“I would hold still, these aren’t exactly tiny blades, and you surely don’t want me to cut deeper than I mean too,” he says with mock concern. At his warning, I whimper again but go still. There’s truth to what he’s saying and if I want to hold any hope, I have to survive.
Forcing myself to not pay attention, I bring up every image of my friends and Sophia that I can. Losing myself in the feel of Cole’s hand in mine, of Adam’s lips, of Abby’s hugs. Tears track down my cheeks as I think of each of them in turn, wishing their faces alone could drown out this torture.
I’m snapped back to reality as the scalpel presses into the skin on my stomach. The scream that tears from my throat is raspy and animalistic as he slices away at my flesh. I have never felt such pain. Unconsciousness grips at me and I try to embrace it.
After several swipes with the blade, he picks up a tool resembling a hammer. I don’t even react, which gets a sneer from Timmins. He slams the hammer into my side, and I feel a few ribs snap. At this point, I no longer have the energy to scream or cry. I've been through so much, that it doesn’t take long before I welcome the darkness that finally takes me home.
Detective Flynn
We're about five minutes from the warehouses. The phone trace is still going, and the location hasn’t moved, which is a good sign.
They have to be here somewhere.
When a minor is kidnapped, it tends to motivate the judges and officers. We have a warrant on the way and several teams of agents ready to go in.
We park outside of the main gates to regroup. Everyone puts on their bulletproof vests and readies their comms and weapons. Clark is the lead agent, so we are to follow his cues. I'm not one for giving up control, but I trust him to handle this, and he's letting me be right here with them in return, so I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Flynn, follow this tracker,” he orders and hands me his cell phone. It will hopefully narrow down the search. I keep an eye on the flashing GPS signal that represents Charlotte’s phone. I have my gun ready in my other hand as we make our way through the maze of warehouses.
Shipping containers, broken vehicles, and piles of scrap metal make our journey tough, but we manage to do it with a skilled precision. My senses are on high alert, every breath, every sound, nearly intensified in my hypervigilant state.
Clark holds up his hand for us to stop a few minutes later. I listen intently, but the only sounds I hear are cars driving in the distance. He motions half of the team to the left and the rest of us to the right with him. It takes another fifteen minutes of walking around before we start to close in on the signal.
As soon as we’re right outside of it, I motion for Clark to stop. He looks at the signal and glances around to what I hope is assessing the best approach. The first team is closing in from the side, and he motions to the back of the building. From the outside it looks like any other warehouse. Clark counts down once he approaches the door, then swings it open. It's dark and mostly empty inside, the door letting out a soft creak that echoes through the vacant warehouse. We do a quick sweep of the building but only find settled dust and some empty shelves.
“If the signal is underground a bit, then it could be a surrounding building,” I suggest.
“Clear. Team one, split in half and check the other warehouses,” Clark speaks into his comm. “Stay with me, Flynn, and Simms. You four head to the other building. Do not enter alone, comm for a regroup if you find signs of anything suspicious,” he quietly orders and leads us to the warehouse next to our current one.
“Clear,” the other teams inform us one by one and I curse under my breath. We enter this warehouse, and it seems to be clear as well except for some older ATVs. We do our own sweep of this building and almost call clear when I notice the tire tracks are new, dust disturbed enough to make it visible.
“Fresh tracks, Agent Clark,” I point out. It doesn’t seem to lead to anything, though. The warehouse has a few shelves against a nearby wall covered in car parts and that’s about it.
“Sir, we need to regroup in our location. We have a locked door and footprints. We are in the warehouse to the east of yours,” the other half of our team announces. We rush out and make our way to them with the other two teams right on our heels.
Clark leads the teams to the locked door. It's a digital key code lock and Clark curses in frustration before pushing on his comm.
“Gonzalez, we’ve got a digital keypad lock,” Clark says into his comm.
“Sir, take the front panel off, then tell me what colors the wires are and which brand,” the tech agent replies in our ears. Clark does as he asks and waits for the reply. “Cut the purple and blue wire at the same exact time, or you will set off their alarm system. That should unlock it. Good luck.”
Another agent hands over a small set of wire-cutters and Clark pulls the purple and blue wires together and snips them at the exact same moment while we all hold our breath. There's a loud click as the lock disengages and I breathe a sigh of relief at the lack of blaring sirens. We don’t stop to celebrate though. He eases open the door, his gun at the ready.
&nbs
p; Beyond the door it's like a different world. It goes from dusty, grimy warehouse to pristine, white facility. I guess we found our place. We make our way as a group down the white hallway before coming to a front desk and a set of stairs. The guard behind the desk shouts in alarm as Clark slides over the top of it and pins him against the wall before he can set off any sort of alarm. Once the agents have him in cuffs, two of them lead him out into the main warehouse for questioning. Clark's ready to move forward when I signal him to stop. There has to be something to gain from this location and I rush forward. Papers and drawers fly as I scour for a morsel of help.
Eventually, I find a guard logbook with a map clipped to the back. It looks like the facility is really expansive, running under the warehouses like an anthill. It's made up of offices and conference rooms on the top, then rows of rooms, before leading downstairs. It marks dormitories for youth and elderly on this floor as well. Another floor below is titled labs. There are four long labs. The floor below that is one giant room that's labeled storage and incinerator. My stomach drops as I read that, and I rip the map from the clip and rejoin Clark.
“How do you want to do this?” I inquire. He hesitates and looks a bit overwhelmed as he studies the map. This facility is bigger than either of us expected.
“We need all available units and agents here for backup. Send medical help as well, we don’t know the condition of the victims. My team is heading in now,” Clark announces into his comm before motioning us forward. The office doors do not look like they are secured, like the door at the entrance. One by one we clear the office spaces. Not surprising that they're all empty since it's after midnight. They probably have minimal guards and staff at this hour.
The next floor is the dormitories. As we round the corner into the first hallway, we're met with a yell and gunfire. We quickly fall back for cover before returning fire. Bullets whip past my head as I peek around and fire at the assholes shooting at us. Thankfully there are only two guards up ahead. Clark and I take turns returning the shots while the others watch our backs. One last round from Clark, and the guards are down, a bullet to each of their foreheads. I’m impressed by his shot but don’t stop to congratulate him. We have bigger fish to fry.
We approach cautiously in case more guards are taking cover at the bend of the hallway. The hallway is forked at the end, so we must choose which to take first. Clark motions for me to check one, and he covers the other. When no guards appear, we consult the map and follow the right hallway that ends in stairs leading down. The labs are our current destination, and that's going to be the most horrifying part. After the guards are down and labs are clear, we can safely check the dorms for victims.
The stairs lead to a long hallway that ends in another staircase, likely the entrance to the incinerator below. The hallway has four doors on the right side and a blank wall across from them. Unlike the cells, these are widely spaced apart.