Highway to Heaven

by Harley McRide

  A faint voice, so broken, yet still sweet and innocent as an angel tinkled behind her. “Here, take mine. If you wash her it will heal. They cut off my clit when I arrived and I hurt for months. Water keeps it clean. Be sure and dry her after so she doesn’t get an infection.” Sadie turned to see who was talking, and her heart dropped at the delicate girl who handed a bottle of water through the bars. She was about seventeen, alabaster skin with the bluest of eyes she’d ever seen. She was certain that one time, before all the trauma, the girl looked like a fairy princess, and those blue eyes had danced and sparkled with spirit and life. Her spirit light no longer twinkled. There were black and blue circles around her eyes, her face holding bruises that were faded with fresh atop in layers of the signs of long term abuse. Crusted blood caked in her hair and in random places covering her exposed skin. Sadie shuddered at what she must look like under her torn and dirty clothing.

  “Oh my God. This truly is hell, isn’t it?”

  The girl nodded, her eyes distant and hollow. “Yes. And like hell, it never ends. I’ve prayed for death to come and take me away, but every day I am here. Find the door in your mind to that place where no thoughts seep in. It’s your only chance at not going insane. We have nothing—no hope, no cavalry to rush in and save us…but we have our nothing.”

  Sadie thought about her words, her heart sinking when she’d realized what the girl’s riddle meant. No. There was a cavalry coming to save them, and she would never give up on that hope. Her sister would make sure of it. She kept talking while she tended Tami’s private parts. It was worse than she thought, but most was internal. The outer area was torn and cut, and a few looked like they’d need stitches.

  “How long have you been here?” Sadie gasped, feeling the weight of the girl’s anguish slam into her. She’d been through what Tami had just endured over and over and over again. There was no surviving. It was disconnecting yourself to accept what you knew was coming.

  “I don’t know. I used to try to count the days, but there are no windows here. We go by when the guards come to take one of us back. Usually, it’s only one or two of us at a time, and about the same time each day. I’ve been here for over a year. I can’t tell you exactly.”

  “A year?” Sadie whispered.

  “Or longer. I don’t know. They came into my room and took me when I was almost sixteen. It was January 15, 2014. I’d just gotten home from my sophomore school dance. Mom was at work, and my little brother over at the neighbors.” She drifted back in her memories, shutting them off before she could use them for comfort. Sadie assumed that remembering her life would only make it harder being here and pull her out of that ‘nothingness’ she spoke of. “We’ve felt the cold air rush in and the hot summer heat, so I guess it’s been a full year if not more.”

  “We will get out of here. Somehow, some way, but you will see your mom and brother again. What’s your name?” Sadie wanted to give her hope. She needed to see the girl who had been battered and broken so badly rise again with vengeance. If she could get as many girls as possible back to thinking there was an end to this, maybe they could join forces and help when the time came. The time would come.

  “I’m Shea.” She stuck her frail, bony hand through the bars for Sadie to shake. They were ice cold to the touch. Sadie could feel every bone and tendon through her paper thin, almost transparent skin. Damn she’d been stuck in this hell for a long time. Looking at her, she could almost envision her lean, toned teen body sitting in a lawn chair on the edge of a pool with her golden hair shimmering in the sun. She’d have tawny tan skin, the kind of bronze that the movie stars yearned for. Even with her decrepit state, the girl was still beautiful.

  “I’m Sadie. My friends will come for us, Shea. We are all gonna get out of here, just hang in there, okay?”

  “We all thought that someone would come for us too. The best thing you can do is try to find a place in your mind to go to and stay there. Block everything out, Sadie, or you’ll end up like Chrissy.”

  “Chrissy?”

  Shea let out a deep, shaky breath and shook her head. “Chrissy was older than me, and had been here two months before I came. At first, she still tried to come up with plans to escape and gave us all hope.” It looked like she might cry, but no tears came out. Either dehydration or just the fact she had cried out her despair a long time ago kept her eyes dry, but the sadness was still there. “They chose her a lot…because she had spirit. They’d laugh and joke about breaking her. She’d spit in their face,” she said, a faint smile at the memory. “Then, little by little, they succeeded. Instead of giving up, she ended up going crazy. She’d scream and beat her head on the bars trying to kill herself. You get a lot of that here—girls trying to end it all. The guards always stop it. They don’t get a paycheck for a corpse.”

  “Paycheck?”

  “Yeah. We are all waiting for the next auction. I’ve picked up enough Spanish since I’ve been here to know a little. All of us are going to be sold.”

  Sadie’s eyes went wide. “Human trafficking?”

  She nodded. “From what I’ve overheard the guards laughing about, most of the buyers make this place look like Disney Land.”

  “Oh my God,” she gasped. Tami let out a gasp, her body thrashing around some on the floor. “Sssssh, baby. Shhhhh.” She soothed her hand over the small area on her cheek that wasn’t injured, willing her to go back to sleep. She didn’t need to be awake and feel all of the pain that would slam into her. Once Tami was settled back in to that deep blackness that guarded her from reality, Shea went on.

  “One day, Chrissy got lucky. The guard came at her with a knife, and somehow she managed to lunge into it. It stabbed through her chest. She didn’t make it through the night.” Shea got quiet. In a gargled whisper, she added, “They left the body in her cage for two weeks. By the time they finally got around to getting her, the smell was so bad and she was so far decomposed, it was in pieces.”

  Sadie didn’t know how to react. The vile burn of vomit rose in her throat. She swallowed it down hard, but it made her sick all over. She shivered, and leaned closer to the bars toward Shea. “People like this…shouldn’t exist…they make monsters look good. We fear the dark, and things that go bump in the night. What we don’t know is that it’s people like these in that dark and making those bumps, not monsters.” She felt the sting of tears well in her eyes. There was no doubt she’d be next to be taken back to wherever it was that they broke and scarred all of the girls, and fear shook her. No. She couldn’t let them. She had to get out of here before they had a chance, or a chance to get ahold of one of the other girls.

  Chapter Ten

  Raven pulled into the parking lot, his adrenaline amped and pumping. He didn’t wait to come to a complete stop before he had his feet down and was kicking the stand down and killing the engine. He took off in a run toward Tonto’s room, yanking his helmet off as he went. He busted open the door and ran in, his eyes roaming the room. The girls were all sitting at the computers with Tonto and the others standing on the far end, working the cameras. The remote cameras could be turned and zoomed in or out, giving them a wide berth of surveillance.

  They all turned to look at his abrupt entry. His eyes fell immediately to Heaven and he froze. The urgency that had him running, which, Raven did not run, had evaded him. Her big beautiful fuck-me eyes met his and widened, her cheeks flushing a rosy pink before her brows drew together and a scowl folded into her beautiful features. Those plump lips that he was imagining wrapped around his cock thinned in a tight line, her arms crossing her chest. As much as he would love to spank her little ass until she smiled and begged for more, he remembered what the urgency was and turned back to Tonto.

  “Prez, got news.” Tonto’s eyes widened, his stance going rigid.

  “What’d you find?”

  “Drove down to where Reyes’ known compound was. Everyone was wrong. He has been there. He just has another way in and out. There’s a tunnel, coming in on the b
ackside of his property. Cars come in and out, right into the parking garage that leads to his house. He’s been fucking right under our nose!”

  “These fuckin’ rats and their tunnels. It’s a pretty fair bet that tunnel leads to the house the girls are at. Which also means there is more to that shitty house than what we see. Okay, tonight we move. We need to see if that’s the only entry point on his property, and follow it through. It’s gonna get hot. I want everyone loaded down fully armed.”

  Shady, Heaven, Abi, and Sahara all stood from their stations, their spines rigid and ready. “What time we rolling out?” Shady asked, her shoulders squaring in an offensive posture, ready to argue if he so much as thought about telling her the girls weren’t going. They hadn’t rode all the way down here just to sit and watch monitors.

  “Shady—” Sandman started but stopped when Tonto held up a hand.

  “I need one person on the monitors. The rest of us will ride out late. I figure if we can wait them out, find an opportunity and stay together. If we run into trouble that we can’t handle, we can scatter and meet back here when it’s safe. Otherwise, we take out as many of those sonofabitches as we can.”

  “Who do you want to stay back?” Heaven asked, holding her breath.

  “Sahara, you and Colt are staying back.” Tonto’s tone left little room for argument.

  It wasn’t Sahara who got her argument out first, but Colt. “Prez, you can’t be serious! I need to be out there, not stuck back sitting on my ass like a worthless piece of shit,” he bitched.

  “My sister is in there!” Sahara added.

  “Which is why you’re staying. I can’t risk you losing your head and blowing the whole operation. Colt, she needs protection. If shit goes down, they may be ambushing back here. Be ready, and don’t let your guard down. When we get the girls I’m gonna need a safe place to bring ‘em.” Tonto’s voice vibrated through the room.

  “That’s bullshit! You can’t make me fuckin’ stay here, Tonto!” Sahara yelled, her body almost shaking from rage. Shady grabbed her arm and pulled her back, talking calmly to her.

  “You don’t need to see her like that, girl. Let us get her. I promise we’ll bring her back, okay?” Shady tried to get her to sit, but it took a good shove from Abi to get her ass planted in a seat. She pushed against her, trying to fight when Abi smiled down at her.

  “Seriously?” she said, arching an eyebrow. When it finally registered with Sahara that she was attempting to fight against Abi, she sunk back against the chair and let out a deep breath.

  “We good?” Tonto said sarcastically, his patience wearing thin. Sahara nodded belligerently, crossing her arms over her chest. So, she may look childish, but she really didn’t give a flying fuck. Deep down, she knew they were right. If she saw her sister, she’d rush in and get her instead of sticking to the plan. But at least Sadie would be safe. Guilt edged in her brain for the other girls that might be with her. No, there was no way she could save Sadie and leave the others. No way in hell. Accepting her mission, she straightened and nodded an apology. Tonto stared at her a moment and nodded back in acceptance and turned to the rest of the group.

  “We get in, we don’t leave until we get all the girls. I want one group handing them off, another getting them the hell out of there. I don’t know what we are walking into, or how many girls are shoved in that damn grave, but we gotta be ready for anything. I’m thinking it’s probably at least two, maybe more.” He looked at the room, waiting for questions.

  “And Reyes?” Raven asked, a twitch flexing in his jaw.

  “We worry about Reyes after we do the rescue mission. If he happens to be there, great. If not, we can hunt his ass after. Either way, we will get the girls and get him. His little operation ends before we leave Mexico,” Sandman answered, his anxiousness to get Reyes the same or worse as Raven’s.

  “Any questions?” Tonto asked then nodded when no one spoke up. “Good. Everyone go get some rest. Colt and Shark, I want you two rotating. One on guard with Sahara, one on the monitors. Sahara, go get sleep. I have no idea how long we are gonna be, and you may be watching those cameras for days upon end.” He turned and walked out, with Yo Neg and Tonka leading Abi to their room. As the room cleared, Raven stayed to the back going unnoticed, watching Heaven until everyone but Maxi and Kink were filing out, grumbling something about needing pussy. He folded his arms over his chest and stared, waiting until they looked up. Both of them shot glances between him and Heaven, a smile playing on their lips. Raven’s nostrils flared and they both walked out, still amused.

  Heaven hadn’t noticed she wasn’t alone while she flipped through the cameras one last time, hoping she’d find something…whether a secondary entrance to the tunnel or emergency exit they’d need to know about to cover when they went in. Her eyes watered and a shrilling, stabbing pain shot through her temples. She reached up and rubbed them, wishing she’d have brought her glasses instead of committing solely on her contacts in the dry, dirty climate. She rubbed them, moving the little dry disks until her vision went blurry. “Ugh,” she muttered. She needed eye drops. And sleep. Which, she could take the contacts out and sleep and sidestep the drops. If they were going to be riding out soon, sleeping in them and risking her vision to falter wasn’t a good idea. As she continued to mess with them, two strong hands landed on her shoulders and began to rub.

  Her first instinct was to slap the shit out of someone, but it felt amazing. She closed her eyes and gave over to it, remembering a similar rub in the parking lot of the club the night she’d brought Rose’s little hellion sisters back and her mind went rabid. Gage had surprised her with caring compassion—a trait she didn’t know existed in the biker world. They fucked. They protected. They drank. But showing softness? Never. She wanted to tell him to stop, but waited, getting the most out of it while she could. Yeah, she was upset Gage and Colt had tossed her to the side and moved on, but ‘twas life in the MC world. She had to remember to keep her feelings out of it. “Mmm,” she purred.

  “You’re tense,” a voice that was definitely not Twelve Gage’s said softly. Her head snapped around, stopped by his tightening grip. “Hold still and relax,” he said, his voice firm.

  “What are you doing?” her voice clipped.

  “Giving you a massage. Then, I’m going to take you back to the room and put you to bed,” Raven’s velvet voice said matter-of-factly. He sounded so sure and casual that Heaven almost second-guessed her reaction. What rabbit hole had she fallen down?

  “I know that, but why?” Yeah, she was a little bitchy. He dug his thumb in a knot that had been in her shoulder and pressed down hard, making her wince. “Ouch!” she yelped. His grip tightened and held her against the back of the chair when she tried to pull away.

  “Hold still,” he scolded. He squeezed enough she finally complied and allowed herself to relax, his fingers molding through each tense spot. She tried to keep from making any noise, but couldn’t help it. He had the magic touch.

  “Mmm,” she purred. She rolled her head around, stretching her neck until his hand slid from the back to her throat, tracing up and down it. He ran his thumb along her jawline, slowly dragging it up to her lips. On contact her lips parted, his thumb gliding in just enough to draw moisture before outlining them thoroughly. She slid the tip of her tongue out and licked him, this time giving him a reason to hum.

  Heaven had momentarily forgotten being pissed off at him and once again fell prey to a damn biker. Well, good back rub and sexy caress or not, he was an ass. She abruptly pushed his hand away and stood, walking around her chair toward the door without explanation. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To bed,” she said, not looking back. Her hand made it to the doorknob when she was scooped up and heaved over his shoulder, her hands flying to his shirt to hang on. He opened the door and hauled her out, shutting it with his boot. “What the hell are you doing! Where are you taking me?”

  “To bed,” he mocked, walking her straight to
his room. Even upside down with the blood rushing to her head, Heaven still felt the flush of anger sweep over her.

  “I’m going to my room, dammit,” she ground out through clenched teeth. Her legs kicked and body wiggled, but her little squirming frame was no match for his huge bicep. He kept her in place with no effort, which pissed her off. “Let me go!” she yelled. His hand came down on her ass, stinging through her jeans with enough heat her back arched. “What the fuck!”

  “Hold still.” He still sounded calm, although now there seemed to be a hint of a smile in there somehow. The bastard seemed to be enjoying her discomfort. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, he remained holding her with one arm that didn’t budge. Well fuck-tastic.

  Raven had managed to get the door open and stepped inside, finally sitting her down while he flipped on the light. Her hands planted on her hips, her eyes searing holes through him. He couldn’t help but grin. He loved that feistiness she carried and thought the madder she got, the cuter she was—all one hundred pounds of her. “Get ready for bed. You need as much sleep as you can get before we head out.” He sounded almost like he cared for her, besides using her body for a live pocket pussy. Almost. Which, she knew was only a lure to get what he wanted, and tonight she wasn’t up for the most amazing sex of her life, and left to walk funny tomorrow. Hell no. She wanted her pillow and bed, and to be as far away from him, and any man for that matter.