by Vivian Gray
Part of me felt guilty for putting a woman above my brothers. ‘Bros before hoes’ being such a popular saying and all. However, Kenna was not a hoe. She wasn’t some temporary girl that I’d had a fling with and would drop soon. She was important. She was the mother of my child, and, if I didn’t screw it up, she could be the woman I spent my life with. I had to find her.
Besides, the damage at the clubhouse had already been done. I couldn’t do anything to change the outcome there. I could, however, change Kenna’s outcome. If I found her in time – and God how I wished I’d find her in time – I could save her life. I could save our baby’s life.
But none of that would happen if I couldn’t figure out where in the hell Buzz took her. The city was huge, and the number of drug dens and dealer hangouts there were would take me a lifetime to search. I had reached out to all of my contacts, utilized all of my resources, and I was still coming up empty.
Panic began to seep into my thoughts. I felt a sob itching at the back of my throat as I flew around cars on the interstate, swerving around traffic, as if riding faster would save Kenna.
My phone rang, and I pulled it out. I knew it wasn’t safe to answer my phone while riding at this speed, but I couldn’t wait.
As soon as I saw it was a message from an unknown number, I crossed three lanes of traffic to take the next exit and parked in a fast food chicken parking lot. I opened the message and saw it was a video; my entire body vibrated as the message loaded. I watched the download bar inch closer and closer to fully download, stall for several seconds at ninety-nine percent, and then, finally, the image became clear, and my heart sank.
The video was poor quality – grainy, dark, and shaky – but there was no mistaking the subject. Kenna sat curled up on the floor, her hands and wrists bound with a thick rope. She was practically naked, and I watched as she curled in on herself, trying to hide from the eyes of the camera.
She never looked away though. She stared into the camera like it was a challenge, as if she could see directly into my soul. Her eyes were wide and alert, but there was a calmness there I didn’t expect. She wasn’t crying or shaking.
Buzz moved towards her and asked for her name. When she didn’t give it, he kicked her, and I wanted to throttle him. I was gripping my phone so tightly I thought the screen would shatter. He pulled at the bindings on her legs, and she showed her first sign of distress. She winced, and my heart shattered. I wanted to be there with her. I wanted to kick Buzz away from her and use her bindings to strangle him. All manner of violent thoughts whirled around my head, and then I stopped.
Buzz’s camerawork was amateurish at best. His hands shook, and the camera darted around wildly as he tried to record and manhandle Kenna. Without meaning to, he was giving me a full tour of where he had taken Kenna.
She was laying on a dirty concrete floor, which led me to think of a basement, but then Buzz angled the camera up, and I saw grids of warehouse windows, the dark skyline beyond them. They were in an abandoned building of some kind.
“And even if you could move, I could overpower you. You belong completely to me now. Do you understand?” Buzz asked Kenna.
Even though his words enraged me, I couldn’t focus on them. In the background, I could hear a constant static noise. I’d heard it from the start of the video and thought it was just a quality issue, but now I could hear the fluctuations and gaps in it. A car whizzed past me on the interstate, growing louder and then dropping off as it passed, the sound fading into the night, and I realized the building was close to the interstate.
“Good girl,” Buzz said, anger clear behind his words.
I saw everything in the video with new eyes. The cinderblock wall behind Kenna, the collapsing metal walkways along the walls, the metal beams spanning the large room. Based on the location of the skyline in the windows, I knew the building was on the East side of the interstate.
I’d been in the building before. It was an old sugar mill less than two exits away from where I was sitting in the fried chicken parking lot. It was a spot where I would occasionally make deals with other dealers and exchange product. I knew exactly where Buzz had taken Kenna.
Buzz’s swollen face filled the screen. “I took your clubhouse, Trigger. And now I’ve taken your girl. I promise to take really really good care of her. You know, in thanks for all you’ve done for me.”
The video ended with Buzz spinning the camera around to turn it off, giving me one last look at Kenna. Her blonde hair was hanging in her face and across her chest, though it did little to hide her exposed body. Her eyes were still wide, but I saw the fear in them now. She was trying hard to push it down, but there was no denying the raw emotion.
I stared at the screen for a moment longer, and then shoved the device into my pocket and took off down the road. I was on the frontage road for a few blocks, and the speed of the cars around me was maddening. Traffic was too tight to swerve between cars, and unless I wanted to end up flattened in the middle of an intersection, I had to wait at the lights.
At the next available chance, I took the on-ramp back onto the interstate where five glorious lanes opened before me. I navigated them like I was a frog in a video game, hopping into open spaces, and dodging cars, all the while keeping my eyes peeled for Exit 57.
I didn’t know when Buzz had recorded the video, but he’d only sent it to me a few minutes before. If he’d sent it right away, I could get to the warehouse before too much damage had been done. If not, and he’d sent it only after he was finished, I could be walking into a murder scene. I did my best to prepare for either option, but the second one sent blood rushing to my head, making me feel dizzy.
I squeezed my eyes shut, tight, for just a second. Long enough to refocus. I had to have hope. I cranked the throttle and tore off down the interstate, passing cars so fast that they were only colorful whirrs in my peripherals.
Finally, the large green sign announcing my exit hung above an off-ramp, and I went down it twice as fast as recommended, but I could not have cared less. The idea of Kenna being alone with Buzz, naked and terrified, waiting for me to come and save her, pushed me onward. She needed to know that I cared for her, but more than that, I had to save her from Buzz.
The warehouse came into view, and I knew it was the right one. The skyline of the business district sat off to the west, exactly where it had been in Buzz’s little home video. As I got closer, I grew more confident. Buzz was too much of an idiot to realize he’d given away his location. He had sent it to me immediately, certain that I wouldn’t be able to tell to which abandoned warehouse he had taken Kenna. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them across the city. It would have been a good hiding place, except Buzz had been stupid enough to pick one well-used by dealers and clubs.
I had just pulled into the gravel lot that surrounded the building when I hopped off my bike, letting it fall to the ground and slide across the uneven surface. It would certainly be scratched and need a new paint job, but again, getting to Kenna was my biggest concern. Nothing else mattered until she was safe in my arms and as far away from Buzz as possible. Or better yet, until she was safe in my arms and Buzz was dead.
The doors at the front of the building had been boarded over years before. Layers of graffiti were splashed over the rotting wood. I could tell Buzz and Kenna hadn’t entered there because deep nails as thick as my thumb drove the wood into the façade.
I ran around the side of the building and found nothing but a wall of windows. I huffed and then sprinted to the back where finally, I saw Buzz’s car. It was pulled close to the building, skulking in the shadows. The wood that had covered the back door was peeled back, and Buzz had propped the door open with a large rock.
I slipped through the door as quietly as possible. Though I knew I would be able to outshoot Buzz any time, I didn’t want to have to. I had the element of surprise, and I wanted to use it well and ensure Kenna’s safety.
The building was pitch-black. I took small, shuffling s
teps, not wanting to trip on anything unseen and give away my location. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I was able to make out the shapes of hallways and doorways. I walked down one long hallway, drawn by a faint light at the end.
A set of double doors leaked out light down the center and along the bottom. I paused and pressed my ear to the door. I heard the muffled sound of a deep voice, and I knew it had to be Buzz and Kenna.
My guns slid free of the clip at my waist, and I held it at the ready, pointed towards the ceiling. I took one long, calming breath, trying to prepare myself for whatever I was about to see. Then, not wanting to waste another minute, I twisted the door handle slowly and silently edged the door open.
At the far end of the room, Buzz and Kenna were illuminated by what appeared to be a large flashlight on a tripod, like some kind of cheap movie set. He was laying on the ground next to her bound form, his hands running the length of her body. Her face was turned away from him, her gaze cast towards the ceiling, but Buzz couldn’t take his eyes away from her body. He stared at her as though transfixed, as though he had been hypnotized. Which was good news for me because he didn’t notice me come in at all.
The door shut quietly behind me, nothing more than a faint thud as I returned it to the frame, and I took soft steps across the concrete floor. I heard Buzz talking to Kenna, but either I couldn’t understand what he was saying, or I was blocking it out. Regardless, it didn’t matter. I’d kill him for even touching her. For forcing her to be here with him like this. For tying her up like a hog and filming it.
As I neared them, I worried less about the noise I was making. If Buzz saw me, he wouldn’t have had time to lift his hulking frame off of the floor before I was on top of him. In the last twenty feet, I gave it all up and sprinted at him, my grunts turning into a low scream.
“You sick son of a bitch,” I screamed, grabbing his leg and sliding him on the floor, pulling him away from Kenna.
I saw Kenna jolt in surprise and roll away, but I was too focused on Buzz. Once he was dealt with, I would untie her and cover her up. For now, my rage had found its target, and I wouldn’t relent until he was dead.
Buzz’s hands were still reaching out as though Kenna was lying next to him, but his eyes had gone wide, his mouth opened in a muted scream.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” I kicked out at his face, my book connecting with his nose. The acoustics in the abandoned factory were astounding. I heard the sickening crunch resound off the ceiling and walls several seconds after it had happened.
Buzz clutched his face, blood leaking between his fingers. He looked up at me, too shocked to move. Clearly, he hadn’t anticipated my arrival. He had been taking his time with Kenna, certain he had as much time as he wanted with her. And thank God for that. If he’d been in a rush, I could have walked in on a much different scene.
I kicked out at him again, this time my heel connected with his stomach, and he doubled up with a groan, his arms wrapping around his middle. I saw that his nose was sitting at a strange angle on his face, and already puffiness was setting in around his eyes.
“I didn’t even touch her.” Buzz spluttered from the blood in his mouth. “Well, we hadn’t done anything yet. She’s fine.”
“Yet?”
Buzz realized his slip and opened his mouth to explain, but I punched him in the jaw. His head snapped to the right, and his forehead thudded against the concrete. I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if I hadn’t shown up when I did. Buzz had just admitted he had every intention of having his way with Kenna, which was as much as a confession as I needed.
“This is for my motorcycle club,” I said, kicking him in the back of the neck.
“I partnered up with the wrong guys,” Buzz said, grabbing his thick neck, his legs kicking across the floor as he tried to scramble into a seated position. “I didn’t know we were going to go after your place.”
Again, a bold and obvious lie. Buzz had sent me a video saying that he had taken out the motorcycle club on purpose. But I could forgive him for this small infraction. He was desperate and currently saying anything he could to save himself. Only I knew there was nothing he could say to stop me.
“This is for Kenna.”
I remembered the gun in my hand and pistol-whipped him across the forehead. The handle of my gun connected with his skull with a sick crunch. Buzz whimpered and fell to the floor, his heavy body collapsed to the side, his arms and legs limp. If his eyes hadn’t been swirling around frantically in his head, I would have thought he was unconscious.
“And this is for our baby.”
I turned the gun around, and before Buzz could even focus his eyes on me or the weapon, I pulled the trigger. A shot rang out through the building, sounding hollow and tinny as it echoed off the metal and glass. A clean hole opened up in the side of his head, and after a second, blood began to pool beneath his head. It coated the collar of his shirt. I stepped over the puddle as I made my way over to Kenna.
***
Kenna
Buzz stroked my skin, repeating over and over again how beautiful I was while he stared at me. He acted as though he’d never seen a naked woman before. And for all I knew, he hadn’t. He was far from the most attractive man around, and his crude manners made it possible no woman would ever have been interested in him.
With any consensual partner, I would have blushed from all the attention. But with Buzz, kidnapped and bound and gagged as I was, the whole experience was excruciatingly horrible. I would have gladly dropped dead right there.
“You deserve more than a man like Trigger. Someone who would use you and lose you, moving on to the next girl in the line. I would have taken care of you if you’d let me,” he said, his lips fumbling around the words, so it was hard to understand them.
If I hadn’t been gagged, I would have reminded Buzz that he tried to rape me the first time we ever met. That he threatened to let my mom die, and Trigger was the one who saved me. Buzz had never been anything but a monster to me. And even if he were right, and Trigger had been ignoring me because he had a new woman in his life, that was still one million times better than the life I would have had being with Buzz. Even the thought of it made me nauseous.
I couldn’t say any of this, though, because of the gag and because antagonizing the man who would surely be torturing me later felt like a bad idea. I wanted the pain to be over quickly, so I just laid there on the cold cement and tried to send my mind somewhere else.
“You could have modeled,” Buzz said, running his fingers around my breasts. “Your body is perfectly symmetrical.”
Hot, burning tears gathered behind my eyes, and I twisted my head around so Buzz wouldn’t see. I didn’t want him to know he was breaking me, I didn’t want him to see how terrified I was of what would happen next. I looked up at the ceiling, at the metal beams that spanned the large room, at the shard of skyline I could see through the warehouse windows.
The thought that I could be taking my last look at the night sky ever, that I would likely be dead before the sunrise, overwhelmed me, and I swallowed back a sob.
Buzz leaned towards me and pressed his lips against my earlobe. “I think you’ll enjoy yourself once we get started. I’m a big man everywhere, Kenna.”
I shivered from sheer repulsion. Every cell in my body wanted to get away from him. I rolled onto my side as much as I could, but Buzz reached out and placed a hand on my waist, shifting me towards him. I knew what would come next, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the sick truth of it.
“You sick son of a bitch!”
The scream tore through the building, and for a second, I thought that it was somehow a manifestation of my own thoughts. I’d been thinking it so hard that it projected into the room. Then, Buzz was yanked from his position next to me, and I saw Trigger step into view. He glanced at me for a second, his face twisted into a rage I’d never seen before, then he focused his sights on Buzz.
For the first time all night,
my body relaxed. I sagged against the concrete and listened but didn’t watch. I couldn’t. I’d seen too much, experienced too much. I couldn’t take anymore. I was beyond grateful that I’d been rescued, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything other than exhaustion.
Buzz was saying something. His voice, usually booming and confident, sounded high-pitched and whiny. Every time he spoke, Trigger responded with more anger and venom than I thought should be humanly possible. Buzz’s body crunched beneath Trigger’s touch, and I flinched with each hit.
“This is for my motorcycle club.”
Crunch.
“This is for Kenna.”
Crack.
I looked up then, just for a moment. I didn’t know why, probably because Trigger had said my name, and despite the circumstances around us, I liked the sound of it. I liked watching his lips move around the letters. It felt intimate.
“And this is for our baby.”
I looked away too late. Buzz slumped sideways, his eyes wide with shock, but also bizarrely lifeless, as though he had died the moment the bullet had left the gun, rather than the moment it tore through his brain. I heard his head bounce off the concrete, and I swallowed down rising nausea.