by S. L. Walker
“That one,” Victoria pointed at a less crowded food station. It had cheap foods like hotdogs and pretzels, something that could keep them a little full until they got home. Some people looked at them as if they were little lost girls, but then carried on with their business. The girls all ordered dollar hotdogs, fries and soda.
“We have $41 left,” Angel told them, sticking the change back into her bra.
“Good, we will eat again towards our last stop,” Raven told them. They carried their food to an empty table and sat down.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom, y’all. Be right back,” Eva told them.
“Angel go with her, we got to stay together. And keep a lookout for any weird men. They could still be looking for us,” Raven told them. She was on edge and hated that they had to wait a whole hour to board the bus again. She knew that Cash wasn’t stupid and he’d be tracing these bus routes back to Baltimore. She almost wanted to switch bus routes just to throw them off, but they didn’t have the money to do that for all of them.
“It says we have a stop in Jacksonville,” Victoria sighed, looking at their booklet.
“Fuck, I wish it didn’t take so long to get home,” Raven sighed, putting ketchup on her hot hotdog.
“Least we are fucking out of their eyes,” Victoria took a sip of her coke.
“We aren’t out of shit. Cash won’t stop coming for us till we get home and to the police. Who knows who the hell he has after us now,” Raven glared.
“Just think, we could be on our way to some foreign country right now,. Not even together, Vee. We made this far. We will make it home,” Victoria reassured her.
Victoria was right. Who knows what could be happening right now if they didn't get away. In that moment, something made her look around for any signs of Cash’s men. No-one looked like they were searching for anything; everyone was either busy eating, buying bus tickets, or standing in their gate line waiting to board.
“Angel, let me use some change,” Eva stopped Angel before they walked into the bathroom door.
“Whats up?” She asked her, digging some change out for Eva.
“Gonna try and find a pay phone and call my mom. I gotta know she’s okay,” Eva rushed her.
“But Raven said,” Angel began.
“Fuck what Raven said! That was there, we are in Orlando now. We have time. Give me the money,” Eva pressed.
“Fine,” Angel gave the change to Eva and followed her to the nearest payphone not far from the bathroom. Eva first dialed the house phone and no answer. Then she paged her. “No, you’re gonna use all of our money! I’ll call my mom,” Angel stopped her from dialing again. She let the change return and put it back in to dial her mom’s cellphone.
“Mom!” The sweet sound of her mom’s voice almost drove her to cry. She never thought she’d hear from her again. Eva’s face lit up as well.
“Is my mom with her?!” Eva screeched.
“Yes yes! It’s me…Angie. I'm okay! We are in Orlando catching a Greyhound there now. Yes, we are all together. We are okay. I know mom, no we can come to you! I don’t know we left. Some guy named Cash took us. Mom. Mom. Is Eva’s mom there?” Angel rambled. Her mom was asking a thousand questions. “She’s okay, everyone’s at the hospital with her,” Angel relayed the message to Eva.
“The hospital? Let me talk to her,” Eva grabbed the phone. “Mom? Yes, can I talk to her? Mom!” Eva was too eager as well to hear her mom’s voice. “We have no money, and the phone time is running out!”
Angel kept watch feeling overwhelmed with happiness. She was glad Eva made this decision to call home, now they knew what to do and the girls knew their parents would be less stressed. But her happiness came to an end with just one fateful eye to eye contact with a tall Hispanic man with a military cut and black leather jacket. He had on dark black shades but moved them above his head to get a better look at the girls. He had turned the corner and found them just like that. Another hispanic man, a bit shorter, plumper and wore an all black track suit followed right behind him. Angel’s jaw dropped.
“Eva run!” Angel grabbed Eva’s arm as the guys darted towards them, leaving the payphone dangling on the chord.
“Eva! Eva! Oh my God!” Eva’s mom freaked out on the other end.
Eva’s heart pounded when she noticed who they were running from. She let Angel lead them towards the back of the hallway near an emergency exit. They burst through the door shading their eyes from the bright sun, and made a right towards where people would be.
“We gotta get Raven and Tori!” Eva shouted. The men also burst through the emergency exit, several feet behind them.
The girls pushed through people in the front of the building with luggage and ran back inside. As if in sync, Raven turned around from her food to see Angel and Eva rushing towards them.
“What the-?” Raven stood up, catching Victoria’s attention as well.
“Run!” Eva shouted to them. Raven didn’t ask any questions and neither did Victoria. She saw another emergency exit beyond one of the food stations and ran for it. She looked back just in time to see the two men enter the room. They stopped running to look around for them. Angel and Eva dipped behind the stand just in time to hide. Customers in line looked at them and around wondering who they were running from.
“Come on!” Raven whispered loudly from the side of her corner out of sight from the men. “They aren’t looking. Now!” She waved for Angel and Eva to join them. They both hurried across, making it to Raven and Victoria.
“What are they doing here? Where did they see you?” Raven panicked.
“By the bathroom,” Angel told her.
“Come on we gotta hide somewhere, our bus doesn’t leave for another half an hour,” Raven told them heading out the emergency exit.
“They are going to be waiting at that bus, Vee. You know that right?” Victoria told her. Raven was very aware of that. They would not be able escape and even if they did, they would just meet them at the next stop.
“I got a plan,” Raven said.
CHAPTER 45
“Are your friends going to be okay?” Professor Heart startled Zara at the vending machine while she was getting her a soda pop. She was so shocked to even see his face no words could come out of her mouth. “I’m Professor Heart. Eva’s teacher,” he helped her out.
“Yeah, I know who you are,” she finally woke out of her daze. “What are you doing here?” She looked around, looking for cops or anybody that he could have had with him, but he was alone.
“I’m looking for Eva. What happened to her? Who took her? And who were those boys you brought in here?” He asked, quickly.
“Shhh! Listen, I don't know what kind of relationship you have with Eva, but I am pretty fucking sure it ain’t legal! You been doing a whole lot of snooping, but it’s best you didn’t know shit. Go home! We got this,” she scolded, getting her orange pop out the bottom of the vending machine and moving past him to the waiting room.
“No! I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what’s going on!” He jerked her by the arm, almost causing a scene. Zara frowned at him putting his hands on her, but then smirked.
“You love her,” she outed him. “Well, I’ll be damn.” She shook her head at this adult teacher love struck over a teenage girl.
“Miss?” One of the doctors interrupted them both. “You were the girl that brought the two gentlemen in?”
“Yes. How are they?” She asked him. Professor Heart let her arm gently go and backed up a bit.
The doctor looked at him.
“It’s fine, he’s my cousin,” she brushed Professor Heart off.
“Well, one man, has a broken wrist, major bruises around his brain, but he will be okay. Um…we couldn’t help Deon. He was fading too fast and was bleeding internally. I am so sorry.”
She covered her mouth to keep from crying out.
“If you know any of his family, please notify them for us,” the doctor relayed the devastating news to Zara
. Zara felt as if someone kicked the breath out of her. She knew Raven would be crippled. She gave the doctor a faint nod and turned to Professor Heart. He gave her a hug and let her rest in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. She looked up at him.
“Come on,” she told him.
$$$$
“That’s all I know man!” Jack’s knees were shaking uncontrollably as he puffed on his fifth cigarette. Nick had personally made his way down to the police station to question Jack. He wanted to know who he was speed chasing after and what did he know about Treach. Somehow he knew the girls being taken was all connected.
“So, where is this warehouse?” He leaned in.
“Off of Bourbon and Third. Run down street, nobody really goes down. There’s a dead end. But, I don’t know anything about no kidnapping of no girls! He dealt to me. That’s it,” he whined, taking a puff of his cigarette.
“Who shot your boy?” Nick asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know who she was. She worked for Treach. I guess it was my boys fault he was harassing her, man,” Jack dug his palms in his eyes and took another puff of his cigarette.
“What she look like?” Nick questioned.
“I don’t know, man. Green eyes, light skinned, I don’t know, I was high!” He yelled. Nick bit his lip in frustration knowing Jack knew more than he was dishing.
“Boss!” Officer Sheranton burst into the questioning room. “The parents just heard word from the girls in Orlando. Said a man named Cash had kidnapped them and they were trying to make it back to Baltimore on the Greyhound. Something happened, though, the girls screamed and the phone disconnected,” she told him, quickly. Nick looked back at Jack. He had enough information.
“Alright. I want you to get a squad over to that warehouse. Put an APB out on Treach and a man named Cash from Tampa, possibly Miami. I want those fuckers found. I want buses and Airports scouted! Get the Orlando Police Department on the phone, let’s go get these girls!” Nick stood up from his chair.
“What about me?!” Jack shouted as Nick shut the door behind him. Nick wasn’t done with him, he would find who sent him on a wild goose chase and almost got him killed.
$$$$
“There’s an outside bathroom around the corner. Not sure if there are a lot of people over there but it’s worth a try. We need to split them up somehow and lead them to the bathroom. I’ll do the rest,” Raven huddled behind a big green dumpster with the girls.
“I’m scared,” Angel shivered.
Raven put her hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s go,” she motioned for Eva to go back inside to get the men’s attention. They were still looking around. She sashayed in the middle of the food court walking over to a buffet counter. She grabbed a fork and stuck it in the back of her pants. She turned around just in time for one of the men to see her and pointed in her direction. Eva twiddled her fingers hello and smiled. She then made a run for it back towards the exit and like cat and mouse, they chased behind her. They burst out the exit door and stopped.
“Ah!” Angel fake screamed on the other side of the door. She made a run for it in the opposite direction.
“Hey!” Eva called out as she made a run in her own direction. The men split up just as planned, one after Angel and the other after Eva. Eva pushed back through the same people and tripped and fell. She frantically got back up, looking behind her at the several feet he had now gained on her.
“Help! Help! This man is trying to rape me! Help me! He tried to rape me!” Eva screamed as on lookers watched the man stop in his tracks. People yelled to call the police, a few younger men confronted the man as he stepped backwards.
“Please! Please!” She screamed grabbing onto peoples arms and continuing on her way. The man was bombarded with people and made a run for it. Someone actually wrestled him to the ground.
“Attention travelers! Bus to Savannah, Georgia is now loading. Please make your way to Gate E. Again, Savannah, Georgia departs in five minutes, please make your way to Gate E.” The loudspeaker came on.
Eva’s ears rang as she ran towards the side of the building to the bathroom where Raven said she’d be. No one was sitting out there and it brought a knot to Eva’s throat. She swung open the bathroom door to see Angel, Raven and Tori all surrounding a bloodied and unconscious man on the floor.
“The bus is about to leave,” Eva told them, closing the door and locking it.
“We heard,” Raven said.
“What do we do with him?” Eva asked. “Is he dead?”
“I think so,” Raven nodded. “Help me get him into the stall,” she grabbed him by one arm. Eva took the other arm. Tori took one leg, and Angel the other leg. They grunted and sweat beads formed as they drug the tall man into the bigger stall and laid him on the floor.
“Help me,” Raven motioned for them to sit him on the toilet. They again wailed and grunted in agony as they lifted him on the toilet.
“Here,” Victoria grabbed the broken toilet bowl cover from the ground Raven had hit him upside the head with. Raven wiped it down with toilet tissue as best she could and then locked the stall door.
“Come on,” she scooted underneath the bathroom door with the girls following her. She flushed her tissue down the toilet in the other stall and washed her hands and face.
“Last call for Savannah, Georgia. Please head to Gate E. Last Call,” the announcer said again.
“Is he taken care of?” Raven asked Eva before she unlocked the main bathroom door.
“Yep, pretty sure cops are on their way now,” Eva smiled.
“Yeah, well, cops could be working for Cash, too. Let’s bounce,” Raven said, unlocking the door and they all jogged back inside to the gate. They noticed a huge crowd and some security guards who had the other guy detained. Eva covered her face as they slid by and into the line with the last couple of people at the gate. They handed the driver their ticket and found their empty seats again in the back.
$$$$
“What the fuck do you mean they are looking for me?!” Cash was furious on his cellphone as his intel warned him that Orlando Police Department was after him. “Well, if they don’t know what I look like then it doesn’t matter does it?!” He yelled some more. He was in the back of his black Cadillac being driven to Orlando to see what was going on with his men. The last time he talked to them, they had the girls there and was trying to scare them out without making to much attention, now no one was picking up their phones.
“I will do what the fuck I want!” He hung up his phone. “Nada?” He looked at his goon who was sitting next to him. He shook his head.
“Maybe I should go take a look if cops are looking for you,” his goon advised.
“No, No! No little bitches are gonna scare me. They are mine! I paid for them and I know where they are going! Call Monty in Savannah!” He ordered.
$$$$
Treach had been hightailing it in an unmarked truck out of Baltimore for a few hours now. Him, Nine, and West had stopped in South Philadelphia for some gas and food.
“Get some Doritos and grab me one of those red Slurpies,” Treach pointed at Nine who was going inside to pay the gas and get some food. Nine gave an unpleasant smirk and walked inside the gas station. “Psh,” Treach brushed him off.
“Man, you know Nine not gone be the same since you left DJ there to die,” West provoked, stepping out of the back seat to stretch.
“He will get over it. He has to,” Treach told him.
“And if he don’t?” West continued.
“I don’t know, nigga, I haven’t thought that far ahead. Nine is my boy!” Treach frowned.
“So was DJ,” West reminded him. He let that sit with Treach as he walked away towards the bathroom.
Treach knew he had fucked up by getting rid of DJ, but he also didn’t like having to watch his back forever. He’d rather live with the agony of DJ’s death than over the paranoia of wondering if his life would have been taken. He was gonna disappea
r. Now, he didn’t have to worry about DJ, Deon, nor the girls and he’d be long gone with his vanilla latte Canadian girl in no time.
$$$$
Zara told Professor Heart as much as she could without detailing too much information. He knew that the girls became targets by helping out Treach. He knew that things had become violent at times and he knew, now, who took the girls and why. She even had disclosed her role in all this but left her dad and Tito out of it. It was code to never talk about what your family did. Her affiliation to the girls was school only.
“This is my dad and my uncle,” she introduced Professor Heart to Manuel and Tito. They decided to meet back at Treach’s last warehouse they knew about.
“Hey,” Manuel shook Professor Heart’s hand in confusion. “What’s a guy like you doing with teenage girls?” Manuel asked. Zara’s eyes rolled.
“Papa, he’s like Eva’s mentor. Cut him some slack. They are close and he’s worried. Did you get any news?” She came in between her dad’s cold eyes.
“I mean no harm,” Professor Heart put his hands up. Zara noticed that she could see why Eva had a thing for him. He was handsome, stern, respectable, and young in the face. You almost couldn’t fault him.
But my dad did.
“Yeah, I bet you don’t,” Tito added his two cents.
“Tito got word the girls are in Orlando. Maybe even long gone. They heard screams before the phone went out,” Manuel told them.
“Well, then let’s go? Where are they stopping next?” Zara said eagerly.
“It don’t matter, we have too much of an hours distance, they could be anywhere at anytime. We just gotta see if Cash will tell us anything else,” said Manuel.
“No, they could be in trouble! Dad!” Zara was tired of her dad’s patient attitude. “I’m going!” She stormed off towards Professor Heart’s car that he drove her in.