Denied

by Marissa Farrar

  The drive back to the Marine Corps base felt like it took a lifetime. Little conversation lightened the atmosphere, and any that took place was short and perfunctory. The more miles the car ate up, the worse her nerves got, until she felt physically sick, her stomach a churning knot. She stared out of the window to hide how she felt, watching the freeway pass by. If Monster knew how badly this was all affecting her, she was sure he’d insist on her not coming, and it wouldn’t be an argument where Monster was concerned. He’d probably just throw her out of the vehicle somewhere along the way, deal with the job at hand, and if she was lucky, he’d pick her up on the way back.

  She didn’t want that to happen, so she forced herself to take long, slow breaths, and hoped he wouldn’t notice the trembling that slowly worked its way through her body.

  Twenty

  Eventually, they approached the small town.

  Sean pulled the car over down a side street, a couple of blocks away from both the port and the Marine base.

  “We don’t want to get noticed,” he said. “We’ll walk the rest.”

  Lily glanced over at Monster, and he nodded his agreement.

  They each opened their respective doors and stepped out onto the street. Lily couldn’t believe she was back here again. She hadn’t thought she’d come back twice, never mind for a third time. She just hoped they’d be able to do what was needed and put an end to Cigarette Hands and his part in this barbaric trade once and for all.

  The streets were quiet, a strange hum settling over the town in that portentous way inhabited areas had at night, the sound of streetlights, the distant freeway, and hundreds of people sleeping. The salty and slightly fishy tang in the air took her back to the time she’d spent in the container all those weeks ago, and her heart tripped over itself, her breath growing shallow. Would Cigarette Hands be there, waiting for them? For all she knew, they might have had security cameras watching the containers and so knew she and Cameron had been there earlier the previous day. If so, would they have cut their losses and run, taking the women with them? There were so many unknowns, and she just hoped something wouldn’t catch them out.

  “You sure you’re ready for this?” Monster asked her. “You can always wait in the car. Don’t feel like you have to prove anything to anyone.”

  “The only person I’m doing this for is me. Well, me and the other women those bastards have taken.” At the thought of Cigarette Hands, her anger rose inside her, steadying her nerves. That was what she needed to hold on to—that anger. She needed to cling to the emotion if she was going to get through this.

  “Shouldn’t we park the car closer so we can make a quick getaway?” she suggested, keeping her voice low.

  “If the traffickers are there, they’ll hear the car and have a warning that we’re coming. It’s better if we take them by surprise.”

  She nodded. “Okay, I’ll trust you. You are the professional, after all.”

  He gave her a sideways glance. “I’m not a hit man, Flower.”

  “Sure, I know that,” she said, hurriedly.

  Monster’s phone buzzed and he checked it. “Mason and Evans are still an hour away. They have your friend with them. I suggest we go and scope the situation out first so we’ve got a better idea of what we’re dealing with. For all we know, the traffickers might have moved the women since yesterday, and have taken off.”

  She nodded. “I thought the same thing.”

  Sean and Chapman stepped forward. “We’ll take the lead,” said Sean. “Stay behind us.”

  Monster gave a single nod to show his agreement. “Remember,” he told the other men, “you don’t kill the guy in charge unless you absolutely have to. Lily wants that pleasure.”

  The whole of her insides did a slow roll like the contents of a washing machine, but she pressed her lips together and nodded. She needed to remember what he’d done to her, and what he’d done to countless other women. Her anger made her jaw clench and her muscles tighten. She did want to see the look in his eyes when he realized who had come to take his life.

  Whatever Cigarette Hands had believed, she had come back.

  They kept to the side streets, moving quickly, the men surprisingly light-footed for their size. They ran with their hands close to their hips, and she knew they all had weapons hidden there, ready to pull if needed. Her own weapon felt big and clunky in the waistband of her jeans, the barrel rubbing against her hip. The gun had made her more confident before, but now she was with professionals, she felt inexperienced and out of her depth. Would she even know how to shoot it properly when the time came?

  Lily hurried to keep up, her breathing growing labored. It had been a while since she’d needed to run anywhere. Luckily, the streets were empty, and they didn’t meet anyone along the way. She imagined the small group would have caused some suspicious glances if they’d been noticed. They didn’t exactly blend in. But then she remembered they were in a town which had a Marine Corps base. Guys who looked like Sean and Chapman were probably regulars around here, though she imagined they wouldn’t be as well dressed as the other two men were. As for Monster, well, no one looked like him, though in the dark, lit only by the occasional street light on a corner, his remaining birthmark would appear only to be a shadow.

  She tried desperately not to think about what would happen after all of this. The thought made her want to burst into tears and throw herself at Monster, and never let him go. She couldn’t even think about life without him, never mind life without herself. Every time her mind touched upon it, her thoughts retreated as though they’d been burned and moved on to something else.

  They passed through the street, closing the distance between them and the disused port. Finally, she saw the tall, chain link fence, and the dark rectangular shapes of the shipping containers beyond. The smell of the ocean grew stronger, and she could hear the slap of waves hitting concrete walls. A powerful shiver wracked through her body and her hand instinctively reached for the gun at her waist.

  Sean put out a hand to command them all to stop.

  She shot a worried glance at Monster, but he continued to look forward, his profile stern and rigid, his chin lifted. More than anything, she wanted to slip her hand into his and just touch him, draw from his strength, but she didn’t want to distract him.

  “We picked the lock on the gate when we were here last,” said Sean, keeping his voice low. “I didn’t bother clicking it shut again when I left. I don’t know if Mason and Evans did or not, but if it’s still open it might mean no one else has been here since we left. Of course, if it is shut, that might also mean the traffickers came back and found the lock open. Doing so might have raised their suspicions.”

  “Instead of speculating,” said Monster, “let’s go and check.”

  Sean led the way, moving at a light jog toward the gate. Chapman held back slightly, but he’d pulled his weapon.

  He’s covering his colleague, she realized.

  Sean slipped the chain through his fingers and lifted it up for them to see. It was still unlocked.

  Monster lifted a hand. “One moment.” Using his cell, he typed in a message. Within seconds, the phone buzzed in his hand and he quickly read it. “Mason says they never bothered to lock it behind them. So either the traffickers haven’t been back since, or they’ve left it open in the hope we come back.”

  Sean pushed the gate so it opened a yard. “If that’s the case, it looks like they got what they hoped for.”

  All three men drew their guns, and, feeling out of her depth, but not wanting to look like a helpless woman, Lily did the same. The grip felt good in her hand, as though it centered her somehow, made her more powerful. She understood how some people became addicted to owning weapons, how it made them feel more than their normal selves. Having both the gun, and Monster at her side, she could have had an army standing around her. Though she was still nervous, her heart rate slowed slightly and the world around her took on clarity. She focused on the task at hand—fr
eeing the women, if they were still there—and finding and killing Cigarette Hands and his partner.

  In the distance, out to sea, the blast of a foghorn made her jump. They were obviously still on the shipping lane, even if the port itself was now shut.

  The four of them passed through the gate and into the port. There were numerous containers—at least twenty. She wasn’t one hundred percent certain which container she’d heard the cry for help come from, as she’d been distracted by her own problems at the time.

  “I’m not sure I know exactly which shipping container I think the women might be in, but I can narrow it down,” she said, her voice only a fraction above a whisper.

  “Let’s check the area first,” said Monster, his tone matching hers. “We’ll make sure the traffickers aren’t around, and then we’ll see about releasing the girls. Removing the threat of being shot by those men needs to be our priority.”

  She nodded. “I understand.”

  “Sean, Chapman,” he instructed, “you go left. We’ll head right.”

  Sean hesitated. “Shouldn’t one of us go with you, sir?”

  “I’ll be fine. I don’t think there’s anyone here, anyway. They’d have started shooting by now, but both Lily and I are armed. We’ll yell if anything catches our attention.”

  Sean nodded. “Fine. We’ll meet you around the opposite side. Move quickly and quietly, and call if you need help.”

  Monster nodded. “Same to you.”

  They separated, Lily sticking close to Monster’s side. Before they moved forward, she felt his hand enclose around hers, and he gave her fingers a squeeze. Her heart lifted and she glanced to him. He was studying her as though he was thinking all the same things that had been playing through her mind over the last few hours.

  “Stay safe, Flower,” he said. “And stay close.”

  The tug of a smile touched her face. “I will.”

  And he let go of her hand.

  They moved right, away from the direction of the container that potentially held the women. No other vehicles were around that drew any attention, and Lily wondered if perhaps Cigarette Hands wasn’t here. She didn’t know how she felt about that. A small part of her was relieved, but the other part knew she wouldn’t rest until she’d seen the end of the son of a bitch.

  They rounded the final container and moved past it to start on the other side. Sticking close together, they ran down the far side, stopping each time to check the gaps between the containers. When they noted it was clear, they ran across the space to the next container. The ocean was behind them, waves smacking against the dock. The night felt impossibly dark, even though there was little cloud coverage and the moon was full. The only other illuminations were pinpricks of light out to sea, and a couple of neglected security lights. She could hear the drone of distant traffic, but at this time in the morning, even that was faint.

  Monster’s breath came close to her ear, his body heat pressing against hers. She felt so thankful to have him here, even though he’d been the one to bring these men into her life in the first place. At least now they had a chance of stopping them. If she hadn’t been through what she had, the men would continue to traffic women, thinking no one would touch them.

  Now she had a chance to stop at least one tiny part of this horrific trade.

  Twenty-one

  A light shone out of the darkness up ahead.

  Lily reached out and grabbed Monster’s forearm, but he remained unruffled.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s only Sean and Chapman.”

  She breathed out a sigh. “They obviously haven’t found anyone either.”

  “No, they’d have let us know if they had.”

  The two small groups continued down the line of shipping containers until they met midway.

  “No sign of anyone, sir,” said Chapman.

  “I gathered that,” Monster replied. “Let’s go and see if there’s anyone inside one of these things.” He turned to her. “Which one do you think you heard voices from, Lily?”

  She was pleased he’d used her real name in front of the other men. “I’m not completely sure, but I think it was around seven or eight containers up from this side. And it was only one voice, but if what I experienced is anything to go by, there may be as many as six women in there, possibly even more.”

  He nodded. “Okay, let’s check it out.”

  Lily lifted her hand to stop him. “Can I just say something, to all of you?”

  She felt the eyes of all three men turn to her.

  “Go ahead,” said Monster.

  She spoke up, feeling like she needed to be a voice for the girls they might find. “These women are going to be terrified. Chances are they’re going to have been hurt, possibly raped, and they’re not going to see you as men who are there to rescue them. They’ll probably think you’re more men who want to use them and who are going to take them off to some other place where they’ll be treated just as badly. Don’t be surprised if they fear you or even if they try to fight you. Right now they’re most likely seeing all men as the enemy.”

  “We understand,” said Chapman.

  “So move slowly with them,” she continued, wanting to drive home the message. “Be compassionate, be gentle.”

  Even if Chapman said he understood, he didn’t. He had no idea. None of them did.

  “That’s if we find anything at all,” said Sean.

  “I heard something, I know I did. If the women are no longer in the container, they’ve been taken somewhere else.”

  Monster touched her elbow. “Let’s go and find out.”

  As a small group, with Lily leading the way this time, they ran down to the set of shipping containers where she’d thought she’d heard the voice. Checking the fronts of the containers, she noted that they all looked identical, each of them kept shut with padlocked chains.

  “Call out to them again,” said Monster. “They’re more likely to respond to another woman’s voice.”

  Lily nodded and approached the first container. “Hello?” she called, pressing her ear close to the ridged, rusty metal. “Is anyone in there?” She hesitated and then lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles against the side with a hollow clang. “We’re here to help. We won’t hurt you, I promise. Just let us know if you’re inside.”

  She glanced toward the men. They all watched her expectantly, as though they thought she was going to give them some kind of insight they couldn’t have figured out for themselves.

  “I think this one is empty. Let’s try the next.”

  They moved on, and Lily repeated the process. She moved along, pressing her hands against the metal as she called out.

  “What are you doing?” Monster asked.

  “Trying to see if there’s a change in temperature that might signal someone’s body heat,” she replied.

  Monster gave a jerk of his chin to the other men, and they followed Lily’s example, pressing their palms low down against the container walls.

  Lily continued to call out, “Hello? Is anyone in there? We’re here to help you.” It was hard to tell if she felt any difference in the temperature of the container walls. The balmy night didn’t help, and she’d not gotten any response to her shouts.

  With frustration building inside her, and increasingly worried the women had been moved, she said, “Let’s try the next one.”

  They stepped away to move to the adjacent container, when she heard the faintest of cries.

  She froze. “Wait, what was that?”

  Monster frowned and glanced out toward the ocean. “It could have been a bird out on the water.”

  “No, I’m sure it was a person.” She hurried back, and banged her palm against the metal wall. “If you’re in there, please let us know!”

  “Maybe we should just open the damn thing up,” said Monster.

  She looked to him, her eyes wide. “Yes, open it up.”

  They moved to the front of the container. Monster pulled his gun. “
Everyone stand back.”

  White sparks burst around the lock and the shot echoed through the night, the sound bouncing off the walls of the shipping containers, leaving her ears ringing. She’d instinctively jerked her face away at the gunfire, but now she turned back she saw the lock hanging to one side. Monster stepped forward and yanked away the warped metal, dropping the padlock to the ground. With a grunt, he hauled open the big set of doors.

  The smell hit her first—ammonia and other bodily odors—and automatically she covered her nose and mouth with her hand.

  “Jesus Christ,” exclaimed Sean, rearing away, his nose wrinkled.

  She shot him a glare, not wanting anyone who might be inside to feel even worse about themselves.

  A sudden light illuminated the space and Lily glanced around in surprise. Monster was holding his cell phone, using the flashlight app to light up the inside of the container. The light was limited, the container still holding pockets of darkness and shadows like a secret.

  For a moment, Lily thought the container was empty, but then, right at the back, the light reflected back on a number of pairs of wide, frightened eyes.

  “Oh, my God.”

  Forgetting all about Cigarette Hands and her mission to see him dead, Lily rushed forward, her thoughts now only with these poor women.

  Monster and the other two men followed close behind. The women shied from the light, their hands raised to shield their eyes. It was all exactly how she had remembered it. How strange to think she’d been one of these women not so long ago. She felt as though the experience had happened to someone else.

  “It’s okay,” Lily said as she reached them. “You’re safe now. You need to come with us.”

  The girls whimpered and cowered away. Lily counted them … four women in total. They all looked young, as they had been before—younger than her by eight to ten years, so no more than girls. She couldn’t imagine how worried their families must be.