“No, they made me sit where I couldn’t see out the windshield, and it was gone by the time we went outside to get in the van.”
“When Hondo gets back, you can tell us about when they grabbed you and what happened after.” I added, “If you feel up to it. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”
She kept her hand on my forearm, “I imagine I’ll have to tell it several times, but I’ll tell you and Hondo first while things are freshest up here.” She tapped her temple with a finger, “Then we need to find Bodhi.” I nodded.
We watched the Navigator coming up the road, and the faint sounds of sirens seemed to be growing louder. Hondo parked at the end of the walkway and said as he walked to us, “Derek and the police are on their way. I called them.”
I motioned for Hondo to sit beside us, and said, “Amber’s going to tell us what happened.”
He sat on the ground, and Amber told us the story:
Chapter 6
Amber curled on the couch in her apartment and heard what sounded like mice nibbling on the door, somewhere near the doorknob. She walked to it and strained to hear.
The door opened fast, knocking Amber backwards several steps as a big-shouldered Indian and two very large black men rushed her before she could react.
The Indian stepped close enough to hug her, “Here’s what’s going to happen.” He pulled a semiautomatic from under his jacket and put it to Amber’s neck. The muzzle against her skin felt like a small ring of ice, and she flinched at the touch. He said, “You come quiet and I won’t pull the trigger. Put up a fuss and I’ll shoot you. Understand?”
Amber nodded, “Yes.”
“Good.” He said to the others, “Let’s get her out of here.” Amber went out with the Indian in front and the other two behind her. They put her roughly into the back of a small van, with the two black men following her into it and staying close to her.
Amber said, “You’re the ones who took Bodhi.”
The Indian looked in the rearview mirror at her but didn’t speak.
She said, “Do you think I know something? Because I don’t. I didn’t even know Bodhi was missing until a week after she was gone.”
The Indian talked as he drove, “You know it, don’t lie. Bodhi said you two are tight as a couple of sisters. Be smart and tell me what I want to know. You hold out, it’s gonna be some bad days ahead for you. I’ll find out, one way or the other.” He turned onto a cross street and continued talking, “Torturing you if you don’t talk is an option here.”
“I don’t know anything.”
The Indian said, “Think about it.”
“What do you want to know? Tell me that, at least.”
The Indian glanced at her in the mirror but didn’t speak.
They rode in silence for the next three hours. Amber caught her own haunted reflection in the rearview. She wished Ronny knew about this, but he didn’t, nobody did.
The van lurched into several large potholes and wallowed side to side like a ship in a storm as they continued down a rapidly deteriorating road, rumbling and bouncing for another ten minutes before stopping at an old farmhouse. Several older model vehicles dotted the dusty yard’s parking area. When the men opened the van door, the Indian motioned for Amber to exit. She slid off the seat and stood in front of him. Grasping her bicep, he walked her
into the home, where Amber heard what sounded like a Mexican fiesta with the music and Spanish words coming from the living room area.
Half a dozen Hispanic men drank and danced with Hispanic women while others sat on ratty couches and sofas scattered around the room. One of the men took a woman’s hand in his and started down the hall, but she didn’t want to go.
One of the black men grabbed her arm and jerked the small woman to him. He leaned down to her ear and whispered something that made the woman nod her head and go with the man. She wiped her eyes as she followed him. Amber watched them pass through another door into a bedroom.
None of the women looked happy to be there. One of the Hispanic men spotted Amber and walked to her, holding out his hand. She shook her head and he frowned. That’s when another of the women approached him and took his hand, leading him toward the hall. She glanced back at Amber once and gave a slight nod.
What did I do to wind up here? Amber thought. She looked around the room, seeing two hallways going in opposite directions from the central living room area. The only door to the outside that she could see appeared to be the front.
The rooms probably had windows, she thought, and the front door did offer a quick way out, except for the man standing near it.
She saw the Indian come out of a room at the end of the hallway and motion to her. She went to him and he said, “Inside.”
Amber stepped into the room and immediately saw Bodhi sitting on a cheap bed. Bodhi gasped in surprise and hurried across the small room to hug her. The Indian closed the door, leaving the two women alone.