Twenty-Five
The guys slipped through the door and headed to the garage. “Danko, we’re coming from the north side of the garage. There is an entrance from the house; keep them occupied with cover fire and we’ll sneak up on them from the rear.”
“Roger,” Danko answered. Shots rang out from the front of the building—the men inside were returning fire.
We split up into two groups, ducking around some cars and working our way forward. All four men were occupied, squeezing off shots at Danko and Murph; they never heard us moving ‘til we were right on top of them. Dukes hit the first one in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, and the guy went down like a ton of bricks.
Sonny had the second guy in a headlock, cutting off his breathing ‘til he dropped the gun on the floor, tapping out on Sonny’s arm. When he blacked out, Sonny finally let him slide to the ground. Murph clocked the third guy when he tried to run for the open door—that left only Brom.
He stood to the side, unconcerned that all of his men were down. “There is no reason for violence, gentlemen. I have done nothing wrong for you to storm my home and incapacitate the men in my employ. Please take yourself off my property and I will not press charges.”
I moved out of the shadows and Brom lost a bit of color. “You did nothing wrong? You did not have your employees shoot me and leave me for dead on the side of the road, kidnap my woman, tie her up, and whip her for your enjoyment?”
Brom’s face turned white and he pulled a gun from inside his jacket, but before he could fire, I knocked it out of his hand. It went skidding across the garage floor. I didn’t stop; my fist flew and hit Brom in the jaw; he tried to counter, but I was faster. I followed the first punch with one to the body and all the air left Brom’s lungs. I attacked, hitting him again and again. Dukes and Sonny had to pull me off the prone man.
“Breech, stop, you’ll kill him,” Sonny shouted.
I struggled against the men holding me. “He’s a piece of shit, he deserves to die. Fucking let me finish the job,” I spat.
“Breech, he’s not worth it, let it go,” Jiji’s voice came over the com link. I calmed at the sound of her voice, shaking off Duke and Sonny; they let me go.
Murph had turned Brom over and zip tied his hands behind his back. The other men were in a similar position. Murph dragged the men over to the side of the garage and handcuffed them to an exposed pipe.
Sonny dragged Brom over and did the same to him; he groaned and Sonny said, “Shut up, asshole, it could have been worse. We could have let him kill you.”
Opry’s voice came over the com, “Clear behind you.”
“Clear in the garage,” Dukes responded. ”Let’s regroup near the cellar doors; these guys aren’t going anywhere.”
We moved to the back of the garage, to the door leading to the carport. “Jiji, coming to you, do not shoot us,” Dukes said into his com.
“Aww, what fun is that?” she replied. I knocked on the door and Jiji opened it. “What’s the password?” she asked.
“Smartass,” I replied.
“That will work,” she quipped.
I couldn’t help but smile. All the shit that happened to her in the last few days, and she could still joke about it. She didn’t cry and complain; she just adapted and moved on.
Dukes and Sonny took point again, with the girls in the middle, then me and Murph bringing up the rear. We went through the butler’s pantry into the kitchen and down to the cellar through the kitchen entrance. When we got to the bottom of the steps in the cellar, Opry and Danko were waiting.
Gia spoke up, “Maria told me we should check beyond the wine cellar before we left. I don’t know what’s she’s talking about, but we owe it to her to take a look.”
Dukes nodded his head. “I agree. She helped us, so let’s help her.”
“Roger that!” Opry replied.
“Good by me,” Sonny said.
“I’ll take point,” Danko said.
“Let’s roll, brothers,” I finished.
Danko moved off down the hall, checking doors as he went. They opened into stock rooms, pantries, and furniture storage. The wine cellar was locked and had thermostatic control on the outside. He rattled the door but it didn’t open. Continuing down the hall, his voice came over the com. “Sonny, get up here, I need you to open a barrier door, it’s locked.”
We moved to the side so Sonny could get past us. He withdrew a tablet from his backpack and went to work. A couple minutes later, the lock beeped and the door opened.
“Open Sesame,” Jiji quipped.
Sonny smiled and winked at Jiji. “Your wish is my command,” he said. She laughed as he pocketed his tablet, waiting as he went through the door behind Danko.
“You girls hold up here with Murph; Dukes and I are going to back up Sonny and Danko. Stay sharp ‘til we get back,” I commanded.
The hallway was dimly lit and cold as hell. We came to another door which Sonny opened, and the four of us continued on. The temperature had dropped sharply and it smelled dank, like mold and urine.
The hall was lined on both sides with wooden doors; each one had an electronic lock on the outside. They had a slide on the top and the middle. The hair on the back of my neck slowly rose; whatever was behind those doors, I knew it wouldn’t be good.
Dukes stepped up next to me with his gun drawn. I positioned myself near the slide and gave Dukes the signal to be ready. Sliding the panel back in a rush, I ducked while Dukes got ready to fire. Nothing happened. Peering through the panel, I could see a dingy room with a pile of rags in the corner. Other than that, the room was empty.
Then the rags moved!
I saw a pair of eyes staring at me in fear and I backed up.
“That fucking scumbag—it’s a woman, Dukes. He’s got a woman locked in there. Sonny, get to work on this lock.” Shortly the panel beeped and the lock released.
The door swung outward and Dukes entered. The woman huddled in the corner, trying to get as small as she could. Dukes tried to act as non-threatening as possible, but due to his size that was next to impossible.
“Jiji, Gia, get up here—we need you,” I said into the com. Within a minute, Gia and Jiji came through the door.
“Oh my God,” Jiji whispered. Holding out a hand, she slowly approached the woman. “Hello, my name’s Jiji, and the girl behind me is Gia. These guys might look big and scary, but they really are harmless. We are here to help you.”
The girl shook her head, huddling into the corner. “No habla inglés,” the woman whispered, keeping her eyes on the ground.
“My name is Jiji, we want to help you, no one here will harm you,” Jiji replied to her in Spanish.
She looked up at her questioningly. “The bad man will be back, he will hurt you too. Run away while you still can.”
“He will never hurt you again. These men have taken care of him. What is your name?”
“My name is Estella, how are the others?”
“Others, there are more?”
“Yes, I’m not sure how many, but I can hear them crying at night.”
Turning to me, Jiji said, “She says there are more women down here… She’s not sure how many, but she can hear them crying.”
My hand curled into a fist. “Sonny, there are more down here, so start opening doors—let’s get them free.”
“I need you to follow me. We are going to get you and the others out of here.”
She replied in broken English, “I go with you.” She stood up and started to move forward. Dukes raised a hand to help her and she shrieked, hiding behind Jiji.
“Dukes, she’s afraid of you—I got this. You go help Sonny and Murph.” Dukes dropped his hand, backing up slowly.
“This is Gia, she will stay with you while I go help the men get the other girls.”
“No, I go too! Speak to girls, tell them no afraid,” she said.
“Thank you, Estella; that would be very helpful.”
We left the cell and she raised her voice, telling the girls to come out, not to be afraid, that we were here to help.