by Voss, Deja
A green hummer pulled up to the curb in front of the station and the door swung open.
“Mr. Albright?” The driver asked. The irony wasn’t lost on me that he looked like a young version of myself. Wasn’t lost on him either. He sized me up as I hopped in and he whipped the thing out of the parking lot before I could even get the door shut.
“What do you know?” I asked as I dialed her number again.
“House is surrounded. Nobody’s breeched the parameter yet. We’re waiting for some intel before we go in.”
“Has anyone seen Sage?” I asked. Straight to voicemail.
“No. There hasn’t been any sign of movement in the house. Is there anywhere she might have gone?”
I pulled up Colt’s number on my phone and dialed it. “Where the fuck you at?” Colt barked. “Should’ve been back here hours ago.”
“I’ve been in fucking jail dude,” I said. “You seen Sage?”
“No. Haven’t seen Sage and nobody can find Athena. Wait you were in fucking jail? Law…”
“That douchebag set me up. Got picked up for trafficking and kidnapping.”
“Holy shit…” he stammered. “and you’re out?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Well we’re going over there,” he said. “Don’t like the thought of my sister and your woman hanging around.”
“I don’t either, Colt, but you gotta trust me on this one,” I said.
A voice came over the speakers on the dashboard. “Target spotted. Male, twenty three, five foot four.”
“What’s happening?” Colt asked.
“Where’s Sage?” I shouted back at the speakers, knowing fully well they couldn’t hear me.
“I’m going over there,” Colt growled.
“Don’t. Just trust me,” I pleaded.
“Explosion in the living room. Window broken. Smoke coming from the window,” the voice said again.
“Yeah fuck that,” Colt muttered. “We’re going over.”
“Colt, I’ll be there soon,” I said, hanging up the phone. “Bud, you’re going to have to drive a little faster.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sage:
I lost track of time sitting there in the basement with Athena. We were trying to make the best of the situation, trying to make a joke over the fact that we were resigned to peeing in a drain in the corner. Trying to joke about how we were disgusting old hags who nobody wanted to see naked anymore anyway.
Trying to make light of the fact that my first official porn video could also be my last.
I didn’t tell her that little sliver of information. I was saving it for when we needed it the most. I knew getting out of here was probably going to require a lot of fight.
“Oh look, it’s dumb and dumber,” she shouted, cackling as the masked men appeared in the window of the steel door. “Hey fuck heads! You got any snacks? We’re starving in here!”
The door swung open slowly, and before we could get up off the ground, they charged at us. They were giant brutes, and even though I thrashed with all my might, one of them grabbed me by my upper arms, restraining them behind my back as he slammed me off the wall.
“I did not consent to this!” Athena screamed. “Kevin! You’re gonna be in a world of shit!” She was swinging her legs wildly in the air as the one brute lugged her over his back like a bag of potatoes.
“Stupid girls,” Kevin’s voice boomed from the loudspeaker in the room. “You can fight all you want. The clients are absolutely going to love that.”
“What is he talking about?” Athena asked, her body going limp. “What is he talking about?”
“We’re going to make a movie, Athena. Starring you and your traitor friend. I hate to say it, but it’s probably going to be the most popular film of your career. Too bad you won’t be around to collect the royalties.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she shouted.
“Athena, I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Kevin, you promised! You leave her out of this. I will sign whatever paperwork you need to get immunity. You do whatever you need to do to me, but you get her out of here right now!”
“You really think you have any bargaining rights you dumb bitch?” He started to cackle as I rammed my elbow into the stomach of the man pinning me to the wall. It didn’t seem to even affect him. How could it? Any monster willing to participate in this kind of disgusting shit probably didn’t have feelings. Definitely didn’t have a soul. He probably liked the fight as much as Kevin’s ‘clients.’ “Tie them up,” he commanded.
“Bitch!” the man trying to restrain Athena shouted. “She bit my fucking dick! This wasn’t in the script!” He reeled backwards, clutching his crotch in his hands.
“I figured we could improvise today,” Kevin said. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
The man who was holding me down stiffened, looking up at the ceiling. “You mean you want us to like, actually rough em up?”
I could tell he was conflicted. Maybe he was my way out. There might be real monsters in this world, but clearly this guy at least had somewhat of a conscience.
“Can’t we just do that in post production like we normally do?” the other guy asked. “She’s clearly breastfeeding. I don’t know if I hit her in the wrong place if maybe I’ll break her?”
“You fucking idiots, do you not understand what’s going on here? You have free rein. Do whatever you want! No holds barred. No repercussions! There are men who would pay millions of dollars to be in the position you’re in right now.”
I didn’t have time for these idiots to discuss the moral implications of raping and murdering women. I grabbed for the man’s mask and ripped it off his face. He slapped his hands over his eyes to cover it up.
“Oh come on, bud,” I said. “You at least owe it to me to look me in the eye. What kind of coward are you?”
“Miss, I had no idea,” the man said, peeking out from behind his hands. “I thought ya’ll signed the contract. I thought this was like the rest of the videos.”
The other guy still had Athena heaved over his shoulder. He was looking up at the ceiling like he was expecting some kind of divine intervention.
“Put me the fuck down,” she said. “Or I’ll bite you in the dick again and this time I’ll make sure I decapitate you.”
He set her to the floor and took his mask off. He was a handsome guy. Young bodybuilder. Not the kind of man I’d expect to be involved in something like this, but then again, I had learned in all my years in the agency that the monsters amongst us are often times the most inconspicuous.
“I’m calling time-out,” the man said. “Kevin, quit rolling. This clearly wasn’t part of the contract.”
“Oh it’s too late for that,” Kevin said, his laugh increasingly demonic. “We’ve been live for the last few hours. I can’t believe our servers are even able to keep up with the demand.”
“This is the most unprofessional bullshit I’ve ever seen in my life,” the man next to me shouted. “I’m getting the fuck out of here. I do not consent!” He held his middle finger up and charged for the door.
“You really think that’s something I care about?” Kevin asked. “Somebody’s gonna die on camera today. I don’t care who it is or how it happens. There’s a nice assortment of weapons in the cabinets on the wall. Pick your poison. Somebody dies, I’ll let the rest of you free. If not, I’ve got a backup plan.”
“You think you’re fucking Jig Saw or something?” Athena shouted. “You’re just a loser, Kevin. Nobody likes you.”
“Just kill me now,” the guy next to me said. “My family is going to be so fucking ashamed when this gets out, I might as well be dead.”
“No,” I insisted. “Nobody is killing anybody. In fact, Kevin, I’d be hard pressed to believe you actually do have a back-up plan. You’re so used to getting everything you want, I think you’re just bullshitting us. You’re not a criminal mastermind. You’re the lowest of low on the food chain, Kevin. And
I know for a fact, you’ll never get your hands dirty.”
I grabbed Athena by the arm and charged towards the door, the two men following on our heels.
“You’re gonna regret that,” Kevin said over the intercom.
I rolled my eyes.
It was time for us to get up out of here. I needed to spring Law out of jail.
I pulled the door handle and all of a sudden a loud alarm started going off. The lights went out and the emergency lights began to flash.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to get in an elevator when those things are going off,” one of the men said. I didn’t care. I mashed all the buttons and the doors swung open. We didn’t have time to figure out how to get out of Kevin’s stupid little maze. Even if he was just talking out his ass, this was do or die.
We held our breath as the elevator quickly took us to the next floor. The lights were flashing up here, and the sirens were deafening.
“Look! Some stairs!” Athena shouted, pointing down the hallway.
We sprinted up the stairwell and by the time we reached the next floor, the air began filling with smoke.
“Did that dumb fucker light this place on fire?” Athena asked.
I felt the door and took a chance, kicking it open. Smoke filled my lungs. Things started getting hazy.
“FBI! Nobody move!” Somebody shouted. My knees buckled as my eyes rolled back in my head.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Law:
I paced the hospital room, not really sure what else to do with myself.
I’d already torn Omar a new one for not having more eyes on her. I’d already had my five minutes alone with Kevin and my trusty pipe wrench while everyone turned a blind eye. None of it made me feel better.
Seeing Sage in this hospital bed was the worst shit I could’ve possibly imagined. I’d seen her beat, bruised, burned, and tortured before, but I’d never seen her completely broken. There were tubes coming out of her nose, pumping oxygen into her lungs, and her vitals had stabilized, but she still hadn’t opened her eyes since she got here.
The house fire was a complete fluke incident. Kevin was running computer servers that weren’t capable of handling the amount of traffic going to the live feed of his little social experiment. They exploded, catching the house on fire and blowing out the windows. In one way, it was a blessing there were so many sick fucks in the world. They were the ones who gave Sage a chance to escape. They were also the ones who put her in this hospital bed.
“Never taking my eyes off you again, Sage,” I said, sitting in the chair next to her bed. I had to fight for my right to even be allowed in this room, seeing as we weren’t family or officially married, but I planned on changing that as soon as I could get her to wake up. “I failed you. I was so fucking stupid.”
My heart literally hurt and I wondered if I was going into cardiac arrest. Was this how much we were meant to be together? If she went, was I going to die, too? It would’ve been easier. Thinking about living my life a day without her just made it hurt even worse.
I reached for her hand and struggled to breathe. I felt like I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs no matter how hard I tried. Was this what she felt in there?
“Landon,” the purest sweetest voice I ever heard rasped from the bed. “You’re having an anxiety attack.”
“Babe,” I muttered, jumping up from the chair. She blinked her eyes open and smiled at me.
“Sit down,” she said. “we don’t need you passing out.”
I gripped my chest and gulped. I flopped back down in the chair, still not letting go of her hand. I didn’t care if I was in the middle of a full blown heart attack. I was never going to willingly let go of that hand again. She could come in the operating room with me for all I cared. As long as I had her by my side, I knew everything was going to be alright.
“Push the button,” she whispered, her throat still hoarse. “get the nurse in here.”
“I’m fine, Sage,” I assured her. “Better now that you’re awake. I feel like a fucking joke, you’re in a damn coma and you’re still worrying about me.”
“I wasn’t in a coma, Landon,” she said. She squeezed my fingers and winced as she wiggled her toes and stretched her legs. “I just needed a minute. I guess I was just really exhausted.”
I felt my breathing start to come back to normal. The pain in my chest began to subside. The color was already starting to come back to her face, and she stirred in the bed, tugging at the various tubes and ports coming out of her body.
“Yikes,” she muttered, looking down at her bruises on her arms. “Does my face look as bad as the rest of me?”
“Your face looks beautiful,” I said. “Nothing’s ever going to change my opinion about that.” I brushed her hair out of her eye. She made this contented growling noise that hit me right in the heart.
“You ready to bust me out of here or do we need to get you a bed beside me?” she teased. “I’m not trying to take away from your panic attack, love.”
“You had me so worried, Sage,” I whispered. “Thinking about spending a single day without you was too much for my mind to handle. Too much for my heart to feel. I can’t do that anymore.”
“Why do you think I woke up?” she asked. She reached for my face, running her fingers through my beard. “I missed you. I didn’t want to spend another minute without you. Now please, can you see what you can do about busting me out of here and taking me home?”
“Home, huh? And where would that be?” I asked, just to double check.
“Well it sure ain’t the Best Western down the block. Don’t we have a dog or something that needs fed?”
“Our dog, huh? I always knew Tootsie would come in handy. It’s hard to resist her charms.”
“Fresh slate,” she said, pressing her lips to mine. “It’s time for our next adventure, and I think this one is going to be the most exciting one of all.”
I knew this one was going to be the most exciting one of all. I didn’t need a fresh slate. I didn’t want to erase our past. I loved her from the instant I met her. All the ups and downs that brought us here, right here, they were well worth it.
I pushed the button to call in the nurse and everyone came rushing into the room. A nurse, a doctor, Omar, Athena, half the MC, a bunch of random porn stars, apparently everyone was just as worried about my girl as I was.
“Athena, you’re alright!” she said with a smile, her eyes lighting up.
“You were right about one thing, guys, there is nothing sexy or glamorous about this undercover shit. I’m officially retired,” Athena giggled.
“Me, too,” Sage said. “Sorry, Omar.”
“I get it,” he said, nodding at the two of us.
“It’s not because I’m old and dried up like you so kindly reminded me,” she said.
I cocked my fist back and Omar backed away.
“Dude,” he said with a laugh, raising his hands in the air, “I was trying to speed things up for you. I think I did a pretty good job playing matchmaker.”
“Oh don’t give me that shit,” Sage teased. “You wait til they unhook me and you’re gonna be in trouble.”
I had to laugh, too. As much as I wanted to hate the agency for everything they put us through, without it, the two of us would’ve never been together. I’d never know if we were soulmates all along or if the job whipped me into the man I needed to be for her, but I didn’t care. I was going home with my prize, and she was officially all mine.
I held her hand while the doctor did another exam of her body, making sure she was strong enough to go. I waited outside the radiology lab as they ran x-rays on her lungs, peeking in through the window of the doorway.
I helped her slide into a pair of sweatpants and one of my hoodies, and felt my heart damn near burst when she brought the sleeves to her face and and inhaled and sighed. “My favorite smell,” she cooed.
It was a few hours before they discharged her, and she gripped her fingernails into my h
and as we walked out into the night.
“You nervous?” I asked.
“No,” she said, leaning her head into my shoulder. “I’m ready. I’m free.”
Chapter Forty
Epilogue:
Law:
“You’re up early,” I said. It was a rare morning when I rolled over in bed to find her missing. These days, we took our time. We were taking full advantage of our retirement, and it was fucking incredible.
We did a lot of motorcycle riding. A lot of home improvement projects. A lot of no pants lazy days and nights of love making. Call us lame, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I needed to work on my bucket list,” she said. She was wearing this gray silk robe, and the way it just barely tied in the front woke my dick up, even though I was still wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I knew I’d never have to worry about erectile dysfunction as long as she was with me. All she had to do was look me in the eyes or bend over just a certain way, hell, even when she was yelling at me, my dick found a reason to blow a hole through my zipper.
“Oh yeah? What’s on the agenda for today? You going to go buy a year’s worth of toilet paper at Costco? Train for a turkey trot?” Her civilian bucket list was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. She made a list of all the ‘normal people’ things she never got to do on account of her job, and meticulously checked them off one by one.
She’d got a tattoo on her ass to cover up the fake birthmarks while she clawed the shit out of my hand. It was a pretty little thing, a skull and some roses with my name underneath it, and seeing her wear my mark every damn day was the greatest gift anyone’d ever given me. She finally got to go to her beloved Boyz 2 Men concert, and Judas and I stood there with our hands in our pockets while her and Athena sang along to all their favorite 90s songs. She taught a weekly self defense class for women at the local gym. She planted an herb garden in our kitchen and learned how to make an amazing bolognese. I didn’t care what she wanted to do to fill her days, as long as I got to come along for the ride.