Chapter 14 Sage
FOURTEEN
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 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 simple for me now to send my résumé 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 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 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 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 not 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 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 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 was panicking. I could feel my chest heaving uncontrollably.
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 this type of situation.
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, but 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 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.