by A. Zavarelli
“There is no other way,” she insisted. “This is what he wanted.”
“Who?”
The phone alerted our thirty-second warning, and Birdie looked at me with eyes so haunted, I would never forget them.
“The licorice man.”
KODIAK OFFERED ME THE BLUNT in his fingers, but I shook my head.
“Come on, man,” he prodded. “You need to get some sleep. This hell you’re putting yourself through won’t do either of you any good if you can’t even function.”
Logically, he was right, but it didn’t make any difference. “When she’s home with me, then we can both sleep.”
Kodiak didn’t bother to argue, and even if the conversation was nonexistent, I was grateful to have him by my side. All the guys had been putting in long hours to chase every possible lead we found. Shortly after our arrival in California, we discovered the street Birdie and Gypsy grew up on was still a hotbed of human scum. I’d never forget the look on Gypsy’s face when she took us there and pointed out the decrepit structure with peeling white paint.
“Those are the guys,” she whispered. “They’re still here. They’re still…”
She didn’t have to finish that sentence. It was obvious by the young girls coming and going what was happening there. Ricky Montoya had died, but his friends were still alive and well. With the exception of the piece of shit they pulled out of the dumpster behind my shop, anyway. A crime Birdie had since confessed to. Once she was tried for the murders of Trouble and Detective Taylor in California, she would be brought back to Nevada to stand trial there.
Considering the odds against her was a black hole I didn’t want to fall back into. For weeks, I’d been telling myself I could save her while everyone around me humored my cause. They didn’t have the heart to tell me how foolish they thought I was.
A rap at the door interrupted my thoughts, and Kodiak checked the time before jumping to his feet. “Who the fuck is dropping by at two in the morning?”
I didn’t know, but when he opened it, and I saw Gypsy there, I jumped to my feet. “Is Birdie okay?”
Gypsy offered me a watery smile. “She’s fine. I just need a word with you. Alone, please.”
I glanced at Kodiak, and he disappeared without a fight. Pulling out a chair at the table, I offered Gypsy a seat, but she declined, opting to pace the floor instead. She’d seen her sister today, but she said Birdie still refused to talk. It was another blow in a series of shitty blows this week.
“Lucian doesn’t know I’m here,” she began.
“Okay.” I scratched at my beard. “Is there a reason for that?”
She sat down on the bed and folded her hands together. “He’s a good man, Ace. A moral man. He believes that justice can always prevail, but it takes time we don’t have, and there are no guarantees. He wants to fight the good fight, do the right thing…”
She looked up at me with eyes like her sister’s. “What about you, Ace? Do you want to fight the good fight too?”
I didn’t even consider what she was asking. There was no room for consideration. I’d been a criminal. A prisoner. A fucking pariah. And even if I hadn’t done the things I’d gone to prison for, those years had changed me. I wasn’t a good man. I wasn’t even a decent man. But I was a man who knew what he wanted, and a man who would do anything to get her back.
I met Gypsy’s eyes, so there could be no doubt to the truth in mine. “If you told me there was a way to save her, there isn’t a moral boundary I wouldn’t cross to make it happen. She’s mine. She was always meant to be mine. And I can’t live in a world where that isn’t my reality.”
She nodded and then wiped away the moisture gathered at the corners of her eyes as her chest heaved. “I think I know who did this to her. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, but it makes so much sense now. She’s always hated the smell of black licorice.”
“Who?” I demanded.
She hesitated like she wasn’t quite sure I would believe her. “His name is Eric Brentwood. He was a cop back when half of the force was corrupt. He was also a frequent visitor at Ricky’s house. He used to bring Birdie gifts. Stuffed animals… and they always reeked of his cologne.”
“You think it’s him?” I asked.
Gypsy squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. “Birdie said this is what the man with all the power wants. The man who smells like black licorice.”
“GET UP.” THE GUARD RAPPED a set of handcuffs on my cell door.
“Why?” I asked. It was late, and I didn’t understand where he’d be taking me. I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust anybody in here.
He entered my cell and forcefully dragged me to my feet while another guard watched with a bored expression. Terror laced my veins as he hoisted my arms back and secured them with the cuffs.
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You can’t just take me out of my cell in the middle of the night.”
“You have a visitor.” He smirked. “And in case you haven’t learned yet, I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
My body lurched forward as he dragged me along beside him, forcing me out of my cell and down the hall. I already knew I wasn’t going to like whatever was waiting for me, but this was the hell I’d consigned myself to.
They led me down a secured corridor and toward what appeared to be a cleaning closet. My heels dug into the floor, but it was useless. We were past the point of no return, and I couldn’t put up a fight with a large man on either side of me. They also knew I wouldn’t because in my belly was one thing that mattered more than my own fear.
I’d never considered myself the maternal type, but everything changed the day I saw the test results. Huck’s baby was growing inside me. A baby we’d created together. And even if I wouldn’t ever get to be her mother on the outside, I would protect her as long as I had her.
My resolve didn’t make it any easier to accept whatever was about to happen, but I held my head high as they forced me inside the room. Except when I saw Brentwood lying in wait for me, my fear only escalated.
“Please don’t leave me in here with him.” I turned to the guard with the brown eyes, hoping against hope he’d find some shred of humanity in his heart. But Brentwood shooed them away like gnats, and they obeyed, the door slamming behind them as it sealed my fate.
“What do you want?” I snarled.
“What do I want?” His eyes rippled with undiluted hatred as they moved over my belly, and he shoved the chair away as he lunged toward me, grabbing me by the throat. Despite my resolve to be brave, pregnancy had made me softer, and I couldn’t hide that when I squeezed my eyes shut.
“This was not the way it was supposed to end.” He breathed the words into my face. “I could have got you out of here. I could have given you a nice life. But you chose that filthy biker over me, and now you’re carrying his spawn.”
“You’re fucking delusional.” I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. “I never wanted you. Don’t you get that? I never had a fucking choice. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the worst thing that ever happened to me. You and every other man who decided to take what I didn’t give you freely.”
He slammed me back into the wall, and I crumpled forward, trying desperately to protect my belly as I prepared for more of his violent blows. But they didn’t come. What I saw when I looked up at him was worse. It was a man obsessed with me. A man holding onto his sanity by a thread. I barely knew him, but somehow, in his twisted mind, he’d decided we would be together at any cost. And I knew at that moment, I would never truly be free from him. He had pull in here. He would have pull wherever I went. From the day he walked into my life, I was doomed.
“Everything you do, every meal you eat, every goddamn time you go to the bathroom, I know about it, Birdie. Do you think I don’t know what you said to your sister when she was here? Her and that sweet little baby?”
“Don’t fucking talk about him,” I growled. “He’s innocent. He has nothing to do with any of this.
”
“That’s what you don’t get.” Brentwood laughed darkly. “I could make him disappear. I could make any of you disappear. In fact, I might just have a little visit this evening with your sister. Or maybe even that filthy biker you seem so fond of. How does that sound?”
I screamed out my frustration, thrusting my body forward before he grabbed me and forced me onto my knees, pinning my face against the floor.
“Suck my dick, and I’ll consider it an apology.”
Acid churned in my stomach, and I couldn’t even consider it. My disgust must have been obvious because before I could even give him an answer, he released me. I was afraid to look up, but it was too quiet, and I had to know what was going to happen next. I had to prepare for it. Except nothing could have prepared me for his wrath.
“You’re a stupid fucking cunt, you know that, Birdie?” His eyes burned into my face. “I gave you a chance to make it right. You’ve pushed me and pushed me. Now I’m going to show you what happens when I don’t get what I want.”
“Please don’t,” I begged as he moved for the door. “I take it back. I’m sorry.”
“Save your tears for another day,” he sneered. “You’re going to need them when that baby’s carved from your belly.”
“WHAT THE—”
A grunt escaped the asshole’s chest as I clocked him in the side of the head, and he went down like a sack of cement. I dragged his ass out the door and loaded him into the back of the van with the other scum bags I’d collected. Five in total, bound, gagged, and lined up in an orderly fashion.
I had wondered if these deeds would weigh heavy on my soul, but as I drove out into the desert, I found that I didn’t feel even the slightest remorse for what I was about to do. As far as I was concerned, every one of these fuckers had a hand in what happened to Birdie as a young girl. It was likely they’d all touched her, but even if they hadn’t, they were aware, and they did nothing. They’d profited off her exploitation along with countless other young girls, some of whom were still sleeping in the houses. Tomorrow morning they’d wake up and find themselves free from their chains. And tonight, I would paint the desert landscape in blood.
Pulling to a stop, I unchained the youngest man first. He was probably in his early thirties. Old enough to know better by any stretch of the imagination. I waved him forward with the pistol I’d taken from his own hand when I’d caught him with his pants around his ankles. He moved along reluctantly, marching forward until I told him to stop.
I tossed him a shovel and pulled up a lawn chair, lighting up a blunt while I gestured to the ground. “Dig.”
As I’d expected, his eyes darted around as he considered his options. But they were few and far between out in this wasteland. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Just like Birdie’s nightmare.
“C’mon, man,” he pleaded. “I have a fucking family.”
“You got kids?” I feigned interest as I released the smoke from my lungs.
“Yes. Two girls,” he answered.
“Huh,” I muttered. “Are they older than the one you were trying to fuck tonight?”
His lip curled in disgust. “I care about those girls. It’s not like you think. When you say it so crudely—”
“That’s because it is fucking crude.” I leaned forward, my eyes cutting over his face. “You’re a filthy pig who doesn’t deserve to call himself a man or a fucking human at that. Now shut your mouth and dig.”
I flicked the ashes from my hand and watched as he got started. His heart wasn’t in it, and he was sobbing like a goddamn baby after just a few shovelfuls. He was coming to terms with his fate, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t last much longer.
He proved my theory correct when he dropped the shovel and bolted into the fading light of the desert. Without hesitation or thought, I aimed for his back and pulled the trigger. He crumpled to the ground, and just like that, it was all over. And so the process continued as I dragged two more out and forced them to dig a hole wide and deep enough for their final resting place. It took most of the night before the task was complete.
When I lined them up and forced them to kneel, I realized just how much of an animal I was. I felt nothing but vindication when I pulled that trigger. The loss of their lives was no loss at all when I covered them over and left the evidence behind, driving off into the darkness. I didn’t know what that said about me.
I’d seen death. I’d been accused and imprisoned for it. But committing myself to it in the name of the only righteousness I believed in, I was finally free. Fuck what anyone else thought. For Birdie, I’d do it every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
“This is a nice little place you’ve got here.”
Brentwood snapped his attention to me and froze with his hand still on the light switch. He looked like he’d seen a ghost, and I wasn’t surprised. This cabin was out in the middle of nowhere, and I doubted he received many visitors.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing in my house?” he demanded.
“It seems we have a common interest,” I answered. “But I think you already know that, don’t you, you sick fuck? Your shrine is a level of disgusting I don’t even know how to touch on.”
His face blanched as he glanced toward his bedroom where all his dirty little secrets were exposed. Items he’d stolen from Birdie when she was younger. Her pajamas, her dolls, and even a lock of her hair. But that wasn’t the extent of it. He’d been watching her for months, as evidenced by his extensive journal entries detailing every encounter. His perversion was the kind that could only be cured with a bullet.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” he muttered as he moved for his weapon, but he shouldn’t have bothered.
“I’ll take that.” Kodiak appeared in the door behind him, cocking his .45 and digging it into Brentwood’s scalp.
“Fuck you,” Brentwood snarled as Kodiak pried his weapon from its holster. “Do you even realize what the fuck you’re getting yourselves into here? Fucking with a cop? You’ll go down for life.”
“Will we?” I arched a brow at him. “The way I see it… your reputation won’t be so shiny once they tear this place apart.”
Brentwood’s eyes pierced right through me. He wanted to murder me and take what belonged to me. Kodiak didn’t trust that I would keep my cool, and he was right to come with me. As it stood, I wanted to destroy Brentwood with my bare hands. I wanted to beat him bloody and cut his dick off and then shove it down his own throat until he choked on it. But that couldn’t happen.
“How did you even find this place?” Brentwood asked as Kodiak ushered him inside and shut the door behind them.
“Do you think I wouldn’t have someone watching the jail?” I stared at him incredulously. “My guys saw you go in. Want to tell me what the fuck you were doing in there?”
His lips curled into a smile. “What do you think I was doing?”
I lunged for him, but Kodiak was quick to intercept, slamming his hands against my chest and shaking his head. “He’s not worth it, brother. Remember the plan.”
My body vibrated with rage. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his throat and wipe that smirk off his ugly mug, but Kodiak was right. We had a plan. The only way to save Birdie was to follow through with the plan. I closed my eyes and dragged in a breath before I took a step back.
“I’m good.”
“Let’s get him into the bathroom.” Kodiak nodded.
“I’m not going anywhere with you two fucks—”
Brentwood’s tirade came to an abrupt end when I jammed the needle into his neck. For a moment, his eyes widened with fear, and then he collapsed onto his living room floor.
“What do you think it is?” Kodiak asked, eyeballing the syringe we’d pulled from Brentwood’s stash.
“No idea.” I shrugged. “But I guess we’ll find out what it does to him.”
We hauled his limp body into the bathroom and undressed him while he slipped in and out of consciousness. As
tempted as I was to throw him around like a sack of potatoes, we had to take care not to leave any bruises.
Kodiak set up the electrodes, securing them to his skin with a grimace. Once he was satisfied with the placement, I filled a cup with cold water from the sink and threw it on Brentwood’s face.
He snapped to attention, his arm flopping around as he tried to reach for his weapon, only to realize he was in his bathtub. I crouched down beside him and tilted my head to the side, examining the delusional fucker who thought he could ruin Birdie’s life.
“In my mind, I’ve already murdered you in a thousand different ways,” I told him. “Fortunately for you, there’s only a small selection of torture that doesn’t leave a mark. But rest assured, I am intimately acquainted with it, and tonight, you will feel my wrath.”
His mouth flopped open like a fish, but I wasn’t interested in what he had to say. I pressed the button on the small remote, activating the TENS unit attached to his ball sack. Almost instantly, his body started to convulse as he fought to curl into himself. But whatever concoction he had in that syringe seemed to paralyze him, at least temporarily. But for someone who couldn’t move, he still had a pair of lungs on him. He screamed and cursed until his voice was raw, and then proceeded to vomit and defecate all over himself.
“Would you believe it doesn’t even leave a mark?” I mused. “We can do this all night long, and nobody will ever know.”
“You… goddamn…motherfucker,” he slurred between jolts. “I will make you suffer for this.”
“Not likely.” I shrugged. “We still have a long night ahead of us.”
“I think he wants a break, Ace.” Kodiak kneeled and removed the stopper from the drain before he turned on the cold water. “What do you say? Should we give him one?”
“Sure.” I grabbed the cords attached to the electrodes on his balls and gave them a quick yank, ripping them off with all the delicacy he deserved.