On the Hunt

by SUE FINEMAN

  “Is this another girl for Bobo?” the guard asked as they neared the top of the hill.

  Greg swatted Mia on the arm, and she bowed. The guard laughed. “I’ll find her a room. I hope this one knows how to behave herself.”

  Mia followed the men inside the house, which felt very cool after the sun-washed desert. The guard took them into a spacious room with big, colorful cushions around the walls. “Wait here,” he said. “I’ll be back after I take the girl upstairs.”

  “I’ll go with her,” said Greg, and Mia glared at him. He could ruin everything with his overprotective, macho attitude. If he blew this after all the trouble Dave had getting them here, she’d never speak to her brother again.

  “Visitors are not allowed upstairs.” The guard grabbed Mia’s arm and pointed to the stairs. “Your room is up there.” Mia bowed, but she didn’t speak, and Greg kept his big mouth closed for a change.

  She heard the ring of keys jingling and stood back when he stopped to unlock a door. A few well-placed kicks and he fell to the floor. Pulling out the roll of tape from her robe, she taped his hands and mouth and feet, but he was too heavy to get inside the room by herself.

  Working quickly, she began unlocking doors and quietly asking the girls for help. Three of them came to help her drag the man inside a room and lock him in. “I’m here to help you. How many more girls are here?”

  “Two,” one girl said quietly, and Mia unlocked doors to let the other two girls out.

  “Mia, is that you?” a girl asked, and Mia realized it was Tonya Ayers.

  Overjoyed at finding her alive, Mia hugged her. “I came to get you out of here. Now, tell me about the guards and who else we need to worry about.”

  They all talked at once, until one voice rose above the others. “There are three or four more guards and the two women who teach us, and there’s I don’t know how many in the kitchen and on the cleaning staff.”

  “What about Bobo?”

  All five girls laughed. One of them said, “Bobo is a pussycat. He asked me to teach him to dance.”

  “Where can I find him?”

  “I’ll show you the back way,” said another one of the girls. “Can we all come along?”

  “By all means,” said Mia. “We’re staying together, but if I tell you to get back or something, I want you to obey me.”

  “Are you a cop?” asked one girl.

  “I’m working with the FBI. The girls they took out of here a few days ago are all safe and with their families. Quiet now.”

  As they walked down another staircase, one girl whispered to Mia. “He has diplomatic immunity.”

  “Who has?”

  “Bobo. His father is a bid deal in some little country in the mid-east.”

  “What country?”

  The girl shrugged.

  “Did any of you come here of your own free will?”

  Every girl said, “No,” or “No way.”

  “Then forget diplomacy. Let’s go give Bobo a dance lesson.”

  At the bottom of the stairway, Mia heard high heels clicking on the floor in the room on the right. One girl whispered, “That’s him. That’s Bobo.”

  “You girls go in first,” said Mia. She followed them into the room and the clicking stopped.

  Mia walked between the girls and right up to Bobo, who seemed stunned someone would approach him without permission. She bowed. “Bobo, we have come to teach you to dance.”

  “Well, it’s about time.” The deep voice sounded strange coming from the beautifully dressed and made up man. His dress looked expensive, and Meredith was right about the disgusting wig. He had it on crooked, and Mia wanted to reach up and straighten it. Instead, she pulled the CD player out of her pocket and pushed the play button. Stripping off her robe and veils, she clicked her finger cymbals. “These are called zills.” She handed him some and showed him how to put them on.

  The first guard appeared as she began her dance. He grabbed two girls and seemed surprised when all the girls fought him off. Mia said, “Bobo, please call off the guards. You are the boss here, aren’t you?”

  Bobo clapped his hands, said, “Leave us,” and moved as Mia showed him. This time the guard came after Mia. She whipped around and kicked him in the knee. As he hit the floor, she said, “Girls, there’s a roll of tape is in the left pocket of my robe. Tape his hands behind him and cover his mouth so he can’t call for help.”

  The girls gleefully took care of a guard who had become their prisoner.

  Mia positioned Bobo’s hands and showed him how to move his hips. He laughed with delight, and she suspected this was all he really wanted, what his keepers wouldn’t allow him, someone to play with and teach him to dance.

  “Hey, you’re pretty good at this,” she told him, and then stopped cold when two other guards came into the room, guns pointed at her head. “Bobo, help me out here.”

  Bobo swung his hips one last time before dealing with the problem. “I said to leave us alone. I want to dance.”

  A guard grabbed one of the girls and put his gun against her head. Scanning the faces of the scared girls, he told them, “Behave or this girl dies. Bobo, your father said you were not to dance again.”

  “Oh, pooh!” said Bobo.

  Bobo’s behavior seemed surreal—this whole scenario was surreal—and Mia realized Bobo didn’t know how to take charge of anything. She’d have to do it herself. Facing the guard, she said, “I’m the one who caused this, not the girl.” She raised her hands and put them on top of her head. “Take me instead.”

  The guard let go of the girl and grabbed Mia’s arm. The other guard herded the girls upstairs and left Mia alone with Bobo and two guards, one of which lay on the floor with enough tape on him to subdue ten men.

  Without moving anything but her fingers, Mia pulled out the pin she’d hidden in her hair and waited for an opportunity to use it. Bobo argued with the guard in another language for several seconds, and then Bobo stomped out of the room. Mia made her move, holding the pin in front of the guard’s eye. “Shoot me and you’ll lose your eye.”

  A noise from the doorway startled the guard, and Mia stuck the pin in his cheek to give herself time to get away. He dropped the gun and grabbed his cheek, plucking the pin out. Mia ran, but she didn’t know where to go. She hesitated a second too long and the guard tackled her. Where were the men? Dave said they’d come as soon as they heard the music.

  “Bobo, help me,” she yelled. “Bobo, don’t let him hurt me. I just wanted to teach you to dance.”

  A hand clamped over her mouth and the guard’s arm went around her waist. He lifted her like a sack of potatoes, threw her in a closet, and slammed the door. The lock snicked in place and the guard swore as he walked away. She pulled another pin from her hair and felt around until she found the knob. Picking locks had always been more of a Greg thing, but she really wanted out of here.

  <>

  Dave stared into the barrel of an Uzi while the guard told them in broken English to get into the basement. Dave had heard Mia dancing and talking with Bobo, but he couldn’t get to her. She whispered something about being locked in a closet, but the guard jerked the receiver out of Dave’s ear.

  “Well, this is going well, isn’t it?” said Dave. “Where are you taking us?”

  “To the dungeon,” said a voice from the doorway.

  Dave turned slowly to see Al and Arnie. “Hi, guys. Fancy seeing you here.”

  The butt of the guard’s gun hit him in the side of the head, and Dave dropped to his knees, momentarily stunned from the pain in his head and neck.

  Greg and Kowalski stood quietly, arms raised. As soon as Dave could focus again, he saw the look in Greg’s eyes. Nobody locked Greg up anywhere without a fight.

  Still on his knees, Dave said, “Greg, Kowalski, meet Al and Arnie, from the Four Leaf Clover.”

  Greg reached out as if to shake hands with Assad, and Kowalski spun around and disarmed the guard with a kick. Greg punched Arnie in the
stomach and slammed his fist into the man’s square jaw. The guard aimed at Greg, so Dave grab the gun from his pocket and shot the guard. Kowalski had a neck lock on Assad, but Arnie kicked free from Greg and punched Kowalski, freeing Assad. Dave fired, but the bullet meant for Assad hit Arnie in the arm, and Assad got away. One look at Dave’s gun up close and personal, and Arnie stopped fighting.

  Blood soaked the guard’s shirt over his stomach wound. He needed medical attention right away, but the cell phones wouldn’t work out here in the middle of nowhere. Dave had already tried.

  “Find a phone,” he told Greg.

  “To hell with the phone. Where’s my sister?”

  <>

  No matter what she did, Mia couldn’t get the door open, so she banged on it and screamed for someone to help her. She stopped screaming when she heard someone playing with a key or something on the other side. “Hold on,” came a girl’s voice. “We’re trying.”

  The lock clicked and the door opened. Tonya Ayers and the tall girl stood there, minus their scarves, and Mia hugged them both. “Thank you. Where are the others?”

  “In their rooms,” said Tonya. “We got away.”

  “I want you to stay in this closet until I come for you, okay? Someone is shooting, and we didn’t come this far to get you killed.”

  “Put your robe on,” said Tonya. “Your red costume can be seen a mile away.”

  “Okay. Get inside. Hurry.” Mia ran back to get her robe and the roll of tape. Her gun nested inside the right pocket of the robe. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it again.

  High heels clicked toward her and she ducked behind the drapes. Bobo sang, “Oh, belly dancer, where are you?”

  Mia stepped into the open. “Bobo, come with me. Hurry.” She shoved him into the closet with the girls. “Quiet now.”

  Bobo giggled as he stepped into the closet. “Oh, such fun.”

  When Mia left the room, she heard women talking in another language down the hall to the left, so she turned right, trying to find her way back to the front of the house. One room led to another and another, until she became completely disoriented.

  <>

  Dave taped the hands and mouths of the injured men and left them with Kowalski. He and Greg took off in different directions. They had to find Mia before Assad got to her.

  While Greg walked around to the left, Dave went to the right, wandering through one room after another, searching for something, anything to lead him to Mia. This house was like a huge maze. He knew Mia had gone upstairs and then come down to dance for Bobo. She had to be downstairs somewhere, but if she was still locked in the closet, he might never find her.

  From what the girls said, Bobo was passive. Did he know Assad and his people were kidnapping girls, or did he think they’d come here on their own?

  They only had nine minutes before backup arrived. Helicopters made a lot of noise. If Assad had Mia, he could panic and hurt her when he heard the choppers.

  <>

  Mia rounded a corner and ran into Greg. He snatched her up in a big hug. “God, I’ve been so worried about you.”

  “I got lost. Where are the others?”

  “Kowalski is on guard duty and Dave went the other direction. If we keep going, we should run into him.”

  She shook her head. “The kitchen is back there, and there are people working.” She pointed the way she’d come. “I left Bobo and two girls in a closet back there somewhere. I don’t know if I can find it again.”

  “What, no trail of bread crumbs?”

  She smacked his arm. “Behave yourself or I’ll tell Mom how you got yourself shot in Oklahoma.”

  “Like hell,” he muttered, and she stifled a laugh. Her macho brother had always given Mom more grief than the rest of them put together.

  Retracing her steps, Mia tried to remember what each room looked like. “Ten rooms. I went through ten rooms and a hallway twice.”

  “Jeez, how can anybody live in a place this big?”

  Mia heard Bobo and the girls laughing in the closet. She tapped and they stopped laughing. “It’s me.” She opened the door and the three came out. “Bobo, this is Greg. He likes to dress up, too.”

  Bobo clapped his hands and squealed, and the look Greg gave her would melt steel. “He dances, too,” she added. “He’ll teach you whatever you want to learn, won’t you, Greg?”

  Greg’s smoky gray eyes turned dark with anger. “Are I ever going to get even for this.”

  The sound of helicopter blades chopping the air overhead wiped the smile off Mia’s face. “Are they ours or—”

  Greg glanced at his watch. “Should be ours.”

  She turned to Bobo. “Would you take Greg and the girls upstairs and free the other girls?”

  “Free them?” said Bobo.

  “They’re prisoners, Bobo. None of them came here willingly. You have to let them go.”

  “We’ll go to the courtyard,” said Tonya. “It’s the easiest place to find.”

  Greg put his hand on Bobo’s shoulder. “Nice wig,” he said, and the girls erupted in laughter. “What?” said Greg.

  “Forgive him,” said Mia. “My brother has a weird sense of humor.”

  Bobo cocked his head and smiled at Greg. “Will you teach me to dance?”

  “Uh... we’ll talk about it later.” Greg followed the girls upstairs.

  Stifling a laugh, Mia retraced her steps toward the front of the house. As she figured out the layout of the house, moving through the rooms became easier and faster. She didn’t see Assad until he grabbed her arm and put a gun to her head. “Where are they?”

  She assumed he meant the men she came with. “If you shoot me, they’ll hear and come after you.”

  He pushed the gun against her temple. “Answer the damn question.”

  “If I knew where they were, I wouldn’t be alone.”

  Another swarm of helicopters arrived, and Assad froze.

  Maybe she could convince him to give up. “If that’s your guys, you’re in trouble for letting us get this far, and if it’s our guys, you’re dead unless you give yourself up.”

  “Shut your mouth.” Using the drapery cord, Assad tied her hands behind her and then pulled her feet up and tied them to her hands. She felt like a pretzel, but she didn’t fight him. One more blow to her head could put her out of commission for good.

  He tied a nasty smelling scarf over her mouth and covered her with pillows. Muffled footsteps slapped on the floor as he ran from the room, leaving her unable to move or call for help. Her back cramped, and the gag smelled disgusting, but Assad hadn’t hit her in the head.

  <>

  Dave had worked his way back to the front of the house when a dozen agents swarmed from the helicopters. Kowalski guarded Arnie, but the guard had died. Four men dead and several injured so far on this operation. Thank God none of his people had been killed.

  The agents came in like a swarm of black flies, weapons at the ready, their bullet-proof vests declaring FBI in big letters. One of them handed Dave a radio.

  “Assad is in the house somewhere,” said Dave. “He looks like Al Pacino with a deep tan. I think all the guards are down or disabled, but I can’t be sure. There are people in the kitchen in back, household staff as near as I can tell.”

  “Where are the girls?” asked the man who had handed him the radio.

  “Probably upstairs, but I can’t be sure. The guy in a police uniform is with us, and so is the belly dancer.”

  Radios crackled and the men separated into teams to go through the house, room by room. Another agent took charge of Arnie, and Kowalski started through the house with Dave, searching for Mia. Dave could no longer twist his neck, but he worried more about Mia. They had to find her before Assad got his hands on her.

  Dave and Kowalski walked from room to room together, calling Mia.

  In one room, Kowalski pointed. “Over there. The pillows moved.”

  They dug Mia out and Kowalski cut the cords that bound her
. Mia pulled off the gag and spit on the nearest pillow. “Ugh!”

  Dave glanced over. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, but that gag is disgusting.” She picked it up and stuck it under his nose. He made a face.

  “Have you seen Greg?”

  “He and Bobo went upstairs to free the girls. I had them all out once, but the guards weren’t too happy about it. What happened to you guys? Didn’t you hear the music?”

  “Al and Arnie found us,” said Kowalski.

  A voice on Dave’s radio said the men had caught Assad.

  “Assad is the one who tied me up,” said Mia. “He could have killed me, but he didn’t. He just tied me up, gagged me, and buried me under the pillows.”

  Music came from the courtyard. Kowalski pointed and laughed. Greg danced with Bobo, but Dave’s macho friend had a scowl on his face.

  Mia laughed so hard, she dropped to the pillows and wiped away tears.

  “Shut up in there,” Greg called.

  “Bobo, you’re looking good,” said Dave.

  Bobo spun around and bowed, and his wig slid out of place. He shoved it back on and grabbed Greg again.

  Kowalski, still laughing, said, “Greg will never live this down.”

  “Who told Bobo that Greg could dance?” asked Dave.

  Mia looked up and grinned impishly, and Dave roared with laughter. He sank to the pillows with Mia and kissed her. And then he kissed her again and again, until Kowalski cleared his throat.

  Dave whispered, “I want you, Mia. God, how I want you.” And he didn’t mean for one night. When this operation ended, he had some serious changes to make in his life, beginning with his job. He had to take care of that before he could plan a future with Mia. His unorthodox methods had gotten him in trouble before, and this time they could get him fired, if he didn’t quit first. He’d found something, someone, more important than work.

  He had another reason for quitting. Claustrophobia. Small dark places made his heart race, and going underground terrified him. The last time he had to go into a tunnel, he panicked. If he froze up again, it could get him or someone else killed. He didn’t like admitting his weakness and thought he could overcome it in time, but what if he didn’t?