Chapter 19
19
Now…
I was dragged through the grove into the trees beyond the house.
There, I was warned, “I’m going to let you go. Don’t run or scream,” as if I didn’t already know not to do that. I’d just killed a sitting US senator. I wasn’t trying to get caught!
Once free, I hit him upside his damn head with my fist before backing up to kick him in the gut.
“Damn,” he grunted, holding his stomach. “This how you greet a nigga?”
“You lucky I didn’t shoot your stupid ass! Bo, what the fuck are you doing here?!” I said through clenched teeth. “I am working, fool!”
“I saw. Good, clean kill, by the way.”
I dropped my shoulders. “I saw someone standing outside the house. A kid, maybe. A-a witness.”
“You’re that kid’s hero. That was one of her victims.”
I nodded. “I figured that. I just…shouldn’t we go back and help them? What if there are others? What if some other ass-wipe swoops in and sells them or something?”
“The authorities will be contacted as soon as we get out of here. Speaking of which, let’s go. We’re running out of time.”
He grasped my hand, leading me deeper into the canopy of trees until we reached what looked to be a shack. By then, the sun was beginning to creep into the sky. I watched as he opened the door, pulling me into the dark structure.
“There’s a ladder that leads down into a tunnel. This is how they move the kids,” he said, pointing to a wide hole in the floor in the middle of the one-room shack.
I gasped, “What?”
“We gotta hurry, baby. No time to discuss this.”
I nodded, observing as he descended the ladder. I decided to close the door before following him with my rifle slung over my shoulder. We both wore gloves—an essential part of our uniform—so I knew we wouldn’t leave any fingerprints behind. Then again, a place used to illegally transport people would probably be a nightmare to investigate—fingerprints everywhere.
Once I hit the bottom of the ladder, I was assaulted by an odor that had to come from bodily waste. It almost took my breath away, but I held it together, following Bo and his flashlight as he moved forward.
The tunnel was tight but tall enough that we didn’t have to crawl, probably to accommodate the kidnappers who accompanied the victims to prevent any escapes. It was stuffy, dank, dark, and I had to keep resisting the urge to use my own flashlight to check behind us to see if we were being followed when I knew we weren’t. We walked for what felt like ten hours before Bo stopped at another ladder and just stood there.
“What are you—” I began, but he shushed me, which almost made me shoot his ass for real. No one shushed me.
No one.
We stood there for I know a good thirty minutes waiting on God knows what or who before I heard a scraping sound and dim light shone on his beautiful face.
He smiled, blinking against the light. Reaching for my hand, he said, “You go first.”
I frowned and didn’t move a muscle. “Who-what’s up there?”
“Safety. Go! I’m right behind you, baby.”
As much as I hated when he called me that, it did give me some comfort. After all, he wouldn’t let something happen to his “baby” would he?
Shit, would he?
Fuck it. I got a big ass gun , I thought, a nd I’m good at using it.
Taking Bo’s place at the ladder, I began climbing it, my muscles sore from all the walking in combination with the anxiety that was plaguing me. I wanted out of this tunnel and this country before some shit popped off. I was also hungry and tired and beginning to feel light-headed.
Shit.
Once I made it to the top, a hand appeared, reaching to help me. I hesitantly took it, emerging from the darkness to find myself in the middle of a damn desert. The hand belonged to a man I’d never seen before. Tall, olive skin, kind of handsome. He still held my hand when Bo joined us above ground.
“Motherfucker, let her fucking hand go!” Bo bellowed.
“Shit, sorry. Just making sure she’s okay. That’s all,” the man said after dropping my hand like it was boiling hot.
Bo snarled at him before turning his attention to me. “You good? He hurt you gripping your hand and shit?”
I shook my head, which was a mistake because it seemed to knock something loose in my skull. Before I could reassure him of my wellbeing, I felt myself sinking to the ground…and everything went black.