Let It Go (20 page)

She sobbed as he crept from the small space. She heard the door slam and then the sound of numerous locks closing was her last indication that he left her. She couldn’t see a thing, only smell the rancid scent of something disgusting. The concrete was cool against her body and heated cheeks as the aches and pains increased and exhaustion began to overtake her body. She was going to die here. This was her grave. It was over.

* * * *

“Let me tell you something right now, motherfucker. I don’t care if I go to fucking jail for the rest of my life. I will kill you and your whole fucking shitload of felons you hire and tear them limb from limb if you don’t start fucking talking. Where has Skull been hiding out? Where is he taking Brooklyn?” Zeke screamed into Les’s face as he shoved his gun to his throat. He was with Aero and Finnian.

Les was shaking and crying. Aero had Derek by the throat against the wall next to him. His nose was bleeding, and the fear apparent.

“You’re fucking crazy. You can’t do this,” Derek said.

“Oh, the fuck I can’t. Your piece of shit felon friend just took my woman. We’re not doing this local police style. We’re going all military on your ass. Start fucking talking,” Zeke demanded.

“I would listen to them. You never fuck with a Green Beret,” Finnian said, standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest and ready to kill to find Brooklyn. It had been hours. Fucking hours.

“I don’t know if he’s still at the old farmhouse or not. Last I heard he was holed up in Turbank in some abandoned house.”

“Give me the address, and if he isn’t there, you better rack your brains for other options, because I’ll be back and I won’t be talking with my mouth first, I’ll be using my bare fucking hands,” Zeke said and shoved him against the wall before he released him.

“Get that to Cesar. We’re closer to Turbank now and Damon called in his brothers Fox and Gino. We’ll see how Cesar wants us to handle this,” Zeke said and they all headed out of the storefront.

“You know, Zeke, I always wondered what kind of shit you did in the military. I think I got a little idea,” Finnian said as they got into the patrol truck.

“I wanted to tear that fucker a new one since he hired that asshole Skull to scare her into hiring Les,” Zeke replied and sped out of the parking lot.

“I wanted to beat the fuck out of him ever since he flirted with her in the first place,” Aero added, but then Finnian got Cesar on the phone.

“Okay, we’ll do this their way,” Finnian stated. A few seconds later, he disconnected the call.

“Someone saw Skull enter a house and fill up another vehicle with boxes and things. It doesn’t look like Brooklyn is with him. Damon has a little more experience with this stuff and thinks we should stay clear and let Fox and Damon follow him. Maybe he’ll lead us to where he placed Brooklyn.”

“What about the house he’s at now? What if he hurt her already and is leaving town?” Aero asked Zeke.

“We can check out the house after he leaves and then wait for Cesar’s call on where Skull is headed,” Zeke said and they agreed.

“God, I hope she’s okay. She’s got to be so scared. Why did this happen to her? I mean, after all the shit that occurred in her life, why did this guy have to pick her?” Aero asked.

“Because pieces of lowlife shit like Les hire men like this on. Men who are felons, who’ve committed sickening crimes and are legitimately fucked up but are cheap labor to do dirty work. I bet Cesar’s detectives will probably come up with other cases where Les used Skull to intimidate customers, or worse,” Zeke stated.

Just then Finnian’s cell phone rang again. His eyes widened and Zeke looked from him to the road and then tightened his fists on the steering wheel.

“Jesus,” Finnian said and ran his fingers through his hair. He griped the dashboard.

“What? What happened? What is it?”

“I understand. Okay, we’ll wait for the call.” Finnian put his phone down.

“Seems we just got that news you just mentioned. Looks like Les has been having Skull do a lot of dirty work and sabotaging to get people to spend more money on jobs. Cesar said that Damon called him and found out that there’s a connection to some brutally murdered women in Dallas. They think Skull is the perp. Apparently the Rangers and Feds were onto him after the assault against Brooklyn but were still trying to gather evidence to arrest him when Skull was found. Some of the Rangers are already at the house Skull just left.”

“Oh, shit, what if they follow him, or pull him over to arrest him? Then we won’t find Brooklyn. She could be anywhere!” Zeke said.

“Fuck,” Aero yelled out as they approached the exit for Turbank and then made their way through the town. Sure enough, as they approached the block where Skull left from, there were unmarked police cars gathered around.

“No. God damn it,” Zeke yelled out and looked at Finnian.

“Let’s hope that Fox and Gino can hold off the Feds from stopping Skull, or we could lose any opportunity to find out where she is.”

* * * *

“No, oh, fuck, who the hell is that pulling him over?” Fox asked as Skull stepped on the gas and began to speed down the dirt road and back toward Repose. In a flash, the unmarked car sped up and maneuvered just right, getting Skull to lose control of the truck and hit the gully on the side of the road. They were out in seconds, guns drawn and pulling him from the vehicle.

Fox and Gino pulled over and saw that the men wore jackets that said FBI on them.

“Who are you?” one of them asked, pointing his gun at them as they approached.

Both Fox and Gino raised their hands up. “We were following him until you just fucked this all up,” Fox said and Skull started laughing.

“Where the fuck is she? Where did you take her?” Fox yelled at him.

“What are you talking about? He was alone. The woman is probably at the house we tracked him from,” the one agent said.

“Wrong, asshole, he went back there for fucking supplies. He put her somewhere else and was headed there when you pulled him over. If she dies, her blood is on your hands,” Fox said and then pulled out his cell phone.

“Cesar, we got one hell of a fucking problem.”

* * * *

Brooklyn felt her stomach rumbling and her head was pounding. It felt like she had been lying here for so long, but she didn’t know how long. She felt so weak, though, and kept drifting off to sleep. She couldn’t move and her belly felt tight and hollow. When was the last time she ate? At the restaurant at lunch time. It had been so busy she didn’t finish her salad. No, something was wrong, but being in the dark she hadn’t a clue of time or how much had passed. Could he have left her here to die? Maybe he wasn’t coming back?

As she thought that and felt a hint of energy from her fear and tried lifting up, she couldn’t. She was so damn weak. She tried again and pushed through the pain. The door was ahead of her. He hadn’t dragged her that far in. Maybe she could get closer and use her feet to hit it? It hadn’t looked that solid, but there were all those locks.

Her face felt swollen and she was cold. So cold, and that rancid smell was horrible. Her shoulders burned and her ankles from having the ropes so tight. She tried to move them and pull them apart and they cut her skin, which was raw now from trying. She couldn’t remember if she tried to get away. And when she moved forward, her tender feet cried out in protest. She was shocked because she thought she hadn’t moved. She couldn’t remember moving
. Oh, god, how long have I been here? How could I forget trying to get out? But I must have tried. Why else would my feet be tender and ache, and my wrists and ankles raw?

Oh, god, I’m losing my mind. How long have I been here? Why isn’t he coming back? Oh, God, no. I don’t want to die
.

“No,” she cried out and laid her head against the dirty, cold floor. She had no more tears. She felt helpless and weak.

Close your eyes and rest. Try again when you wake up. Close your eyes and rest
.

* * * *

“We can’t go on like this. It’s been days and we have nothing more. We’ve looked everywhere,” Finnian stated, running his hands over his beard. He and his brothers hadn’t shaved, hadn’t slept but little naps here and there from pure exhaustion.

“Let my brothers do their thing. You heard what they said. It takes time for everyone to go house to house, farm to farm, and garage to garage looking for that van. Fox thinks if we find the van then we find Brooklyn. How about you all meet up with them and help search some more places?” Cesar said to them as they all stood outside in the parking lot of the police department.

“I’m coming along. I can’t sit here and twiddle my thumbs,” Jagger said to them.

“Your head is constantly throbbing and you’re supposed to be resting,” Aero said to him.

“I can rest in the truck. Come on.”

* * * *

It was late in the evening and they were all exhausted when Zeke got a call from Cesar.

“Are you with your brothers?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“We’re heading toward the other end of town at the border between Repose and Sheldon. Damon interviewed an older couple who just got back from visiting family for the week in Fort Worth. Before they left, they saw a van head down past their ranch and the only reason they noticed was because it was speeding. They said there are a handful of abandoned homes back in the woods a ways but they’d never seen anyone out there before.”

“We’ll be there in five minutes. We’re actually close to there now,” Zeke said and then disconnected the call.

He told his brothers what was going on, but they remained straight-faced and on edge. They’d had over a dozen dead-end leads that even brought the Rangers, local detectives, and their friends out of Repose and across Texas. It was becoming disheartening to have been missing Brooklyn for a week’s time. A whole fucking seven days since that psycho asshole took her. They had all the details of his other crimes now. Three rapes at gunpoint, two murders more recently, and then Brooklyn. Zeke took a deep, unsteady breath as the tears hit his eyes. He didn’t know what they were going to find. Would she be alive? Would they find her dead, a victim of this sick bastard’s rampage of violence?

“We need to prepare ourselves for the worst, knowing what we do about Skull,” he said to them.

No one said a word as he passed by the old house where the couple probably lived. There were several state police cars and FBI vehicles there and they traveled further up the road, noticing a few flashing lights at one house. Zeke was going to pull in there but then Cesar called again.

“Keep heading straight up. So far, the other four abandoned houses that are closer to the road are empty and there aren’t any garages.”

He stepped on the gas and traveled through the dirt road and then up around the bend when another officer waved him on. As they approached the long driveway and the decrepit-looking house, Fox and Gino were pulling open the barn door. He placed the truck in park just as the blue van came into view.

“It’s definitely the vehicle. Her heel is inside, and blood, too,” Damon told them.

“I want you guys to remain outside.”

“Fuck that, Cesar. She’s our woman and we’ve been searching day and night for her. This is the closest we’ve come to finding her,” Finnian stated firmly.

“It may not be a good idea. We don’t know what we’ll find. You won’t want to see what might have been done to her,” Fox said to them.

Zeke took a deep breath.

“You guys lead, but we’re right behind you. She’s alive. She has to be and that’s our thoughts coming in here right now,” he said firmly. Cesar nodded his head and they began to enter the house.

Step by step, Zeke felt his heart racing so quickly he thought he might have a heart attack. His palms were sweating, his emotions getting the better of him, and he could feel his brothers’ anxiety and fear as well. They kept together with Damon, Fox, Cesar, and Gino. The other officers and Rangers went upstairs to the bedrooms.

“Basement,” Cesar said and Fox turned on the flashlight and they headed down the stairs.

“One at a time. These stairs feel like they’re about to give.”

It was a hell hole and the smell was so nasty and rancid like death that Zeke started to feel like they should have remained upstairs.

“Her other heel. She was here, definitely,” Gino said to them. They all moved their flashlights around the area and saw nothing but her shoe, blood on the floor, and then Zeke spotted it. “Look at these markings. Smeared blood and a boot print.” He moved closer, following it to the back of the basement and then a wall of plywood.

“What the hell? A dead-end?” Finnian asked, and then Aero banged on the door and it creaked open.

“A fucking cover to something,” Zeke replied and they pulled it open and saw another door with a bunch of locks on it.

“Jesus, it’s fucking tight in here. You can’t even stand up straight,” Aero said to him.

Zeke banged on the door, his heart in his chest that Brooklyn was in there dead, locked inside a box and left to die.

“We need something to break open those locks,” Cesar said, and as they looked around, Aero yelled to them.