Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
FADE
Four days before July is through, we get word that Zephyr is confident they’ve identified every location involved.
Trumpstein had another two businesses which were owned by and operated under a few bogus names we weren’t initially aware of.
Interestingly, one of them doesn’t appear to be involved, which is something we’re watching closely.
The question on all of our minds is whether we take control of that location or not. Technically, it’s not involved. But it is owned by Trumpstein, so it should probably be seized and investigated.
We now have a day when we’ll be moving out. A night, actually. Tonight. My gut has been twisting for hours, and I’ve been glancing at the clock every three minutes.
“You alright?” Erez asks.
We’re sitting on the couch together. The television is on, but I’m not watching it. I barely hear it at all. It’s less than background noise at this point. I don’t even remember what we’re watching.
“Just nerves,” I answer, which isn’t untrue. I’m certainly nervous. Maybe even a little terrified of what I’m going to see. Right now, my biggest fear is seeing something that I’ll never be able to unsee.
Then I feel like a piece of shit. I’m not one of those little kids having unspeakable things done to them. The least I can do is help to make it… Right doesn’t feel like the word. Nothing about this can ever be right for them, but I can help make it stop.
Erez shifts closer to me, and his hand slides into mine. I glance down, watching our fingers fit together like they’ve always been that way. Around the sour feeling in my stomach, butterflies dance.
Now is not the time for a conversation.
“I know I’ve said this a few times, but you don’t need to be a part of this. No one will think any less of you,” he says.
“My job is removing the animals. That’s not something that should bother me.”
And it doesn’t. It’s knowing that just on the other side of a wall, there are upwards of a dozen severely abused children. It’s knowing that I’m going to be stepping into a place where pedophiles shop for small kids.
I have a feeling that it doesn’t matter what I see or don’t see. My imagination will fill in the blanks and fill my nightmares for the rest of my life.
“Look at me, Fade,” Erez says, and I meet his eyes. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you can’t do this, then you shouldn’t come. This is time sensitive. We need to get in and out efficiently.”
My eyes close for a second.
“Having a strong conscience isn’t a weakness,” he says quietly. His fingers squeeze mine gently.
“I want to do this.”
“But can you? Want to and able to are different.”
“I can,” I say firmly. “I can and I will. It’s just… Every new thing makes me sick to my stomach, and I can’t stop asking myself, what kind of sick individual does this to a little kid?”
“You already answered that question. A sick individual.”
“Sick individuals tend to get light sentences,” I mutter.
“That’s why we’re dealing with them and the court isn’t.
Ironic that the same people who scream for anti-abortion laws are the ones who send thoughts and prayers for a five-year-old rape victim while spouting that we should understand that the pedophile just needs to find Jesus. Then he only serves three years.”
“I hate the reality in that statement,” I say, face scrunching.
Erez sighs. “This is the country we live in. I dare say this sickness spreads outside the country too, but it seems to grow and fester here. It’s getting better, but there are still far too many backward states in this country.”
My mind goes down a really dark and despairing rabbit hole while the afternoon slowly crawls along. By the time the sun begins to set, I desperately want to get off the planet entirely and never return. There must be better places in existence off Earth. Somewhere. Some place.
“Ready?” Erez asks, and I look around as if I’ve just stepped into the room. The television is still on, but the volume is so low that I barely hear its quiet muffled sound.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Before I lose my nerve.
On the way to the estate, I tell myself that I’m helping the animals from the facility.
This is about animal rescue. For right now, that’s the darkest place my mind can go while still functioning.
I’m learning there’s a limit to how much horror I can truly comprehend.
I begin to freeze when it gets too dark and ugly.
I learned that when we were in the big meeting.
Erez is driving today. Usually, I take a right through the shrubs surrounding the primary drive in front of the big house. There’s a single well-traveled path that I follow to and from the office.
Erez takes a left. It’s dark with little pops of light in the distance.
I can see the office building, where there are lights on here and there.
Single windows are illuminated, while entire floors are dark.
Lights wink at us through the trees, and I have to remind myself that there are houses there.
The drive we follow leads into the forest. After some time, the paved surface turns into packed dirt, and we drive on and on until we reach a looming structure. There aren’t any white lights on. They’re red.
There are a dozen vehicles here, but I don’t see anyone outside.
Erez kills the engine, and together, we climb out of the truck and move toward the door. It opens as we approach, and one of the triplets greets us.
The inside of the garage is filled with people, though not quite as many as there had been in the meeting. From what I understand, this isn’t the only place we’re meeting and disbanding. This isn’t even the place we’ll return to.
“Ady and Rosalie are staying behind with Voss and Emerson to monitor our feeds,” Greylyn is telling a group of people while another triplet hands body cameras to Erez and me.
She looks over and gives us a small smile in acknowledgment of our presence before she continues.
“The security cameras will all be frozen on loops so it doesn’t appear that anything is happening in the places where they’re not scheduled to go down.
For this operation, you’ll also be wearing earpieces so you can hear us even though we won’t necessarily hear all of you. ”
Erez helps me dress in the gear I’m handed. I feel like a toddler just learning how to dress myself.
“We’re rolling out in ten minutes,” Greylyn says, then turns toward a cousin or brother or something who adjusts the gear she’s wearing.
“I don’t mean this to sound offensive or anything,” I whisper to Erez, “but is it wise for Greylyn to go? What if we’re caught? She’s the head of the company.”
Erez grins. “I dare you to tell her you don’t think she should join us.”
I study Greylyn, and… Yeah, I’m not going to do that.
I’m not sure what signal we’re waiting for, but as one, the group moves toward the back of the barn. I’m more than a little startled when a wall opens to reveal stairs that lead down into darkness. A light flickers on as soon as I hear footsteps on the cement steps.
We go down, down, down until we’re in an underground garage. There’s so many things to look at that my eyes feel like they’re on a swivel. Erez grips the front of my shirt and kisses me. My stomach swooshes, not just at the kiss—in front of everyone!—but also at the intensity of it.
“Be careful. Never lose sight of the fact that there are probably dangerous men involved. Trust no one who isn’t part of this group,” Erez states, touching the black band on his neck.
There’s a white and gray knife embroidered into it.
I touch the matching one around my neck, and when I look around, I realize everyone is wearing one. Identifiers.
“You be careful too.”
He smiles, and I think there’s a hint of amusement there.
We’re going to the same place, but he’s going into the back of the shelter where the victims are. Not to help the kids because we’re running on the assumption that they’re going to be terrified of men just like Alice was. He’s there for whatever creeps are there.
I’ve tried not to listen too closely to details, but it sounds like there are at least three men there most nights. There’s one at every other location, no matter the hour.
I climb into the bed of a covered pick-up truck that has the logo of the shelter on it. I’m not even going to ask how they got their hands on it. Probably Aven. It reminds me that I should be afraid of Aven. They know, see, and can access everything.
I’m working with a group of six men. We’re broken down into three roles—those in the shelter retrieving the animals, those meeting them at the door to bring the animals to the truck, and those in the back of the truck to secure them.
I’ve yet to understand how we’re going to fit the animals in this truck since Erez told me about all the animals at the shelter. There are far more than could physically fit in here.
I watch out the darkened windows of the capped bed of the truck and note that we’re winding our way through underground tunnels.
Other vehicles branch off to either side periodically, driving down tunnels that I can’t see more than the taillights disappear into darkness.
As we drive, I’m more and more impressed with the Van Dorens.
This is more than an above-ground city built for the Van Doren family. There’s an entire underground city too.
I don’t recognize where we finally come out from the underground. It appears as if we’re on a rural street. Was that a garage? Who lives in the house the garage is attached to?
My heart beats louder and louder in my ear as the truck makes its way through the dark streets. Only ten minutes later, we begin to become entrenched in city lights, and it’s minutes before we’re pulling up outside of the shelter.