by Riley Murphy
“I say we go with left. They must have added it for a reason.”
Neil figured he was going to regret this, but what choice did they have?
*****
Charlie took one look, and whispered, “Wow, this was really lucky.”
“I’m going to make you stuff a sock in it if you don’t pipe down,” Cat growled.
“But it’s a security desk and no one’s there guarding it.”
Cat ignored her and continued walking while Reggie nodded. “It’s very strange. The night they brought me here, there was a guy sitting there all night. Maybe when the weather’s like this they don’t need one here. With the patio closed and it being so nippy outside no one is going to want to walk on the pier and possibly stumble in here. As for piping down,” she directed this to her sister’s back, “the place is sound proofed, so soft voices don’t carry.”
“See?” Charlie hit Cat on the back of the shoulder, but her sister only shrugged it off. “That’s another stroke of luck. You have to believe there was a reason the back door was unlocked and there’s no guard at the desk.”
Cat stopped at the end of the hall and checked down each side that branched off of it. Then she spun around. “The guy must have gone to the bathroom or to have a smoke or something. Maybe he’s calling his mom.” She gave Regina a bland look, saying, “In a soft voice that doesn’t carry because he took his phone with him.”
Charlie made a wordless ‘O’ hearing that. She hadn’t checked the empty station that thoroughly.
“Which way? Vagina, any ideas?”
The look her friend shot her sister spoke volumes. “Take a right. This hall is shaped like a U. It’s only after you make the turn at the end,” she pointed to it, “that there are a series of cells on the right.”
Charlie frowned. “What kind of cells?”
“Prison.” Both Reggie and Cat answered at the same time. It was Reggie who added, “On the other side of this wall space is a lounge for Sharpe’s guys.”
Charlie trailed her hand across it as they walked. “It must be a pretty big lounge.”
“It is. It’s got a stage and couches…cuffs.”
Charlie dropped her hand and shot forward to catch up with her friend. “You saw it? When? The night you were here?” Charlie tried to make eye contact, but Reggie refused so she insisted, “With his men? Did they hurt you?”
Reggie stopped and Charlie almost walked into her when she finally answered her. “They did what men do. The lounge is their personal playground and the women that are locked in those cells are the things they play with before Kelli ships them out.”
“No! I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I left a few marks and God willing I’ll leave a few more if it comes down to that.”
Charlie leaned back against the wall and let all this sink in. They shouldn’t be here. This wasn’t like stealing the rival team’s uniforms the night before the big high school matchup. This was real.
The police have done nothing.
Although that was true, did it make what they were doing right? Or any less dangerous? People were being hurt, sold, possibly killed by that bastard…who had their sister.
Pearl.
“Cat, we have to find Pearl and get out of here. We should have called Neil and Jude.”
“I called Jude,” her sister turned around, walking backwards, “and he never picked up.”
“Cat?”
Her sister halted and put her hands on her hips. Exactly the same way Charlie did when they were in too deep to turn back. “What?”
“We have to do this thing fast.”
Cat turned and for the first time ever smiled at Charlie’s friend. “You heard the woman, Reggie. Let’s do this thing.”
Reggie was the first one around the corner. “I have to get the keys.”
Both Charlie and Cat looked at one another and then went after her. When they caught up with her, Cat spoke first. “Keys? Where are they?”
“In there.” She pointed to the only door on the left.
“In the lounge?” Charlie was concerned that her friend had lost her mind.
“Yes. It’s the only way. The keys are hanging in a box just inside the door.” She put her hand to the wall. “I don’t feel any vibrations. There’s no music. Maybe there’s no one in there.”
“What if there is?” Charlie’s heart pounded so loudly she leaned forward to make sure she didn’t miss her answer.
“Then we’ll have to deal with them.” It was Cat who answered. There was an edge of steel to her sister’s tone that Charlie admired. “We’ll be right here.”
Reggie nodded and didn’t even brace herself. She just opened the door a crack as quietly as she could and slipped inside. It seemed like forever before she came back out. In such a way that Charlie was sure there’d been someone in there.
“How many?” Cat asked.
“There’s only one guard. He’s a tough one, but he’s currently occupied with one of the waitresses.”
Cat walked to the first door on the right and put her ear to it. “Nothing.” When Charlie came up behind her, she had to lean around her to speak to Reggie. “You’re sure these are all cells?”
“Yes. Open it. It’s unlocked. The keys are for the gates inside.”
Charlie gasped when Cat opened the door revealing a small entrance way, and then a series of thick vertical bars. The door in the middle of those had horizontal bars with a plate lock. Beyond that in the shadowy darkness, there was nothing but a square empty room with no windows. It looked like a confined space you’d find at a zoo.
“Bastards,” Cat spat.
“What was that?” Charlie heard a noise and rushed to the end of the hall. She was careful going to check. It was a door that had slammed but she didn’t see anyone. “It’s okay.”
Her relief was short lived. After the next few doors Cat opened had the same empty room behind bars, Charlie was starting to worry. “Do you think they could have moved her?”
“Anything is possible,” Reggie said. “You see this storage closet?” She put her hand on one side of the saloon-type doors and pushed it open. “One of the guards told me the night I was here that Kelli installed these so the girls would have nowhere to hide. Even that small possibility was taken from them.”
“Yeah, well he’d be—”
“Cat?” Charlie asked when her sister stopped talking mid-sentence. She kept her eyes on her as she approached. Cat was transfixed and Charlie suspected she knew why.
“Pearl.” Reggie slid sideways between Charlie and Cat to go to the beautiful redhead in the purple dress who looked nothing like a prisoner behind those bars. She was regal and completely calm until she recognized Regina. Then the poised woman came undone. She started shaking and softly crying. Then despite the metal bars between them, they managed to get their arms around one another for a heartbreaking hug. “We’re going to get you out of here,” Reggie cried. “Me and—me and…these are your sisters.”
“Hermanas?” There was disbelief and then joy, when Pearl whispered, “Mis hermanas?”
Reggie vigorously nodded.
And then they were all crying. Even Cat who stood back and wiped her tears away with the palms of her hands, before she sniffed. “Okay, enough of this shit. We’ll catch up later. Let me get the door unlocked.”
Charlie could tell Cat was affected. Her hands shook, which made finding the right key nearly impossible. “Do you need some help? Wait, did you guys hear that?”
All of them instantly stilled. Someone was coming.
Charlie turned to Cat. “Hurry up. Come on. Come on.”
“I told you we should have brought the bat. I only have one stun gun.”
“Hurry.” She heard a door slam and went to check. Thank God. Whoever they’d heard had gone in a different direction because the long hall was deserted. By the time she returned and told them the good news, she was filled with all kinds of nervous energy.
“You still ha
ven’t found the right key?” The energy got the best of her. She wound up bouncing on the balls of her feet by the door while she kept an eye-out and listened to Reggie and Pearl quietly converse in rapid Spanish.
“Yeah. Got it.”
She peered in and saw that Cat had finally found the key to undo the lock. Once the barred door opened, Reggie took Pearl by the hand and Charlie motioned for her to bring her into the hall. The second Charlie saw Reggie’s grim nod she knew there was problem.
“We have a situation.”
“Situation?” Charlie looked at her friend and then at Pearl. “What kind?”
“There’s children that need to be released.”
“Kids? Whose kids? Where?” Cat asked.
Charlie waved her sister down. She was scaring Pearl with all her demanding. “You need to listen. We both do.”
Reggie indicated to the key ring and said, “We need to use those. Pearl told me that there’s a group of young girls who were taken from their homes in Mexico and forced to travel here with her. Up until a week ago they were somewhat protected by an adult woman, but Kelli took her away and they’ve been on their own since then. Pearl thinks that Kelli’s moving them tonight. If he does, they’ll never be found.”
Charlie asked Pearl, even as Reggie translated, “Are they’re locked in a room with bars like this one?”
Pearl nodded and Reggie said, “Not up this hall. At the end of the other one.”
“Okay.” Cat ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “New plan. We’ll get you and Pearl out of here and me and Reggie will find the kids.”
Charlie scowled. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“Well it would be asinine for all of us to do it so you’re going to have to. Look,” this was Cat trying to sell her bad idea, Charlie knew, “you have to get our sister out of harm’s way.”
“By putting my other sister in it? I don’t think so.”
“Cat’s got the right idea. Out of the four of us, Cat and I are the logical choices.”
Charlie was a little offended. “Why? Because you think I’m too much of a softy?”
All of them nodded, even Pearl. “Why is she nodding?”
“I told her about you,” Reggie didn’t hesitate answering. Then she turned her attention to Cat as if they’d been bosom buddies for years. “If we continue up this hall, there’s an emergency exit in the alcove. We have to be careful though. If the alarm gets triggered bars come down. We can get Charlie and Pearl out. They can hug the shoreline until they reach the rocks. There’s an alley access to Ameril Street.”
“You’re sure?” Cat asked. “I don’t want them to be stuck out there. It’s too cold tonight.”
“Positive. After they’re on their way we can double back, head down that hall and find those children.”
Although Cat jogged beside her, she spoke to Reggie, which annoyed Charlie to no end. “What if the alarm goes off?”
“We’ll have to run and forget about going after the kids. Then we’ll have to pray that the police will do something about it this time.”
“This time?” Charlie repeated when they stopped in the alcove that turned out to be more of a stairwell, but she never got an answer. After having a look at her surroundings, she whispered, “Damn, this place is much larger than it looks from the outside.”
Reggie ran a hand up and down the door frame until she found the button that triggered the alarm. She stood to one side and showed them. “We need to make sure this stays in when the door opens.”
Charlie said, “I’ll do it. You open the door.”
Again Reggie didn’t hesitate. She opened the door and all of them held their breath. When nothing happened Pearl smiled and Charlie wanted to cry all over again. She looked so much like their mom in that moment it made her homesick to see her parents.
“Wait.” Cat held Pearl back. “Your dress is caught.”
“What’s the matter?” Reggie was already out the door, but turned back when Pearl let go of her hand. “No, give me your hand. I want to make sure you get across the lot to the water without any trouble.”
“There.” Cat managed to unhook the fabric where it had gotten snagged on the stair railing. “Shit, I dropped the keys. Double shit. My hand is stuck.”
Charlie leaned over to see what she was talking about. The keys were on the other side of the stair railing and Cat had put her hand through the rails to retrieve them. Her arm looked really wedged in there. “Can you—”
All of a sudden the alarm went off and all of them panicked at once.
“Oh my God, you let go of the button!” Reggie cried.
The bars over the door started to descend with warning beeps.
“Dios Mio,” Pearl whispered.
Charlie was in shock. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t. See?” She pointed.
“I’m fucked. Get out of here.”
One minute Charlie was stupidly holding that button down to no avail and the next she was being dragged out the door under the descending bars. They were halfway between the exit and the water when an icy wind hit her in the face waking her right up. She jerked her arm free of Reggie’s hold on her and cried, “I can’t leave Cat.”
“You have to. We’ll go to the police.”
Charlie looked Reggie in the eyes. Despite the noise, the wind whipping around them, her shock, and Cat swearing like a pirate behind her, it was the moment of truth. “The police aren’t going to help us, are they?”
The somber look in her friend’s eyes said it all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Reggie remained silent, Charlie spun around and ran back. She had to make it through that door before the bars completely closed. She didn’t even breathe when she dropped to the ground and rolled under the metal. A split-second later there was a loud clunk and the floor beneath her shook. Then in the middle of a blaring ring, the alarm cut out.
“You stupid jackass. You could have been killed.”
Charlie sat up and pushed the hair out of her eyes. This was one of those times she wasn’t going to call Cat out for being bad tempered. She heard the fear in her tone more than she heard the words she spoke.
Quickly, she got on her hands and knees and crawled to her. It would only be a matter of time before they’d be facing Kelli’s guards and when they did, she wanted her sister standing beside her. “Let’s see how badly you’re stuck.”
“You shouldn’t have come back.”
Charlie knew Cat was staring at her, so she shrugged. “And leave you here to have all the fun?” After she had a look she said, “Man, you’re wedged in there pretty good. It’s your sleeve that’s the problem. This rail has burrs on it. The fabric’s bunched. Relax your arm and I’ll see if I can shimmy it to get it flat. It will give us more room.”
It was almost unnerving when she felt her brave sister trembling. Cat was fearless. Courageous. She was the one who killed the spiders and shooed the snakes.
“This reminds me of the time you got stuck in the bed slats.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Sure you do.” Charlie continued to work the fabric as she talked. “We were at Camp Clara for two weeks. That summer they decided to separate us, remember?”
“What I remember is that they put you on the north side of camp to bunk with all the popular bitches in the lodge and I got stuck with farty Fairaday in a mosquito infested shack.”
“Francis Fairaday. That was her name.” Charlie nodded. “I still think that was our best prank to date.”
“Which one? I liked Fanny. Did we do it to her?”
Charlie was glad her trembling had lessened. “Yeah, I can’t believe you don’t remember. I snuck out dressed like you were that night and waited in the bushes until she went down to the lake to watch the camp counselors make out. Then I went into your cabin and helped you lift the mattress on the top bunk where you slept. You climbed in between the mattress and the slats facing down.”
“Oh fuck, now I remember. I was
sandwiched in there, over her bed, with a flashlight under my chin. When she came in, you pretended to be me and climbed up the ladder and got into my bed. After she turned off the lights and got into hers, I waited a few seconds and then snapped on the flashlight. I think she shit her pants.”
Charlie grinned. “I know I shit mine when Mom and Dad showed up at four in the morning to bring us home.” The sleeve shifted and so did Cat’s arm. “Yay.” Charlie helped her lift her limb high enough to a space in the rails that was wider. “You’re free and you have the keys. Since no one’s been down this hall to check things out, the alarm might have been a drill of some kind.”
After she straightened Cat’s sleeve for her she looked up and for a second she thought there was a guard standing right behind her, but she knew that was impossible. “What is it?”
“Would now be a good time for me to tell you that Travis raped me?”
Bang!
Charlie jumped. A heavy door had slammed at the bottom of the stairwell. There were men talking. Walking. Coming up the stairs.
Cat fisted the keys so they didn’t make any noise and curtly nodded for Charlie to follow her. They were both on their hands and knees until they were out of the alcove and around the corner.
Cat stood. “Come on,” she whispered. Taking Charlie’s hand they ran together like they used to run when trouble chased them. Until Cat stopped and said, “We’re going to hide in plain sight.”
This was Cat’s favorite go-to thing to do. When they were kids she was the master at hide and seek and sneaky statues, but this was different. “How?”
“In here.”
Charlie took one look at the open saloon doors and freaked. “We can’t hide in there. They’ll see our feet.”
“Trust me.”
Once Cat stepped in, she stuffed the keys in her pocket and shut the doors making sure they didn’t swing. Then she took Charlie by the shoulders and turned her around, quietly explaining, “We need to be back to back. You press against me and I’ll push against you. We’ll walk up the wall like we used to do in our closet when we were grounded.”