CHAPTER 9
NATE
The dude was falling for it.
Snake seemed to be believing our story hook, line and sinker. Grace had him eating out of the palm of her hand. I’d expected a lot more resistance, and while this goose wasn’t cooked yet — we still needed to get him to trust us, as he’d said — I was pretty sure the money Grace dangled in front of him like a gold plated carrot was enough to get him to agree to do business with us.
Business.
It was all so fucking cold and clinical, when in reality, it was nothing but.
Snake began giving us a tour of the place and as soon as I saw the first ‘girl’ as Snake kept calling them, my stomach turned.
This place was dirty. And raw. Painful and sad.
Snake led us down a dark, dusty hallway that led to a heavy metal door that led outside. We crossed a paved open clearing that spread between the clubhouse and another building. It was dark, the cold rain hitting our shoulders as we passed by a group of members smoking under a ledge, their hulking frames lit up by an overhead light. Their heads turned, watching as we strolled by.
Silently, Grace and I followed Snake into the other building.
The smell hit me at once.
While the clubhouse smelled like an old bar, the air filled with smoke and stale beer, it was familiar and miserable — and even though this smell was just as miserable, it was different.
It was stark and sharp and pungent — it was human. Like old sweaty sheets, it was sour, sick, bloody.
I glanced over at Grace and saw her flinch slightly. She steeled herself, lifting her chin as we followed Snake down a hallway, towards the rancid stench.
Beginning softly, almost imperceptibly, the soft sounds of a woman crying grew louder with each step we took. Echoed afterwards by sounds of whispered comforting murmurs, my heart cracked for the first time.
“The girls mostly hang out together. I rotate them in and out of the back room of the bar, which I’ll show you when we go back. That’s where we do business. I figured you’re more interested in seeing the back stock, instead of the heavily handled merchandise up front.” He winked, like his joke was supposed to be funny. Grace laughed, going along with him, nodding and agreeing, playing his game.
All I knew was that with every callous word he spoke about these girls, it became more and more difficult to resist slamming his face into the concrete floor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that. Not yet anyway. I had to remember we were in this for the long haul and my fantasies of revenge for these girls would have to wait until they were safe.
In the meantime, I was packing every fucking word away in my memory so that when I finally got the chance to demolish him, I could savor every reason why all over again.
For now, I followed Grace’s lead. Smiling, laughing, nodding.
He paused, unlocking and then turning the doorknob of a black door at the end of a hallway. The sound of female chattering poured out, only to come to a complete halt as the door swung open. Dozens of heads turned our way, curious eyes wide with questions.
“Don’t mind us, ladies,” Snake said, smiling at the girls. “Go back to what you were doing, I’m just giving a tour of the place to my friends here.”
Blinking eyes met our gaze, the silence deafening as they all looked at us.
I could hardly look back.
With a sweeping glance, I took it all in.
The smell was nothing compared to the sight before me.
Dozens of mattresses lined the floor. Some were covered in linens — dirty sheets, tattered blankets, moldy pillows, clothes strewn all over them. But some were bare, covered in stains that I didn’t even want to think about. All of the mattresses were occupied. Girls lay two or three to each one, splayed out in various states of undress. Some conscious. Some not.
Those that weren’t looked the most peaceful of all.
The ones awake were either crying or consoling those that were.
None of them looked healthy, in any sense of the word.
I cringed when I saw the three little girls in the far corner. They were young, way too young to be subjected to a reality like this. But nobody deserved this, I thought. Not one person on Earth.
“So, as you can see, there’s quite a variety. Do you have a certain type you’re looking for?” Snake asked Grace.
Grace’s eyes were hard and cold, her lips pressed into a thin line that she forced upward into a smile that never reached her eyes. I wondered if Snake was testing us. I wondered if he was still buying our act. Grace looked stricken and who could blame her?
I hardened my gaze, determined to keep all the disgust swirling around inside of me from bubbling to the surface.
“I’d like to look around a bit more,” Grace said. “It’ll take me a few moments to decide. I’ll choose a few to talk to before I make my final choices. I need my girls to be well-spoken and polite, of course.”
“Sure, sure,” Snake said. “We can come back here later. Let’s go back to the bar and I’ll show you the room where most of the action takes place — if it’s not occupied, that is. Unless you’re into watching?”
Grace flashed him a wry smile and shook her head.
“I don’t mix business and pleasure,” she said, winking at him.
“You’re a fiery one, aren’t you? Quiet but smoldering, I can feel it.”
“Can you now?” she teased, flipping her hair. She was flirting slightly, playing into his game and he was slowly letting her in. I could tell by the way he stood closer to her, the way his hand brushed against her arm as he guided us out of the room. I glanced back before the door closed, my eyes landing on a shelf by the door that was littered with needles and empty vials and baggies smeared with white residue.
My gaze shot up and my eyes crashed into the eyes of one of the little girls in the corner. She looked at me, but she wasn’t there. Glassy and wet, her eyes were distant, the lids hooded and heavy as she stared towards us, a silent, weak plea that I couldn’t answer right now.
When I forced myself to turn away, that tiny crack in my heart broke wide open.
****
Half an hour later, we sat in the bar again, back in the booth with Snake as he finished off the rest of the bottle of Jim Beam. He poured us shot after shot, but he didn’t notice Grace pouring most of them on the floor under her feet when he wasn’t looking. His eyes were glassed over and he was completely relaxed, regaling us with hilarious stories from his youth. At least he thought they were hilarious.
I could hardly listen, my mind was clouded with what I’d seen. Haunted by the eyes of all of those girls, I couldn’t think of much else. I watched the back door, as man after man went in and out of the room in the back of the bar. Snake showed us what was in there, calling it the ‘action room’, and while there were only a few girls in there at a time, and the conditions of the room and the bed were a little nicer than the other warehouse, it wasn’t any better when you realized what went on in there.
The girls were drugged and docile and sick. All of that, just to go in there to be abused. I was disgusted.
“My old man took me on a cross country trip when I turned eighteen,” Snake said, “taught me how to rob banks that summer. We hit a dozen places, never got caught.”
Rage began to fill my veins as Snake rattled on and on, bragging about his skills, either completely oblivious, or more likely, not giving a shit, about the abuse he was responsible for heaping upon those women. Resisting the urge to knock him out was getting more difficult by the minute.
“Excuse me, Snake?” I asked. “Where’s the men’s room?”
“Time to drain the snake, eh?” He winked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, glancing at Grace. “You okay for a minute?”
“Of course,” she nodded. “I’ll be right here.”
“Down the hall to the right,” he said.
“Thanks,” I nodded. “I’ll be right back.” I threw a pointed glance at Grace, unsure about leaving her alone. But if I didn’t walk away for just a moment, I was afraid of what I might do. Snake’s face was looking more and more like it needed a serious beat down and I’d never been good at restraint, to be honest.
I was working on it, I really was. I’d been working on controlling my anger for years. I used to blow up, lash out at the slightest thing. But I’d gotten older, matured, learned that if I just removed myself from the situation, if I let myself cool down a little, then most situations could be resolved without resorting to violence.
Tonight, that effort required a little more inner strength than I was used to calling upon. I was determined to do this right, for Grace’s sake, for the club’s sake, hell, for the sake of my brother and my friend, and most of all, for the sake of those girls.
I found the bathroom and did my business, taking a second to look in the mirror and take a deep breath.
“You can kill him later,” I said to the man staring back at me. That man was angry. It was in his eyes, pouring off of him like lava, in fact. “Just do your job.”
Do my job.
Right.
I took another deep breath, washed my hands, and walked back out. I headed down the hallway and back into the bar, searching for Grace. My first thought was that I was grateful she was sitting just where I’d left her. But then I saw she was alone, and Snake was walking right towards me with another man by his side, chatting like old friends.
Shit.
I squinted my eyes, hoping I was seeing wrong. But when the guy turned his head my way, there was no mistaking it. It was Charlie Harrison, an old prospect of the Gentlemen, also known as Scary Charlie. He was missing an eye, covering the gaping hole with a black eyepatch that he loved to lift without warning to scare children. He’d shown up not long after I’d been patched in, while Eli was in the Army.
He was a total asshole, definitely not a ‘gentleman’, by any means. In fact, Dad threw his ass out of the club not long after he began prospecting because he beat the shit out of his wife, right in front of his three year-old daughter.
I’d recognize his ugly face anywhere. The problem was that he would know mine just as easily. I turned around and realized I was trapped. The men’s room was a wide-open room, with no stalls to hide in. The only other escape was a heavy door behind me that appeared to lead outside.
It was my only choice.
I ran down the hallway, praying like hell opening the back door wouldn’t sound any alarms. I turned the knob while holding my breath. I paused, thankful for the silence, as I pushed open the door and closed it quickly behind me, just as I saw Charlie and Snake enter the hallway.
I took a moment to look around while I caught my breath, my heart pounding in my chest as rain began pouring down on me. I didn’t care. I was just happy I got away.
That was fucking close. If Charlie told Snake who I was, our cover would be blown completely. And who knows what they’d do? What Snake would do? The smile on his face said he was friendly and easy-going, but I’d known men with eyes like Snake’s. I knew what they were capable of.
The door had led me to a small outdoor area behind the clubhouse. Secluded away from the main courtyard area between the buildings, it was partially blocked off by the dumpster and recycling bins on my right. A dim light hung over the door, illuminating the tight space.
I took a step towards the chain link fence to my left and my boot kicked over a coffee can full of cigarette butts that was sitting next to the door, the butts falling out everywhere as the can rolled away towards the fence, hitting it with a loud clang that rang out into the darkness.
“Fuck!” I whispered, crouching down and scooping the wet, ashy mess back in the can as best as I could. I placed the can back by the door, then waited a few minutes, the rain soaking me completely. I’d have to come up with a reason I was so wet. I couldn’t just go back to the table dripping wet without an explanation.
If I could go back to the table at all, that is.
Deciding to just peek in the door, I turned the knob to go back in.
Locked.
“Shit,” I growled.
My options were few. I pulled the burner phone out of my pocket and started to dial Grace’s number, but stopped. What if Snake and Charlie were back at the table? I didn’t want them coming and opening the door. I shoved the phone into the back pocket of my Levi’s and headed around the dumpster.
I’d just go in the front door of the clubhouse and explain why I was wet. If Charlie was still there, I’d have to do something else. One step at a time, I thought.
I was just rounding the dumpster, when I heard the sound of pattering paws.
Then, I saw them. They appeared out of the darkness. Three pit bulls were running towards me at full speed. My heart froze and luckily, my feet didn’t. I turned and ran back the way I came, quickly realizing I’d fucked up immensely.
I was trapped.
The dogs rounded the corner of the dumpster, and I lunged for the fence, scurrying up it as fast as I could, my wet boots slipping over and over, the thin wires of the fence coated in rain. The dogs were growling and nipping at my boots and pulling at the legs of my jeans. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get up the fence and each time I made the slightest progress, they pulled me back down, their fangs ripping into my Levi’s.
In seconds, more dogs ran around the corner, joining in on the violent assault. With the extra competition in the fight for a piece of my flesh amping up, they jumped higher and higher. I screamed when I felt the first bite digging into my ass. Fangs pierced the denim, ripping my back pocket off, my phone falling to the ground below the writhing, hungry pack of piranhas.
Terror ripped through me, but so did the need for survival.
The white hot pain radiating from my ass sent shots of adrenaline through my veins, allowing me to pull myself up with my arms, firm footing be damned. My mind blocked out the barbed wire rolled at the top of the fence and with the promise of sure death by pit bull undulating below, I launched myself over the barbed wire with gravity-defying strength of a damned Olympic pole vaulter, my body falling in a crumpled heap onto the sidewalk on the other side.
I lay there, reeling from pain and shock, the piranhas nipping and barking inches from my face on the other side. Gasping for breath, I took stock of my limbs, thankfully noting that nothing was broken. I rolled away, pulling myself to my knees as waves of pain shot through my ass. I turned around, trying to inspect the damage with my hand. I pulled it away and looked at my fingers.
They were covered in blood. The rain dripped down onto my hand, mixing together in an abstract watercolor that I might actually appreciate if there wasn’t a pack of wild animals still trying to get to me.
I eyed the fence, wondering just how strong it was.
Had they ever escaped?
I groaned when I spotted my phone lying just inside the fence. I took a step forward, and the dogs barked even louder, but a few of them seemed to lose interest and walk away, disappearing back around the dumpster. I kept one eye on the phone and another on the remaining dogs.
I really needed that fucking phone.
Maybe I could distract them someway, just long enough to grab the phone. I looked up and down the sidewalk, wishing for a miraculous offering of raw meat that might be waiting close by, but no such luck.
I walked back to the dogs, contemplating how many fingers were actually a necessity in life. Maybe I could stand to lose one or two. Not a thumb, though, those are important. I mean, how many could they really tear off in the amount of time it would take me to reach in there? Not many at all, probably.
Maybe I’d end up with just a puncture or they’d just take off the tip of a pinkie. Something small. Hell, what did my pinkie ever do for me anyway, right?
Surely, I could sacrifice that.
That would work. I’d take one for the team. Imagine how the Gods would like me then, I thought. I’d show them I was committed, dedicated.
I steeled myself.
The dogs that remained stared me down. I locked eyes with the one standing directly over the phone, an all-white one with pink eyes and hardly any fur at all and a head as big as a basketball. He was all muscle.
And teeth.
So many fucking teeth.
He bared them all at me, as if to brag.
“I get it, dude,” I muttered to him. “You’re mean. Scary as shit. Seriously, I don’t want to fuck with you. I’m not even mad you took a bite out of my ass and ripped my favorite jeans. But I need that phone, you hear me?”
He growled, and I don’t know if it was a reflection from a near-by light but I’m pretty sure I saw his eyes glowing bright red for a second, before turning back into the dark as night pools of deadly blackness.
“Okay, okay, so you’re the fucking devil come to life. I totally believe you, my friend.” I stepped closer and he held his ground, his eyes glued to mine. He was frozen still now, which frightened me more than when he was wildly barking and jumping towards me earlier. I ignored that, though. I pushed through, remembering my sacrifice to the pinkie gods and reached my hand forward towards the phone.
“I’m not gonna touch you, dude, I promise. Just need the phone. Just the phone…” I pointed toward it, inching closer with the slowness of a slug. He broke my gaze, looking down to where I was pointing.
He cocked his head, then lowered it, sniffing the phone. He reached out with his front paw, pushing it around.
“Yes!” I cried. “Push it to me!”
He appeared to do just that, for a split second moving it towards me with his paw, but then he dropped his head again, picking it up with his mouth. His eyes met mine and I watched in horror as he jerked his head back, snapping into it with his massive fangs, chomping on it over and over.
“You bastard!” I seethed, shaking my head in disbelief.
I stood up and paused, trying to get my thoughts together. I looked up and down the sidewalk, and realized how lucky I was that nobody else had come out. So much for the club’s surveillance system, I thought. But maybe they didn’t need that when they had flesh eating animals with a penchant for ass cheeks and telecommunication devices to protect them.
I shook my head, leaving the dogs to their feast of glass, plastic, metal, denim and ass flesh, as I hobbled away in pain. I wandered around the perimeter, looking for an alternate entrance that wasn’t littered with fangs. I only had one more ass cheek to spare.
I ignored the pain and the fact that I was soaked to the bone and limping with one ass cheek exposed and kept walking. I found two more gates, in addition to the front one, but they were all firmly locked. Because of the rain, there wasn’t anyone lingering around outside that I could ask for help from in getting in.
Obviously, I couldn’t call Grace.
I walked back to the car where I’d parked it and sat behind the wheel, grateful for the reprieve from the relentless soaking I’d received. I pulled off my wet coat and laid it on the seat under me so I wouldn’t bleed on it.
And then, I waited.
Surely, Grace was wondering where I was by now. She’d come out looking for me, and I’d explain everything and it would all work out fine. I felt like an asshole for leaving her alone, but once I told her about Charlie, she’d understand.
As long as she was still safe in there, everything would be fine.
All I needed to do was wait.
So that’s what I did.
For fifteen minutes. And then thirty. Thirty turned to forty-five and the panic was rising in my throat by then. My ass throbbed as I kept waiting.
And fucking waiting…
I waited an hour and a half, then I got out of the car, walking around the perimeter of the place once more, looking for a way in that I might have missed the first time. But the pit bulls had a taste of me and they apparently wanted more, because they followed along with me, running along the fence and barking relentlessly, making it quiet clear I wasn’t going to get in there without sacrificing more flesh.
I walked back to the car and waited another half hour.
“Come out, Grace, what the hell is going on?” I cried to the empty car.
After fifteen more minutes, I gave in. I started the car, turned the heat on full blast, and put the car in gear.
Ryder was going to kill me, I’d come to accept my fate the last two hours.
What’s done was done.
I’d failed. And it was time for me to face the music.
I drove to the hotel as fast as I could, the sound of the dogs teeth chomping the phone into bits haunting me the entire way…