by Nikki Chase
At least I have Anthony and two other men with me. We’ll be completely outnumbered, but I also can't take more men as that would leave my property insufficiently protected and put everyone else at risk.
I’ve already asked Raphael to get the police involved, so we’ll have back-up, assuming he manages to convince them to come at all.
Yeah, I know, it's reckless. But I can't just sit around while Alice may be going through hell due to my stupidity.
The cops have kept their distance from Walter, either out of ignorance or laziness, but they’ll have to come this time.
I can show them the tracker on the phone as proof that Alice, who is legally my employee, is on their premises. I can't prove that she’s being held there against her will, but hopefully the fact that she’s unlikely to venture there on her own will be enough to persuade those cops.
Anthony looks over his shoulder as he leads the way toward the main building on Walter’s land. We stay near the perimeter, which I used to patrol as part of his security. This area is more strictly monitored, but most of the property is taken up by the asparagus farm, which provides practically zero cover.
In other words, we’re just relying on dumb luck, and my knowledge of their security shift change, which must be outdated by now. I’m counting on Walter’s men being too lazy to change and randomize their schedules.
Miraculously, all four of us make it safely to the main building. We stop by the back entrance.
Once we force open the door and rush in, there’s no going back. We’re either going to save Alice and all go home in one piece, or we’ll all die.
With my hands, I give Anthony the signal to wait. I quickly check my phone. Still no message from Raphael.
Shit.
I remind myself that he has to be coming with reinforcements soon. I asked him to tell the cops I was going to Walter’s farm with armed men to rescue Alice. So, whether it’s now or later, they have to come.
They can stall when it comes to looking for a missing person, but not when a private citizen has basically admitted to breaking, entering, and attacking another’s property.
I wish I could wait for them to come, but then I hear a woman screaming.
It’s Alice’s voice.
It all happens so fast, once I give Anthony the signal to move.
We shoot the lock using the gun with the silencer and pry the door open, then advance down a dirty, narrow hallway with gray, unpainted concrete floors and gray, unpainted cinderblock walls.
Jesus, I almost forget how depressing this place is.
I was worried we’d have trouble finding Alice, but it turns out to be easy enough, although that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Basically, we just follow the noises. A man is shouting, and Alice is still screaming—from fear, hopefully, and not from pain.
We’re finally close enough to make out the words they’re saying. I’m almost sure the voices are coming from the open doorway in front and to the right of us.
“Stay still, bitch! Or I swear I’ll fucking cut you,” says the man sharply.
Alice whimpers.
Whoever just threatened her, he’s a dead motherfucker.
I take a quick look inside through the open doorway, while staying covered behind the wall.
Four men. Walter, a man whom everyone calls Cyclops because he only has one eye, and two seemingly low-level thugs who look smug. Like cats who have just presented their master with a dead rat.
Alice is sitting in one corner, crying quietly. Her shoulders are pulled back, presumably because they’ve tied her hands together behind her back.
I wish I could just rush inside and pull her into my arms. I wish I could tell her everything’s going to be okay, now that I’m here.
But I need to get rid of these guys first.
I hold up four fingers to let Anthony know how many targets are inside. Four against four. We can take them out. It’s not impossible. We have the element of surprise, and we’re more heavily armed than they are.
I give them the approximate locations of the four men inside the room and we divide up the work.
Then, we go in, guns blazing.
As I hoped, they’re caught by surprise. Their jaws hang open and their eyes flick around the room in confusion, before they finally realize what’s going on and reach for their guns.
By then, it’s too late.
One of the thugs is down, and so is Cyclops. A couple of shots hit my bullet-resistant vest and bounce off in defeat.
I fix my eyes on Walter and take my shot.
My first shot misses as he starts running for cover.
I quickly recover from the recoil and take another shot. It hits him in the chest and throws his shoulders back. He falls backward onto the smooth, hard concrete floor.
Finally, the volley of gunshots stop. I scan the room to see the aftermath.
Three men down. Four of my men standing, although Anthony and another man are hurt—shot in their limbs. Not deadly, but debilitatingly painful.
One thug is missing. He probably went out the door on the other side of the room. Fucking coward. He could be telling everyone about us right now.
I put my gun back in the holster and approach Alice, who’s curled up in fetal position in the corner, on the cold floor.
I crouch down, grab my pocket knife, and cut off the rope behind her back.
She glances at me through a veil of messy blonde hair, absolute dread in her eyes. She looks so afraid, so fragile.
“It’s okay now,” I say, not daring to touch her for fear she might shatter. Regret fills my chest. This is what I’ve reduced her to. She was a happy, successful woman before me, and now she’s just another victim. I disgust myself.
Alice says something, but I can’t make out the words because she’s murmuring.
I lean closer, pricking my ears up.
“Sorry,” she says. “I’m so sorry.”
I start to reach for her, but something happens before I get the chance to touch her.
A deafeningly loud gunshot crackles through the air.
My ears start ringing, and suddenly I feel weak. And cold. My knees fold under me.
“No!” Alice screams, but it sounds like she’s far away. So far away.
I hear heavy footsteps enter the room. The cops? It must be the cops.
Alice’s hand lands on my face, stroking my skin. “I’m so sorry, Seth. I’m so sorry,” she sobs over and over.
No, it’s okay, I want to tell her.
It’s not her fault. None of this is her fault.
I’m the one who got her involved, and now I’m getting the punishment I deserve for bringing her here and getting her almost killed.
But at least she’s safe now.
Everything is right with the world now.
30
Alice
It all happens so quickly.
One moment, I’m in the grey room with my hands behind me.
They have taken off the tape over my mouth, although it’s only so they can watch me scream as they taunt me. Hands grab every exposed part of my body, so I back myself into the corner just to have more surfaces covering me. Still, the hands keep groping and squeezing and grabbing.
I get some rest from the assault when they get into a serious discussion. They keep mentioning Seth, but I can’t follow the conversation. I’m too busy sobbing.
Then, gunshots.
I bury my head between my knees, covering my ears to shield myself from the dreadful noises. Heavy footsteps, screaming, obscenities, more gunshots.
Then, silence.
For a moment, I wonder if I’m already dead and just didn’t realize it right away because it happened so quickly.
My hands are suddenly free. Maybe being dead isn’t so bad after all. Maybe I can open my eyes now and look around me.
I see Seth.
He’s here, too?
Is he dead, too?
Because of me?
Oh no.
No, no, no.
I’m so sorry.
This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have left the house. I shouldn’t have gone to the market and run away. I wouldn’t have gotten caught by the bad guys if I had listened to him.
I know what he’d do to protect me. He has already gotten shot once to save me. I should’ve known that me running away was going to end up with Seth being dead.
It’s all my fault.
Shit.
I’m so, so, so sorry, Seth.
I hear another gunshot, then Seth falls.
What have I done?
31
Alice
They tell me the cops came just in time.
When they found us, we were lying on the floor. A pool of blood was spreading below us. Seth was unconscious, and I was inconsolably crying. There was blood on my hands, my face, my clothes.
Seth’s blood.
He’s still in the hospital now, two days after the incident. Still unconscious.
They say the bullet was stronger than Seth’s vest could withstand, so it penetrated the material and burrowed itself into Seth’s flesh.
The guy who shot Seth was one of the four men who had assaulted me in that gray room. Seth and his men thought he was already dead, but he had just enough life in him to take another shot.
It was terrifying when I first woke up in a hospital bed. I wasn’t hurt too badly, but I was confused and traumatized. I’m better now, I think. I can function, at least.
In fact, I’m doing so well they’re letting me out right now. I just have to sign a few papers at the reception desk, and then I’m done. I can put this behind me.
Except, I don’t want to.
I keep thinking about how Seth came to my rescue, shielding me with his own body, taking not just one, but two bullets for me.
How could I have doubted him?
I feel so regretful now. I can’t believe I ran away just like that and got myself caught like a suicidal idiot.
I should’ve trusted him. He’s not perfect, but he wants me safe and happy, and he’d die to make that a reality.
I walk down the hospital hallway, so familiar now from my frequent visits to Seth’s room.
The beige tiled floors, the wooden railings on the beige walls, the beige doors, the lines of plastic chairs for friends and family of the sick people. You get the idea; the place looks like it was designed to make sad and scared people more depressed.
I narrow my eyes as I get closer. There’s someone sitting on one of the chairs along the wall outside Seth’s room. A big man. Raphael.
I stop right in front of him. He looks up.
“Is something wrong? Is he okay?” A painful lump forms in my throat. I wonder if he’s taken a turn for the worse. If he’s doing fine, why isn’t Raphael in there with him?
“He’s fine,” Raphael says with kind eyes. “He’s actually doing really well.”
I heave a relieved sigh. “I thought he’d…” I let my voice trail off, unable to bring myself to say the words. I’ve been so scared because they told us there was still a small chance he might not make it.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Raphael gestures at the chair beside him.
“Actually, I want to see Seth,” I say, starting to walk toward the door.
Raphael takes my hand. “That’s what I want to talk to you about.” He’s different from how he usually is. His gaze is solemn, serious.
I take a seat, my head filled with questions. “What are we doing here, Raphael? Can’t we go inside? He’s really okay, right? You’re not lying to me?”
“No, he’s doing well, I swear. Don’t worry about him,” Raphael says.
My chest fills with dread as Raphael takes a deep breath. What’s bothering him then, if Seth is fine?
“Alejandra has gotten you a place in downtown San Francisco. We’ve paid the rent for a year. You take as much time as you need to start looking for a job, okay? I know you’d probably want to start working again right away, but don’t. Just don’t worry about anything for now,” he says.
“San Francisco? What are you talking about? I don’t need an apartment in the city. Why would I visit the city so much I’d need one?”
“No, you’re not getting this.” Raphael takes another deep breath. “You’re not staying here. You’re going back to the city.”
“What? I’m not… But I… I work for Seth,” I stutter, not understanding what’s happening.
What does he mean, I’m not staying here? I’m going back to work with Seth. I’ve thought all about it. We’re going to be happy. I don’t even care anymore about opening a restaurant. I just want to be with Seth.
“You know he doesn’t really need a chef,” Raphael says. “Ana has been taking care of all the cooking there for years. You were only hired because Seth got so obsessed with you, Walter’s men got a whiff of it. They found his weakness. He knew you were in danger. He felt responsible. That’s why he hired you.”
“Well, yeah, I know that. But Seth wants me to cook for him. Just ask him. I mean, Ana’s cooking is great, but she doesn’t know what Seth likes. Not really.” I get up from my chair. I need to talk to Seth because I can tell, from the way Raphael is looking at me, that he doesn’t get it.
Again, he grabs my hand. He looks up at me and gives me a sad smile. “Alice, I’m sorry. But Seth doesn’t want to see you. That’s why he told me to sit here and wait for you.”
My blood runs cold. That can’t be true.
“That’s not true,” I say.
“It’s true, Alice. I’m sorry. Seth wants you to go back to the city and rebuild your life. Forget everything that has happened here.”
“No, you’re wrong. He wants me close so he can protect me. That’s what he’s always told me.”
“It’s safe now, Alice. Because you got kidnapped, the cops finally had to go there and see what was really happening. They shut down the whole illegal operation and freed the people Walter was forcing to work for him.” Raphael stares right at me, trying to convince me he’s speaking sense, but everything he says sounds like a bad joke.
I start to laugh. Of course this is a joke.
Raphael looks at me with concern in his eyes.
“Good one, Raphael. Very funny. Can I go in and see him now?” I ask.
“I’m serious, Alice,” he says quietly, his face sincere and apologetic.
Tears well in my eyes, and everything blurs together into a beige haze.
“Please, Raphael, I need to at least talk to Seth. He needs to understand how sorry I am. I swear I won’t run away again, so if he’ll just take me back…” My voice trails off, my words cut off by the lump in my throat.
“You don’t understand, Alice. This is good. Everything is good now. The traffickers are arrested, innocent people are freed, the bad guys can’t hurt you again. You get your life back. Those are all good things, right?” Raphael coaxes me in a voice sweet as honey, but I don’t care about anything he has said.
How can anything be good if Seth doesn’t want to see me again? He must hate me.
“Tell him I’m sorry. Please…” I beg. God, this is humiliating, but I don’t care anymore. I just need to see Seth.
“He’s not angry at you, Alice. The opposite, in fact. He thinks you should be the one who’s angry at him, for involving you in something so dangerous. He just wants you to stay away for your own safety. You’ve suffered enough. It’s time for you to live your life now.”
“But, Raphael, my life is here now. You don’t understand.”
“Then make a new life for yourself,” he says softly. “You’ll be happier living your own life.”
He keeps talking in that sickeningly sweet voice, like he’s telling a kid that ice cream is bad and banned forever.
I hate it. And I hate him.
I don’t remember everything he says after that.
It’s clear that he’s not going to let me enter Seth’s room. He tells me Seth has insisted on keeping
me outside, although I can’t see how that could be true. Which means he’s a liar.
Still, it’s not like I can just push him away if he decides to block the door with his body. He’s so much bigger and stronger than I am.
So, with limp legs and a broken heart, I walk away.
32
Seth
Sometimes, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
After going through so many fucked-up things in my life, I’ve learned to see the humor in every situation.
You know what’s funny?
The cell phone.
Alice’s cell phone, I mean.
The only reason I could find Alice was because she had asked for her cell phone back that morning, and I had placed a tracker on it. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to find her.
The craziest thing?
The thugs who first caught her and threw her into a van could’ve thrown it away, and she would’ve been gone without a trace.
Instead, they chose to keep the phone to sell. To sell! That would’ve fetched a few hundred bucks, at best. To think that one piece-of-junk cell phone crumbled the whole empire Walter had built for decades.
Funny, right?
Sure, even without the tracker, I was definitely going to look for Alice at Walter’s farm, but it would’ve taken much longer.
I would’ve had to check multiple possibilities before finally finding her. I would’ve had to check her former co-workers, her sister, and her ex, just in case she was hiding from me, which would’ve exposed her to dangers from Walter.
Instead, she went straight into the hands of the most dangerous man of all. Luckily, it only took me an hour to get there, instead of a few days.
Now, everything’s safe. Peaceful.
It feels strange, to be honest.
It's been a long time since peace and safety felt normal.
My life before incarceration was pretty normal, at least by the standards of trust-fund kids. I went to college and started working for my father after graduating.