Contest

by David Wood

  “I was beating the crap out of one of these dirtbags when my ankle betrayed me,” he said. “And you?”

  “I was out looking around. Somebody snuck up on me and bashed me in the head,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Were you trying to bring down these traffickers all by yourself?” Segar asked.

  “That’s not a job for one cop. You’re not an action hero.”

  “I was looking for a way into the caverns, but I didn’t know there would be traffickers here. I was searching for clues. A friend of mine who went missing years ago. Some men brought in something of hers they’d found in the caverns.”

  “Maddock and Bones,” Spenser said.

  “You know them?”

  “We do,” Spenser said. “And if we get out of this alive, they’re going to be very unhappy with us.”

  Franzen appeared to be only halfway listening. “Human traffickers. How could they be operating here without us knowing?”

  “Don’t feel bad. We knew there was danger and we walked right into it.”

  Spenser said. “And they took our friend, too.”

  “That Rockwell fellow? We’ll get him. No one needs to worry. I’m going to work myself free.” Segar twisted and worked his wrists even harder.

  “You’re going to hurt yourself, is what you’re going to do,” Riv said. “I’ll be out in a minute. I know the trick.”

  Riv raised her eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? What trick is that?”

  “When they tied me up, I inflated my chest as much as I could. That way, when I breathe out, the ropes are looser.”

  “How does that help with your wrists being tied?” Spenser asked.

  Segar let out a long, impatient breath. “It all works together. It’s a Zen thing.”

  “I’ll tell you what does work,” Franzen grunted. Like the others, her wrists were bound behind her back. She’d been working her arms vigorously for a few minutes. “A sharp edge and friction!” With a twist, her hands came free. She didn’t waste time removing the cords from her wrists, but immediately set to freeing the others.

  “I don’t suppose any of you know the way out of here?” she asked as she untied Riv.

  “I still have the map we were working from,” Spenser said. “If we can find our way to the place where they captured us.”

  “Good.” Franzen untied Segar and helped him to his feet. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “But what about all the captives? What about their friend?” Segar couldn’t believe an officer of the law would consider fleeing the scene and leaving innocents behind.

  Another gunshot rang out somewhere in the darkness.

  “I hate to say it, but I think she’s right,” Riv said. “They have guns. We don’t.

  Our best chance of helping them is to get out of here safely and find help.”

  “But we have to try,” Segar protested.

  “We’re going to take things as they come,” Franzen said. “If there’s an opportunity to safely free more victims, we will. At the very least I want to get the three of you out of here safely.”

  Segar looked down at her and grinned sadly. “I appreciate you untying my wrists, but you don’t have to worry about things from here on out. I’ll take the lead.” Rolling up his sleeves, he turned, picked up the flashlight their captor had left behind, and led the way out of the chamber.

  He limped along on his injured ankle, trying to mentally block out the pain. He was so focused on it that he turned the corner and walked right into one of the traffickers. Startled from his trance, Segar threw a right cross with all his might. It caught the surprised man clean on the jaw. His knees buckled and he flopped to the ground.

  “Nice shot!” Spenser said. “Did you even know he was there?”

  “The secret is to act, not to be. Or maybe it’s the other way around. It’s a line from one of my films.”

  Meanwhile, Franzen had relieved the fallen trafficker of his pistol and was in the process of tying his wrists and ankles. Riv took the man’s belt knife.

  “Are you trained to fight with a blade?” Segar asked.

  “Does growing up in a really bad neighborhood count?”

  “It’s a start. If you need any pointers, let me know.” He winked. “Pun intended.”

  Riv mumbled something that sounded like, “Goddess give me strength,” and turned away.

  While Franzen searched the man’s pockets, Segar peered around the next corner. Up ahead lay a large cavern. Weak, battery powered lanterns cast the space in jaundiced yellow light. Segar gasped. The room was filled with captives. A single guard stood with his back to Segar.

  Big mistake, compadre!

  Segar took off like a sprinter from the starting blocks. Slowed by his injured ankle, he didn’t quite get there before the guard whirled around and reached for his weapon.

  Segar bowled him over. They landed in a heap and began to struggle for the gun. Segar quickly found himself at a disadvantage. His opponent forced him onto his back and struggled to bring his weapon to bear. He seized the man’s wrist in both hands, trying to keep the pistol at bay. This freed up the attacker’s other hand for punching. He managed to land a few before someone grabbed the man from behind and drew a knife across his throat. Segar covered his face but didn’t quite avoid the blood.

  Riv dragged the trafficker’s still-twitching body off him and helped him to his feet. Segar gave a nod of thanks, then turned to look around. The captives were nearly all young women, mostly teenagers and early twenties, but a few who looked close to Spenser’s age. All were cuffed with zip ties. The chains of their ankle shackles were looped around one heavy chain that was anchored to the rock wall on one end. The other was secured to an iron ring with a massive lock.

  One boy about twelve years old looked up at him. His eyes went wide and he gasped.

  “Steven Segar!” he exclaimed.

  The captives began speaking all at once. Mostly in Spanish, but a few in English.

  “Please help us,” one young woman said in heavily accented English.

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he assured her.

  Riv began barking orders in Spanish and everyone quieted down. Franzen dug a key ring out of the fallen guard’s pocket and began searching for the one that would open the lock that held the captives.

  “Set them free,” he ordered.

  Franzen turned a frown in his direction. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

  He turned to look for the guard’s weapon, but Spenser had already claimed it.

  “You should probably give me that,” he said.

  Her big blue eyes flitted toward Franzen, who gave a tiny shake of the head.

  “I can’t defend myself hand-to-hand like you can,” Spenser said.

  “That is true. You may keep the weapon.”

  “Thank you.” As he watched, she ejected the magazine, counted the remaining bullets, popped it back into place, and chambered a round.

  “Don’t forget the safety,” Segar reminded her.

  “Thanks!” Her smile did not reach her eyes. Must be nervous.

  Franzen had unlocked the chain and was now working to unlock the individual shackles, while Riv was carefully cutting the zip ties that bound their wrists.

  “Are there more captives?” Segar asked the young man who had recognized him moments before.

  “Many more,” the youth said. “Are you going to set them free, too?”

  Segar smiled and nodded. “That I am, my young friend.”

  Chapter 35

  ––––––––

  Maddock and Bones heard the sound of distant fighting. The men they followed heard it too and picked up their pace. The dark tunnel opened into a large cave. All around were signs of human habitation and modification. The floor had been smoothed, and the chamber was ringed by cells that had been hewn into the natural rock. Crates and boxes were stacked haphazardly in some of them. Inside a few others lay blankets, sleeping bags, and stray clothi
ng.

  “I think we’ve found their lair,” Grizzly whispered.

  Maddock nodded and waved for his friend to be quiet. But it was too late.

  “Did you hear something?” a voice from up ahead said. “Somebody back there.”

  “Aw, bro! Brian must be back there. Dude was probably asleep behind some boxes and we missed him,” another voice replied.

  “I’ll check.” Footsteps approached.

  Maddock and Bones moved to either side of the cavern entrance and waited.

  “Brian? You in here?”

  The trafficker stepped into the cavern. Maddock and Bones sprang. Maddock seized him by the wrist and controlled his gun hand while Bones struck him hard on the jaw. The man’s knees buckled, and he slumped to the ground, Maddock ripping the pistol free. Bones covered the man’s mouth.

  “You yell, you die. Understand?”

  The man made a jerky nod.

  “Where are the girls and Rockwell? And don’t pretend you don’t know who I’m talking about.”

  “You keep going through one more cave and then go right.”

  “Are they still alive?” Maddock asked. The man probably took no more than a split-second to reply, but to Maddock it felt like an eternity.

  “Yeah. They were a little while ago, anyway.”

  “We keep hearing shooting. Who are you guys fighting?” Bones asked.

  “Nobody knows. They just showed up. Must be trying to move in on our territory.”

  A beam of light sliced into the dim cavern. They had taken too long. The other trafficker had returned.

  They all scrambled in different directions as the boom of gunfire erupted, deafening in the confined space. The man’s companion didn’t manage to get out of the way. The bullets tore through him as he stumbled to his feet. He let out a surprised grunt and fell again to the ground.

  Maddock squeezed off a single shot that took the man in the heart.

  “Let’s go!” Armed with the trafficker’s pistol in one hand and his own in his right, he charged down the corridor and into the next cavern.

  They hadn’t had time to ask what lay ahead. The answer to that question was a dozen bound women, plus a handful of armed guards seated at a table. They were playing Texas Hold ‘Em to the light of a small lantern. Maddock didn’t give them the opportunity to react. Every shot found its mark. Bones only managed to squeeze off a pair of shots, though he didn’t miss either.

  “Leave some for me, Maddock,” Bones grumbled. He glanced down at the cards one of the dead men had been holding and gave a shake of his head. “Aces and eights. He should have expected it.”

  Maddock barely heard him. He was operating on sheer rage right now, and if he slowed down, he might suffer an adrenaline dump. He wasn’t sure his body had enough left to carry him through should that happen.

  “¡Callense!” he barked to the surprised captives. Everyone fell silent.

  “You guys untie them and tell them to hide until someone comes for them.”

  He stopped long enough to replace his weapons with two fully loaded ones. The fallen traffickers wouldn’t need them anymore.

  “Hold on,” Bones said. “We’ll only be a minute.”

  Maddock kept walking.

  ––––––––

  Moonlight dusted the landscape with silver. Somewhere very close by, a coyote began to yip. His pack soon followed, filling the night with their unearthly howl. “That’s music to my ears,” Terry Gold said to the camera. “The sweet sound of free spirits that can never be tamed.”

  They’d tracked Segar and his captor to a box canyon, at the end of which lay the entrance to what must have been a decent-sized cave considering how many men came boiling out to take a shot at Gold and his crew.

  The fight had been intense, with the defenders putting a hailstorm of lead in the air, and Gold’s squad countering with carefully aimed shots. Little by little they’d whittled the enemy down, but he couldn’t imagine any way they could overcome such a position without suffering loss of life.

  The sound of running feet caused him to turn around. Roddy came jogging forward. Blood soaked his t-shirt and he had a bandage around his left bicep.

  “What happened?” Gold said.

  “Winged me.” Roddy said. “I’m embarrassed to even call it a wound.”

  Gold looked into the young actor’s eyes. Really looked. The man didn’t seem afraid, or even upset.

  “You all right?” he asked.

  “I’m alive.”

  Gold turned to the camera. “Hey, turn that off so we can talk.”

  “No, keep rolling,” Roddy said. “I know what you’re going to say. That I’ve done enough and I can sit the rest of it out. I’m not going to do that.” He turned to the camera. “We captured one of them. He says they’ve got at least thirty women and children held captive in those caverns.”

  As the young man spoke, Gold seethed with rage. Men like these were the lowest of the low. Their victims would most likely end up forced into sex work, doomed to what would likely be short lives filled with abuse and misery.

  “They’re holding Segar captive, as well as a local police officer,” Roddy went on. “The man we’ve caught has no idea what’s planned for either of them. This is just a way station for them. They planned to leave in the morning.”

  “They’re not going anywhere,” Gold said. “We’ve got them hemmed in. And it would be nice if we could get a little support from law enforcement.” Communication had been a challenge out here in the middle of nowhere. They’d finally man- aged to contact local police. The officer who had answered the phone sounded doubtful but promised to have someone check it out as soon as possible. They were still trying to contact other authorities, but they had to face the fact that time might be running short. If that were the case, Segar’s life depended on them. “Let’s move in for a closer look,” Gold said to the camera.

  Roddy led the way, but they could have followed the sounds of sporadic gunfire. When they arrived at the front line, as it were, things were at a stalemate.

  The human traffickers had taken up a solid defensive position among the boulder piles that hid the entrance to the caverns. That would be a difficult line to break.

  “We need some grenades,” Roddy said. “Something we can throw in behind them to drive them out.”

  Gold absently tugged at the stubble on his chin. They had no grenades, but they had good old American ingenuity. Time to improvise.

  “We have a couple of emergency flare guns, don’t we?”

  Chapter 36

  ––––––––

  Spenser and the others were already gone when Maddock reached the chamber. The place was empty, save for one man. He was built like a tree stump, with powerful arms, a shaved head, and no neck to speak of. He was standing with his hands on his hips, turning slowly around as if he had never seen its like. “Where the hell did they go?” he said to himself.

  Maddock crept up behind him and waited for him to turn around. Their eyes met. The man had a moment of confusion, which turned to agony when Maddock kicked him in the groin. He let out a throaty grunt and collapsed like soft butter. Maddock pressed his pistol to the man’s temple.

  “Where are they?”

  “I don’t know, man. They were supposed to be here. Them and the police lady.” He began to babble. “Everything was cool. We were going to leave in the morning. And all these random-ass people start showing up. Attacking us from outside and inside. Who are you?”

  “The guy who’s already squeezing the trigger unless you make yourself useful.”

  “I know they didn’t head toward the main cavern. I just came from there and I didn’t see anybody.”

  “Where do I go next? And I’ll know if you lie.” That itself was a lie, but Maddock thought this blubbering coward would believe it. Perhaps a life of bullying the weak made a man soft.

  The man sputtered out hasty instructions along with a generous spray of saliva.

 
; “What happens to the people you transport?”

  “I don’t know, man. I’m just a middleman, bro. I get the illegals into the country without the Feds catching them. Whatever business arrangements they make after that, you can’t put that on me.”

  The mental list of punishments that were too good for this man was too lengthy for Maddock to peruse. Instead, he settled for confiscating the man’s pistol. He had no use for three, so he popped out the magazine, cleared the chamber, and tossed the weapon away.

  “Get up. You’re going to lead the way,” he said.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll help you find them, I promise.” Big baldy climbed to his feet.

  “Like I said, it’s back the way you came.”

  He took two steps and then dashed out of the cavern at a dead sprint, where he ran into Bones and Grizzly.

  The results were predictable.

  “I’m in here,” Maddock called.

  Bones and Grizzly came running in. Grizzly scanned the empty chamber with panic-filled eyes.

  “Where are they? Where’s Riv?”

  “Relax. He told me which way they went. Come on.”

  They dashed out of the cavern, careful not to trip over the body of the fallen trafficker. They followed his directions until they stumbled into a cavern where a large group of confused-looking young women sat huddled in a tight circle. They were not restrained, but a heavy chain and a large pile of loose shackles lay nearby.

  Someone had set them free.

  They all began talking at once. Maddock understood enough of what they were saying to understand that a man and three women had passed through here. That must be Spenser, Riv, Rockwell, and the police officer. The captives pointed in the direction in which the quartet had gone.

  Maddock thanked them and ordered them to stay put. He took off at a fast jog, the best he could manage in his state. Up ahead, shots rang out and he heard a woman scream.

  ––––––––

  Something was happening at the mouth of the cavern. Through his binoculars, Gold could see movement in the darkness but not much else. At least twice as many figures as before scurried around behind their defensive position. “Perfect timing.” He put down the binoculars and looked around at his team. Everyone was in position. He picked up the flare gun and leveled it at the bunker. Ace, next to Gold the most experienced of the group, had the other. “If this works, be ready for those dirtbags to come buzzing out of there like a swarm of hornets.”