Breaking Point

by Allison Brennan

  “Help me?” she said. Whispered. Her voice was raw. She was out of breath.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Bella.”

  “Bella what?”

  “B-B-Bella Caruso. I was taken—I’m from Sacramento. I just want to go home.”

  “You ran away?”

  “No—someone kidnapped me from Sacramento, made me—made me come here. I escaped. Please help me?”

  It was a question, because there was something about this man that made her nervous.

  She took a step backward.

  “Don’t move,” he said.

  She turned to run.

  He ran after her. He was faster, stronger, and he caught her.

  “Please don’t hurt me,” she cried.

  “I’m not going to hurt you. Come with me.”

  She wanted to believe him.

  But she didn’t.

  She woke up hours later, sore from a beating she only half remembered. Julie was there next to her, putting ice on her head. Julie had been crying.

  Bella had never seen Julie cry.

  As soon as Bella opened her eyes, Julie got up.

  “Don’t go,” Bella said.

  Julie ignored her. She went downstairs. A long time later, Sergio came up the stairs. He pushed open the door. “Get up,” he said.

  She slowly got to her feet, unsteady. She didn’t think anything was broken, but every muscle hurt.

  Sergio grabbed her and pulled her out of the room. Bella cried as her sore head hit the door jamb.

  Sergio hauled her downstairs and outside. It was dark again. Had she been unconscious all day?

  He pushed her into his van. Julie was already there.

  She had been alone in the car. She could have run. She could have escaped!

  Sergio and Tommy drove on the same streets Bella had been running through last night. Julia took her hand. She whispered, “Be brave.”

  “They’re going to kill us.”

  “No,” Julie said.

  Bella didn’t believe her. They were going to kill them. Or worse, let others hurt them. There were some things worse than death.

  Julie leaned over and whispered, “You will survive. You’re stronger than me, Bella. I knew you were stronger the day you walked in.”

  Julie took the rough men, Julie stood up for her, Julie had nursed her injuries whenever Bella was hurt. She held her when she cried and she had kept her hope alive.

  Hope that it would get better.

  They pulled next to an empty field and stopped the car. Tommy grabbed Bella and held her close. “Watch and learn, Blondie,” he whispered in her ear.

  Sergio ordered Julie to get out. She walked ahead of them. Tommy forced Bella to follow.

  They were going to kill them. Leave their bodies in the middle of this disgusting garbage-filled field.

  No one would know who she was. She would be a nobody. She would be nothing.

  I don’t want to die!

  She screamed and Tommy slapped his hand over her mouth. “Watch,” he said and held Bella tight against him.

  “Make sure she watches,” Sergio said.

  “With pleasure.” Tommy held her chin up.

  Sergio turned back to Julie. “On your knees.”

  Julie got on her knees.

  “Look at me,” Sergio ordered her.

  Julie looked at him. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  Sergio took out a gun and shot her in the face.

  Bella screamed. She kicked and fought Tommy but she had no strength and crumpled onto the filthy ground, sobbing. Tommy wasn’t tall, but he was strong. He yanked her up, held her tightly against him, his chest pressed against her back. He covered her mouth with his hand and said in her ear, “She’s dead because of you. If anyone else tries to walk out, you will join her. Do you understand me?”

  She shook her head, tried to break free. She smelled Julie’s blood. Felt drops of blood and brain on her skin. Julie was dead. Dead!

  Sergio said, “I liked Julie and I didn’t want her to suffer. She died quickly. You? I don’t like you, Bitch. Tommy hates you. You will suffer. I will make sure of it. Do you understand me?”

  Then it sank in. Julie hadn’t escaped because others would die, and Julie knew it. She stayed to protect them.

  Julie was killed because Bella ran.

  She stopped fighting, slumped against Tommy. She had no choice.

  Be brave, Bella. Survive.

  She would escape. Someday, somehow, she would be free. Even if she had to kill Sergio to do it.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Thursday

  “Wake up, Doc.”

  Bam-Bam kicked the back of the couch as he walked in from the back of the house.

  Bella hadn’t been sleeping, but she opened her eyes halfway. “It’s fucking one in the morning.”

  “They’re back.”

  He sounded nervous. Bam-Bam was too stupid to get nervous, so Desiree must have given him a heads-up.

  Desiree stomped in first, followed by two goons, then Hirsch. Damien wasn’t there.

  “He’s not going to do it,” Desiree said.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Hirsch said. “I’ve had it to here with you.”

  “I warned you,” Desiree pushed.

  The way Hirsch looked at her, Bella was certain he would kill her. Maybe not now, not tonight, but the woman had signed her death warrant and she didn’t even know it.

  “Make sure your girls are ready and know the score.”

  Desiree ranted as she stormed upstairs in the sprawling, remote ranch on the edge of town. A ranch where Hirsch could kill everyone and their rotting corpses wouldn’t be found for weeks. If ever.

  “Where’s Damien?” Bella asked.

  Hirsch stared at her. “Why do you care? Are you fucking him?”

  “Are you?” she countered.

  He scowled.

  “He left with you, he’s not back,” Bella said. “This whole situation is fucked. Yeah, I’m worried. I’ve already pulled one bullet out of his ass.”

  “He’s working.” Hirsch turned to his muscle and told them to watch the house, then he left.

  He never slept where the girls slept. Why had he come out here in the first place? Because something had happened to Damien? To check on them? To leave protection?

  She didn’t know why she was worried about Damien. He was a criminal, a brute on many levels. But unlike Hirsch, he wasn’t unnecessarily cruel. He did his job, nothing more or less. She’d met people like Damien before, both criminals and cops. They were predictable. He was loyal to Hirsch, but he was also pragmatic. Had he walked?

  No, Bella didn’t think he would ever leave Hirsch. She didn’t know his history, but something Damien had said when she first met him had her thinking he would never walk away. She could respect his loyalty, but she also feared it. No matter how good she’d been at staying on Damien’s good side, he would kill her if Hirsch ordered it.

  Bella checked on the girls. “Go to sleep,” she told them. She walked from room to room. Did a head count. One girl was missing. Who?

  Penny.

  Her heart twisted. She hadn’t seen Penny since Phoenix, but while they were watching television earlier, Madison had asked Sara where Penny was and it came out that she’d been in a different truck than the others.

  Bella’s first thought was that she’d been sold. Traded for something. Or sent to someone who had the time and inclination to break her. Or they’d tortured and killed her because they thought she knew who helped Christina and Ashley escape.

  She was supposed to run.

  Christina had promised not to say a word to anyone, but what if she slipped? What if …

  Stop. Penny doesn’t know about you.

  Bella went to the refrigerator—which barely kept anything cold—and pulled out a semi-chilled beer. She opened it and drank half. She had to regain her focus. Come up with a plan. If the shit was flying, she could move the three girls. They were outside
El Paso. She had no contacts here, at least none that she trusted one hundred percent. But Declan was waiting for her call. He could be here in half a day. He knew the plan was taking them east, he might already be on his way. Maybe he was already here.

  She sat down and might have been dozing—she never really slept these days—when the back door opened. Damien came in. His head was bloodied and he walked immediately to the refrigerator for a beer. When he opened and drained a bottle, she saw his fists were bloodied and bruised as well.

  She got up. “Let me get my bag.”

  “I’m fine.”

  He pushed her back into the chair, then sat down across from her.

  “Tell me the other guy’s worse.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  “Let me clean you up, D. That cut is deep. It could get infected.”

  He nodded once.

  She was staying in the small room off the kitchen and grabbed her medical bag from the end of her bed. Cleaning cuts was easy—it’s something she’d been doing since she was a kid, when her mother would get knocked around by whatever lowlife prick she was dealing for. In silence, she cleaned the wound, extracting a small piece of green glass in the process. She had questions—lots of questions—but kept her mouth shut.

  He needed stitches, but he refused, so she taped the wound closed as best she could, then cleaned up her mess. She filled a bowl with ice and water and said, “Soak your hands or you’re going to be doubly sore tomorrow.”

  He put his right hand into the bowl and scowled. Damien was good at keeping his pain in check.

  “Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked.

  “It’s fine,” he mumbled.

  “You’re not going to do Hirsch any good if you have a broken rib or cracked skull.”

  He shifted, seemed to assess himself. “I’m good,” he said, more confident. “Sore,” he admitted. “Nothing broken.”

  “What happened?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he nodded toward the refrigerator. She retrieved another two beers, opened them, and handed one to Damien.

  They drank in silence. Damien wouldn’t talk if he didn’t want to, and any more questions on her part might rouse suspicion. But she had to know.

  “Where’s Penny? She’s not upstairs. The girls said she came out with them, but—”

  “Don’t worry about Penny.”

  “But—”

  He glared at her. Sore subject. “Shut up.”

  She tossed her empty beer bottle in the trash and said, “I’m going to bed.”

  She walked into her room and shut the door. Immediately, she pulled Damien’s cell phone from her pocket. She sent Declan and Simon a message, deleted it, and took a deep breath.

  She came out of her room. Damien was still sitting in the same spot.

  “I need my bag,” she said. “I don’t trust Desiree or Bam Bam not to steal my shit.” She turned to Damien. “Are you sure you’re okay, buddy?” she asked.

  He looked at her—finally. He might have a concussion, she realized. His eyes weren’t quite right. She’d had a concussion before, it was no fun.

  She opened her bag. “Let me look—”

  He grabbed her wrist and squeezed. His hand was freezing from the ice water it had been soaking in. “Watch your back, Doc.”

  What could that mean? What the fuck was going on? Did he know she’d lifted his phone? She was good—really good—at picking pockets. One of the few skills she’d picked up from her year on the streets.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled. She patted him on the shoulder, slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket, picked up her medical bag, and went to her bedroom.

  Shit was going down and she feared she’d be caught in the crossfire.

  * * *

  “It’s Declan,” JT told Jack. They were in a dive motel in El Paso after landing a few hours ago. JT couldn’t sleep even though it was three in the morning, and answered his cell phone on the second ring. “Caruso.”

  “Bella sent Simon and me a message.”

  Relief flooded through JT. His sister was alive. “And?”

  “She’s outside El Paso. Said something is going down, but her cover is still good. She asked me to keep a low profile.”

  “Shit, Declan! She’s in trouble, and you know it.”

  Declan didn’t say anything.

  “What?” JT pushed. “Am I wrong?”

  “Yes and no. Look—I want to get her out. But if I go in too early, and we lose any chance of finding Hope, she’ll never forgive me.”

  “But she’ll be alive.”

  “Hirsch is a sick bastard, but he’s a businessman first. And his network is far bigger than we knew going into this. If we can take him out and identify Z, we can deal a severe blow to the entire human trafficking circuit. It’ll take them months—maybe years—to recover.”

  “Bella has been in deep for too long, and you know it.”

  “You’re here, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s meet for breakfast and talk about this.”

  “Kane and Sean Rogan are coming.”

  “Good.”

  JT hoped Declan was serious about that.

  “I’m going to keep a low profile, but I have a few people I can talk to. I’ll find out where she is at a minimum. You trust me, right?”

  JT wanted to. He’d known Declan his entire adult life. They’d fought side-by-side. He was as much a brother to him as Adam Dixon or Matt Elliott or Rick Stockton. But they didn’t always see eye-to-eye. He appreciated that Declan had Bella’s back for the three years they had worked for Simon, but he’d hoped Declan could have talked Bella out of it.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “You had to think?”

  “Damn, Dec, this is my sister. I’m not going to fail her again.”

  “You’ve never failed her, JT. I’ll call you in a few hours. Get some sleep.”

  JT rubbed his eyes.

  “We should have stocked up on supplies,” Jack said.

  “Kane’s bringing extra firepower,” JT said.

  “I have a bad feeling.”

  So did JT.

  Jack continued. “Tell me it’s none of my business. But why haven’t you called in Stockton?”

  The FBI Assistant Director Rick Stockton was JT’s closest friend, other than Kane. They’d met in boot camp—Rick had gone in as an officer-in-training after four years in college, and JT was a scrawny eighteen-year-old kid who still had growing to do. But when you’re put together in a unit and face a common enemy, bonds are forged that are never severed. Rick had saved RCK many times because of his position. He used to run the laboratory at Quantico but was promoted to assistant director a few years ago. Having one of your closest friends as the number two person in the FBI had its benefits.

  “I talked to him after I spoke to Laura the other night. He’s waiting for my call—but we need something solid so he can send his people in with actionable evidence. He’ll be here in a heartbeat, but he can’t send in an FBI team without knowing the score.”

  “Understood,” Jack said. “At least we have Lucy and Nate.”

  JT glanced at him. “Not really.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “They’re working on their own time. If Armstrong was still in San Antonio we wouldn’t have an issue, but Vaughn is by-the-book. She’s not going to let them run with an unsanctioned op.”

  “They have no backup?”

  “She’s your sister, I get it—believe me—but Dunning is solid.”

  “Agreed,” Jack said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. “But we need Stockton sooner rather than later. What about reaching out to Lucy’s friend from the DEA. We cleared him last year.”

  “Donnelly? He worked out of Arizona for a time, but he was never assigned to El Paso.”

  “JT.”

  JT glanced over at Jack. At first he couldn’t read his expression, then he realized that Jack was thinking bigger than he was. �
�Shit, you’re right. Donnelly will know who we can trust.”

  JT called Kane, not surprised that he answered at three in the morning. “Buddy, can you reach out to Donnelly? We need a contact in El Paso—someone with deep ties and one hundred percent trustworthy.”

  “On it.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Lucy woke up at 6:30 and Sean wasn’t in bed. She must have been exhausted, because she hadn’t even heard him get up. She pulled on sweatpants and went downstairs. Kane was drinking coffee and Sean was making breakfast.

  “You’ve been a good influence on Sean,” Kane said with a wink.

  She kissed Sean on the shoulder and poured herself coffee. “I’m still trying to lose the ten pounds I gained on our honeymoon.”

  “You’re perfect,” Sean said. “Eat. Kane and I are flying to El Paso, so I won’t be here when you get home tonight.” He put plates of eggs, sausage, and fruit in front of first Lucy then Kane.

  Lucy asked, “You found Bella?”

  “She made contact with her partner confirming that she was in El Paso, which we’d already figured out based on JT and Jack’s investigation. We don’t have a location, but sources say there’s something going down among local criminal elements, and we think Hirsch is involved. Nothing solid, but we need people on the ground.” Kane sipped his coffee. “Siobhan also reached out to some contacts and rumor is a new player is making noise and the local thugs aren’t happy.”

  “Why El Paso? Because it’s on the I-10 corridor?”

  Sean sat down with his own food. “Border town, widespread corruption, easy to stay under the radar.”

  “It’s temporary,” Kane said.

  “Why?” Sean asked.

  “L.A. has a much bigger market. Why is he leaving L.A. for El Paso? It makes no sense. That tells me he has a bigger plan in the works. We don’t know shit because Simon Egan told us shit, but my guess is they’re taking over smaller markets to merge them into a bigger network, where they can more easily move their products—girls, drugs, weapons, whatever they want. It fits with our intel that Hirsch is buying up small trucking companies, and with Declan confirming that they’re moving girls from west to east. Did you get anywhere with that, Sean?”