Daddy's Girls: Chapter 12
****
A very agitated Brad Turner pulled into the parking lot of Ecstatic, fervently wishing he had someone or something
to displace his frustration on. He caught a glimpse of Jess' car parked across the street and rushed over, only
to find the clothes his 'niece' had been wearing discarded in the back seat. He clenched his fists and began mentally
berating himself for going against his better instincts and allowing Annie to go with Jess by herself. He KNEW
Jess' tendencies, having had most of them himself, and he should have KNOWN that something like this was bound
to happen. But Annie had seemed so excited by the prospect, and she didn't get out enough as it was. And of course,
Jess knew exactly the right type of lie to use on the both of them. I can't believe I fell for this. Knowing
that he wouldn't find anything further in the car, and that his mental discourse would only waste time better spent
looking, Brad let out a ragged sigh and quickly entered the club.
Amazingly enough, he found an open stool at a corner of the bar that gave a pretty good view of the happenings
inside the club. He immediately set his sights on locating Annie's black cowboy hat, the only thing that could
possibly distinguish her from the other crazies in the crowd. When this is all over, I have to remind myself
to thank Dusty for influencing her so heavily…
"What'll it be, friend?" The bartender interrupted Brad's thoughts as he waited for his drink request.
Slightly startled by the request, Brad just stared at him for a moment. He had absolutely NO desire for a drink,
but considering he was sitting in a bar, he needed to make it look good. "I'll take a beer, whatever is on
tap…" Brad replied absently as he continued to scan the club for signs of Annie and Jess.
The beer appeared in front of him almost immediately, and Brad laid a twenty down on the bar, not really caring
if he got his change back or not. The only thing he cared about was finding his daughter and taking her back home.
The three girls sat in the back of the van crammed together, Annie and Roxy duly ignoring each other and Jess watching
them, feeling terribly guilty over the whole situation. All that she had wanted was to bring her two best - and
only- friends together to get them to know each other better, yes maybe even understand each other. But her whole
plan had very much gone wrong. All that she had managed was getting them into the biggest trouble of their lives…
and not only them but also Buddy. Tears welled up in her eyes, but Jess fought them. She never cried… at least
not in front of others.
Suddenly, a hand landed her shoulder.
"Hey," she heard Roxy say. "You okay?"
"Oh, just peachy. I mean, all I did was getting us all 'nabbed. I'm just great!"
"Stop being sarcastic, Jess. It's not like you put a gun to our temples and forced to come with us."
"Well, at least not in your case," Jess said softly. "Didn't leave Annie much of a choice."
"Yeah, no kidding," Annie chimed in with a snort of derisive laughter.. "But I should've known that
something was up when you ask to come to the Country Club with you. You hate that place because of all those -
how did you put it? Stuck-up, snobbish, uppity people?"
Jess gave a faint smile. "But still I dragged you two into this mess…" Jess couldn't go any farther before
the tears spilled from her eyes, and she hid her face behind her hands. Hesitantly, Roxy reached out and patted
Jess' shoulder, while Annie rubbed her friend's back. Glaring at each other, they didn't notice the slight, satisfied
smile on Jess' face.
At least one thing about this plan worked, she thought. They're doing something together without being
forced to.
Brad spent the next few hours scouring the club visually, with the ever increasing sinking feeling that neither
one of the girls were there anymore. He should have seen SOME sign of them by this point, Annie's hat being the
most obvious. He fought down a rising panic, which quickly turned into anger, at whom Brad wasn't sure. He couldn't
tell if he was more angry at Jess for lying to him and pulling Annie into this dangerous place, or more angry at
Annie for going along with it long enough to enter the doors, whether she called him or not. Or better yet, was
he angry at himself for allowing himself to go along with the whole production? He took a few deep breaths and
reminded himself of his previously mentioned "No Questions Asked" policy. Find them first, Turner,
ordered the more rational part of his mind, then you can proceed to grill the shit out of them.
"Need a refill?"
"No, thanks," Brad muttered in reply to the bartender's question.
"You sure?" the bartender pressed him. "You been workin' on that one all night, and it's almost
last call."
Brad looked at his watch to see the truth of the bartender's statement. It was approaching 2:00 AM and he hadn't
seen even a glimpse of the two girls. "No," he emphasized again, "I was looking for someone, but
I don't think they're here."
"Lotta people have been through here tonight," the bartender shrugged.
Something in the bartender's mannerisms made Brad suddenly take notice. Eyeing him carefully, Brad reached into
his wallet and pulled out a business card and another scrap of paper he folded up behind it. He phrased his words
carefully as he slid the card across the bar. "If you happen to see a slim redhead in a black cowboy hat come
through here, ask her to call home. She's my daughter."
Brad slid off the stool and headed for the door, glancing backward just in time to see the bartender eye the card
and the paper attached to it curiously before attending to the rest of his patrons.
The van finally came to a halt inside a warehouse. How long they had been driving? What could they expect? Were
they ever going to see Buddy again? None of them could be certain, and they were all wondering about the same questions
in there minds.
"OUT NOW!" A short Mexican man shouted as he opened the side door of the van. The girls complied with
little resistance and glanced around there surroundings for possible salvation. The warehouse was filled with wooden
boxes and right in the center was a semi truck, which was currently being loaded.
"MARCH TOWARD TRUCK," The man ordered while five other men had guns placed on the girl.
"This can't be good, their gonna ship us somewhere," Roxanne whispered to Annie.
The man slammed his gun into Roxanne's face, "NO TALKING!"
Roxanne covered her face feeling an awful stinging sensation from the bruise he left. Yet her hands didn't remain
there for too long. The soldier grabbed her hands and locked them in a plastic braced around her back. It wasn't
just her getting the special treatment Annie and Jess both received the special brace as well. The Mexican man
eyed each of the girls with a wicked smiled, revealing he had other intentions in mind.
"Jon wants this cargo taken care of well and brought to him in one piece," One of the soldier replied.
"So if he gets anymore of this funny business, he's gonna deduct it from your pay. Means NO MUCHO DINERO!"
"Si Senior," The Mexican man nodded with slight displeasure. "PUT IN TRUCK, WE GO!"
The three girls were placed in the back of the semi. A hidden panel concealed by several boxes was revealed in
the back of the truck. Once the girls were pushed into the compartment, they realized they were not alone. A man
sat in the corner with bonds on his hands and legs and badly beaten up. He appeared to be knocked out.
"BUDDY!" they yelled in unison.
But their happy reunion was cut short as several soldiers violently force the girls to sit down. "That's enough
girls! SIT DOWN and BE QUIET," A soldier order in a threatening tone, "Else one of you won't be making
the trip."
The girls continued to remain silent as the soldiers put plastic braces on their legs as well. A few minutes later
the men left the compartment and sealed it shut.
"Buddy?" Jess asked.
"Yeah I'm still alive girls," Buddy remarked unhappily as he opened his eyes, "just catching some
shut eye."
"Now isn't the time to be taking a nap," Annie suggested, "How are we gonna get out of here?"
"Don't know yet, Red. In fact we're in no situation to escape. Right now we're just gonna have to sit back
and enjoy the ride. You girls doing ok?"
"Besides Jess having a breakdown already….yeah peachy." Roxanne let out irritated.
"You know you didn't have to bring that up Roxy," Annie said irritated. "If Jess was your friend
you would of kept that to yourself."
"Don't lecture me on how to treat my friends, unless you want that cowboy boot up your ass." Roxanne
snapped.
"Try it and I'll ram those spikes so far down your throat they'll be poking out from the inside of your wrists,
not around them!" Annie threatened in retort.
"Enough, both of you!" Buddy demanded, "Now is not the time or place for this. If we're ever gonna
get out of this situation we're gonna have to work together. Jess you ok now?"
"Oh yeah," Jess smiled slightly embarrass, "Just had a weak moment there. That's all. But since
we're bringing the subject up, Roxanne took one hell of a smack to the face for opening her big mouth."
"Jess," Roxanne remarked slightly embarrass that she would bring that up.
"Come over here and let me look at it," Buddy insisted.
"It's not that bad Buddy, I've felt worst. Besides what are you going to do about it? Your hands are tied
behind your back."
Jess snickered, "He could always give it a kiss and make it magically disappear."
Roxanne kicked Jess with her feet as her face lit up with embarrassment, while Jess, Buddy, and Annie all had a
good laugh. But that laughter was cut short once the semi-truck started moving to a destination unknown.
