A dance hall.
Which one? I’ll meet you there.
Sage had a funny feeling in her gut. She didn’t think that Amanda would actually leave the area they lived in Pearl to go to Dallas with some guy she just met. Unless he was really that great? It was just a sensation, but she felt weird as she texted the address.
I’ll see you there. I’ll find you, don’t worry.
Even Amanda’s words sounded funny, and Sage reached into her small purse and touched the pepper spray. It had to be her imagination. There wasn’t anything strange about this situation.
Before they headed inside, she texted Davie to let him know about Amanda.
“Finish up your texts now, Sage. The place is so loud in here, and so much fun, but the signals are poor,” Curtis told her.
“Oh, okay,” she said and placed the cell phone in her bag.
* * * *
“We got a possible situation,” Matt stated as he came back into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Dale asked.
“Amanda Brentworth is missing. Her parents notified Wyatt that she never returned after going out with her friends Saturday night.”
“What does he think happened?” Virgo asked.
“They are questioning the other friends who were with her when Quaid and I were with Sage at the urgent care.”
“Fuck. Sage is going to panic. Should we call her?” Dale asked.
“Not yet. She’ll be home tonight and then we’ll be able to explain things to her,” Matt said.
“What can we do to help out now?” Quaid asked.
“I guess head to the department and help with the questioning. Wyatt has the parents calling friends and ex-boyfriends.”
“Let’s go help him out,” Virgo said, and they grabbed their keys to head to the station.
* * * *
“What did you just say?” Wyatt asked Davie.
“Look, Sage texted me like thirty minutes ago and said that Amanda contacted her. She said Amanda’s in Dallas with the guy she hooked up with. They’re meeting her at some dance hall.”
“Wyatt, I got the sheriff in Keanter on line one. You need to take this call now,” Rosie told him with Matt and Quaid in the same room.
“Sheriff Cantrell.”
“Wyatt, it’s Ben, we got ourselves a hell of a situation. I heard you’re missing one of your girls, and we’re missing one as well. Kelly Porter. Plus we got reports of three others in the surrounding towns. A Texas Ranger by the name of Becker is on his way here. They believe that this is part of the smuggling ring taking place across the country. Jesus, Wyatt. The Porters are hysterical. I’ve got people in town in a panic.”
“Hold on. I can’t believe this. I’m in my office with Davie Mathews. He just got a text about an hour ago from Sage Jones. She’s in Dallas and had been texting her friend Amanda, when Amanda replied that she was in Dallas and would meet her.”
“You better talk to this Texas Ranger. There’s a whole scam these assholes have to lure their victims in. Your girl Sage may be in trouble.”
“Give me the Ranger’s number now,” Wyatt stated.
He wrote it down and then quickly started putting in the number as he spoke to Matt and Quaid.
“Get Sage on the line. Call her, text her, do whatever you need to do to get her to not meet up with Amanda yet. It could be a trap,” Wyatt told them.
“What are you talking about?” Matt asked as he and Quaid started calling and texting Sage.
“Those cases we heard about where the young women were being abducted from across the state? Ben said four other women went missing Saturday night. There’s a Texas Ranger who is working the case. I’m trying to call him now. They think it’s all connected. The ones who took Amanda and the other girls could be luring Sage in right now.”
“Fuck!” Matt yelled out.
“She’s not answering. What the hell was the name of that dance hall she went to in Dallas?” Quaid asked, now in a panic, too.
“Fuck if I know. Wait, let me call Curtis.”
“Curtis? You have his number?” Quaid asked.
“What the fuck do you think, that I would send our woman out to Dallas to stay with an old friend and not have checked out the guy?”
“I better call Virgo and Dale,” Quaid stated.
“Yes, Ranger Becker, this is Sheriff Wyatt Cantrell from the town of Pearl. I understand you’re conducting an investigation into some missing women—”
The sheriff stopped talking and Matt and Quaid stared at him.
“Shit. Tell me what you need. What is the government offering in assistance?”
Wyatt was writing things down and Matt and Quaid kept trying to contact Sage.
Finally Wyatt hung up the phone. He looked at Matt and Quaid. “Amanda is definitely not the one talking through text to Sage. They found Amanda’s purse minus her cell phone. Her ID was in there, and there was blood on the material.”
Matt looked at Quaid. “We never should have let Sage go. She’s in trouble and she doesn’t even know it.”
* * * *
The music was very loud and Sage was trying to walk toward the corner bar near the exit door as Amanda texted her to meet her there. At least that was what she thought she meant but the text came in partial. Curtis was right. There was bad reception here.
“Excuse me.” She heard the male voice behind her, and felt his body wedge up against her back. The place was really crowded, and Curtis and Liz were two seats away from her, but turned the other way.
“Yes?” she asked. The guy was very attractive. Blond hair, tan complexion, dark brown eyes.
“You’re a friend of Amanda’s, aren’t you?” he asked, and Sage wondered who this guy was. Again she got that funny feeling in her gut. She held her purse on her lap as he touched her arm.
“She’s outside. She’s kind of embarrassed because she’s wearing the same clothes as Saturday night. She asked me to come in here and get you.”
Sage looked at the guy. She didn’t trust him one bit. Why would Amanda put her in this position? Then again, Amanda did things on a whim. Perhaps this was the guy she hooked up with.
“Hey, I know you don’t know me, but she’s your friend and she said you would understand because you know her so well,” the guy explained.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Curtis asked as he yelled to her from his seat. The guy talking to Sage looked annoyed.
Sage told him what was going on and Curtis looked the guy over. “I can come with you?”
Just then Liz was pulling on his arm. “You said you would dance with me. Come on, just a few times around?” she asked.
“Go ahead, Curtis. I’ll be fine.”
She smiled at him and then stood up from the stool. As she walked, she felt her cell phone vibrating the closer she got to the doorway. There must be better reception outside. If that was the case, then she would talk to Amanda and text the guys. As the guy pushed the door open, she reached into her bag when she saw that there wasn’t anyone around.
She turned to look at the guy as she heard tires screeching, and a van coming down the side street. Her gut instincts kicked in just in time as the guy next to her tried to stab her with something. She sidestepped, and he charged at her. She swung her fist hitting him in the nose. He came back at her as the van stopped and she took a moment to look to see when the guy struck her in the cheek. She felt the pain and it pissed her off. This guy wasn’t going to get away with taking her. She didn’t know what was going on, but her training all came to her in a flash. She maneuvered out of his hold.
“Don’t fight me, bitch. It will just make matters worse for you. No guy’s gonna want a beaten up whore. They want pretty ones.”
“Fuck you!” she yelled as he swung at her again. She did one of her martial arts side kicks and hit him in the gut. He held his stomach and then shoved her to the ground. She fell, landing next to her purse. Remembering the pepper spray, she grabbed for it as he came at her again
with something. She saw it was a syringe as she turned, pointed, and squeezed the button hard, hitting him in the eyes. He was yelling and carrying on, when another guy jumped from the van just as the side door next to her opened. It was Curtis and his buddies. The two men got into the van and took off down the road.
“Sage. Oh God, are you okay?” Curtis asked as he knelt on the ground and moved her hair from her cheeks.
“They tried to take me. They tried to stick me with a syringe.”
“What the fuck is going on?” one of the guys asked.
“Did you get a license plate off that van?” Curtis asked one of his buddies who was typing in his cell phone.
“Sure as shit did. I just put it in my phone so I wouldn’t forget it. Give it to me to send to Sage’s boyfriends.”
“What?” Sage asked.
“Matt and Quaid have been texting and calling us. We didn’t get the calls inside. I felt my phone vibrating and came down the hallway when I read a text from Matt. It said that Amanda isn’t texting Sage, and that it’s a trap. Amanda was abducted on Saturday night.”
Sage covered her mouth as she gasped. Her heart was racing. She was shaking and her cheek was sore.
“Let’s get you some ice, and call Matt right away,” Curtis said, as he pulled her into his arms and held her tight.
Sage was trying to digest all the information. Amanda was abducted. Someone just tried to take her. Maybe the same people who took Amanda.
I want Matt, Quaid, Virgo, and Dale. I need them.
Chapter 8
Sage was holding ice against her cheek as she sat in the back of an unmarked police car. Matt apparently had friends in lots of places. Two of them, both Texas Rangers, were driving her home to Pearl. After she filed the report with the police and they updated her on what was going on back home, her head was pounding and her cheek really sore. Some of the stitches on her arm opened up, but she would have Doc take care of that as soon as she arrived. They were all waiting for her at Doc’s office.
She was able to give a description of her attacker, and thanks to quick thinking by Curtis’s friends, they had a license plate to the van. There were also surveillance cameras on the outside of the dance hall where deliveries were. They caught the whole attack. She knew everyone would see that video before she made it home. But she didn’t care. This was why Hank and Dalton trained her so well. They wanted her to be prepared to defend herself.
“We’re almost there, sweetheart. I know that ice for your arm and cheek are probably near melted by now, but you’ll be in good hands shortly,” the Ranger told her.
She whispered, “Thank you,” even though her head was pounding. The ibuprofen she took earlier wasn’t working anymore.
“That headache is getting worse. The paramedic said you might have a slight concussion. We saw the video. You slammed your chin down on the ground pretty damn hard,” he said.
“I don’t even remember.”
“That was the adrenaline rush. A damn good thing your friends in Pearl trained you.”
“I wish Amanda had been trained as well. I can’t believe someone took her. How are you going to find her?” she asked again. But she knew the answer. She overheard the other detectives talking on the phone at the scene by the dance hall. Women that were taken like this hadn’t been found. Except for one, and she was found dead.
The tears hit her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry. She needed to be strong. She needed her family and her men. She closed her eyes as her cheek throbbed. The men were all going to be angry when they saw how swollen her cheek was, and that her stitches came open and her chin was cut, too. But she was alive. She fought and hadn’t let those men take her.
Just as she felt like exhaustion kicked in and she was dozing off, the car slowed down and the back door opened.
“Jesus, baby.” Matt carefully lifted her out of the car and up into his arms. She could hear the others, but her head was throbbing something terrible.
“She’s a trooper. Fought like hell, too. Her head is throbbing, and the paramedic said a slight concussion,” one of the Rangers told them.
She knew that her family was there. She heard the men and then Lena and Doc.
“Set her down on the table and I’ll take care of her,” Doc said.
* * * *
Virgo stood by the side along with Bryant and Lena. The others walked into the waiting room to talk with the Rangers and get an update about everything that had taken place.
“I’ll need to clean these stitches up. It’s not too bad. Only a few split,” Doc told her as Virgo stared at Sage. He was pissed. So were his brothers, but he had the most patience of them all, and they wanted to get the update on what happened in Dallas and where the Rangers were in their investigation into Amanda. They didn’t want to surround her and get in Doc’s way. They would take care of her and hold her as soon as it was okay to take her home.
“Oh God, Sage. I was so scared,” Lena said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“I know, Lena, but I fought them off. I have Dalton and Hank to thank.” She scrunched her eyes tight.
Virgo kept quiet. All he kept thinking was that they could have taken Sage. Right now, multiple women were missing. They hurt his woman and if he or his cousins ever got their hands on the men, they would suffer for it.
* * * *
Matt, Quaid, and Dale looked at the video surveillance tape on Wyatt’s iPad before Sage arrived. They were all pissed off, but grateful that she was about to counter the guy’s attack.
Dale’s heart was pounding in his chest as Wyatt spoke to them.
“Her friend Curtis and his buddies got there in the nick of time. She might not have made the fight with three on one,” he said.
“They were smart to get the license plate, too. What do you have on that so far?” Matt asked the Rangers.
“We had a command center set up since yesterday once we confirmed that the five women were taken. So far, the van’s license plate is coming up as nonregistered, which means it’s a fake. But, the surveillance cameras on the end of the street where the convenience store was from dance hall Sage was at caught their faces perfectly. The van, license plate, and partial description of the men also match the surveillance tapes in Turbank, Croton, and Keanter. These are who we’re calling our snatchers and exporters,” the Ranger explained.
“We have a lot of new surveillance cameras set up around Pearl, and especially the women’s shelter. Do you think these guys might come this way?” Dale asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past these men to come looking for Sage. She’s the one that got away. She can identify them. They could have some sort of order form, if it’s a way of smuggling women out of the States to sell to high bidders as sex slaves.”
“Jesus.” Quaid ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the room where they were treating Sage.
“She isn’t leaving our side. Not for a minute,” Dale added, and Quaid agreed.
* * * *
Sage was trying so hard to remain awake. But she was so exhausted. It seemed her adrenaline rush was long gone. She could hear them talking. Muffled sounds. Male voices. In her head she saw her attacker, and the syringe he held in his hand. She jerked, trying to get free, and jumped up.
“Sage.”
The sound of a metal tray hitting the tile floor echoed around her, instantly making her shake with fear. Her eyes popped open, as they darted around the room. She jumped the second she felt Virgo’s arms around her. Then she saw Doc’s shocked expression, as he held her ankle so she wouldn’t fall and Lena with her hand covering her mouth and Bryant’s hand over her belly. She was breathing heavy, processing the fact that she was alive, not in danger and back in Pearl.
“You’re okay,” Bryant whispered.
His words and the aches and pains in her body as she remembered where she was, took complete control of her mind. Kenny, Blake, and Quinn were standing there in the room, too, and they looked angry. She blinked her eyes. Her grip on Virgo�
��s shirt by his neck firm. Her hands were locked in place as she looked at them, saw her swollen knuckles, and felt the pain.
“I’m going to give you something to help you sleep.” Doc’s voice drew her toward him. She stared at him and he looked so upset. She felt the twinge of throbbing pain not only in her head but her cheek.
“Lay back down, baby. Let Doc give you something and then I’ll take you home.”
“Home?” she asked, and thought about her cottage and being all alone. She shook her head. “No. No, Virgo, don’t leave me.”
He helped lay her back down on the examining table. He was bent over, and she was flat on her back. She stared into his eyes. The blue was filled with such emotion. He caressed her good cheek.
“I meant to our home. I’m not letting you out of my sight. I’m going to protect you, Sage, so no one can ever try to take you from me again.” She saw the sincerity and honesty in his eyes, but also something else. Something that told her he was different. She hugged him to her, wedged her face in the crook of his thick neck that smelled so good, so Virgo. His cologne, his masculinity, his arms of safety consoled her body immediately.
“Don’t let me go, Virgo. I need you.”
Chapter 9
“What the fuck was he thinking?”
“Her name was on the top of the list. Scorpion saw her in some of the surveillance pictures of the Amanda woman. He liked her immediately, and wants her for himself,” Rye told his partner.
“The fuck he does. She’s mine. I’ve been very patient, and was getting ready to make a move, when that asshole sent in the snatcher like that? What the hell? I’m in charge of picking these women, and then offering them as I see fit. Tell fucking Scorpion to stand down. Sage is mine. Now I’ll have to wait even longer to grab her and take her with me. He fucked everything up.”
“I’m sorry. If you had explained that she was yours, I never would have given her location to them,” Rye told him.
Sage's Story [The Town of Pearl 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12