“You’re sorry, huh?” he said, his voice slithering over my skin. “Just how sorry are you, sugar? You know you’ve been getting a little naughty these days. Who’s been teaching you to be a bitch, huh? What would your precious brother have to say about that?” Viper continued and my legs felt weak, but I didn’t struggle. I knew there was no point trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He was much stronger than me.
“I can bet money that he would tell her to suck your dick…you know, just as an apology,” Pike said, with laughter in his voice as my blood ran cold.
“Yeah, that’s right, I agree,” Viper said, smiling at me.
And that was when we heard the shots being fired. Viper’s grip on my waist weakened, but he didn't let me go. I screeched in horror and watched as Pike went running to the window.
“What’s that motherfucker doing here?” Pike yelled and Viper was dragging me to the window to look.
“What is it? Who is it?” Viper asked, while I let out another yelp. He had caught me by the back of my head and it hurt with every pull.
“It’s that new BD recruit. What’s he doing here?” Pike said. The two of them were looking out of the window, while Viper kept a firm grip on me on his side. Viper strained his neck to look and we heard more gun shots. I wanted to scream out Gunner’s name. They had killed him! He was dead! I didn’t know there were more of them downstairs. I’d assumed Viper and Pike had come here alone. The tears were gushing down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them anymore.
“He was here. I saw him jump off the fire escape,” Pike said and they both turned to me at the same time. I could see the rage in Viper’s bloodshot eyes.
“No! I can explain…” I screamed and the last thing I remember was seeing Viper’s fist coming towards me. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Their voices drowned out, replaced by white garbled noise. I felt a sharp jab on the side of my head and then I felt like I was falling. After that, there was only darkness.
***
When I woke up, I felt like I’d been sleeping; except for the throbbing at the back of my head which was a sharper pain than when I was hungover. I blinked my eyes open and realized that wherever I was, it was very dark. It could have still been morning for all I knew, but there wasn’t a ray of light entering the room.
My vision took a few minutes to adjust to the dark, and I could sense that I was sitting up, with my back pressed to a cold wall. I lifted my hands to my head and thankfully couldn’t feel any blood, fresh or dried, but that throbbing ache was still there.
I heard someone sniff and that was when I looked around me. I wasn’t alone. There were a handful of other girls all sitting against the wall in the small dark room. Some had their eyes closed, some looked like they’d been crying and two of them seemed casual…like this was normal for them.
I panicked, trying to sit up but it had a dizzying effect on me and I fell back down to the floor. One of the girls who had her eyes closed, opened them and looked at me before giving me a lopsided smile. She’d found it amusing!
“What’s going on? Where are we?” I got the words out, but I didn’t even recognize my voice. It sounded like someone else’s. I could feel my mind swaying and I was afraid that I had a concussion.
“In the warehouse,” the girl said, the one who smiled when I fell back down.
“Which warehouse? Who brought me here?” I asked, in the same broken unrecognizable voice. The girl exchanged looks with another one, and they both looked at me blankly without replying.
“Who are you?” I asked her and she smiled at me again.
“They call me Candy,” she said.
“Who calls you Candy? What’s your real name?” I asked, feeling a sob rising in my chest.
“I don’t remember anymore,” the girl said and I noticed the bruises on her arms.
I looked from her to the other girls and realized that they were all dressed in the same way. Short skirts and dresses, fishnets, high heels, tons of makeup and messy bleached hair. They were wearing a lot of jewelry but it looked cheap and I gulped, realizing that my throat had run dry.
The room was becoming clearer to me now, and I could hear drops of water dripping from the ceiling and there was a musty smell coming from somewhere. I tried to think hard. The last thing I could remember was being in my apartment. Gunshots being fired. Pike talking about Gunner. Viper hitting me. Gunner was dead…was he shot? Was he dead? A cry escaped my lips and I tried to get up again.
“Where do you think you’re going to go?” the girl said as I stood up unsteadily on my feet. I couldn’t even feel my legs. How long had I been here?
“I need to get out of here. There’s been some mistake,” I cried, beginning to walk while using the wall as support.
“There are no mistakes here,” another girl said and I turned to her and saw the deadpan blank look in her eyes. She was one of the girls who looked casual earlier, like she had resigned to her fate and wasn’t interested in putting up a fight.
“Who did this? Who brought me here?” I asked and the girl rolled her eyes and looked away from me.
“Was it Viper? Pike?” I screamed at them but none of them reacted. It was almost like they were feeling sorry for me, for being stupid.
“We have to get out of this place,” I said and finally found the door in the dark. I turned the knob and pulled, but the door was made of solid steel and was bolted shut. It didn’t even budge. I tugged at the handle and pulled again, and again there was no movement. I screamed and felt the tears rolling down my eyes.
“Just sit back down. There’s no point. You’re only wasting your energy,” Candy said and I whipped around to her.
“There’s been some mistake. I’m Luke Jenson’s sister!” I screamed but it was useless, she clearly didn’t know who I was talking about.
“Listen, we don’t know who you are, but there’s no point in screaming and crying. You’re making a fool of yourself. They appreciate good behavior. You should just sit back down and do what you’re told,” the other girl said, but my tears didn’t stop flowing. There had to be some mistake. If it was Viper and Pike who did this to me, I could put a stop to it. The Dragon Knights were like family to me. They would never do this to a Jenson! This was just some kind of cruel punishment for the slap. For having a Bad Disciples member in my apartment.
I whipped around from them and tried getting the door open again.
“Viper! Pike!” I screamed, while banging on the metal door.
“Hey! I was sleeping here!” another girl called out to me but I didn’t want to listen to them. I would have felt sorry for them, I would have wanted to do something about these girls, but right then, all I cared about was getting out of this place. I wanted to know what had happened to Gunner. If they’d killed him or if he was still alive.
“Viper!” I screamed again and tried to get the door open. Nothing was working. I leaned my forehead against the cold metal door and cried, the tears flowing freely down my cheeks.
“This is a mistake. Let me out!” I cried, but it felt like nobody could hear me. Even though I was in a room full of other girls, to me it felt like I was completely alone in the dark.
* * *
***
I still had my forehead against the door when it began to open. I heard the bolt being pulled and I stepped away from the door. This was going to be my chance to get out of this place and figure out what the hell was going on.
The door slid open and a woman stepped in, promptly shutting the door behind her. I heard someone outside bolting the door shut again. All my plans of slipping out through that door were now ruined.
“Who are you? I want to speak to Viper or Pike!” I thundered at her. The woman had empty looking deep dark eyes and she seemed like she was a little older than the rest of us. She was dressed in the same way as them though.
“You can speak to me. My name is Nancy,” she said while I glared at her. She had an expressionless face, like she didn’t care how much I screamed or
cried or yelled.
“There’s been some mistake…I want…” I began to say but she interrupted me.
“We heard you screaming, you need to stop and do what you’re told,” she said and then grabbed me by my arms. She wasn’t being aggressive but her grip on my arms were strong. I tried to wriggle out of her grasp but she wasn’t about to let me go. She was looking at me from top to bottom, assessing my face and body, measuring me for size with her expert eyes.
“This will have to do for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll have to get you a skirt or something. You need to put those legs on display,” she said and let my arms go. I noticed that she was carrying a bag on the crook of her arm and now she bent down to the floor and unzipped it. She started rummaging through it which seemed like it consisted of rags and cloth and makeup.
“What are you talking about? What is going on? I need to go home,” I said and placed my hands on my hips in protest. I still thought I could talk my way out of this place!
“You need to look presentable for tonight honey. The less you resist, the easier it’ll be. The clients don’t like to see us putting up a fight, do they?” Nancy said and then I saw her throwing Candy a look.
I knew what was going on. I knew it from the moment I’d woken up. A room full of girls, all dressed in that particular cheap sexy way…I knew it. Gunner’s words rang cold in my ears. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it. I just couldn’t accept that Viper or Pike, or anybody from the Dragon Knights would ever use me for prostitution. They wouldn’t do that to Luke’s sister!
Nancy stood up, leveling her face with me and she had a damp cotton cloth in her hands. She brought it closer to my face and I jerked away from her.
“Just cleaning you up, honey,” she said, in an oddly kind voice and I stood there shivering as she wiped the grime and dirt from my face. I wasn’t crying anymore. I was angry and furious and the truth of my situation was just beginning to sink in.
“Nancy, please, if you let me speak with someone from the Dragon Knights…just let me speak to someone. It’s all a huge big misunderstanding,” I pleaded with her, as she wiped my face and my neck. Nancy stopped and turned a blank expression to me.
“Who do you think put you here?” she said and I felt some more fat tears roll down my cheeks. This couldn’t be my reality. This couldn’t actually be happening to me!
Nancy put the cloth away and brought out a makeup bag. She unzipped it and seemed to be picking colors. Garishly pink lipsticks, orange and blue eyeshadows…she rummaged through them till she found the ones she was looking for.
“Pucker up those gorgeous lips, honey,” she said emotionlessly, like she was doing my makeup for my wedding day. I kept my mouth firmly shut.
“No, I can’t do this. This can’t be happening to me…” I cried, my voice drowning away in my own sobs.
“You have to earn your stay here, honey, that is the only way to stay safe,” she said, that hint of kindness entering her voice again. Our eyes met and I could see that the strength and the matter-of-factness that Nancy displayed was only a facade. Deep inside her, she could still remember the day she had felt exactly like this.
“I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to earn my right to stay!” I cried and this time, she gave me a smile. It was a sad helpless smile and it filled me with fear.
“You don’t have a choice, Brooklyn,” she said and hearing my name had a destabilizing effect on me. I felt crippled again and I crashed to the ground. I wanted Gunner. I wanted to see him again. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed wildly, hoping against hope that he was still alive. That he might find me. If only I could see him again…
“It’s time for you to pick a name, honey. We can’t call you Brooklyn anymore,” I heard Nancy say and I looked up at her with my foggy, watery eyes. She bent over me, bringing the cheap plastic lipstick case close to my lips.
“I think you look like a Scarlet. What do you think girls?” she said, trying to get the others involved. I pressed my lips together, resisting as much as I could against her efforts to try and put makeup on my face.
“My name is Brooklyn Jenson,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her but Nancy just smiled. My resistance wasn’t going to affect her. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it whether I liked it or not.
20
Gunner
We arrived at the warehouse in groups of five, parking our noisy Harley’s and muscle cars some distance away so that they wouldn’t hear us.
Axel had wanted us to wait till it was dark, even though I was ready to go several hours ago. I couldn’t be sure where they had taken Brooklyn but I knew she couldn’t be far from this place. They knew I was in her apartment. They would want to punish her for having me there, and this was the only kind of punishment I knew the Dragon Knights would order on a girl. They were going to use her in their prostitution ring.
Brooklyn was alone with them. I could feel it in my bones. I could sense that she was in danger and she was being kept somewhere against her will. The warehouse was the only place that we knew of where she might be kept captive along with the other girls. I wasn’t doing this for the Club anymore, my priority was Brooklyn and I knew the others knew that too.
I was crouched behind one of the cars with Glock, Tank and Hunter. We were all quiet, blending into the dark and only communicating through signs. Across from us, through the barbed wire fencing; we could see that there were armed Dragon Knights guarding the warehouse shutters. This wasn’t going to be an easy job. The element of surprise was the only thing we had going for us.
Axel was with us, crouched behind another car some feet away from me. I looked over at him and he nodded at me. Giving me the green signal to go.
I was itching with the need to go. I wasn’t going to rest till I’d rescued Brooklyn and for now, there was no sign of her.
I nodded back at Axel and then placed a hand on Tank’s shoulder to signal to him to cover me in case I was noticed.
As quietly as possible, I snuck out from behind the car and in one swift motion, I climbed the fence and had jumped over the barbed wire. The gravel crunched under my boots when I landed on the other side; but other than that; I’d made no sound. I could see the Dragon Knights walking around in front of the warehouse, talking to each other in intervals. They hadn’t noticed the movement in the dark.
Still in a crouched position, I rushed noiselessly towards them. The military had taught me how to remain camouflaged in the dark and I was putting my training to good use. I ran, as fast as my feet would carry me towards the men and just when one of them turned to the other side, I snuck up behind the side wall.
I tried not to breathe too hard so that they wouldn’t hear me. Keeping myself pressed to the wall, I fixed the silencer on my gun. There were quick metallic clipping sounds in the air, but the DK’s still hadn’t noticed.
I peeked out from the corner and now saw a dark figure, which looked like Glock; running up on the other side and hiding himself against the wall at the other end.
I smiled to myself, glad for having friends and partners like these guys. In a couple of minutes Tank did the same and then Hunter followed, silently joining me behind the wall. Now there were four of us, hiding in the dark behind the guards while three Dragon Knights were still up front. We had successfully outnumbered them and we were all armed.
I turned to Hunter in the dark and I nodded my head once. He did the same.
I peeped out from around the wall and saw one of the Dragon Knights had walked closer up to me and I held up a hand to Hunter behind me. He knew what I was going to do and he pointed the gun forward just as I stepped out.
The DK was within arm’s reach and I wrapped my arms around his face in one swift motion, muffling his cries. He struggled and was just about to fire a shot when I shot him in his temple. I felt his body go limp in my arms and I had no thoughts in my head as I released him. He slumped to the floor and that was the first sound the other guards heard.
“Hey!”
one of them said and just when he turned to look in my direction, Glock had come up behind him and dragged him away. I knew he’d shot the guy, even though I didn’t hear it because of the silencer.
The third Dragon Knights had walked forward, towards the barbed wires but he’d heard the second guy’s voice and now we saw him walking towards us. He hadn’t seen us in the dark yet. Axel came out of nowhere. We hadn’t seen him behind the tree. He grabbed the third guy and fired a bullet to the back of his head and finally looked up at me.
We’d got all three guards, without setting off any alarms. Our plan was in motion.
Axel came up to me, smiling.
“You did good, son,” he said and thumped my shoulder. Some of the others behind him joined us, while Tank, Glock and Hunter came up to us as well.
“We can’t open the shutters. It’s too noisy,” I said, keeping my voice as low as a whisper. We couldn’t be sure who might hear us.
“There’s a side door here,” Sniper said, pointing to the side where Tank and Glock were and I smiled at him.
“Good, that’s the one we’ll take,” I said and hurried towards it. I was in no mood for wasting a breath. I had to get to Brooklyn and I had to get to her now.
***
We’d snuck into the warehouse without being noticed. I hadn’t counted exactly but I knew there were at least eight of us in there, and we had no idea how many of the Dragon Knights we would find inside.
The place stank of gun powder and damp and there wasn’t enough lighting so I didn’t know exactly where I was going but I was leading the way.
The warehouse was full of rooms and storage units with locked doors. The passageways were narrow and my boots creaked on the flooring as we tread carefully. We could hear voices echoing somewhere and the sound of what sounded like knives being sharpened. There were electrical sounds everywhere, like the DK’s were preparing for a war as well. Arranging weapons and gathering men. At least because of all the noise, we didn’t have to whisper anymore.
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