Trench

 

     The miles passed by in a blur as the boys and I sped down Highway-21. I pushed faster, focusing on the passing lines in the center of the road, knowing each separated white mark brought me closer to Tori. She was mine. I realized it with every second that passed and she was in harms way. No way in hell could I deny it now.

     The warehouse appeared in the distance and I motioned for Lo and Clutch to pull off to the side of the road. I wanted the element of surprise. Aaron knew I would come for her. He would be stupid to assume anything else, but I wasn’t ready to announce our arrival just yet. We cut the engines and rolled our bikes behind the nearby line of trees, concealing them from the roadway.

     “We don’t know how many Aaron’s got with him. The Disciples are like cockroaches. They prefer to hide in the shadows so keep your eyes open.”

     “Don’t worry, brother. We’re going to get her back.” Lo squeezed my shoulder as he passed by me and took off through the brush towards the warehouse.

     “Clutch, you’re with me. I want to disable their truck first. No one leaves.”

     Clutch nodded, moving ahead. The overgrown brush was dry and hardened from weeks without a good rain, but still better than no coverage. The lone truck parked out back matched Stryker’s earlier description, lending a spark of hope that Tori’s inside.

     “What do you think?” Lo crouched beside me.

     “Six, maybe seven inside,” Clutch jerked his chin in response as we covered Reaper and Stryker while they slashed the truck’s tires.

     The back door opened with a groan and the pot-bellied fucker in a Disciples cut ambled out, stretching his arms, his half-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips like he didn’t have a care in the world. We still held the element of surprise. The air from the tires continued to hiss, finally catching numb nuts attention long enough to look over. Stryker crouched behind the wheel well at the rear and I couldn’t make out Reaper’s position.

     “Charlie, come here man. I think we got a problem.” The man barked into the doorway, extracting his gun from its holster.

     “What the fuck are you moaning about now?” The unassuming man stepped outside. Noticing his buddy had his gun trained towards the truck he pulled his own and looked around.

     “I think we got company.”

     Reaper crept from the side of the building and caught Charlie by surprise, cutting his throat in one swift motion before dropping his fat buddy with a shot to the chest.

     “Fuck, man. Did you see that?” Clutch and I both stood, no longer worried about a silent approach. Reaper’s gunshot was enough to tip them off. Company would be coming soon.

     “Yeah, I saw it. We need to keep an eye on him, brother. After all this shit is over, let’s find out what the hell happened while he was gone.”

     Stryker and Reaper were through the door before the rest of us could follow, clearing rooms as they moved down the hallway. Inside, distant voices could be heard scrambling, but that wasn’t the sound that caught my attention. It was Tori’s scream that had me running in blind. Clutch gripped my shoulder and stopped me before I could get too far.

     “Be smart, Trench. You can’t help her if you’re bleeding out from a gunshot wound, brother.”

     The warehouse was old as shit, and it still smelled of motor oil and wet dirt. An abandoned building once used for repairing cars or housing large equipment, if the rusted-out pieces of metal littering the floor and stacks of old oil drums were any clue. We moved closer to the center where it opened and revealed a larger empty space. The windows that used to line the top level dirty and broken in most places, giving the birds easy access in and out to nest in the high rafters. Their magnified chirping and wings flapping were the only real noise.    

     “Anything?” I called forward to Clutch as he tried the first door in a line of offices.

     “It’s locked. Hold on.”

     Clutch’s gunshot rang loud as he blew the lock and kicked in the old metal door. Dark and nearly empty, save for the yellowed, crumbling paper scattered everywhere and the inch-thick dust lining the decaying desk top.

     “Do you see that?” I whispered to Clutch and nodded towards the desk where the dust had been disturbed recently. Small finger-like lines arched across the top of the desk along with a couple drops of fresh blood.

     “Yeah,” Clutch spun around the room looking for any hidden places they might have gone, but we saw nothing. Not even a storage closet. “What are you thinking?”

     I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes closed in frustration. I could hear the other men working their way down the long hall of offices, clearing rooms as they went. Tori had been here though and she wasn’t far. I could sense it and I was quickly losing my ability to remain calm. The warehouse was completely covered. There was no way Aaron was getting out of here without being seen.

     “Fuuuuck!” I shouted and tipped the edge of the desk over, disrupting the sea of papers that were still stacked on top under a year or more of dust.

     The furniture thundered against the concrete floor. As it settled to its new resting place I heard a pained whimper. It was barely audible, but it was there. Clutch nodded at me when our eyes met and pointed toward a tiny crack in the floor. He’d heard it too. There was a hidden space underneath the floor we’d missed. When Clutch kicked in the door, he must have shifted the dirt and debris around enough to recover it, but it was there.

     Lo, Stryker and Reaper crowded the doorway, their gazes bouncing back and forth between Clutch and I with confusion. I motioned the men to come into the room and indicated the place in the floor. All of them except Stryker took up a position around me. Stryker pocketed his Glock and stood behind the trap door, ready to pull it open on my word.

     Another whimper and I nodded to Stryker. He yanked the door backwards, opening the dingy hole in the ground and revealing my girl. Aaron stood behind her, his gun pushing hard into the tender flesh on the side of her face. He was severely outnumbered, but he had the upper hand. He had Tori.

     “There’s no way out of here that ends with you alive, Aaron. Let her go.” I growled down at him, glancing at Tori and trying to get a read on just how hurt she was.

     It was dark in there, but I could see the wet spot blooming against her dark shirt at her shoulder. The same spot Aaron kept twisting and squeezing whenever she made the slightest movement. Tears ran down her face and I grimaced at the sight of her, so close, and in so much pain.

     “And why would I do that, Trench? She’s my ticket to get out of jail. I’m going to walk out of here, with Tori, and you’re going to let me because you don’t want to see anything else happen to her.”

     “The only way you’re leaving this warehouse is dead.”

     “Is that so?”

     Aaron’s forearm around Tori’s shoulders wrapped tighter and his thumb pushed inside the bullet sized wound. I gritted my teeth as Tori let out a blood-curdling cry of pain. He pulled his thumb out, slowly revealing her bright red blood dripping down his hand. Tori’s eyes glazed over and it looked like she might pass out. A part of me wished she could. Her dead weight would make it more difficult for Aaron to maintain his hold and I would get a clear shot. Tori was tougher than most women though. She’d been through Aaron’s hellish torture for too long and her body had developed a higher tolerance because of it.

     “Hurt her again and I’ll introduce parts of your face to the back of your skull.”

     “Tell your bitches to back off so I can come out,” Aaron sneered towards the four guns besides my own that were trained on him. If Tori weren’t in the direct line of fire, Aaron would be full of lead by now.

     “Let him up, but if he tries anything stupid, light him up.”

     Aaron prodded Tori towards the rickety ladder with his knee. I wasn’t sure how she would climb the damn thing with her shoulder out of commission. Her left arm hung limply by her side and I had a second to worry about how much nerve damage the bullet might have caused.

     “We’ll do this together, princess. One step at a time. Don’t get brave,” his breath next to her ear moved a few pieces of wispy hair and Tori swallowed hard.

     Her gorgeous green eyes met mine as she lifted one foot onto the first ladder rung. They were wet with more tears, but there was a glimmer of hope reflected there too. I sent her a tight nod of encouragement. I wanted to bury her against my chest and shield her with my arms, but I couldn’t do any of that yet. For now, I gave her what I could offer and hoped she understood. I shouldn’t have left her behind. I should have taken her on the run with me.

     Aaron moved with Tori slowly up the ladder. He kept the gun nestled against her cheek while the other arm caged her in and saved her from falling backwards. She took one delicate step at a time using her good arm to pull her weight up another step before moving her feet again. As they came closer and into the dim lighting I got a better look at her injury. Her left arm was covered in caked-on blood, a few fresh rivulets still dripping to her fingers and further to the floor. She needed medical attention and soon. The usual pink color in her cheeks was now pale and I could see the split in her bottom lip. He’d struck her and shot her.

     The boys and I stepped back, giving them space enough to come out completely, but not enough room to run. This was going to be Aaron’s final resting place. I had no intentions of letting him leave alive. I just wanted to get Tori safely away from him first.

      Aaron shuffled up the last step with Tori underneath. She groaned at the awkward angle as he prepared to pull her up with him again. It all happened so quickly. I watched as Tori’s fingers managed to reach the bootleg of Aaron’s pants, metal glinting as the blade swiped fast and deep into his Achille’s heel. Aaron screamed in pain and the first signs of blood trickled to the ground.

     “You bitch.”

     Aaron yanked Tori’s long hair up, making her drop the knife as she instinctively reached up to try and stop him with her good arm, providing me the opening I had been waiting to get. With his gun no longer aimed at her face, I pulled back the trigger of my own, firing off a bullet to his shooting hand.

     “Clutch, now!” I yelled, watching as Aaron’s gun tumbled towards the floor and Clutch moved forward to catch Tori before her head hit the ground, pulling her away from danger.

     Lo kicked Aaron’s gun out of reach and Reaper picked up the knife handle before burying it deep into the fucker’s upper thigh where he lay on the ground writhing in pain. I could hear Tori’s soft sobs behind us, but I knew she was safe with Clutch and I needed to finish what I’d started. Aaron would never hurt her again.

     “Clutch, get her out of here.” I heard Tori calling my name, but the roar of blood pumping through my ears was deafening. 

     “Done,” Clutch remarked and I waited until his footfalls became quiet in the hall and Tori was safely away.

     “Motherfucker!” Aaron yelled at me from the floor.

     I crouched down near him and twisted the blade around in his leg. 

     “You called?”

     The floor was fast turning red as Aaron’s wounds continued to leak beneath him.

     “Fine, asshole. You can have the bitch. Let me go and I’ll leave her alone,” Aaron panted and begged.

     “Do you think this is a negotiation? Do you think she suffered the same kind of pain when you were beating her? Huh?” I grabbed a handful of Aaron’s hair and pulled his face closer to mine. I wanted him to look me in the eyes and admit what he’d done to her. When his cold eyes opened, staring back at me unremorseful, I released his head and let it hit the concrete hard. “I’m a firm believer that the punishments a man receives should fit the crime, Aaron. Which means you’re about to be in a lot more pain.”

     “Fuck you.”

     “Good idea. Let’s start with your rape crimes against my girl,” I kicked at his hips and nodded to Stryker on the other side of Aaron.

     Stryker crinkled his nose at his unfortunate task, but bent down, removed Aaron’s belt and pulled his jeans down to his knees, exposing the bastard before stepping back quickly.

     “No, man. Come on!” Aaron started to protest, but I aimed and fired, drowning out his pleas the way he’d done to Tori so many times and ridding him of his manhood so no other woman would suffer at his hands. Not that he was walking out to try anyway, but if there was such a thing as reincarnation, this fool wouldn’t be coming back with his joy rider intact.

     Aaron’s screams died out a few seconds later and Reaper nudged his body with the toe of his boot.

     “He’s out cold.”

     “Shit, Pres. I might be sick over here,” Stryker cupped the front of his pants. “That was fucking hard to watch. I promise I’ll never touch your woman again.”

     “Good to know we understand each other,” I grinned. “Wake his ass up. We need to finish this shit and get out of here.”

     “Thank fuck. I need a couple drinks after this,” Lo shook his head and laughed sarcastically.

      Reaper reached down and slapped Aaron until he came around. We watched as realization hit, his face paled, and Aaron rolled to the side to throw up from the unsightly gore below his belt.

     “You’re fucking crazy,” he moaned, his cheek lying next to his own stench and vomit.

     “I am. You should have taken my warning. We might have avoided all this.”

     “Finish it already. You’ve got what you want.”

     “Ah, so you think this is about me?” I kneeled closer to Aaron and spoke calmly even though I was anything but relaxed. “This is about my girl. You broke her into a million pieces with your abuse and I’m making sure she can walk around unafraid of sick bastards like you. You took sex from her without permission. I took your dick as payback. You beat her until she couldn’t walk. I took your leg as payment.” I tugged on the knife still embedded in his thigh muscle as reminder. “You forced her to stay quiet when you killed her friend and when you continued to treat her like a punching bag. Now, I’ll take your tongue so you understand what it feels like to be without a voice as you suffer at the hands of another human being.”

     The knife stuck a little as I tried to pull it free from his leg. I used my left hand to squeeze his cheeks together, ignoring the bile that still ran from the corners of his mouth. His head jerked in a back and forth motion trying to pull away even though it was useless.

     “Any last words?” I smiled as panic bled from Aaron’s eyes. “No?” I laughed as his head continued to move side to side. The knife sliced across his tongue and blood poured from his mouth.

     It was over. I wiped my hands on the clean part of his shirt and stood up. Stryker, Reaper, and Lo nodded to me. They knew I needed this to move on. Was it over the top? Probably. Did I want to do it all again? Absolutely. Men like Aaron deserved to feel the pain they so easily inflicted on others.

     “Finish it and let’s clean up,” I said, looking over my shoulder as I passed through the doorway and went to find my girl.