Road to Darkness (3 page)

Chapter 6

     Within about three hours, Tony was driving up to the border crossing in Laredo. The line was long, being a Friday night. Seem
ed a lot of folks liked to head south to get their drink on for the weekend. Tony had only been to Mexico one other time when he was younger. That was before the cartels down there had completely taken over. Now going into Mexico was almost asking to be kidnapped or killed. Yet, people still did it every day.

     After almost an hour, it was his turn. The Border patrol agent looked his truck over, he handed him
back his manifest, and was on his way. It was that simple. He’d seen men walking around with drug dogs, but didn’t want to think too hard about what he might be carrying. From the border, it was another few hours to Monterrey, but he made it without incident. As he pulled into the lot, a man at the gate waved him inside.

     He pulled up to the warehouse,
and several men with rifles came running out screaming at him in Spanish.

     “Salir! Salir!” They screamed. He knew enough Spanish to know it meant “Get out!”

     He climbed out of the truck with his hands in the air. One of the men ran up and struck him in the stomach with the butt of the rifle. He hadn’t been hit in the stomach since he was a teenager. The blow almost made him throw up as the pain shot through his stomach, doubling him over to his knees. This was not the greeting he was expecting.

     Another man walked up to him, but Tony could only see his feet as he tried to catch his breath.

     “Who the fuck are you?” The man asked.

     “I’m Tony.” He grunted. “Jose sent me.”

     “Where is Spider?”

     “Who?”

     One of the other men kicked him in the stomach again, this time lying him out flat on his face. He caught a mouthful of dirt as his face hit the ground.

     “Spider
, dumbfuck. The driver. Spider is the one bringing loads here.”

     “I don’t know any Spider. This is my test run they said. For my first day.” Tony coughed as he got back to his knees. He finally looked up and saw two men pointing AK-47s at him. The one in the middle had a short beard and sunglasses. “Honest. Call Jose.” Tony couldn’t believe Jose hadn’t let them know, unless this was part of some kind of initiation.

     “We’ll know in a second,” the man said as he snapped his fingers. One of the men put his rifle over his shoulder and ran to the back of the truck. Tony heard the tailgate slide open. Another man on a forklift unloaded several crates from the truck. There were two with a red line painted on the side. Another man took a crowbar and popped the lid off each crate to reveal two young girls in each crate.

     All four girls were white and none of them looked older than fourteen or fifteen. All of them were crying. Tony’s eyes went wide as he fell back into a sitting position at the realization of what he’d been carrying.

     “Something wrong esse?”

     “Those are children.” Tony said.

     “You’re pretty smart. They’re kids, merchandise. They make us a lot of money.”

     “Human trafficking.”

     “Give the man a medal!”

     Tony thought for a minute, trying to keep his wits. For some reason, the idea of transporting drugs or stolen goods or even weapons didn’t bother him. But teenage girls? His little Taylor was only four. What if she got grabbed by these guys? What about their dads and their families? He couldn’t hold back as the bile rose in his throat until he leaned forward and threw up.

     “Jesus man, you fucking puked on my shoe. Fucking gringo.”

     “I’m sorry.” Tony gasped. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting…”

     “Yeah yeah. So this is kind of a tricky spot for us. Are you ok to drive for us? I’m not sure how much Jose explained to you. This trial run was a trial for us, not you. You get me?”

     Tony looked at them for a second before it registered. Trial run for them. In other words, if he didn’t work out, they’d kill him. There was no quitting.

     “I get it.” Tony said.

     “I know you won’t go to the cops either. We were fucking with you earlier. Jose did tell us about you. You live in San Antonio. You got a wife named Kim and a daughter named Taylor right? Your ex lives in Dallas and her name is Judy and your son’s name is Chad, but you haven’t seen him in a
while.”

     Jesus Christ.

     “Yeah that’s right,” the man said. “We do our homework. You decide not to show up next week, or try to be a hero and free the girls on a run, or go to the cops? We skin your family alive while you watch.”

     Tony just looked at them and nodded.

     “So, your truck to drive back is just over there. Take it back to the Ramos building in San Antonio and you’ll get the rest of your money. You’ll make this run once a week. It’s a good gig. All you do is drive, get paid and keep your fucking mouth shut. Beats a day job any day of the week. Now go.”

     The two men helped Tony to his feet as he slowly made his way to the truck. He looked at the four girls he was leaving behind. Their eyes looked sad and distant, but one of them made sure to stare him down until he was out of site. That sad, hurt look on her face would haunt him for a while. He had just delivered her to a life of physical and sexual slavery and abuse. She’d probably be dead before her eighteenth birthday. He climbed into the truck and started the engine. As he began his journey back to San Antonio, he started thinking maybe his old job wasn’t so bad after all.

Chapter 7

     It was well after midnight by the time Tony arrived back at the Ramos building. He’d shut his phone off when Kim started calling repeatedly. He didn’t even know what to think himself about this new gig, he sure as hell couldn’t come up with a convincing enough lie for Kim just yet. He would have to before he went
home, though.

     When he pulled into the loading dock and parked the truck, a man came out to him. He didn’t recognize the guy. He was short and Mexican and wearing a heavy metal t-shirt. The man approached Tony and handed him an envelope.

     “What’s this?” Tony asked.

     “Your money.” The man answered.

     “So that’s it? Now what?”

     “Now go home. Be here next Friday same time.” The man said as he walked off.

     Tony opened the envelope and flipped through the huge stack of bills. At least they kept to their word. Twenty thousand cash, just like that. That was more than half of his yearly pay at his last job. If he could just put out of his mind the fact that he was transporting little girls into sexual slavery, this might not be a bad job after all.

     He stuffed the envelope into his pocket and headed to his car. Kim was waiting up for him when he got home. He wasn’t even sure what he was going to tell her.

     “Where the hell have you been?” She asked.

     “I told you. I was working.”

     “Until after one in the morning? You’ve never worked this late. You left early this morning. You work in a call center. Where were you really?”

     “I’m serious. They didn’t have me in my usual area. They had me riding with claims adjusters helping out there. They are short on adjusters.”

     “So they’re going to make you an adjuster now?”

     It seemed like a good enough story, so he just went with it.

     “Well, yeah. I wasn’t sure until after today but yeah. I’m going to be an auto adjuster,” he said.

     “Is that like a promotion?”

     “There’s…a little bit of a raise that goes with it, you could say.”

     “Oh my god! That’s great!” She jumped up and hugged him tight. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

     “I just wanted to make sure I got it first. No point in getting you all excited for nothing.”

     “Oh babe, how much is the raise? Do you know yet?”

     “Not sure yet. I think it’s around eight or ten percent.”

     “That’s huge! Wow. This will really help us out. I’m so proud of you!”

     “Thank you.”

     “What’s wrong?”

     “Nothing. I’m just tired. I need to get to bed.”

     “Of course. Get some sleep. I’ll be in in a few.”

     He went into the bedroom, and into the master bathroom. He closed and locked the door as he looked at himself in the mirror. For most of his life, he’d looked younger than his age. Looking at himself now, he was looking older. He could pass as fifty-five if he wanted to. He took out the envelope and stared at the cash. This is what his life had come down to. He could be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, but all he had to do was help in wrecking the lives of innocent children and their families.

     Then there was his other choice, refuse to do it and risk the safety of himself and his family. He could contact the FBI. Maybe they’d put them in witness protection. That wouldn’t work
, though. They’d have to cut off all contact with all their friends and family. No way would he agree to that. Not to mention that would mean telling Kim what he was doing. She’d completely lose it. No. The best course of action for now was to do his job, and make his money. Maybe after a few months they could just slip away. He’d think of something.

     He stood onto the toilet and unscrewed the bottom screws in the vent above the toilet. Lifting the vent screen, he took the envelope and placed it inside the metal box inside with the rest of the cash. Once the box was closed, he closed the screen and replaced the screws. It wasn’t the best hiding spot, but it would do for now.

     After climbing back down, he went into the bedroom and got ready for bed. Kim came in as he was climbing under the sheets.

     “So, you think with this raise we can finally decorate Taylor’s room?” She asked.

     “Oh, I don’t see why not.”

     “Great. It’s so dull looking now. It needs some color. I thought maybe we can give it like a Disney theme or something.”

     “I’m sure she’d love that,” he said.

     “She missed you today. I did too.”

     “I missed both of you too. You think she still wants to go to the zoo tomorrow?”

     “I’m sure she’d love to.”

     “Great. I think we got enough money to go and do some things.”

     “This is so exciting!” She said as she kissed him. “I’m so proud of you.”

     “Thanks. I’m just glad we’ll finally have some breathing room.”

     She grabbed him and hugged him tight. As he returned her embrace, he kept his eyes open. When they were closed, all he saw was the men with guns kicking and hitting him as he
lay on the ground. He wondered if every trip would be that way.

             
              Chapter 8

     Slade was sitting in his office when someone knocked at his doorway. It was Domingo.

     “Hey Dom. What’s up?”

     “I got something you should know,” Domingo said.

     “What’s that?”

     “Don’t ask me how, but the feds have traced the truck back to Ramos.”

     Slade stood and leaned over the desk.

     “What?”

     “Yeah.”

     “How the fuck did they figure that out?” Slade asked.

     “I don’t know. Unless we have a snitch. That’s the only way. That truck was clean.”

     “Yeah I know. Fuck me. I’ve vetted everyone at that warehouse. Goddammit. Have them clear it out. Get rid of the cages, any clothing belonging to any of the girls, anything. Get all of it out of there, now. You know when they are coming?”

     “Could be any time. My guy at DPS said they are pretty fired up about it.”

     “Shit. Get down there, make sure the place is clean. I’ll let the boss know.” Slade instructed. Domingo nodded and headed out.

     Fuck.

     Slade picked up the phone and called his boss.

     “Yeah?” The boss said.

     “Hey boss. Sorry to bug you. I have some info for you.” Slade explained about the warrant and raid. The boss was unusually quiet as he explained. He hated that. At least show some anger. When he was dead silent, no telling what was going through the man’s head.

     “Ok,” the boss finally said. “You have them follow protocol?”

     “Yes sir. As we speak.”

     “We need to find this snitch,” the boss said. “Any ideas who it is?”

     “Not at the moment. Only a few people knew about Spider. So I’ll start with them.”

     “Good. Once you find them, bring them to me
,” the boss said.

     “Sir?”

     “Bring the snitch to me when you find him. I will deal with him personally.”

     This was interesting. He usually stayed hands
off most of these things.

     “No problem sir. I will do that.”

     “Good. Get it done. I will wait for your call,” the boss said and hung up.

     Shit. Slade hung up and looked out his window. He’d have to wait until after the raid to dig much further. What else could go wrong this week? At least the new driver seemed to be working out. Luis and his crew had really scared the shit out of him on his trial run.

He had a few hours to kill so he stepped out of his office and into the back room that was attached. There was a small bed, a couch and TV. It was set up for late nights of work, or if home wasn’t safe.

     Today there was a girl tied to the bed with a piece of tape over her mouth. One of the advantages to being a boss
, he could occasionally take a free sample. Though his boss wasn’t aware of this, which was a good thing. Slade knew not to risk pissing off the big guy, but some things were just too good to pass up. Like the little piece right before him.

     This one was a sixteen
-year-old one of his guys had picked up in the Midwest. She looked like your stereotypical farm girl. Big doe eyes, blonde hair in a ponytail and not a clue in the world as to what she was in for. He walked over and ripped the tape off her mouth.

     “Don’t scream,”
he ordered, “or I will punch you so hard, you’ll choke on your own teeth.”

     The girl nodded as tears ran down her cheeks.

     “Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?” She asked. “Please let me go. I won’t tell anyone anything. I promise.”

     “I’m afraid I can’t do that. As far as why I’m doing this, there really is no reason. Because I enjoy it. Because you are beautiful and I like to destroy beauty. I won’t bullshit you. What I’m about to do is going to hurt. It will hurt bad.”

     The girl began sobbing quietly. It was almost too cute.

     “Please don’t hurt me. Please?”

     “Shhh. It’s ok.” He wiped the tears from her cheek and brushed her hair from her face. “The good thing is, there won’t be a long, painful recovery. You’ll die when I’m finished with you and the suffering will be over.”

     He took out the butterfly knife from his pocket and cut her clothes off her, throwing them to the floor. Taking the blade, he ran it up and down her body, not pressing hard enough to break any skin. Something about her soft, pale skin and the way she trembled at his touch made him incredibly excited. He was impressed she had yet to scream. Usually they started screaming as soon as they saw the knife.

     “Are you ready?” He asked.

     “No. Please. Don’t.”

     He cut down the side of her cheek, just enough to draw blood. She pinched her eyes shut and cried as he did the same on the other side of her face. From there he took the knife and ran it across her breasts, watching how her nipples got hard at the tip of the knife’s blade. She tried to squirm away, but she was bound too tight.

     He ran the blade along her stomach, drawing a line of blood all the way to her waist. She let out a cry as the blade cut the surface of her skin. He held the blade for a moment while watching her face. Her blue eyes were wide as tears streaked her face. Suddenly he inserted the knife into her pussy and thrust it fist deep. Finally, the girl screamed.