Dangerous Indulgence

by Roxy Sinclaire

  Silently, we maneuvered through the tall grass around to the back of the dilapidated old farmhouse. The white paint had long ago faded away to a dull gray. Shutters blocked off any view of the inside. I heard someone moving around but there was no sign of the gang anywhere. It was disheartening to see the lack of people. I had expected a fight. I’d anticipated finding her, but now it was looking like another dead end.

  “Peyton,” said Mark cautiously. “Things aren’t looking good. Do you really want to disturb these people and risk exposure?”

  I glared back at him. “I want to do whatever it takes to find my sister.”

  Leaving the two men behind, I crept to a nearby window and gently pulled away one of the boards blocking the window. I couldn’t see much, but now I could hear a woman humming. The song was one I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t see her face. Her skin was tan, unlike Shannon’s. My heart sank even deeper into the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t looking like anyone was being held captive there. This had been a total waste of time when Rosa and I could have spent the afternoon getting together a plan.

  I was about to turn away when I caught a glimpse of the woman’s wrist. Like an electric shock running through me, the small tattoo gave me hope. It was the Mafia Motorcycle Club emblem. It wasn’t old either, maybe a few years. Whoever she was, she was still a member. I quietly crept back to where the other two men were hiding. They saw my excitement and lit up right away.

  “The house is a hideout, but I don’t think they’ve got any guards here. Just one woman looking over the place. Did you bring the hoods?”

  Kane nodded and reached into the side pocket low on his leg, pulling out three masks. We quickly pulled them over our heads and drew out our weapons. I nodded to the other two men and we snuck around the front of the house. On the third nod, I kicked in the door. The woman screamed and reached into a drawer next to the stove, but before she could fire off the small pistol, Kane was tackling her to the ground.

  She screamed at him, “Let me go, you son of a bitch! Do you have any idea who I am? You’re a damn fool!”

  “Shut up, woman. We don’t care who you are,” he hissed back. “We are looking for a girl named Shannon. Do you know her?”

  The woman laughed. It was the first time that I saw the crazy in her eyes. They flickered to the basement and my heart started to race. I grabbed ahold of her as Kane tightened a pair of zip ties around her wrists.

  “Where is she?” I spat at her as I dragged her off her feet.

  “Awe now, come on, you don’t want a worn-out shell like that. If you boys wanted a good time, you should have just said so. I know you. You are Kane. Aren’t you a tasty little dish? Collins told me all about you. Why don’t you kick out these other two and we can have a good time?”

  “Hey,” I said, shaking her and trying to get her attention. “We don’t want you. We want Shannon. Is she here?”

  The woman shrugged. “Sure, what’s left of her.”

  I shoved her against the counter, wrapping my hand around her throat. “What the hell does that mean?”

  She was gasping for air. I loosened my grip just enough for her to be able to speak. “Downstairs.”

  I let go of her, not turning around when she fell into a heap on the ground. The others would deal with her. I needed to get to Shannon. It didn’t matter that the place looked secure. I still took each step with far more care than usual. Immediately, I smelled mold and moisture, but otherwise, it looked like a regular farmhouse basement.

  I heard a television coming from the only door in the basement, and I slowly approached it. The door wasn’t even locked as I carefully opened it and glanced inside. it was an old cellar that had been converted to a makeshift bedroom. A grungy bed, outdated television, and a few pieces of dust-covered furniture were all that remained there. The black and white television played from a VCR as old as it was, but I didn’t see any sign of Shannon.

  From a separate door, I heard a toilet flush and immediately, I was on my guard. As the door opened and the frail looking creature stepped into my line of sight, I lowered my gun. She looked right through me for a second, her mind far away from where we were. Then her eyes met mine and she smiled.

  “Shannon?” I said softly to my sister.

  She nodded her head but said nothing. I walked over to her and opened my arms, expecting her to run to them. When she stepped away from me, I frowned.

  “Shannon, what’s wrong? I’m here to get you out of this hellhole.”

  Confusion took over her expression. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  Closing Up Shop

  Rosa

  “So he just took off?” Paul asked.

  I shrugged. “He had some things that he needed to take care of. People leave all the time.”

  “Yeah, but I thought after that big happening with you here the other night, he would want to stay. Mary made it sound like you two had some big breakthrough.”

  “We did,” I offered. “Listen, its complicated, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay,” he muttered, moving away from the counter and going to a booth in the corner where Mary was already waiting.

  I hated being short with him, but I’d never been very good at dealing with confrontation and I was even worse at lying. Mary had already tried to pry answers out of me, but I held my ground. Now, with Paul giving it his best shot, I felt like I was being interrogated for a crime. Shuddering, I thought about the last time I was interrogated. Rage and fear filled my body as I recalled the treatment the FBI had given me, and now, I’d found out that someone from their end had leaked my whereabouts to Collins.

  “Can I get a small coffee, please?” said a customer.

  I nodded my head, trying to knock the memories and fear out of my mind. “Sure,” I said with a smile as I passed it across the counter.

  “Thanks,” replied the cute blonde man. “Say, I’m new to town here. Would you want to show me around a little later?”

  “What?” I muttered, paying attention to him in earnest for the first time. “I’m sorry, did you just ask me out?”

  He grinned. “Well, I was trying to but you seemed a little distracted. Maybe I should try again now that I have your attention.”

  I smiled. “You can, but it won’t do you any good. I’m sorry, but I’m taken.”

  “Oh? Well, he’s a lucky man. How long you been together?”

  “About a month,” I replied sheepishly as I handed him his change.

  He dropped the change in the tip jar but kept the single. I thanked the man and watched him walk out the door. Something about the exchange struck me as strange. Men hit on me all the time, but most of them put the bills in their wallet as soon as I gave them back to them. Even as he got in his car, he seemed to be holding it like evidence. My face began to pale as realization dawned on me. I’d just given the man my fingerprints. Mary must have seen my expression because she appeared behind the counter and put a hand on my shoulder.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  I nodded. “I don’t feel very good. I think I’m going to close up shop.”

  “Do you want me and Paul to keep it open for you? It’s one of the perks of working from home—we kinda make our own hours. Plus, we are here all the time anyway using the Wi-Fi.”

  It would be better if the shop stayed open. As much as I wanted to turn tail and run, I knew that keeping things as normal as possible was going to be key to saving my own ass. Looking around the shop, I nodded to Mary.

  “Yeah, you know what? I think that would be great. Maybe I should get in to see the doctor or something,” I muttered.

  “Want me to call him for you?” Asked Paul as he walked over to the counter.

  “No, no. I will give him a call later if I still don’t feel great. Thank you both though. I don’t know what I would do without you two as my friends.”

  “Anytime, honey,” offered Mary. “Give us a call later and tell me how you’re doing, okay?” />
  I nodded and gave her a hug before going out the back door. My car was parked right next to the shop. No one would see me leaving from there. As soon as I got into my car, I locked my doors and looked around. There was no sign of the blonde or his car, but I heard a motorcycle firing up in the distance and my hands started to shake. It brought back so many memories. I had no way of knowing if I’d been followed.

  Turning out of the parking lot, I thought back to the last time I’d spoken to Shannon. A twinge of pain reminded me that I had left her behind. Everything was going to be okay, though. Peyton would find her and then we could leave as a family. I couldn’t shake the memory. Like a bad dream, it came flooding back.

  “You have to go,” she whispered to me. “When was the last time that you heard it so quiet up there?”

  I shook my head. “It’s too dangerous. And I won’t leave you behind.”

  Shannon looked down at her ankle, still purple and mangled as a tear fell to the cement floor. We’d been together in the basement for two weeks, as far as I could tell. I’d just wanted to end the relationship with Collins. I never expected for him to lose his mind. Shannon, bless her heart, had just been along for the ride. Some ride it was too. Collins had taken her and then me in a blind rage. The assault had continued daily until today, when the door hadn’t yet opened and no noise was heard upstairs.

  “I won’t leave you,” I said to her again. “We can both get out of here!”

  She shoved me off the bed and shook her head furiously. “Of course we will both get out of here! But you are going to be a lot faster without me. Go get help!”

  “What if they come back while I’m gone? He will kill you.”

  Shannon snorted. “He’s going to kill both of us anyway. At least this gives us a shot at freedom.”

  “Maybe a shot for me, but it’s a death sentence for you.”

  “I like my odds better with you out there as opposed to being kept prisoner in here with me.”

  “Shannon,” I whispered.

  She glared at me. “Damn it, Brandi! You need to run!”

  Her forceful plea made me jump. I looked up at the basement door. It would be unlocked, as always. Collins had nothing to fear from us. We knew the drill. If either of us tried anything, it wouldn’t be just Collins using us. Fear raked through me. If I opened that door and they were there, I couldn’t take the abuse that was coming. On the other hand, Shannon had a point. We were dead either way. Looking down at her broken ankle, given to her the last time she’d tried to escape, I knew that I had to try.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked her quietly.

  She nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. “Please, Brandi, get help for both of us.”

  “I will,” I promised her.

  Creeping up the steps on all fours, I carefully pushed open the worn door. It was silent. No footsteps came my way. The television wasn’t even on. It was encouraging to see, and it gave me a little bit of hope. I stood up all the way and looked around. The place didn’t just look empty. It looked abandoned. I gasped as I walked through all the rooms. All traces of the gang were gone. I ran back down the steps and beamed at Shannon.

  “They are gone! I mean, really gone!”

  “What?” she whispered in shock. “This isn’t possible. They wouldn’t just leave us.”

  “Yes, they would. We are nothing to them. They know no one in the mafia will help us or reprimand them.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?” she asked. “Go get us some help!”

  “You still won’t come?”

  “No, it’s a two-mile hike back to town. I would never make it. Just go. I will rest here. Can you help me upstairs?”

  I nodded and did as she asked. She believed me once she saw the empty cabin. With a final hug, I left her on the sofa and ran out the back door. The hike was an easy one to the nearest police station. I was gone maybe three hours, but when the officer and a slew of police cars pulled into the driveway and searched the house, it was empty. They scoured the surrounding forest and found nothing. Broken and terrified, I went to the FBI.

  “She wasn’t there,” I whispered to myself as I pulled into the driveway.

  Shaking my head, I tried to free myself from the memory as I carefully looked around. I couldn’t see anyone watching me, but Collins’s men were careful. They could be hiding anywhere. Slipping out of my car as fast as I could, I jogged to the door and rushed inside. It wasn’t until the door was locked that I let out a sigh of relief. My life and everything that I’d fought for was slipping away again.

  Broken

  Peyton

  “Shannon?” I said. “It’s me, Peyton.”

  The vacant look in her eyes didn’t seem to change as she frowned. “I don’t know you. Where is Collins? He said he would be back.”

  She looked around me at the empty hallway. It seemed surprising to her that he wasn’t there. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what I was seeing. She was a shell of the woman who used to be my sister. Shaking my head, I took a step closer to her, but she backed away, her eyes slowly starting to focus . . . but no recognition came back. My eyes flicked to the end table where a hairbrush fashioned into a shiv was resting.

  “Collins!” she screamed, looking past me.

  “Shannon, he’s gone. We need to get you out of here.”

  She ran to the corner of the room when I approached her again. I picked up the sharpened tool and looked her in the eyes.

  “You see this? Why do you have this?” I whispered.

  She shrugged, still looking frail. “It was from before, when I didn’t know any better. But I know Collins now. He loves me.”

  I barked out a loud laugh. “Are you kidding me with this? He is a rapist!”

  My loud tone brought Kane stumbling down the steps, his weapon raised. When Shannon saw him, her fear started once again. I backed away from her, taking Kane with me as I went. The last thing I wanted was to frighten her again. She had to be drugged. There was nothing physical that I could see wrong with her, but it was obvious that she was no longer mentally there with me. She calmed down once we backed away from her.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with her,” I whispered to him when we were outside the room.

  Kane shook his head. “I think that I know what’s going on.”

  “Then do share,” I hissed. “I don’t want to stay here any longer than we need.”

  We watched as Shannon started to slip away again, her fingers moving to a music that no one else could hear. She went to a small drawer and pulled out a pencil and paper before sitting at the desk. She started to draw, and I saw that she was losing herself in her artwork, just like the woman I used to know. Shannon was such an amazing artist. It was no wonder that was the last shred of sanity she was clinging to.

  “She is broken, man,” said Kane. “There is no way that she is going to go with us willingly. Collins was her only link to the outside world.”

  “So, you’re saying she’s got . . .” I let my voice trail off, trying to remember what it was called.

  “Stockholm’s Syndrome,” offered Kane as he nodded his head. “If I had to guess, I would say so. What do you want us to do?”

  “We need to get her out of here. I don’t trust that the woman upstairs was telling the truth.”

  “I do,” he said softly. “Look at her. She isn’t going anywhere. She tried to yell for Collins when you first came in. She doesn’t need a guard anymore because he knows that she won’t run.”

  My temper was boiling just beneath the surface, but I knew that my sister was in a delicate state. The last thing she needed was to see a man who was practically a stranger to her exploding with rage. I watched her as she started to draw, humming a tune that I didn’t recognize as she worked. There was nothing left of her but the artwork that had kept her calm over the years. I could only imagine the suffering she’d had to endure at the hands of Collins. I would find him, and I would make him suffer for what he had done to my
baby sister.

  “Got any suggestions for getting her out of here?” I muttered, defeated.

  “Yeah, but let’s try seeing if she wants to go first. You aren’t going to like how I do it.”

  “Shannon?” I said softly to her, taking a step closer since she was distracted by her art.

  “Hmm?” she cooed, not looking up. “If you are here for lunch, tell Collins I don’t want anything today. I’ve been inspired.”

  “Shannon, Collins told me to come and get you. We’re going to move to another location. Why don’t we go now so he doesn’t get upset?”

  Her eyes shot up at me, full of anger. “You are lying. Do you think I’m an idiot? You aren’t with Collins. He told me men might come for me someday and that they would lie. He promised me we would never leave here. So, you must be here to hurt me.”

  I shook my head, but it did no good. She jumped up from her chair and lunged at me. The pencil in her hand had become a deadly weapon. It nicked my neck, barely breaking the skin but showing just how far gone she really was. I jumped to the side, grabbing her arms and pinning them behind her as Kane shot forward. Before I could stop him, he plunged a syringe into her neck as she screamed like the wild woman she had become. Her resistance became weak as she continued to scream out for Collins to help her.

  “What the hell was that?” I hissed at him.

  He shrugged. “I knew you weren’t going to like it, but we need to get out of here. Otherwise, we might all end up buried in the back yard.”

  “What did you give her, you son of a bitch?”

  “Easy, man,” he muttered. “It’s just a mild sedative. I saw a car parked around back and figured we could hotwire it to get her back to the city. Did you want to stay here and keep trying it your way? Because that wasn’t looking too good for you.”

  “Shut up,” I muttered. “Help me get her back upstairs.”

  Kane had tried to warn me that I wasn’t going to like his way of doing it, and he was right. I didn’t like to see Shannon slumped over in my arms, but she did seem more at peace. Kane looked ashamed at what he’d done, but I couldn’t hold it against him. It was the only way we were going to get her out of there peacefully. He took her by the waist and grunted as she flopped over his shoulder. He carefully ducked under the low beams of the upstairs flooring and hauled her up the steps. I ran back into her room as an afterthought and grabbed the art supplies that I could find.