Chapter 14

Sage

It had been two days, and I hadn’t heard from Glock. I knew he was angry with me for getting myself involved with his MC, but this kind of radio silence wasn’t what I expected.

I knew I could go look for him at the Rusty Pelican, or I could have asked my mom to give me his home address, but I didn’t want to seem pushy. He had made it clear to me that he wanted me to stay away, and I decided that I would, at least until I heard from him or someone from the Bad Disciples.

I was also hoping that Brooklyn or someone else from the warehouse might call me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold back on applying for jobs, without knowing if the women wanted my help. I still wanted to do something for them. I could still see the horror in the eyes of the girls I’d spoken to who were captured by the Dragon Knights. I wanted to put those bastards away for good.

I was in our living room, with the TV on in the background. My laptop was on my lap, while I was sitting on the couch, browsing through job applications and legal firms I would have liked to work with.

It would have been so easy for me now to just send my resume off to more places. I knew I’d get called for interviews easily, and then I could leave Long Beach behind and continue on with my life. But something was making me stop. I just couldn’t find the strength to do it.

Mom was cooking us dinner in the kitchen, and no matter how much I insisted that I help her, she refused. She wanted me to just relax and take it easy. It was heartwarming to see how happy she was to have me home again.

My cell phone rang on the coffee table, and I reached for it. I looked down at the screen and saw an unknown number. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that it could be Glock. I answered with a shaky voice, wondering what he sounded like over the phone. Instead of Glock, it was a woman’s voice that I heard.

“Hi, is this Sage?”

“This is she, who am I speaking to?” my first thought was that it could be someone calling about one of my job applications from earlier.

“Hi, Sage! This is Noelle, we met the other day at the warehouse,” she said, and I jumped off the couch. They were calling me! They hadn’t just chucked my business card into the trash the moment I left!

“Noelle, hi! I’ve been waiting to hear back from you guys,” I said, running a hand through my long hair. The only reason why they were calling, could be because they had decided that they wanted my help.

“Sage, is Glock with you?” Noelle sounded serious. She sounded like she was in a rush and needed to desperately get in touch with Glock.

“Glock? No, he’s not. What’s going on?” I asked, and I heard Noelle breathe out a deep sigh.

“I can’t get a hold of him or any of the other guys. We can’t understand why all their phones are switched off!” Noelle sounded anxious, and I was growing anxious with her.

“What’s the matter? Why do you need to get a hold of him?” I asked, and I could hear voices in the background. She was talking to the other women.

“One of the girls has escaped from the Dragon Knights’ holding cell,” Noelle came back to me to say, and I stopped stock-still in the living room. I pressed my cell phone to my ear. Another girl had escaped!

“Oh, my God, where is she? Is she with you?” I asked.

“No, she called us from someplace she’s hiding, but she’s very scared that they’ll find her,” Noelle continued, and I could hear my heart beating out of my chest.

“Where is she hiding? Can someone go pick her up from there?” I asked.

“That’s the reason why I’m trying to get in touch with one of them, nobody’s answering their phones. If they find her now, they’ll kill her. They don’t have any patience for their women trying to escape,” Noelle was on the verge of crying, I could hear it in her voice.

“Okay, okay, can one of you go? Do you want me to go and pick her up?” I asked, and I heard Noelle speaking to the other women again.

“Sage, will you be able to? None of us can leave now, but if you can, we’ll owe you one,” she said, and I was already running into the hallway to put on my shoes.

“Of course, I’ll go, don’t worry about it. Just tell me where to go, does she know where she is?” I asked and slipped on my sneakers. Noelle gave me the address of a house on the edge of town and told me that it was an abandoned place where this girl had run to.

“Thanks, Noelle, I’ll pick her up and bring her straight to you guys,” I said and ended the call.

Mom had emerged out of the kitchen, holding up a spoon with pasta sauce dripping from it.

“Sage? Where are you going, honey? Dinner is ready,” she sounded concerned. She had no idea what was going on in the past few days or the fact that I had visited the Bad Disciples.

“I have to go out and meet some friends, mom. I’m so sorry, I totally forgot,” I said and slipped on a denim jacket over my t-shirt. I went over and pressed a quick kiss on mom’s cheek, and she watched me with an open mouth as I left the house.

“Don’t wait up for me, mom! I’ll see you later, okay?” I called out to her, as I rushed down the steps of my porch towards my old pickup parked outside.

***

It felt like I was driving at the speed of sound, that’s what it seemed at least to me. The reality was that my pickup was beaten up and wasn’t driving fast enough.

I was just glad that Noelle had the presence of mind to get in touch with me. I didn’t even want to imagine what that poor girl was feeling right now. How afraid was she? Hiding out in an abandoned house, hoping that those monsters wouldn’t find her.

I could still recall the wild animalistic rage in the eyes of the man who had assaulted me. He was capable of killing a woman. The more I thought about it as I drove, the more certain I was of my decision. This was exactly what I wanted to do. This was the whole reason I had decided to study law. I wanted to help those in need and put those that hurt people away in jail. I had faith in the law and the power it had over people.

If I could just get to this girl in time and rescue her, it would mean that I could work on her case. I would just have to find a way of convincing the women to let me work with the other girls. I decided that I didn’t care what Glock thought.

He was just overprotective and ridiculous by believing that I couldn’t survive in this world. I was willing to work with these women for however long it took to get the Dragon Knights behind bars. A year, two years…however many long it took. I didn’t want there to be another situation where monsters like them were wreaking havoc in my town.

I drove as fast as I could to the address that Noelle had given me. I was on the outskirts of Long Beach now, and when I arrived on a dark, desolate road that was going to lead me to the house; I realized that there were no streetlights.

I killed my car’s headlights too. I didn’t want to be caught driving to the house. There was a chance that the Dragon Knights were keeping an eye out, and I didn’t want to lead them straight to the girl and me.

I could feel my chest heaving uncontrollably. I was panicking. I was alone, out here in the dark, driving along a narrow road with miles and miles of abandoned plots or rundown on either side. I had never done anything like this before. I didn’t know what to expect. I had spent all my life running away from having to be in a situation like this. And now I had willingly gotten myself into this.

If I was afraid, I didn’t even want to imagine how afraid the poor girl was.

I was driving slow, trying to keep my engine noise to a minimum and I stopped when I reached the house. Just like Noelle had said, this place was completely abandoned. The house was a derelict wooden shed sort of a thing with a wide plot of land surrounding it. A swing hung from a tree adjacent to the house, and it was creaking as it blew in the soft breeze.

Nothing but the moonlight was guiding me, as I drove off the road and towards the house now. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I was able to drive without the lights on, but I still couldn’t see inside the house. I could just see its decrepit shape. There was a deathly silence all around, as I came to a stop right outside its porch.

I switched off the engine and slipped the key into the pocket of my jeans. The door of my pickup creaked when I stepped out of the truck, and my sneakers pressed down on the dusty dirt path.

I was sure that the girl would have heard the car arrive and my door open. I was worried that she was now afraid that it was one of the Dragon Knights.

I looked around, not a single sign of life. Not a single car or soul had passed down the road yet. I was all alone and somewhere inside the house, the girl was hiding.

I walked up to the porch and stepped up. The floorboards creaked as I walked towards the door. The mesh door swung open with a screechy metallic sound and then slammed shut in the breeze. I could hear my heart beating. Besides the whistling of the breeze and the swing creaking; there was no other sound.

“Hi! I work with Noelle. It’s okay, you’re safe,” I called out in a strained whisper, hoping that wherever the girl was hiding, she could hear me.

Nobody moved anywhere inside the house or said a word. I creaked open the mesh door and pushed the decaying wooden door with my shoulder.

The house smelled damp and like mold when I stepped in. It was a small wooden shack of a house, with piles and mountains of discarded stuff everywhere. Nobody had lived here for years, as it appeared.

“Hi, I’m here to help you. Hello! You can come out now,” I called out again, in a louder voice this time.

I was walking through the rooms, and there was no sign of life. Wherever the girl had hidden, she had hidden well.

“Hello?” I said and pushed against another door which was seemingly going to lead me into the kitchen.

“Hello?” I could hear my voice shaking as the door creaked open, just when a hand wrapped around my shoulder and clamped down on my mouth. I shrieked, just as I realized it was happening. It was a man’s hand, and he was pressing me to his chest. I shrieked and shrieked, but my voice was muffled.

I’d walked right into a trap.

***

I struggled to get the hand off my mouth, but the man was strong and was pulling me back into the dark hallway. My voice was muffled, and I elbowed him, which didn’t work. My only hope was to bite, and I did, drawing blood, and the man growled and let go of my mouth.

I screamed and leaped from him, running straight towards the door I had walked in through, but a different pair of hands caught my arms now and pulled me back.

“Where do you think, you’re going, sweetheart?” the voice said and dragged me back down the hallway.

The man whose hand I’d bitten was the same monster from the alleyway. He was shaking his wrist now. I struggled against the grip of the man who was holding me back, and the girl appeared.

It was the girl who I tried to rescue from him. She was dressed in the same clothes and once again, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she whimpered when she saw me, and I knew exactly what had happened. These guys had forced her to make that call to Noelle and the others. They were trying to lure someone from the Bad Disciples to turn up, and like a fool, I just had.

“Who is this one?” the voice said. I still hadn’t managed to turn and see this guy’s face.

“She’s the same one from the other night, tried to get a hold of this bitch,” the man growled, peering at me. I screamed again, and a hand wrapped around my mouth.

“Shut up, sweetheart. Nobody can hear you. You should save your energy,” he said and then released his hand from my mouth again.

“Let me go! Glock is going to come looking for me. He knows where I am!” I shrieked, trying to use the same tactic as before. I knew instantly that it wasn’t going to work this time because the two men just laughed.

“That’s cute. Is Glock your hero, sweetheart?” the man said, whipping me around to him. I gasped as he clutched my arms. I could feel his rough fingers digging into my skin. I was breathing hard, trying to control the tears. There was no use crying now or showing weakness.

“He’s going to kill you if you lay a hand on me,” I hissed at him, and his slap came out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting it, and it landed on my cheek. I stumbled sideways and screamed, feeling the sting and the force of his slap on my face. My cheek throbbed, and a few fat tears rolled down my face.

The men laughed again, and the girl who had been whimpering before came rushing towards me.

“I’m so sorry. They made me do it. They made me call!” she cried and wrapped her arms around me. I held on to her, just so that we could be close together.

“Is he fucking you?” the man asked the one who had slapped me. He had taken a few steps towards us, and I could feel the girl cowering. She stepped behind me, and I straightened myself to meet his eyes.

“He’s going to find you and then kill you,” I hissed at him and clenched my jaws. I was expecting him to slap me again, and this time I was ready. They could slap me around as much as they wanted, but they weren’t going to break me.

“He’s going to find me and then kill me,” the man repeated, in a mocking tone and turned to his buddy who laughed too.

“We were hoping that he would show up, or one of the other BD losers. But a girl will do. A girl will do very well,” he said, looking at me again with a sly smile on his face. I knew exactly what he meant, and it sent chills down my spine. I was starkly aware, based on the bruises I had already seen on the other girl’s body; that a few slaps were only the beginning.

“Let us go, and I’ll tell them what you want me to tell them. Do you have a message for them?” I asked, trying to keep my voice firm.

The men were laughing again. All this was hilarious to them.

“Yeah sure, we have a message for the Bad Disciples. That they’re fucking going down and there is nothing they can do to stop us,” he growled, and I gulped. The girl was hiding behind me now, I could feel her body shaking.

“Okay, I’ll tell them,” I said, and the man stepped up close to me. I had to crane my neck to look up at him, and he was glaring down at me.

“But don’t worry sweetheart. You don’t have to deliver the message, we’ll do it ourselves,” he said, with that smile forming on his face again.

“Yeah, you just sit back and relax and try and enjoy the ride,” the man whose hand I’d bitten came up towards me now, and he was reaching for my shoulders.

“No! No!” I screamed as he pulled me, yanking me away from the girl. He was lifting me up, and then he threw me over his shoulder. I struggled to get off, but I could feel a rope being tied around my ankles. The other guy walked around to where I was hanging over his shoulder, and he clasped my hands together and tied another piece of rope around my wrists.

“You’re too noisy, sweetheart. You should have just kept your mouth shut,” he hissed before I saw him pulling a rag out of the pocket of his pants. He was tying it around my mouth, and I was shrieking as loud as I could. I could feel the back of my throat chaffing, and then once he was done, my voice was muffled and my throat was hoarse.

I watched as he pulled the other girl by her hair. They were taking us into the basement.