Chapter 21 #2
“I don’t give a flying fuck who you are!” I let the venom pour into my voice. “You’re not the only one here with a missing sister. And if I lose mine because of you two assholes?”
I pound my fist on the bar causing the glasses to rattle. I glance over and make eye contact with Callie. “I’ll make damn sure you lose both of yours.”
“No. Please,” the voice shakes on the other end. “Just let me talk to her.”
I slam the phone on the bar. “He wants to talk to you.” I slide it over, my chest heaving.
Callie picks it up, her lips quivering. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m okay.” She looks at me, calculating. “NO!” she yells. “I think we can… no he’s not…”
I can hear him yelling something at her, but I can’t tell what the hell he’s saying over the announcer hyping up another sale.
Her eyes meet mine, tears streaking down her face. “We don’t have a choice, Leith.”
There’s a beat of silence before she hangs up.
“They stopped,” she whispers, sitting down her phone on the bar. “What do we do now?”
“Put this back in,” Kenji rasps, handing me my earpiece. “Before he storms the place.”
I shove it back in my ear just in time to hear the end of Nate’s rant, “…and I swear to God if you don’t get Laing—”
“Pipe down, Nate,” I mutter into the comm. “Everything’s under control.”
“Under control?” he barks. “You just threatened not one, but two innocent girls, Laing!”
“Got the point across, didn’t I?”
“We had a plan.”
“Well,” I say, winking at Callie. “Looks like the master plan just flew out the window.”
???
“You bloody bastard!” Callie’s brother, Leith, mouths off again.
The guys are tall, blond, and annoying as hell. I’d take dealing with Barinov ten times over before having to spend one more second with Mr. Proper and his damn shadow, Dr. Anthony. We get it dude, you went to med school. Chill.
“We should just go back there, grab Charlotte, and get the hell out of here,” Leith continues.
“There are six of us and at least—”
“Seven,” Callie corrects.
“Six,” I scorn. “You’re staying here.”
She rolls her eyes but I don’t give a shit.
“There are twelve of them that we can see and we have no clue how many more we can’t.
We go back there, guns blazing,” I say, hand pointed toward the stage where a brunette in orange is being auctioned off.
“One of you’ll get shot. Then I’m going to have to carry your ass plus your little sister’s back out. No thank you.”
“Also,” Kenji adds. “We need Chang alive.”
“Alive?” Leith huffs. “Why the hell would we let that monster live to see another day?”
“Because I have—”
“Quit the shit, both of you!” Nate yells over the comms. “And for Christ’s sake, keep your voices down! We can’t have you two bitching at the bar and alerting security.”
Leith gets up in a rush and struts off.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I ask.
“The loo,” he says over his shoulder. “Unless you want to hold it for me.”
We sit in silence as a few more girls get auctioned off. Meilin is still nowhere in sight.
“I don’t think she’s here, Laing,” Khoza mutters. “I’m sorry, bru, but we need to—.”
BANG.
BANG. BANG.
Screaming rips through the Lotus Market. Chairs overturn and golden paddles fly. A few crystal glasses shatter against the marble floor as high heels and dress shoes stomp for the exits.
The girl in the blue cocktail dress from earlier barrels past us, crying and barefoot with blood on her shoulder. Another one in a green dress slips and slams her hip into a table. Her hands are zip-tied. She’s searching and yelling for someone named Michelle.
“Callie, get down!” I scream, shoving her down behind the bar as a guard opens fire toward the fleeing girls.
The one in the green dress gets hit in the thigh, she wails as she falls to the ground.
“Stay here!” I order, shooting toward the guard.
“They’re trying to escape!” someone yells in Mandarin.
Gunfire bursts back near the stage. A blonde in a purple dress drops. Then another in red.
Kenji throws his jacket over the bleeding girl in green and pushes her toward the hallway. Khoza’s already got one of the other guards in a chokehold.
“Where’s Leith?” I roar.
No answer. Just static and more screaming.
“MOVE!” Nate’s voice shouts over the comms. “Fall back to exit route Delta. Get as many girls as you can, but get the hell out of there!”
“Not yet,” I growl, my eyes locked on the stage and the small corridor that leads back to where the rest of the girls are. “Anthony,” I say to Callie’s brother. “Get your sister out of here.”
“NO!” Callie screams, her auburn hair getting in her face as she jerks upright. She wipes a stray strand out of her eye. “We can’t just leave her.”
“Callie!” I yell, my eyes narrowing on her as I grab her by the wrist. “I will get your sister back. I promise.”
“What about Leith?” she cries.
BANG.
BANG.
I duck and shoot back at another guard. He drops. “I’ll find him.”
Anthony steps up behind the bar and yanks her out of my grip. “Let’s go, Callie,” he grits while anxiously dragging her to the exit.
I bolt for the stage, weaving through tables and suits.
“Right behind you,” Mac calls out, running up from the left.
I hear a grunt through the comms. I look over right as Khoza snaps the guard’s neck, sending a deafening crack echoing through my ears.
“Jesus,” I mutter.
“One more down,” Khoza says calmly, dropping the man’s limp body to the floor. “You get the girls, I’ll take care of things out here.”
I nod.
Mac and I run backstage and turn a tight corner just as a guard charges at us. Mac cold clocks him in the nose, spraying blood instantly. Then he grabs the guy by the back of the head and pounds his face into the concrete wall, shattering his skull.
“Get down!” Mac yells, shooting over my shoulder, the bullet nearly grazing me.
Another guard collapses as a redhead in a yellow dress slams into me in a blur of silk and terror.
“No, please!” she screams, mascara running down her cheeks.
I grab her by the shoulders. “There’s a man outside. He’s tall, bald, and built like a tank. His name is Khoza. Start yelling for him the second you get outside, you understand?”
She nods frantically.
“Say it.”
“K-k-kho,” she tries, wet eyes darting between me and the blood pooling under the guard who’s skull Mac just caved in.
“Khoza,” I confirm.
“Khoza,” she echoes.
I nod. “Now go!”
We keep moving, Mac and I sweeping room after room, barking orders at every terrified girl we pass.
“Outside. Now. Look for Khoza.”
A dead guy in a suit blocks the next doorway, bullet hole clean through his temple. Brain matter sprayed across the wall like modern art.
“Cover me,” I whisper.
Mac nods, gun raised.
We step inside and time slows. Blood pools around the tiles like melted rose petals. A hot-pink dress clings to a trembling body curled up in the corner.
Charlotte.
She’s cradling and rocking Leith’s bleeding body like it’s a porcelain doll that shattered in her arms.
“Shit,” I breathe, lowering my weapon.
Charlotte lifts her head. Her makeup’s ruined, tiny rivers of black spill down her cheeks. There’s blood in her hair and streaks down her arms.
“I-I tried,” she chokes out, hands stained and shaking. “I tried to stop the blood.” She looks back down at her brother and kisses his forehead. “I’m so sorry.”
Mac steps in behind me, jaw clenched. He slowly kneels down beside her and presses two fingers to Leith’s neck. He glances back up at me and shakes his head.
“Damn it!” I shout.
“Somebody talk to me!” Nate roars in my ear. “What the hell is happening?”
“All clear out here. Got seven of the girls hidden behind the bar,” Kenji confirms. “We’ll need medics for two of them.”
“It’s a bloodbath,” Khoza adds. “The guards and a few buyers are down. Some of the girls didn’t make it past the stage.”
“Not much better back here,” Mac says with a deep sigh. “We’ve got Charlotte.”
“And Leith?” Nate asks.
Mac looks up at me. “He’s gone.”
“I’ll head that way,” Nate says.
“Don’t!” Mac yells into the comms. “Keep Callie and Anthony outside. I won’t have ‘em seeing this shit.”
“Heard,” Nate confirms.
“Did anyone ever get eyes on Chang?” I ask.
“I saw him run out the back,” Kenji says. “But two girls ran into me and by the time I got them hidden, he was gone. I’m sorry, Laing. I’ve failed you.”
“So we’ve got nothing,” I rasp, my hand flying through my hair. “Our only lead to Meilin, just fucking gone!”
There’s a quiet sniffle from the corner. “Meilin wasn’t here,” Charlotte whispers, running her fingers through her brother’s bloody hair. “She stayed home.”
My head jerks to her. “What did you just say?”
“Meilin,” she repeats, looking up at me through watery eyes. “She wasn’t here.”
“You know my sister?” I yank out my phone and scroll through my pictures. I find one and tilt it toward Charlotte. “This girl?” I ask, pointing to it. “You know my Meilin?”
“Well,” she says, squinting at the picture. “Her hair is longer but yes, that’s his favorite.”
“Where?”
“In the London house.”
“What do you mean his favorite?” Mac asks gently.
“Mr. Chang’s,” she confirms, taking her attention back to her dead brother clutched in her arms. “Meilin’s not for sale. She never is.”