Enamel

by Tim Sabados

  “Aryssa, Aryssa, Aryssa,” Sammy repeated in a tone overflowing with disappointment. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

  “Don’t put the blame on me. You’re the one who put this in motion,” Aryssa said firmly.

  Sammy seemed to sway from the impact of Aryssa’s accusation. He stiffened with anger, but just as quickly the edges of his posture softened. “More like fate had her hand in this.” A pause. “She can lead in some strange ways.” He sliced his hand in front of him. “Suffice it to say that this will be the end of her influence in this matter.”

  “The end will be when the girls are home safely,” Aryssa stated.

  “And the coins are in my possession,” Sammy retorted.

  “So where are they?”

  Sammy smiled. “In due time. There are details that need to be worked out.”

  “Like what?”

  Sammy pointed at Charlie. “Like, who’s that?”

  “A friend,” Aryssa responded. “And who’s that?” She gestured at the man standing by the driver’s door.

  “A business associate.”

  Aryssa tipped her chin at what looked like the more portly of the two intruders from the house fire. “We’ve meet, haven’t we?”

  “Twice,” the portly intruder fired back. “It was brief, to say the least.”

  Aryssa smiled curtly. “Third time can be the charm.”

  “It could, but we’ll see.”

  Charlie reshuffled his stance but remained standing tall and unmoving. Aryssa’s patience was nipped by her apprehension. She wanted this done and over with. “Enough with the games, Sammy. Let’s finish this so we can all be on our way.”

  Sammy took a few seconds to respond. “As you wish.” He popped himself off the hood. “Why don’t you toss those coins over here?”

  “No way,” Aryssa responded. “Show me the girls first.”

  “See what I mean by details?” He tapped his chin. “For the moment, I’ll oblige your hastiness.” He pointed at the portly man and then swept his hand toward the back of the car.

  The man reached into the back seat and pulled out two small figures. He shoved them toward the front of the car. Gripped each of them by the nape of their neck and held them upright as if they were on display.

  Aryssa did her best to keep shock from spreading over her expression. Mackenzie and Zoe swayed like saplings in a strong breeze. Their eyes were barely open. Zoe’s head slumped forward. Mackenzie’s shoulders slouched.

  “There they are,” Sammy said. “Now toss that bag over here and then I’ll send them to you.”

  Shouldn’t Sammy be the one to make the first move? Aryssa opened her mouth to demand another way. Something more favorable. Instead she sealed her lips shut. All she wanted was the girls safely in her possession. Get them out of here and put all of this behind her.

  Aryssa squeezed the bag. “Fine.” With an underhanded motion she tossed it and watched it slowly spin through its high arc. It landed with a thud some twenty feet from Sammy.

  “A little short,” Sammy said.

  “Close enough,” Aryssa responded. “Send them over.”

  “Not so fast.” Sammy pointed at the bag. “How do I know the coins are in there?”

  “They’re all there,” Charlie said reassuringly. “We’re not like that.”

  “So you say,” Sammy replied. “I need to see for myself.”

  “Open it,” Aryssa suggested. “It’s all there.”

  Sammy shook his head. “Again, such difficulties could have been avoided if you would’ve shown a little patience from the beginning.” He paused. “There could be something very unpleasant waiting for me inside that bag. Some kind of trap. Maybe even a bomb.”

  “When would we have had time to put that together?” Charlie questioned.

  Sammy shrugged “How do I know that you didn’t?” He sighed. “For the sake of saving time, this is what’s going to happen.” A gesture toward Aryssa. “You bring that bag over here and show me that it’s legit. Once I see that it is, I’ll let you take the girls back with you.”

  “It’s a bag full of coins,” Charlie said with a faint growl. “Just open it.”

  Sammy tipped his chin toward Aryssa. “If you don’t do it, then this entire exchange is off. It’s your call.”

  Aryssa clicked her tongue with uncertainty. She glanced at the bag, then at Mackenzie and Zoe. What would happen to them if she didn’t go over there? A sigh. “Fine.” She stepped forward.

  Charlie thrust out his arm to try to stop Aryssa. “Wait a second. I don’t…”

  “This needs to be over with.” Aryssa walked over to the bag, picked it up, then stopped a few feet short of Sammy. Shoving her apprehension aside, she opened it to expose the coins. “See. No traps. It’s all here.”

  Sammy’s eyes sparkled. “Very good.” He pointed a few steps ahead of Aryssa’s feet. “Set it down right there and I’ll give you the girls.”

  Aryssa walked a couple of steps, crouched into the cocoon of headlights and set the bag on the ground. Sammy remained perfectly still. So did the man holding Mackenzie and Zoe. She was about to stand when a movement zipped into her periphery.

  Someone sprang through the beams of light and pounced on Aryssa. She screamed as the venom of panic rushed through her veins. She tried to spring backward, but the darkly dressed figure was too quick. Before she knew it, some kind of bag was thrust over her head.

  A gun cocked. “Don’t do it,” Sammy demanded authoritatively.

  Who was Sammy talking to? The man on top of her wasn’t letting up. She tried to squirm from his grasp. Kick. Punch. Rip that bag from her head. But the man overpowered her and kept her pinned to the ground as if she were caught in a vice.

  “Let her go!” Charlie yelled. “This wasn’t part of…”

  “Don’t be a hero,” Sammy demanded. “It’ll only get you killed.”

  Aryssa screamed in pain as something sharp sank into her thigh. She fought for a breath. Then another. Tried to wrangle out from under the oppressive weight. A strange, acrid odor was somehow woven into the bag’s fabric. It filled her lungs and swirled into her chest. Her heart thumped wildly. Thoughts went numb. What in the hell was happening?

  The strength evaporated from her limbs. She struggled to expand her chest and fill her lungs with air. The metallic colors of an oil slick swirled across her vision. Was this it? Was she dying?

  Aryssa gave one last thrust of her hips. Pushed with her arms. Tried to force the scream out of her lungs, but it didn’t have enough energy to pass her lips. It fell back down her throat, just like her awareness slipped into the abyss of unconsciousness. It sank deeper and deeper into the liquid void until the last bits of her resolve drowned in the blackness.

  23

  Charlie screamed through a clenched jaw. He sprang forward to throw himself into the fray. Knock some heads. Rescue Aryssa. He had made it two or maybe even three steps before Sammy pulled a gun and racked the chamber. “Don’t do it,” Sammy commanded.

  Charlie ground to a halt. Froze where he stood and raised his arms. “Let her go.”

  Some thirty or so feet of empty blacktop stood between Charlie and that gun. How far could he make it before Sammy fired his first round? How quickly could he cover the distance if he zigzagged to avoid the bullet?

  “Don’t be a hero,” Sammy demanded. “It’ll only get you killed.”

  Anger swelled inside Charlie. It flooded his legs. His arms. He was ready to explode forward, except that gun kept him rooted. Forced him to quash every impulse that urged his desire to brawl. He could only watch helplessly as the fight in Aryssa dwindled. Her efforts to punch and kick her way free became weaker. Less frequent. It didn’t take long before there were none at all.

  “If I were you, I’d forget any of this ever happened,” Sammy advised. “This isn’t your fight.”

  Charlie opened his mouth to challenge Sammy, but chose to let silence quell his response. He squeezed his fists and
tried to crush his frustration into his palms.

  Sammy smiled. “You want to do something so badly, don’t you?” A gesture toward Charlie’s hands. “Let me be perfectly clear. If you try to rescue her or think you can get the police involved, then wipe that thought from your mind. The moment I sense something foul, people will die. Do you understand me?”

  “Perfectly,” Charlie said in a voice as taut as a steel cable.

  He desperately wanted to say more. Fling his words as if they were darts filled with the poison of instigation. Somehow taunt Sammy and those other men into a fight. Could he take all three of them? Would Sammy use his gun? He glanced at Mackenzie and Zoe, to Aryssa then back to the weapon. Charlie was stuck. There was nothing he could do except seal his lips and keep his voice buried in his throat.

  Sammy perked up at the sound of sirens echoing in the distance. Tipped his head at the man atop of Aryssa. “Get her in the car.”

  Without saying a word, the man slipped his arms underneath Aryssa’s armpits and dragged her limp body toward the back of the SUV.

  Charlie could only glare at Sammy. Those sirens were growing louder. Was some kind of emergency happening close by? Had someone witnessed what was happening here and called the cops?

  Aryssa was crammed into the backseat by the darkly dressed man. When he was finished, he waited by the door. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  “Not just yet,” Sammy responded. He slowly shuffled toward the passenger door, all the while keeping his weapon fixed on Charlie.

  Charlie kept his focus on the gun. Remained perfectly still. Why was Sammy taking his time getting into the car? Was he waiting for those sirens to get closer?

  “You’ve got a choice,” Sammy advised. “Save the girls or get busted by the cops.” He let the options hang precariously in the air. “Of course you can choose to try to save Aryssa,” waved his hand in dismissal, “but you and I know where that’ll get you.”

  What did Sammy mean by getting busted by the cops? Those sirens were getting louder. Closer. Where they coming for him?

  Sammy gestured toward the man holding Mackenzie and Zoe. “Now!” Sammy lifted his gun and pointed it right at Charlie’s head. Kept it there for a few heartbeats. At the last moment he swung it upward.

  Bang! The gun went off. The sisters cowered. One of them shrieked with fright. Charlie dropped to the ground.

  He lifted his head when he heard the car doors slam shut. The engine revved and quickly backed out of the alley. One of the girls stumbled toward a cinder-block building. The other staggered haphazardly toward a Dumpster. Something was wrong with them, but what?

  The screaming sirens reverberated down the alley. It would be only a matter of a minute, if that, before the cops were actually surrounding him.

  Dread coiled around Charlie’s limbs. He pushed himself onto his feet and ran his hand over his head. What was he going to do? Stay with the two girls? Explain himself to the police? Would they believe his story? He needed to do something and it needed to be done now.

  Charlie sprinted over to Mackenzie, who was the closest to him. Grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him. His jaw dropped in shock.

  Mackenzie’s expression was as blank as a sheet of paper. Eyes glazed. Cheeks plum red. Had she been slapped? Was her lip swollen too? Charlie shook her by the shoulders. “Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

  Mackenzie’s mouth hung open. She mumbled something, but Charlie couldn’t make out the words. There was no time to figure it out. Blue-and-red lights were flickering off the buildings. He pulled Mackenzie across the alley and caught up to her sister.

  Zoe had the same blank look and glazed sheen swirling on the surface of her eyes. Had they been drugged? Physically harmed? Would Charlie be blamed for it? Is this what Sammy had meant by being busted by the police?

  Charlie took a deep breath to try to calm himself. There were too many questions. Too much explaining. He forced the girls to sit on the ground, their bodies slumped against each other. Heads sagged. Shoulders drooped. He ducked behind a Dumpster and felt his way along the walls of the darkened alley. Behind him cars screeched to a stop. Doors swung open. Footsteps pounded pavement.

  “I have something over here!” a cop yelled.

  “Is it them?”

  “I think so.”

  “Spread out!” Someone commanded authoritatively. “Lock this area down!”

  Charlie didn’t stop. Didn’t look behind him. He dashed along the walls, slipped behind several Dumpsters and darted past numerous garbage cans. Slithered across the trunk of a parked car. He came to the alley’s entrance and momentarily stopped. Would someone see him dashing out into the open? Was another cop waiting on the street? He knew he couldn’t stay here. He had to get away and that meant stepping out into the public.

  He straightened his shoulders and did his best to appear as nonchalant as possible. Charlie slid his hands into his pockets and walked out onto the sidewalk. Strolled behind a couple holding hands. Made sure his focus remained forward, all the while keeping a casual pace. So far so good. Could he keep it up? Would he be able to get away without being spotted?

  24

  Some kind of wire dug into Aryssa’s shoulder. The searing pain from the kink in her neck spread like a brush fire down her back. Limbs felt as if they were filled with concrete. A thick paste of confusion oozed through her head and rhythmically lapped against her skull, sending a dull ache pulsing through the bone’s matrix.

  Footsteps stepped heavily across the hard floor. Someone sniffled. Someone else coughed. A shuffle of a body turning on a couch or maybe a bed. Clunk of a plastic bottle onto a table. The faint laughter of some sitcom echoed from a distant television. Aryssa quietly groaned. Where was she? What had happened to her?

  Bits and pieces of the past day or two paddled along the choppy waters of her memory. The alley. A car’s headlights. Tossing the bag of coins. Being tackled by a dark figure. The bag thrust over her head. That needle jammed into her thigh.

  A jolt of panic ran across her nerves and jarred Aryssa awake. She slowly opened her eyes to scuffed drywall in the corner of a room. A dank and dreary room in what seemed to be a basement. A yellow light filtered through the tiny windows near the ceiling, making it the only warm thing that dared to take up residence in the place.

  Aryssa slowly lifted her head off the stained mattress she was lying on. Wiped a string of drool from the corner of her mouth. Tried to moisturize her overly dry lips with a lick from her parched tongue. How long had she been lying here?

  Several empty mattresses were scattered about. She counted nine women occupying the others. Four of the women appeared to be sleeping. Two were lying on their stomach. Another had her back against the wall and listlessly picked at her nails. The other two were sitting upright with heads sagged on the hopelessly dried and frayed vines of their necks.

  Aryssa moaned with agony as she slowly rolled herself upright. She grabbed her head to try to steady the teetering room. Fought back the nausea that churned like a lava lake in the pit of her gut. What in the hell had been in that needle?

  A blonde haired woman on a nearby mattress looked at Aryssa. A satin sheen dulled her blue eyes. She half smiled, then let her head droop between her legs.

  Aryssa rubbed her throbbing temple. “Hey,” she said quietly.

  The blonde woman briefly looked up.

  “Are you…?” Aryssa waited for the pain to pass. “Are you okay?”

  The woman quickly nodded. Held her finger to her lips and tipped her head toward the far side of the room.

  “What’s going on?” Aryssa questioned.

  The blonde motioned with her hand to keep quiet. “No loud speak,” she whispered in a voice heavily laden with what sounded like an Eastern European accent.

  “I’m Aryssa,” she said, hoping to ease the tension that filled the space between them.

  The blonde hesitated. “Kamelia.” She wiped the corner of her mouth. “Call me Kami.
”

  Aryssa glanced toward the area of the room where Kami had recently focused her attention. A long table, chairs and mirrors—nearly identical to the setup at the club. “What’s all that for?”

  “Us,” Kami said simply.

  “Us?”

  Kami nodded. “Make me and you pretty.”

  Aryssa rubbed her eye. “Pretty for whom?”

  “Anyone who wants to pay money.”

  Was Aryssa hearing Kami correctly? Anyone who wants it? Pays for it? She took note of the others inside the room. All women. All young. All good-looking. Was this some sort of prostitution ring? Was she now a part of it? “You mean those who want sex?”

  “Sex, yes.” Kami nodded.

  The answer was a shock wave that crashed into Aryssa. “How do you know?”

  Kami ran her hand through her blonde hair. “I know, I just…” her voice trailed off into silence.

  Aryssa sighed. She desperately wanted to reach out and hold Kami’s hand. Wrap her arm around her as a gesture of reassurance. Provide some form of protection. She instead held back in fear. In fear of someone barging into the room and physically reprimanding the comforting gesture. “How…how long have you been doing this?”

  Kami shrugged. “I don’t know. Many months.” She sniffled. “Long time.”

  “You’ve been here all this time?”

  No,” Kami answered. “Many places. They move me all over.”

  “Who moves you?”

  “Them.” Kami briefly gestured at the far end of the room. “Always moving. Always make me do it for the money.” She paused. “Money they keep for themselves.”

  “You mean you sleep with men for money, but they keep all of it?”

  “No sleep.” Kami waved her hand in negation. “There’s no sleeping. Only after do I get to sleep…only if they tell me.”

  “No, no, no,” Aryssa repeated. “By sleeping I mean…” She paused to clarify what she wanted to say. “I mean sex with men.”