hands and skidded a few steps away from them. “Woohoo! Told ya I couldn’t miss.” I held my fist out and she gave me a light fist bump, grinning.

  “Shit! Isabel! They’re still alive!” Her grin quickly fell away. “You know you have to kill them or else they’ll kill us and the rest of the girls.”

  “How can you tell? They look pretty dead to me.” I lightly kicked one of them with my foot.

  “Well, that one just groaned and moved.” Caroline exhaled angrily, “I’ll take care of this. You just go get the gun that’s farthest away.” She picked up one of the guns and shot both men in the head. Surely, they had to be dead after a blow to the head like that. Blood was everywhere and running out of the bodies. It was making my stomach do summersaults. I swallowed convulsively, trying not to vomit. I looked over at Debbie and noticed that her eyes were closed. Probably from all the blood loss. I didn’t kill her but I might as well have since she was going to bleed to death if we didn’t get her to a hospital. Don’t think, Isabel, just survive.

  37

  Caroline disappeared to another room. I ran after her, calling her name. She had found three more jammers and was busy unplugging and hiding them. We heard men yelling, in Chinese this time, and the sound of tires screeching in protest on the driveway. Shit! The other men must have called for backup. We heard the yelling coming from upstairs now. The watchdogs must be looking for all the girls now.

  “How many bullets do you have left?” Caroline asked in a rushed tone.

  “I have six left but I also have two extra guns. What are you thinking?”

  “We fight. There may be too many of them for us to take on but we can take as many as we can of them before they get us,” Caroline said with a dark look in her eyes. “Like I said… I’d rather die than live like this.”

  “Yee-haw, cowgirl,” I answered with a wicked smirk. I couldn’t say no to her. It truly was a fate worse than death. I gave her one of the guns and quickly showed her how to use it.

  “I’ve been waiting to kill these assholes for an entire year now,” she muttered.

  “Just remember not to shoot me,” I warned.

  “I should be saying that to you,” Caroline said, sounding irked. “You’re the drunk one.”

  I snickered. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Isabel Grace, I know you’re drunk but it’s starting to get annoying. Nothing that we’re doing is funny.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” she sighed. “Let’s just find some Triads to shoot.”

  The yelling stopped and then gunfire started. We gasped and stared at each other. Caroline’s eyes were bulging. Were they shooting at the girls? Had they found them?

  We quickly raced toward the stairs in the kitchen. We stopped short just outside the kitchen, in the hallway where the shutters were allowed to be open. Three men were there. Two were heading to the same set of stairs as we were and one was going toward the dining room.

  Caroline didn’t hesitate. She stalked in and shot the two men in the chest, killing them. The other man heard the gunfire and backtracked, aiming his gun at Caroline. “Caro!” I shouted and shot the man in the head. Caroline was about to run up the stairs when something occurred to me. I grabbed her arm to stop her from going up. I held up my index finger letting her know to wait just a minute, and then to my lips—I needed her to be quiet. There were no screams. No girl screams, just the Chinese Triad men yelling and gunfire. Something was off here.

  “Caro, I don’t hear anyone screaming, do you? What I mean is, none of the girls are screaming, just the men yelling at one another in Chinese.”

  She paused to listen. “You know, you’re right… and gunshots every now and again. What do you think is going on?”

  “I don’t know but I don’t like it,” I said. The fuzziness from the alcohol was making hearing difficult. “Come on… help me break the shutters open by the driveway so we can see who’s here.”

  We started pulling hard on one of the shutters in the foyer. “That sucker isn’t coming open,” I huffed. I didn’t want to shoot at it and have whoever was outside start shooting at us.

  Without hesitating, Caroline got a small footstool and started hitting the shutters, breaking them open. It wasn’t the quietest method but it got the job done. I looked around to make sure no one was coming. We managed to look outside onto the driveway and saw a few cars. We couldn’t see all the way down the driveway or across to the other side of the house through the window but what we could see were plain, dark cars.

  “Nothing special about those cars,” Caroline said. “I just see that there’s a lot of them right here in front of us.”

  “That’s right. There’s nothing special about those cars. They’re just plain cars,” I said grinning, looking out the window.

  “Isabel Grace.” Caroline was snapping her
fingers. “Are you still that drunk? Focus! We need you to sober up quick.”

  “Am I really that irritating when I’m drunk?” I wondered, feeling a little hurt. “I don’t mean to be. Maybe because I ramble. You know my mind is going a mile a minute.”

  “Isabel!” Caroline snapped. “Focus!”

  “Right, focus,” I repeated. “The cars are not impressive. Don’t you see? What thug with money do you know that doesn’t drive a flashy car? These are either police cars or some other law enforcement cars.”

  “That means the girls were able to get a signal and call for help!” Caroline’s tone was triumphant. We heard more gunfire but this time it sounded closer. I looked around, ducking my head, aiming my gun at nothing.

  “Isabel…” Caroline fell into my arms.

  “Caroline!” She was shot around her collarbone and shoulder area. “Oh, Caroline, how did I not see him?” I heard an evil chuckle, looked up and saw one of Chang’s watchdogs aiming his gun at me. I had dropped my gun to catch Caroline, so I was a sitting duck and weaponless. We locked eyes for a split second and then he fired. I turned my head, closing my eyes at the same time, anticipating the hit from the bullet but I didn’t feel a thing. Was it really that painless or did he miss? I was sure I heard two shots. He was so close, no way he could’ve missed.

  I opened my eyes and saw David on the floor. He had stepped in front of me, taking the bullet. I gasped, “DAVID!” I looked around the room to see if there was anyone else. We were alone.

  I gingerly placed Caroline on one of the sofas. “Caro, don’t fall asleep. Do you hear me?” My words were slurred but my voice was stern. She nodded, despair written all over her face. I had to stop the bleeding. I took my vest and shirt off and tore off one of the shirt sleeves. I placed my shirt on her wound and tied the sleeve nice and tight under her armpit and around her shoulder where the bullet wound was.

  “How does that feel?” I asked.

  “Better,” is all she could say.

  “Caro, I’m not leaving you, I’m just going to pick up my gun and put my vest back on.” I didn’t want to tell her about David. She nodded. “Don’t close your eyes. You have to help me see. I can still feel the alcohol and my vision is a little fuzzy.”

  “You’ve always been such a lightweight, Isabel Grace.” She grinned weakly.

  I got my vest on and grabbed my gun. I crawled a little way to where David was lying. I checked his pulse—nothing. I felt no pulse. I checked again, this time on his neck—still nothing. I checked his other wrist—I couldn’t find a pulse. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I closed his eyes and checked his pulse one more time. He had a gun in his hand and his jacket read DEA. I wanted to cry but couldn’t. My hands began to shake again. I could feel myself starting to lose it and get hysterical. His shooting Chang’s watchdog must have been the second shot I heard. Hold it together a little longer, Isabel. Why wasn’t he wearing a bulletproof vest?

  “Isabel Grace!” A deep voice boomed.

  I swiftly got up and aimed my gun at the voice. I couldn’t see who it was through the tears that were beginning to pool in my eyes and the alcohol still impairing my vision.

  “Baby, don’t shoot. It’s me. It’s Josh.”

  I blinked the tears away and shook my head a few times, still holding the gun with both hands, aiming it at the man. I could tell he wasn’t a watchdog and he didn’t particularly look like he was part of the Triads, but then again neither did Debbie.

  “You’re not Josh. You look nothing like him. Josh doesn’t have long hair and a beard. Plus, Josh has trouble moving since he was shot. You’re jumpin’ around like all get out.” He chuckled. I saw that he didn’t reach for his gun. He left it in its holster.

  “It’s been almost six weeks since we last saw each other. Getting a haircut and shaving were the last things on my mind. And remember… I told you I was a fast healer. Baby, please, put the gun down. It’s me.” He had both hands in the air in defeat. “How can I prove it to you?”

  I thought about that for a minute. “Okay, what’s Josh’s full name?”

  “My name is Joshua Eric Rockwall.”

  “Wrong,” I shouted, “it’s Eric.”

  He chuckled. “Baby, are you drunk? Why are you drunk?”

  “Well… I did have a few drinks with Jan. He had chocolates with his cognac,” I laughed. “I just had cognac. It was real good. I can’t remember the name of it right now, though, probably because I may be just a tad buzzed and my friends just got shot.” I was rambling as the bearded man came closer.

  “Jan? Do you mean Chang? Victor Chang?”

  “That’s what I said,” I replied.

  His hands were up in the air with his palms forward in surrender. “Baby, you’re a funny drunk but I don’t like the idea that you’re drunk right now… here in this place.” He was staring at me, inching his way closer. “Baby, we found Chang. Who taped him up like that? Did you do that?”

  “Please, just go away,” I pleaded. “I can’t tell who you really are and I just don’t want to kill any more people. Please.” His brow creased. Sighing, he nodded and placed his hands on his hips. “Hey,” I shouted. “Stop moving! Every time you move, my aim gets fuzzy and then I won’t be able to hit you. And yeah… I taped him. It was easy-peasy,” I slurred.

  His hands went back up in defeat. He exhaled sharply, “I’m sorry.” His eyes flashed to my necklace. “Baby, that necklace you’re wearing, I gave you that necklace. Your mother gave it to you for me.” He slowly took two steps toward me. “She told you there’s a story behind that necklace and I was going to tell you about it when you were supposed to call me the night you were kidnapped.” He paused, “Baby, do you remember?”

  I remembered the kidnapping and the bastard that shot my dog. I remembered Conny on the floor, immobile. I remembered shooting the Asian man that pointed his gun at me.

  I began to feel a little nauseous and covered my mouth. He took another step closer. I gripped my gun with both hands and fired, emptying it into the watchdog behind him. The bearded man flinched, thinking I shot him. Stupid man. He’s wearing a bulletproof vest. Why flinch?

  “Now, that guy I know for sure was Triads,” I said, right before collapsing to the floor and vomiting all over it.

  He ran to me, wrapping his arm around my waist and supporting my weight with his arm. He took my gun from me and held my hair back while I finished vomiting.

  “Let it all out, baby. I got you,” he said, patting my back.

  “Caroline…” I managed to say in between spitting and coughing. “Caroline is on the sofa. She’s been shot.”

  He pushed down on some button on his vest and called for help. I didn’t entirely believe help was coming until another man materialized wearing the same vest and earpiece. This man’s vest had FBI stamped on it with bright yellow letters. Did the bearded man’s have that as well? I turned my head to look at it and there it was, also in bright yellow letters. How did I miss that?

  “Hey. Better?”

  Another wave of nausea hit me. I quickly turned and began to regurgitate again. My eyes were watering and my ears were ringing. I felt like I had just run a marathon. Crap! Please don’t let me pass out in my own vomit. I took my vest off and wiped my face and mouth with it. I tossed it to the side.

  I looked up at the man that was holding my hair and then down to his vest with the FBI letters stamped on it. “What took you so long?” I croaked, laying my forehead on his chest. At last I was in Josh’s arms again. I sat on my knees, feeling extremely weak. He held me tight, not letting me fall back.

  “I’m so sorry, baby.” His voice was course, filled with anxiety. “I got here as fast as I could.” He was kneeling with his arms around me, pressing me into his chest. He was rubbing my back. On occasion I could feel him kissing the top of my head and stroking my hair. “Your hair is short,” he observed. “I like it.”

  I could hear the other agent whispering something in his ear. “I know,” he snapped,
“just give her a minute.” In one fluid movement, Josh picked me up and sat me on the sofa where I had left Caroline. I looked down at the sofa and touched the cushions, wondering where they took her.

  “The paramedics have her,” he answered my unspoken question. “You probably didn’t hear them since you were still throwing up when they rushed in.” He was taking off his bulletproof vest and was starting to unbutton his shirt, “Baby, why don’t you have a shirt on? Why are you just wearing your bra?” He draped his blue button-down shirt over my shoulders. I slipped my arms through the sleeves trying to collect my thoughts.

  “I needed something to stop the bleeding on Caroline’s wound,” I answered, sounding and feeling numb. I tried looking over my shoulder in the direction where David was laying but my neck suddenly hurt.

  “Don’t worry, they have David too,” Josh added.

  “Is he…” I trailed off.

  “Let’s talk about everything later. Okay, baby?” He was crouching in front of me, tucking my hair behind my ears. “I want to make sure you’re all right first.”

  I nodded, closing my eyes. I was feeling less dizzy and my head felt less fuzzy. I looked up into his impossibly blue eyes. They looked stressed, probably from the situation I was in.

  “Baby, where are the rest of the girls?” His voice was deep and sultry. It sounded like home to me.

  I was drinking in his features, placing my hands on his face, running my fingers through his beard and running my thumbs down and around his lips. He looked so different with his long hair and bushy beard. I couldn’t believe that he was really in front of me. He placed one of his hands on top of mine, holding it in place and turning slightly to kiss my palm. “Joshua…” I breathed.

  “Yes, baby, it’s me. You’re safe now. Tell me where the other girls are. Did Ricky help them get away? Did Chang sell them?” He was rubbing my thighs and stroking one of my cheeks with his thumb. “Baby, can you understand me? We heard there was a little girl here with you. Is that right?”