Silencing Joy (17 page)

When everyone was seated, Bill started the
engine.

“It’s important that no one deviates from the
plan,” Bill ordered.

“Jen, don’t leave Derek’s side. And don’t do
anything stupid,” Jake commanded.

“And, you...just stay out of the way and get
those pictures,” Will instructed me.

“This is a snatch and grab only,” Bill
reiterated. “We get in and get out! I’ve got your back.”

This barking and directing continued almost
all the way to the warehouse where Kara was believed to be. The
repetition didn’t help me at all; it just made me more nervous and
scared for everyone.

Bill dropped Will and me at an area just
outside a gate near the warehouse. He checked the walkie-talkies
before we moved toward the window I needed to be at.

Derek and Jen went in the front way –
the
felon’s entrance
– with Jake hiding in the shadows as their
backup. Bill positioned himself on a nearby building. He needed to
be able to watch from up high.

“You’ll be fine over here,” Will assured me.
“Derek said this is a secure area. Stay low and in this
recess.”

I nodded and anxiously touched the bag I was
carrying. My camera was in it. Will leaned in and gave me a sweet
kiss.

“I need to go. Sit right here,” he
whispered.

I knelt down and waited.

Kara:

Kara’s thick hair is knotted and dirty. It is heavy
and matted from not being washed for so many days. The brick and
cement prison makes her despair grow, and, with each passing day,
she is losing more and more hope. The ugliness of resigned defeat
tip-toes across the back of her worn-out mind. Over and over again,
Kara wrestles with the disappointment of her father never coming to
get her. Is his love only as deep as his pockets? Is he really
willing to sacrifice his daughter?

A door slams across the cavernous room. The scuffle
and screech of sneakers on concrete carry across to Kara’s ears.
Her blindfold is on today. Something is going on. There is a ton of
commotion in the room.

“
Let me go you rat bastard!” A girl yells and
snarls at someone.

“
You’re not going anywhere, bitch!” responds a
guy, sounding remarkably like Derek. Kara’s heart pitches to her
throat. Please, please let it be him!

“
What have we got here?” The distinct sound of
Tommy’s voice sends a cringe through her bones, the same cringe
that she gets every time he opens his mouth. Tears leak out,
soaking the blindfold. Her captivity and fear make her think she’s
only hearing what she wants to hear...Derek’s voice.

“
I found her under the bridge looking for a hit,”
Derek says in a low tone that Kara has never heard before. “She’s
new.”

A struggle ensues again, and Kara hears the girl
shrieking. She is trying to get away. Kara’s heart plummets. Derek!
It can’t be him. It can’t be! He would NEVER do that.

“
Throw her in the cage,” Tommy orders, his voice
holding a hint of suspicion. “Brian! Mouse! Take her!”

“
I can do it,” Derek says forcefully.

“
Fine!” Tommy barks. “Meet me upstairs when you’re
done.”

Feet shuffle across the floor, and the poor girl
cries out. Kara shudders for her. God only knows where he’s taking
her. NO! It can’t be him!

“
Mouse, keep an eye him and the present he brought
me,” Tommy barks.

Kara feels someone standing behind her and hears a
voice whisper, “We are going to try and get you out of here.”

Brian! She would know his voice anywhere after this
nightmare; he has been her only saving grace.

“
Brian!” Tommy bellows.

“
Coming!”

He gently pats her shoulder in reassurance as he
leaves. A thread of hope blooms, and Kara waits...alone.

I focused the camera through the dirty
warehouse window, but immediately had to turn away to gag and spit.
Seeing Kara with her head hanging low, and her chin against her
chest made bile rise from my stomach and fill my mouth. Her knotted
hair draped in front of her face, and I could barely make out the
silver duct tape across her mouth.

I’ve never reacted that way before. Even
seeing Will beaten didn’t cause such an immediate bodily response
to the sight. But this entire week had been a week of firsts. What
Tommy had reduced this poor girl to was abhorrent.

I wanted to smash in the window and crawl
through to her. The feeling was almost too compulsive to stop
myself. I waited with anticipation for the entire operation to go
down, just wanting it to be over.

I shifted for a better angle, the asphalt
hard underneath my knees. The small gun that Will gave me, in case
I needed it, was digging into the skin of my lower back
uncomfortably. I focused through the window again, questioning
whether or not there would be enough light. Using the flash would
just draw attention and could jeopardize everything.

Bill was on top of the building next door,
training a rifle at two of the visible exits. Jake had hidden
behind a recycling dumpster directly beside the door Derek took Jen
through. I conveniently caught all this on the walkie-talkie in my
bag. Derek being part of Tommy’s gang for a long time really helped
with the planning to get Kara out. But I was so nervous that my
hands were sweating. I wiped them on my dark jeans.

A gentle hand touched my back, and I sucked
in a breath to let out a screech, but I hold onto it before it gets
out.

It was Will. Thank God!

“Just a few more minutes,” he whispered.
“They’re going in.”

I nodded and my heart rate spiked again. I
wondered idly if all the racing my heart had done this week was
healthy.

Will continued his job of recon. His job
would be to take out anyone that may be going in the
warehouse...quietly. So he was constantly circling the perimeter. I
prayed that he would not run into any trouble.

Movement caught my eye through the window,
and I snapped to attention when I saw the side door open. Even
though the window was small, I could see about ninety percent of
the entire expanse. Derek was roughly pulling Jen across the floor.
I couldn’t hear them, but I knew there was vicious bantering going
on between them.

I readied my camera and aimed it at the
scene. I clicked the shutter multiple times, trying to steady the
camera when my hands were shaking so badly. I took a few shots that
encompassed Kara, as well as Derek and Jen. Kara’s lifeless body
perked up shortly after they came into the room. I could only
imagine what was going on below me. A new person entered my view
and my entire body went rigid.

It was Tommy!

His ruthless and arrogant stance was just as
frightening as it was when I had first seen him a few nights ago.
Part of me wished this camera lens was the barrel of the gun, that
pulling the trigger would be as easy as clicking the shutter.

Two more people entered, one I recognized
from the night of the football game
...nervous guy
. The other
I had never seen before.

I took more pictures capturing the images of
everyone, hoping and praying that they would come out clearly
enough to be used as evidence against the criminal activity. Fear
churned in my stomach.

I watched the scene unfold before me, like
one of the twisted horror movies Jen and I would go see faithfully
on opening weekends. Derek dragged Jen forward towards a huge metal
door. Nervous guy followed quickly behind them. Tommy barked a few
orders and left the room after them.

It was just Kara and the guy I had never seen
before. He approached Kara and spoke in her ear. Then he left,
too.

“What the...” I thought to myself, perplexed
that she was alone again.

Before I even realized I was doing it, I was
pushing on the warehouse window, my camera placed gently against
the wall.

It was like I was outside of myself. My body
had a mind of its own, unconnected to my rational-side.

Body said, “She’s alone! Go get her!”

Rational-side said, “Stick to the plan. Keep
snapping pictures.”

Rational-side had always won over Body,
which, in the past, had given me my comfortable bubble to live in.
Tonight, though, Rational-side was being stepped on, squashed by
Body, as my camera was abandoned by the window.

I crawled through the window as quietly as I
could, pushing aside the cobwebs and dead bugs that fill the window
sashes. Dust crept up my nose, and I scrunched my face up to keep a
sneeze away. I lowered my body down, butt first, and dangled from
the edge of the window. Body did not take into account the drop
from point A to point B, and Rational-side was laughing her ass
off.

I forced the thought that this was no
different than when I let go of the fire escape ladder and fell
into Derek’s arms...other than the
big
exception that no one
was here to catch me.

Not able to gauge the drop, I let go. I
landed on my feet and a short, sharp sting traveled up my calves.
That’s it. I did it!

I crossed the cement floor quickly to
Kara.

“I’m Joy...” I whispered to her. “I’m here to
help you.”

I reached behind her and grabbed her hands.
They were a jumbled mess of scratchy, cheap paper towels and duct
tape.
Scissors! I need scissors!
Kara mumbled and lifted her
head at me.

I pulled the duct tape off her mouth as
gently as I could. As I removed it, I caught glimpses of her mouth;
her lips were sticky, reddish-purple, and swollen.
Horrific!

“Derek?” she panted.

“He’s here,” I said as I reached down for her
ankles, peeling the duct tape away with my fingernails. After a few
good pulls, the tape came apart. I worked on her other leg. Her
jeans were covered in the tacky glue left over from the tape.

Kara quickly stood. Thankfully, her hands
were not tied to anything.

I glanced around hastily, wondering to
myself,
Now, how in the hell do I get her out of here?
Voices trailed down from above. Someone – or a bunch of
someones
– were coming.

“This way...” Kara uttered to me, her voice
sounding unused.

She led me over to a door with a broken sign
that said ‘Restroom.’ I was immediately assaulted by the wretched
smell of urine and feces. It was powerful and stunned me for a
second.

Kara scurried to the back wall where there
was a window. I looked at the row of sinks, thinking we could stand
on the last one to boost ourselves up.

“My hands...” Kara pleaded. They were still
behind her back.

One of the mirrors over the sinks was broken.
I rip off my sweatshirt, like Jen did at the diner, to protect my
hand and used it to break a jagged piece off. I already had a
bandage and stitches from the escapade. I didn’t need anymore. I
sliced at the tape on her hands, using the jagged edge to saw a few
times, and they snapped apart.

“Thank you...” she breathed.

She headed for the sink and jumped up. While
standing on it, she yanked and pulled on the metal lock of the
window. Hysteria and self-preservation were fueling her.

“It’s stuck...” she huffed. Kara struggled
with everything she had, grunting with every tug. I couldn’t help
but obsessively look at the doorway, waiting for someone to come in
catch us.

I shrugged my sweatshirt back on and lay the
piece of broken mirror on the sink next to me so it wouldn’t
clatter noisily to the floor. I joined her at the back wall where
Kara was feverishly struggling to find freedom using the
window.

My mind raced...
What if it’s a huge
drop?

What if we can’t get it open?

Shit! What do we do?

“Kara. This way!” I called to her.

I went over to help her down from the sink. I
took her hand in mine and reached back with my other to retrieve
the gun I was given from my lower back. Kara stiffened when she saw
me pull it out, but then she took a protective stance behind me.
Hand-in-hand, we worked as a team moving forward to the dreaded
door. We had no idea what was out there or what had happened since
we’d been in this repulsive bathroom.

Kara used her free hand to open the door just
a crack. She peered through it and opened the door wider. I held
the gun up in front of me, not sure if I could really pull the
trigger if I needed to.

“We’re going to that metal door,” I whispered
to her. Kara shook her head in horror.

“I’ve seen people go in and not come out,”
she said in a panic.

“I think that’s where Derek was going,” I
informed her. She nodded her head, reluctantly letting me know she
was hesitant, but that she wanted to be where Derek was.

Derek:

Derek has to do everything within his power to stop
himself from taking his gun and shooting every last person remotely
affiliated with Tommy. And when he’s done, he wants to shoot Kara’s
father – his boss – right between the eyes.

He blames himself. This is his fault! He should’ve
taken care of her better. How could he know this would happen? He
never saw this coming. It is so revolting, he couldn’t even have
dreamt it if he wanted to.

Derek focuses himself. He has to. The plan is moving
forward, and Jen is playing a spectacular role. He almost blew it
when he saw Kara slumped over and broken. His anger is being
subdued through sheer will, but suppressing it is sending tremors
through his body. It wants to come out and bring terror on Tommy’s
thugs...and then Tommy himself.

In the cage, Derek finds two girls drugged up and
incoherent, slumped against the walls. Jen sucks in an astonished
breath and runs over to check on the girls.

Derek races to the back wall of the room. He stands
on a couple of crates that hold food barely fit for human
consumption...food they feed the girls while there waiting to be
transported. Derek jimmies the bars on the window and unhooks it.
The window grate is very heavy, and he tries to set it down as
quietly as possible.