Bailey
JAXON LEFT THREE hours later with basic sketches of six of the children. Although I couldn’t quite recall every specific detail, I think I remembered the right hair color, size, and build for each child. I worried that it wouldn’t be enough to identify the children, but Brock assured me that I’d given them more information than any other source, and that every little bit helped.
“I’m heading out for a few hours,” Dallas said.
At the kitchen island, Brock appeared deep in thought, staring at his laptop screen, but he lifted his chin in acknowledgement and Dallas walked out of the house. Brock set his computer aside and made his way to me trying to get comfortable in one of the overstuffed chairs by the window. “You in pain?”
I grimaced. “A little. How did you guess?”
He checked his watch. “Because you haven’t taken anything for a little over six hours.”
I was a little surprised by his attention to detail, but I tried not to read into it.
Dr. Stone had been by earlier that day with refills of my pain meds, something he’d done twice before. Brock stepped into the kitchen for the pills and water and I took them, then dropped my head onto the back of the chair.
“What happened that night, Bailey?” he asked quietly as he sat on the sofa.
I looked at him. “You’re not going to let this drop, are you?”
“No. Whatever happened to Ali will happen again to some other girl, unless we catch the scumbags who did this. I need your help.”
I took a deep breath. “I went to a party with Ali. I didn’t want to go, but she insisted. And there was this guy there, Asher, he gave me the creeps. I’d only met him once, but still, something about him just didn’t seem right to me. He watched Ali like she was a steak and he wanted a bite. It was… weird. Ali had taken something. A pill. I don’t know what it was, but I saw her wash it down with a cocktail. She partied like no one I’d ever met before, and at the beginning it was exciting, but then she started doing stuff that wasn’t like her. She went too far, but I had her back, so I stuck around and made sure I stayed sober. I stuck to water bottles I opened myself. No open cups offered by creepy guys.” I swallowed, squeezing my eyes shut.
“It’s okay. I’m here.” He leaned forward and took my hand. “These are just memories, okay?”
I nodded. “Then everything changed. Everyone left suddenly, and we were alone with Dean and his friends. I told Ali it was time to go, but she was so messed up. Dean started making out with her and she just ignored me.”
Brock smiled sympathetically.
“Everyone was just standing around watching them make out. It was so awkward. I kept yelling at her, and telling her I wanted to go, but she didn’t care. I tried to pull her away from him, but one of his goons grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.”
Brock frowned. “Why didn’t you just leave?”
“Because she’s my friend and I couldn’t just leave her there with them. She was out of her mind!” I snapped.
“Hey, no judgment, babe, just a question.”
I stared at him. Wrong move. He was so sincere, and his face was so gorgeous, and I wanted to kiss him so bad, it made me sick to my stomach.
“Can you keep going?” he asked.
“Anyway, I was yelling at Dean, pointing out that Ali was high and probably drunk and maybe he should be a real man and not take advantage.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “And that was the last thing I remember. I woke up in a concrete basement with Ali and several kids. Ali and I were zip-tied, and so were a couple of the older kids. The younger ones were just sitting where they’d been ordered to sit. Jay and Cammie were the two kids closest to me. When I woke up, they were trying to wipe the blood off my forehead. Just a couple of kids, and they were trying to take care of me. I remember smelling bleach and something else, like vanilla. I wasn’t sure if it was air freshener or what, but it made me nauseous. I knew if we didn’t get out of the basement, we were screwed. I knew my arm was broken and I knew I must have looked bad, because they kept whispering about my wounds. Ali woke up a few minutes after me and we tried to put together a plan.”
I shivered when Brock ran a thumb gently down my bruised eye. “What was the plan?”
“Cammie wasn’t bound; neither were a couple of the others, so we tried to get them to find anything sharp. Scissors, knives, anything. Jay is the smartest little kid. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid so on top of things. He was able to guide his sister, keeping her calm and encouraging her like a big brother ought to. She found bolt cutters and when you see a tiny little six-year-old holding a pair of bolt cutters that weigh almost as much as she does, the thought of her wielding those to cut your restraints is a little overwhelming.”
“I bet,” Brock agreed.
“One of the little ones wanted to help, I think he was five, but Cammie is six and she said she felt she could cut the zips off us better than Caleb—” I gasped. “Caleb. He’s the little blond one I couldn’t remember. His name’s Caleb. Tell Jax. Tell him now in case we forget.”
“Okay, babe.” Brock smiled as he grabbed his phone and sent a text. “Done.”
“Cammie was amazing. She got Ali’s ties cut and then Ali took it from there. She wanted to do mine because she said she didn’t want me in anymore pain, although, Ali didn’t look much better than me. She cut me and the rest of the kids loose and then we looked for a way out. There was a window we could get to if we scaled, but that meant that one of us had to stay behind to lift the kids up. Ali said it had to be her because I only had one usable arm, so she hoisted me up first, high enough for me to use my legs and good arm to crawl out. I then turned around and reached down for Cammie, then Jay.” I felt the tears clog my throat.
“It’s okay, Bailey.” Brock took my hands again.
“Someone was coming, and Ali waved for me to go. There wasn’t time to get the other kids, so I had to go. She threw my purse at me and hissed that I was to go and not look back. I had two of them, and I knew that if I could get them somewhere safe, at least they would be okay. Then I would come back for Ali. Maybe I could even find some help. So, we ran. We ran until Cammie fell and she just couldn’t go any further. I picked her up, but for obvious reasons, once the adrenaline started to wear off, I just didn’t have the strength to keep going. The pain was overwhelming. So, Jay and I saw a house without any lights on. It appeared to be boarded up, so we tried to find a way in. We did. I told them not to touch anything, watch where they stepped, and to stay close to me. I would try my best to protect them. We found that room and saw that it had a mattress which was gross, but really at this point, we were exhausted and didn’t care, and we all just kind of collapsed on it. Cammie settled beside me and Jay wrapped his little arms around both of us.” Tears streamed down my face. “Seriously, that kid is the most incredible kid on the planet.”
Brock nodded.
“When we woke up the next day, I saw my phone was dead, and the kids were still frightened, so we sat for a little while just talking. I needed a plan. But you guys came in and the rest is history.” I cocked my head. “Why were you there?”
“Reports of kids going into a known abandoned meth house had a few of the neighbors on edge.”
“It’s good it was you who showed up and not…” I wiped my tears and took a labored breath.
“It’s okay. It’s over.”
I closed my eyes again, the memories flooding in. “I heard Ali scream. I heard her from almost a block away. I knew. I just knew she wasn’t okay.”
“Do you remember anyone speaking Russian?” he asked.
I shook my head as Brock reached out and pulled me to him and I broke down. I let myself relax into Brock, let him hold me, and took comfort in his protective arms.
Brock kissed my forehead and wiped my tears, keeping me close to him. “The kids were being ransomed.”
I sat up. “What?”
“Jay and Cammie’s parents were told that if they didn’t send three-point-two million dollars to an off-shore account that the kids would be killed.”
I gasped. “Oh my god.”
“You saved their lives, Bailey.”
“But what about the other ones. I failed them,” I cried.
He shook his head. “No, you didn’t. Look, we have that off-shore account number and we’ll be able to trace the other parents. What’s disturbing is that no kids matching the descriptions you gave Jax have been reported missing. At least none that resemble the sketches, so there are some scared parents out there who are trying to work this on their own, but we’ll find them, Bailey. I promise. We could never have gotten this far if you hadn’t put your life at risk for those kids.”
“You’ll find them?”
“Promise.”
I yawned. “Why am I so sleepy all of a sudden?”
“I gave you a muscle relaxer as well as your oxy.”
“Sneaky,” I said on a yawn.
Brock lifted me out of the chair and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he carried me to the bedroom. Settling me into bed, he pulled the blankets around me. “Sleep, Bailey.”
I yawned again. “’Kay.”