Chapter 21

"Yes Uri, for the last time I am positive Four is taking care of me." I sigh into my phone. "No, you don't need to give him the talk!" I hiss quietly as Uriah mentions 'the deed.' "What, no! No, we haven't… done anything. I don't want to have this conversation with you." I shake my head disbelievingly as I start to pace the room, my cheeks growing red. "No, I don't need protection from you. Uriah, I'm going to hang up the phone now. I-I'm hanging up. it's a bad connection. Okay, yup, I'm losing you. I'm gonna go now. Goodbye."

I hang up my phone with a sigh of relief. Stuffing my phone in my jacket pocket, I press my hands to my cheeks to find them burning. Damn you Uriah! Why does he have to be so immature! I'm just hoping Four didn't hear anything.

Tobias startles me when he enters his room. "Ready to go?"

I jump a little and pray that he didn't hear the last of Uri's and I conversation. "Uh, yeah. I'm ready."

He smirks and walks out of the room and that frightening feeling of him hearing the conversation settles in my stomach.

Two and a half hours later, Tobias and I pull up to a house in the middle of nowhere. Trees engulf us and no cars pass by the cramped road behind us. An eerie feeling crawls on my skin as we approach the house. It's in havoc; the grey paint chipping, rust consuming the garage door, trash littered on the lawn, and many other things that make this house seem unapproachable. But when we near the door, a nauseating smell fills our noses.

"What the hell is that?" Tobias asks quietly.

"I have no idea, but it smells like someone died." Ignoring the smell, I knock on the door. It creaks open without anyone standing behind it and the odor hits us harder. "Um, Mr. Munoz? I-I'm here about your daughter Kimberly." I call out. There's no answer. "Mr. Munoz?" When no one answers again I open the door wider and hesitantly step inside. I scrunch my nose at the distasteful stench.

There's a staircase at the front of the door that looks like it'll fall apart at the slightest touch. A hallway lays out in front of us and there's a separate room to the right. Deciding that it is closest I walk towards the room. There're pictures of Kimberly and her parents lined up on the walls from over the years. One thing for certain is that Danny does love his daughter. The smell becomes worse as I walk deeper into the house and I'm almost considering turning back, but something's telling me to keep going. When I round the corner I survey what happens to be the living room but when my eyes land on the floor I gasp.

"Oh my God."

Tobias comes up next to me and is deadly silent.

Danny's body is sprawled out on the ground, lying on his back, blood soaking the rug and wood. I feel like regurgitating what I ate for breakfast when I see his arms missing from the rest of the body and sitting a few feet away from him.

"I'll check the rest of the house," Tobias says.

I can only nod in return. I approach the body slowly and carefully, careful to avoid as much blood as I can. There're human insides spilling out from where his missing limbs are as well as lacerations all over his stomach, ripping his shirt. I bend down, still hovering above the floor, and look closer at him. Suddenly his eyes open and he jolts swiftly making me jerk in shock.

"H-h-help he-her." He stutters, his breathing scabrous.

"Help who?"

"K-Kimberly."

"What happened? Do you know where she is?" His breathing starts to slow down. "Where is she? Where is your daughter?"

"A-auto re-repair shop." He chokes out.

"Tobias! Tobias!" I yell and stand up.

"H-help her." Is Danny's last words before his body becomes still.

Tobias enters the room frantically. "What happened!"

Passing him, I rush towards the exit. "We have to go."

"Where?"

"The auto repair shop."

The drive back was shorter due to Tobias going high above the speed limit. I'm just thankful we didn't get pulled over. I unbuckle my seatbelt as we pull up to the auto shop. "Stay here," I tell Tobias.

He catches my arm before I have a chance to jump out. "I'm not letting you go in there alone."

"I'll be fine."

"You're not going alone."

"Tobias –"

In response, he gets out of the truck. I sigh and close the truck door before walking to Tobias' side. We jog to the back of the shop, exactly where we saw Davidson go. There are broken car parts scattered across the pavement we walk on. There's a gate up ahead but it's closed and has a black cloth draped across it, covering the view of the other side. When we approach it I can hear voices, distinctly male. Silently I make my way towards the gate, Tobias a few feet behind.

"Seventy-five dollars." A man's voice speaks.

"Seventy-five dollars! I'm only getting one visit." Another says.

"You want to see her and have a good time? Then pay up."

I find a small hole in the fabric and tear it open wider so that I can see better. A man sighs and pulls out a wallet from his back pocket. Opening it, he hands the other man money.

"Step up ahead to get checked." The man who received the money orders.

Another man comes into view and starts to search the man before he is granted access to continue ahead.

I walk back over to Tobias. "Drop your phone."

"Why?"

"Cause we're going in."

After Four dumps his phone and I stuff mine in my bra, I rattle the gate. Moments later I hear footsteps approach.

"Who is it?"

"Someone who's here to have a good time."

There's silence before the gate starts to slowly creep open. A man stands there dressed in all black with sunglasses on even though it's not sunny out. "Get inside." I oblige and step inside. "Who's this?" He gestures to Tobias.

"I don't know him."

"I'm here for the same reason she is." He nods his head in my direction. "I'm sure as a fellow man you can relate."

The man chuckles. "I surely can. We got some good ones this time." He turns to me. "I don't know if she can relate, though."

I smirk. "I have a different taste you could say."

He sneers and walks in my direction, slapping my rear end in the process. "I like girls like that."

I swallow down my anger before giving him a small smile. "Maybe we could… hang out sometime?"

"I'd like that." He grins maliciously. "How many you come to see?"

"Just one. How much is it?"

"Seventy-five."

I take out my wallet and give him the exact amount. He tells me to walk ahead to get searched. The same man comes up and starts the process. When he reaches my breasts he hesitates slightly. I arch an eyebrow. "Don't even think about it."

He puts his hands up in surrender before stepping off allowing me to go forward. I linger a little to wait for Tobias and see he's just finishing up being searched. With a stern face, he approaches me. "I wanted to break that man's face." He mutters.

"I'm sure you would."

As we walk another man comes into view.

"How many?" He asks.

"One."

"Keep walking straight and head into one of the rooms."

I nod at him and follow his directions. It's then I notice that all the men have walkie-talkies strap to their belt as well as a gun. Ignoring my oncoming nervousness, I look ahead. Because of this property having a broad land space, it seems that whoever purchased it built some kind of attachment. It's a lengthy rectangular shaped building with doors built inside; no doubt this is where they're keeping them. There're no more men so Tobias and I walk side by side. My heart thumps inside my chest as I near the building. There are windows also so I look inside one. The man who came before us pins a teenage girl to the bed with one hand as the other explores her body. I cover my mouth and stare in disbelief.

"Tris," Tobias calls out quietly. I turn to him slowly, my hand's shaking. He stands in front of an open door. "Over here." I slowly walk towards him. "Isn't this Kathy?"

Looking inside the room, a girl sits on the bed in a ripped T-shirt and shorts hugging her knees and tears rolling down her face. Kathy. "Please, please. S-stay away from me." She cries.

I walk into the room. "Kathy, hi. My name is Tris Prior. Your parents, John and Meghan, they hired me to come find you. I'm a private investigator and I'm here to take you home."

Her tears start to pour down harder. "I'm going home?"

"Yeah, you are. But you have to be brave for me and cooperate, okay?"

She nods repeatedly. "What about the others? What about Kimberly? We can't leave them here."

"The cops will be here but for now where is Kimberly?"

"Two rooms down."

"Can you walk Kathy?"

"Yes, but it hurts."

"That pain is only temporary. Let's get you out of here." I open my arms to her and she limps into them. I hold her close as we walk out the door but she flinches when she sees Tobias which would be any normal reaction with what she's been through. "Which door?"

"The last one."

Tobias rushes ahead of us and opens the door. I lean Kathy against the wall outside and jog inside. And I thought this day couldn't get any worse. Quickly I take out my phone and start to snap pictures of the scene that sits in front of me. Kimberly lies in the bed, in nothing but a bra and underwear and shaking like an earthquake. After I've taken enough photos, I run to the side of the bed. Her skin is breaking out in sweat even though she's as cold as ice. I brush some hair from her forehead. "Kimberly? Kimberly, can you hear me?"

She mumbles something incoherent and then starts whimpering.

Tobias walks around to the other side of the bed and in one swift move he takes off his coat and wraps her in it. "We need to go now. She's been drugged." Carefully, so as not to hurt her further, he hoists her off the bed.

I know I shouldn't be thinking this at the moment but… seeing him do that may have me a tad bit turned on. Just a tad.

When outside, I take Kathy back in my arms and we gradually make our way back the way we came, though being on alert. What we find odd though is that none of the men are present. It doesn't feel right. But knowing that we have an emergency on our hands, we continue. It's only when I start to open the fence that we hear running footsteps behind us. I turn to see the men running our way, guns aimed at us.

Tobias pushes Kathy and me through the gate while simultaneously holding Kimberly. That's when the sound of gunshots goes off. I start to drag Kathy but still keep in mind that she doesn't have the ability to run. On the way, I pick up Tobias' phone that he had left before we walked in. I do this to prevent them from somehow tracking us. The sound of gunshots become louder and I feel the sound ringing in my ear. I jog around the side of the truck when we reach and carefully open the door. Kathy gets in as fast as she can and I follow. Tobias comes around and slides Kimberly in so that her head in resting in my lap. Shutting the door, he climbs into the driver seat. The windshield cracks from the bullets still being fired and I hold both Kathy's and my own head down, blocking any sort of contact with the glass and bullets. Tobias reverses the truck, making a sharp turn and speeds off, leaving the men behind us.

Once I'm sure we've gotten far away enough I lift my head. I pull out my phone and look over at Kathy to see she's staring at Kimberly with tears in her eyes. "Hello? Yes, I need a squad of policemen now."