Suburban Dangers

by Megan Whitson Lee

  “What?” His heart might explode any moment. No. No, this could not be happening. Brandon had tried to tell him.

  Abbie removed another picture from her file. “Ever seen this girl?”

  A girl about Kaki’s age with long, black hair and a nose piercing frowned in the photo.

  “Never seen her before.”

  “Her name is Sydney Diaz. Also a member of Masters of Sin. One of their bottom girls. You know what that means?”

  Tyler shook his head.

  “It means she recruited other girls for the gang—for purposes of prostitution.”

  Each word Abbie spoke entered Tyler’s brain like the stab of a knife. He thought he might die from the agony. His little girl, his Kaki…a prostitute?

  “Sydney Diaz is missing. From what we understand, Sydney and Katherine were friends. Close friends. We think Katherine might know something about Sydney’s disappearance.”

  “What would make you think that?” His voice didn’t even sound like his own.

  “Because they were both at the party the night Sydney disappeared.”

  “What party?”

  Abbie lifted more photographs from her file. “Saturday, December the tenth. Both your daughter and your son were in photos from that night. All taken on various kids’ cell phones.”

  She handed him the print outs of the photographs, and he sifted through them, his insides flinching with each sighting of his children. This was the party Brandon had talked about. Oh, God. Please. How can this be happening?

  “This wasn’t just any party, Tyler. This was a prostitution party where kids come in by paying a $20 or $30 cover charge. This covers their booze, their drugs, and it covers their access to the girls—if you understand my meaning.”

  He understood all too well. Brandon had talked about it. It was why he had run away.

  “Despite what you might think, these kinds of parties are not all together uncommon. We’re seeing them more and more, especially in circles where gang-activity is involved.”

  Tyler struggled to understand how his children had become involved. “How did this happen?”

  “I wish I could tell you. These gang members are smart, and they know how to manipulate young people. You’ve got infiltration within the schools—recruiters—often times their own peers—are very savvy to the girls who will fall for the lure of acceptance, the coolness factor.”

  “Katherine has never been involved with anything bad. She grew up knowing right from wrong. She’s always been a great student.” Tyler wasn’t sure if he was telling Abbie or himself.

  Abbie’s face dripped with sympathy. “This spans all demographics, all socio-economic groups, and all upbringings. These people are good at what they do. Deception and manipulation are their specialties.”

  “What do you need me to do?”

  “We need to talk to Katherine. We’ve paid a visit to the boy’s parents whose house was used for the party. He’s being questioned as we speak. The problem is that several weeks have passed. The kids who were there that night have been really good about keeping tight-lipped. Even if they saw something, it’ll be dangerous for them to say anything. MOS members don’t mess around. They’re murderers as well as pimps, make no mistake.”

  His daughter was in danger. Tyler shuddered, his heart breaking into a million pieces. Some protective father he’d proved to be.

  “Sydney’s mother didn’t report her daughter as missing until she’d already been gone for two weeks. That’s not uncommon for parents of prostituted girls. If they’ve been running the streets for a while, the parents are used to them running away. They stop reporting it. But Katherine’s been living in your house all this time. She’s been able to hide her activities—which in some ways, is almost more insidious. At any rate, something bad happened in that house that night. I think Katherine might know what it was.”

  “But if it’s dangerous for her to talk—”

  “Our goal is to get these guys and put them in jail. Drugs, prostitution…murder—whatever charge we can get them on.”

  The main thing was to protect his kids. Nothing else mattered. “OK. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

  “Let’s start by finding Katherine.”

  24

  Kaki

  Saturday, January 7

  Kaki could never go home again. Too many people knew about that night, and now there were too many people looking for her.

  Damien had picked her up on Friday night and had taken her straight to The Diggs. He hadn’t spoken to her on their drive there, and as they had approached the place, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Batman and two other gang members had turned the shed that once stored lawn mowers into a party pad. There were curtains with cartoon characters on them hanging in the window, and someone had spray-painted one whole wall of the cinderblock structure to look like a Rubik’s cube. The walls were covered with graffiti, and there were a bunch of old, dirty beds and some tables with ashtrays. Pornography covered some of the graffiti.

  A lot of the new girls were brought to The Diggs first.

  Kaki dreaded seeing them—girls who’d come to this country thinking they were to work as a waitress or a nanny, and then they ended up here. Most of them didn’t speak any English and they were really, really young. Those girls were treated the worst. They were beaten, abused, repeatedly raped.

  That night, Kaki was treated like one of those girls. Damien didn’t even supply her with the little blue pill. She didn’t remember how many men came through the doors. After a while she’d passed out anyway. That night, something inside of her died.

  The next morning, sick, in pain, and in the throes of withdrawal, she practiced her mental mantras. Numb, numb, you are nothing; you don’t exist.

  “If you behave yourself and do everything I tell you, then I’ll give you your stuff. Maybe I’ll even give you a little whiskey to wash them down.”

  Some other guy was talking…something about packing up.

  “We leave tomorrow for Pennsylvania,” said Damien.

  “You taking her with you?” asked the other voice.

  “Have to. Either that or I have to kill her.”

  Kill me. Please kill me. I’d rather die.

  “She won’t talk now. I can still use her. We’ll see how it goes.”

  Saturday passed in a hazy shade of pain and sickness. As she lay in that dirty bed in The Diggs, she traveled in her mind. She went back to the time when she was a little girl, when her dad used to take her to the movies or out to dinner. Just the two of them.

  Once Micah and Celia came along, that hardly ever happened, but she still remembered those times as some of the best. There were other times of family vacations at the beach, eating fries on the board walk in Ocean City, and taking selfies with the figures in the wax museum at Virginia Beach. Holding Celia when she was born, and dressing her dolls with her old baby clothes. That was back when her dad used to call her “Kaki.” He didn’t call her that anymore. She didn’t even think that person existed anymore.

  ~*~

  Damien dragged her out of bed early the next morning. “Come on. Get up. We’re leaving.”

  As he pulled her into a sitting position, she groaned. Her jaw hurt from where one of the guys had hit her. There was a stinging sensation on her arm as well—at the juncture of her wrist and hand. She looked down and tried to make her eyes focus. It was a brand. A tattoo of a dragon. And just under it the letters—M-O-S. The skin around it was red and puffy. She vaguely remembered now. Someone—maybe it was Damien?—had done that last night. She recalled a scratching sensation, a stinging. Now she really was property of the gang.

  Her stomach roiled with nausea. She wished she could be sick somewhere, but there wasn’t time.

  Damien grabbed her sore wrist and pulled her off of the bed. They seemed to be in a hurry as they moved outside where Hubby and one of his new girls waited.

  “Let’s go,” Damien instructe
d. “Get in the car.”

  Damien pushed her, and she fell against the passenger door of the car. Grasping her arm, he jerked her back while he opened the car door and ratcheted the seat forward. Then he pushed her again so that she fell into the backseat, banging her shin.

  The other girl climbed in beside her. Like Kaki, the girl had long, blonde hair, and she was tall and skinny. She didn’t look or speak to Kaki.

  Damien and Hubby climbed into the car and revved the motor.

  “Where are we going?” the girl beside her asked.

  “We’re making a stop at the grocery store, then we’ve got an appointment at the motel. Then we’re off to Pittsburgh. Don’t worry about the rest.”

  Kaki stared out the window, imagining ways she could die before ever reaching the motel. If only she could jump out of the car, but she was trapped in the backseat. Maybe they’d be hit by a semi. Maybe the end of the world would come.

  They pulled into the grocery store parking lot and stopped.

  “Come on. Get out.” Damien pulled the seat forward and grabbed her arm.

  Like drones, the two girls followed the guys into the store where they bought miscellaneous food items, sodas, toothbrushes, and shampoo.

  Before they reached the check out, Hubby turned to Damien. “Oh, yeah, we should get some stuff to wash our clothes. Think that place in Pittsburgh has a washer-dryer?”

  “I don’t know, man,” Damien said, irritation creeping into his tone. “Hurry up, though. We’re supposed to meet Antoine at the motel in ten minutes.”

  Panic flooded over Kaki in a tidal wave. Something told her that if she went with them to Pittsburgh, she would never see her family again. For that matter, she didn’t think she’d live much longer. Maybe that was a good thing.

  They trailed through the line behind people who paid no attention to them, checked out by a cashier who never looked up. She was being kidnapped and no one cared.

  As they made their way across the parking lot, Kaki heard someone say her name.

  “Katherine?”

  The blood drained from her face as she locked eyes with Molly Wolf. Suddenly, any thought of escaping dissipated. If she spoke to Molly, Molly would be in danger, too.

  Kaki waved at Molly and forced a tight smile. The frosty wall of resistance was her only hope. Don’t talk to her. The others moved quickly toward the car.

  Molly seemed to be assessing Kaki’s companions. She stopped a few feet away from the car, her gaze on Kaki. “How have you been? Josh and I keep hoping you’ll stop by.”

  Kaki shrank back and forced the words. “I’m fine.”

  “A lot of people are looking for you—wondering where you are. I know your dad is worried.”

  Kaki tensed. “I’ve had a lot going on.”

  “Where are you staying now?”

  “At a friend’s.”

  “I see,” Molly said.

  Damien moved up beside her, his feet apart, his arms crossed.

  A shiver ran through her.

  “Who are you?” he asked, his tone deceptively calm.

  “I’m just a friend,” Molly said.

  “Yeah, well, she doesn’t have any friends anymore. Come on. Let’s go.” He turned to Kaki and grabbed her elbow.

  A rush of shame surged through her. Molly was smart. She could probably see what was happening. She might even go home and tell Josh…or her dad.

  “You don’t scare me.” Molly’s tone was confident.

  “Yeah, well, you should be scared,” he said over his shoulder as he pushed Kaki against the car.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Molly insisted. “Wait a minute. Katherine…”

  Damien opened the door of the car and pushed Kaki. “Get in.”

  Kaki pushed back, fighting him. She looked up at Molly in desperation.

  “I said get in!” Damien shoved Kaki into the backseat.

  Her hands clutched the side of the door, as she looked up at Molly. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t.” She didn’t have the strength. There was no fighting Damien. Anywhere she ran, he would find her. She would just go with him. Less people got hurt that way.

  Kaki collapsed in the backseat helplessly, distress flooding her heart as the other girl climbed into the backseat as well. Hubby plopped into the passenger side of the car.

  Damien shot Molly one last warning before he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Look lady, if I were you, I’d get out of here. Now.”

  As they drove away, Kaki looked out the back window.

  Molly got into her car.

  Memories—random and disconnected—entered her brain these days. Sometimes they were from childhood; others were scenes she’d watched in television shows or movies. This one was from something she had read in English class. She couldn’t remember the title. One line stuck with her, and as they drove down Elden Street and turned off and away from the town center, it replayed in her mind. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

  25

  Tyler

  Sunday, January 8

  Tyler looked in the cabinet for a juice glass. Most were in the dishwasher, so he reached further in and pulled a bottle from the shelf. Vodka. Why would Lana have stored it at the back of the glasses? Throughout the morning, he mulled it over. He sensed this was something to which he should pay attention.

  Celia climbed up on the stool, rubbing her eyes, still half asleep. Her red curls were a tangled mess. He’d have to ask Katherine to brush…

  The pain in his stomach followed. He didn’t know where Katherine was. She hadn’t come home, and Christina hadn’t heard from her either. Never in a million years had Tyler ever thought he would have to file missing reports on two of his children. Within one month’s time, no less.

  “When is Mommy coming home?” Celia whined.

  “Your mommy… your mommy needed some time away, Celia. She’ll be home soon,” he said the words mechanically.

  “From us?” Celia’s big, blue eyes peered out from under her too-long bangs.

  “No, not from you, honey. She loves you guys a lot. She’s just not in a place where she can call right now.” Even as he spoke the words, fear assailed him. What if she never calls? What if we never hear from her again? What will I tell the kids then?

  His cell phone rang.

  Molly.

  “Hello?”

  “I just saw Katherine.”

  “What? Where?”

  “On Elden Street. I’m following the car right now. It’s a blue Camaro with the license plate M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N.”

  Tyler’s heart stopped. “Molly, no. What are you doing?”

  “I’m following them right now, Tyler. Katherine was practically forced into the car.”

  “I—I need to…well, I mean, I’m not even dressed!” Carrying the phone, Tyler rushed upstairs to throw on a sweatshirt and jeans as he listened to Molly.

  “They just turned down Grace Street!”

  Tyler let an expletive fly as he pulled on his shoes. “Have—have you called the police? Have you called Josh?”

  “Yes, I’ve called both.”

  “I’ll stay on the line with you, but I’ve got the kids and…” Suzanne. He would ask Suzanne if she could watch the kids.

  Dashing across the street, he knocked on Suzanne’s door, quickly blurting out his emergency situation and need for a temporary place for the kids. All the while, Molly’s voice echoed on the speaker phone. “I’m on Locust Street. They’re turning right onto Lynn Street.”

  Suzanne seemed confused by his stammering explanation, but she agreed at once. “Of course, I’ll do it, sweetie. Just bring ’em on over.”

  It seemed to take forever for Tyler to get the kids up and out of the house and over to Suzanne’s, but some ten minutes later, he was finally behind the wheel of his car. “OK, Molly. Where are you?”

  “I’m on Pearl Street. They’re turning into The Pearl Street Motel. I’m going to park at the back of the lot.”

  Tyler dodged traffic,
weaving in and out of cars, praying to hear the peal of sirens in the distance. Please Lord, please save my daughter…I’ll do anything you ask. I just…can’t bear the idea of something happening to her. He heard the sirens before he reached the motel, and tears sprang to his eyes in response. “Thank You, God. Thank You, thank You.”

  Tyler had never noticed the motel on the corner before. It was a non-descript, respectable-looking place. It was an independently run establishment, but from the outside it looked clean and appealing. He took a sharp turn into the parking lot, his tires skidding slightly on an icy patch. Dodging mounds of shoveled snow, he found Molly’s car at the back of the lot. Josh’s car appeared moments later, followed by several police cars.

  Tyler bounded from his car and moved toward Molly, who stood outside her car hugging herself to stay warm. “They were dropped off at the front of the building.”

  “How many?” Tyler asked.

  “Katherine and two others.”

  Tyler’s heart quaked. He was surrounded by police and their cruisers.

  Josh stepped out of his car.

  “Josh, the driver just dropped them off. Then he took off again,” Molly explained.

  Josh nodded and hurried over to the police cruisers. From the third cruiser, a familiar face appeared. Abbie Jackson.

  Tyler moved toward Abbie.

  “Are they inside?” Abbie called out.

  “Only three of them. The driver of the blue car, license plate M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N—he sped off that way toward Elden.” Molly pointed.

  Abbie nodded and spoke directives into her walkie-talkie. “Suspect on the move…driver of blue Camaro, license M-O-S-D-E-M-O-N…headed east on Herndon Parkway toward Elden.” She turned back to Tyler. “With a license plate like that, he shouldn’t be hard to find. And you saw the other three go inside?”

  “I did.”

  “OK, let’s go,” Abbie motioned the patrol officers toward the building.

  Tyler followed.

  “No, no, Tyler. You have to stay here with us,” Josh instructed.

  Tyler longed to rush into the place with the rest of the officers, find Katherine and tear her abductors limb from limb.