Chapter Nine - A Sister's Revenge
Stacie's hands shook as she aimed the gun at Bobby Harris' chest.
"You're crazy, lady. I told you I don't know what you're talking about." The scared young man was on the floor, backed against the wall of a basement that smelled like sweaty men, stale beer and cigarettes from hosting years of fraternity parties. "Just put the gun down."
"Newsflash, pervert. Forcing an underage girl to have sex does not make her a prostitute. It makes her a rape victim. Which makes you a rapist. Do you know what they do to rapists in prison, pervert?" Stacie asked him, cocking her head to one side. "You don't want to go there. So really, you should be thanking me right now."
Bobby's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out if Stacie was serious or not.
"Her name was Maggie." Stacie hissed through clenched teeth. "She was fifteen and had her whole life ahead of her. A life that should have been filled with friends and fun and college. But you took that away from her, you son of a bitch. Maggie! You say her name."
Bobbyremained silent as he looked down the barrel of the gun she pointed at him, not knowing what to do.
"Say it!" Stacie screamed at him. "I'm not a scared little fifteen year old girl who is bowled over by your charm. I know exactly what you are. I should have known you wouldn't know what to do with a real woman when you met one."
"Look, you bitch..." He began, his scared demeanor turning cold as ice. But Stacie wasn't in the mood to hear what he had to say.
"No, you look. Take a good look around." Bobby's eyes darted around the empty basement. "No witnesses." Stacie continued. "I pull this trigger and I get off on self-defense. I'm the grieving sister, after all, here in a last ditch effort to save the girls you are selling into the world of sex slaves. While you, you low life piece of shit, will go on to take your reserved seat in Hell."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, snarling at her.
"Oh yeah?" She snapped back at him, her voice suddenly calm and menacing. "Well, you're not me. "
"Go to Hell." he dared her, but she could tell by the scared look in his eyes that his bravado was completely false.
"You first." She replied, cocking the gun and lowering it so that it was now aimed at his crotch.
"Stacie! Put the gun down." Danny, Jack and Sam came down the basement stairs, guns in position. Jack and Sam aimed at Bobby, while Danny lowered his gun and moved over to where Stacie stood. "Don't do this, Stacie. It'll only make things worse. Put it down."
Stacie didn't take her eyes off Bobby as she let out a sadistic little laugh. "There is no possible way for this to get any worse. I am not going to let this sicko hurt anyone else's little girl. He deserves to die."
"That is not your call." Danny said, reaching for the gun.
Stacie moved out of reach, still aiming at Bobby. "It is today." She directed her words back at Bobby. "She was my sister." With that statement, her voice began to shake and the tears formed in her eyes. "You took her innocence. And the innocence of all those girls. That was never yours to take!" She screamed, now aiming the gun at his head. "And after you killed her spirit, then you finished off the rest of her. Now you have to pay for that."
"She's not dead, Stacie." Danny said suddenly, causing Stacie to falter. But she never took her eyes off Bobby or lowered her gun.
"She is. I have a picture. The son of bitch sent me a picture..."
"It's staged, baby. She's not dead." Danny lowered his voice and let that information sink in. He pulled the photo out of his pocket and held it up. "Look. Her eyes are red in the photo. Look, dammit." Stacie slid her eyes over to that awful photo he held in his hand, but she didn't lower the gun. "When you take a photo of a dead person, they can't get red-eye. It has something to do with the corneas clouding over. Maggie has red-eye. She was alive when this photo was taken. She's alive, Stacie."
"But if you shoot this scumbag, our chances of finding her will be almost nothing." Sam said, quietly. "You don't want to do this, Stacie. We know you don't. You have dedicated your life to saving people. Give Danny the gun. Let us handle this."
"I promised you we'd bring her back to you. We can't do that unless we can make him tell us where she is." Danny moved closer and this time Stacie didn't move. "Now give me the gun." He cautiously reached out for the gun while Sam and Jack moved in on Harris. Stacie's shaking fingers released their hold on the gun and Danny removed it from her hands, dropped it on the ground, and kicked it out of the way. Stacie fell into his open arms and he wrapped them around her as the sobs overtook her. Fighting back his own tears, he held on to her with all he had as she cried the events of the last twenty four hours away.
Jack and Sam cuffed Harris and led him upstairs. Sam turned back to Danny and said, "We've got this. We'll call you if he gives us anything. Go on and take her home."