Going Down
"Let me out!" AJ yelled, standing in the middle of a room in her underwear, banging on the door after being stripped of her clothes and locked inside, "Let me out!" She screamed, banging her fists against the door, turning around and leaning herself against it, trying to calm herself down. She forgot how stressful these situations could be. At a time in her life, it was all she was used to, but after being absent from the feeling, it was terrifying to be in that sort of place again, especially when she knew what was going on now.
"Guard the door, I don't trust her." Linda said, "Even if it is locked." She said truthfully as two men nodded and stood outside the door, "Don't let anyone in or out whilst I'm gone." She told them as they nodded.
She then headed back downstairs, getting to the first floor when she continued walking down another flight of stairs to the basement. She walked down and into the storage room, flicking the light on as she looked at Punk sat tied to the chair, tape around his mouth and blood trickling from the side of his head.
He'd barely got a foot in the door when he was coming to see AJ earlier on, when he was grabbed and beaten. He was pulled around the back of the building and somehow woke up in this position.
"I know you're not the screaming type." Linda nodded, walking over to him and ripping the tape from his mouth as Punk screwed his eyes up a little and looked up at her, "You must be wondering why you're here." She nodded as Punk looked across at her.
"Where is my wife?" Punk questioned.
"No more visiting her." Linda said as Punk looked across at her, "She's too far gone now. Talking all kinds of nonsense. Really, she's in not fit state to see you." She said as Punk shook his head.
"I know what this place is." Punk said as Linda looked across at him, "I know what you're doing here to the girls, I know the whole thing." He said as Linda scoffed.
"April doesn't know what she's talking about." Linda smiled.
"I didn't hear it from April." Punk shook his head, "I heard it from the doctor you use to get all of these girls records. He's dead now so… no more records for you but he told me everything." Punk nodded, "How you give these girls hope, you take them from camps, like you're the good guys. You brainwash them. You use kind violence. And you use this place as some sort of… bidding checkpoint for guys, trafficking groups, to come in and bid." He said, "They're human beings, you piece of shit." Punk spat, "And you're done for. You and all your white coats are off to prison, with Teresa and every rotten human who has had anything to do with this." Punk spat.
"Say that is true." Linda said, "How would anyone know?" She questioned, "April… she'll be sold as quick as you're killed." She said as Punk shook his head.
"You obviously haven't met my wife." Punk said.
"Oh, I have." Linda nodded, "And she's upstairs, in her underwear." She said as Punk looked at her, "She's gonna be one to fight over for sure." She said as Punk tried to wriggle out of the chair as Linda smiled, "You must be wondering how this works. The business side of it."
"This isn't a fucking business." Punk spat.
"Well if you must know." Linda said, "The money made from the auctions, a quarter goes to the institute, to fund it, to legitimise it." She said, "The rest goes to Teresa, it's how we're in business. She uses it to further her whiskey business." She said, "We're all happy."
"Yeah, all these girls are really happy about this." Punk nodded sarcastically, "If… if this is some sort of auction situation… how come one of the girls in here is pregnant?" Punk questioned.
"Well sometimes we let our buyers… try some before they purchase." Linda smiled as Punk shook his head. He had never been so angry or known something quite like this. The complete lack of human rights amongst this was making him feel sick to his stomach.
"You know what's gonna happen?" Punk asked, "I'm not gonna kill you when I eventually get out of here. No. But my wife? She's gonna destroy you. And I'm looking forward to it." Punk nodded.
"What an awful thing to say." Linda scolded as Punk looked across at her, "Around 1am we have a first load of buyers come in. It's…" She looked at her watch, "11." She smiled, "Not long."
"She's got kids." Punk said, for a second trying his best to humour this evil woman, "She's got… she's got two daughters. 3 and 6." Punk nodded, "They need their mom. Keep me here, kill me… whatever… just let her go." He shook his head as Linda smiled.
"Sweet." Linda nodded, "But she is worth a lot more than you are." She said, "Funny how that works. How someone so cheap and used can be worth so much." She said as Punk shook his head.
"This isn't gonna work out for you." Punk shook his head as Linda just smiled.
"Of course it will. I'm not the one tied up." Linda smiled, leaving the room and turning the light back off as Punk groaned to himself. He himself had been in many difficult situations in his life, and he knew he just had to get out of this.
"Uh… hey, what's up?" Dean shook his head, standing outside AJ and Punk's house where Coleen had called him to.
"Hey, come in." Coleen said, letting him into the house and closing the door behind him.
She'd just put the girls to bed and realised that now was the time to panic over Punk not replying to her messages, her dozens of voice mails or her calls. It wasn't like him and she was simply worried that something had happened, especially in all of the chaos.
"Everything ok?" Dean asked her.
"Not really." Coleen said, "I haven't heard from Phil since early this morning." She said, "I'm actually really worried that something has happened. He told me earlier in the day he'd be home in half an hour. He never showed so I thought maybe he'd gone to visit AJ. Because he got the doctor's number. Maybe he was gonna tell her." Coleen said, "But now he's not answering my calls, it's been hours, and I can't exactly go out and look for him." She said as Dean nodded.
"I spoke to him earlier." Dean nodded, "He said he was going to visit AJ. He'd got a breakthrough and he'd saw the doctor."
"He saw him?" Coleen questioned as Dean nodded.
"That's what he said." Dean said, "Come to think of it… he seemed a little frantic and out of breath but… he said he was just pulling up outside the institute to see AJ. Definitely." Dean remembered.
"Dean, what if something has happened there?" Coleen asked as Dean looked at her, "I say we just send the cops there." She shook her head.
"We can't do that. That blows the whole thing." Dean said.
"And something might have happened to my sister, or to Phil." Coleen said, "We have to do something." She said.
"Well you're not doing anything. You're staying put with the girls." Dean corrected as Coleen got an idea.
"Ok, Phil told me that AJ was talking to a girl in there. Her name is… uh… Connie." Coleen said, "She's pregnant and she's just about the only sane person there." She said, "You… You need to go to the institute and ask to visit her." She said.
"It's 11pm." Dean said, "They aren't gonna let me in."
"Well you gotta try." Coleen said, "And ask Connie what's going on, where AJ is, if she's ok… just anything." Coleen sighed, rubbing her forehead, "I'm scared that AJ and Phil have found something out and now… now they're in trouble because of it."
"You think they've found out what's going on in that place?" Dean asked.
"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling." Coleen said as Dean nodded.
"Ok, alright. I'll go." Dean said, "And I'm gonna call two cars out front, just to be safe." He said as Coleen nodded.
"Thank you." Coleen said, "Call me with anything. Any updates." She said.
"I will." Dean said, patting her on the shoulder before he left the house to go play his part in this larger than life operation.
"No visiting at this time." Linda said, standing at the entrance as Dean had asked to visit Connie, stating he was a lost family member of hers looking for her.
"Just… just fifteen minutes." Dean said as Linda shook her head.
"I'm afraid not." Linda said, "In the morning." She assured him, "All of our patients are in bed and it's important they stick to a routine." She told him as Dean just nodded slowly.
"Sure." Dean nodded, "Ok." He said, deliberately dropping his car keys and wallet in front of him as he turned around, "Shit." Dean said, watching as Linda crouched down as he also did.
He pick pocketed the keys from her side whilst taking the wallet and his own keys from her, "Thanks." Dean smiled to her as Linda nodded.
"Goodnight." Linda said, wishing for him to leave as Dean just nodded, walking out of the institute doors and over to his car, watching at the corner of his eye as she disappeared from the entrance.
He got his phone out and immediately called Coleen who picked up right away, "Hey, no I couldn't get in but listen… I need you to do something for me. The other day I heard Phil talk about blue prints for this place back when it was built. He downloaded a copy to his computer. I need you to go into it and tell me if there's basement or a floor below the first." He said as Coleen followed his instructions and quickly got the blue prints up.
"Yeah." Coleen spoke through the phone, "There's a basement. Why? What's going on?"
"I have the set of keys. A lot of keys." He gulped, looking on at them, "But there's something not right about this place. And there's tyre marks that lead off onto the grass, as if… as if someone has moved a car through the grass." Dean looked over, "Possibly Phil's." He sighed.
"You think Phil is in there?" Coleen asked.
"Yeah, I do." Dean said.
"Wait a second." Coleen looked on at the blue prints, "Dean, go around the side of the building on the left hand side." She said as Dean followed her instructions, walking around the building, "When you turn into the back there should be a side door. That… that should lead you to the basement." She said as Dean nodded.
"Ok." Dean said, "I'll call you back." He told her, hanging up as he began trying the different keys until finally one worked, opening up the door as he walked down the stairs.
He followed what seemed to be a loud banging noise, walking over to a closed door, jumping suddenly when he saw Punk burst out of it, his wrists all cut as he fell onto the ground.
"Phil." Dean said with relief as Punk groaned and looked up, "Phil, are you ok?" Dean asked, helping him up.
"How did you get here?" Punk groaned, getting to his feet.
After rubbing his roped tied hands against a piece of wood in the storage room, and almost bleeding out form his wrists, he finally broke free and used what little energy he had left to burst through the door, using the help of the chair he had been sat on.
"Coleen, she was worried and I knew this was the last place you had been headed to." Dean said, "What's going on, man?"
"This place… AJ, she's in trouble. What time is it?" Punk asked, walking over to the wall to bang his out of place shoulder, back into place, moaning as he done so.
"It's 12.20." Dean said.
"Ok, listen… I need you to call Frankie. Get the FBI here for 1am. Ask them to check the second floor immediately. Check Linda's office." Punk nodded frantically, "I have a audio confession from the doctor about all of this." He said.
"Ok ok, take a breath, man." Dean nodded, trying to keep up with him. Clearly they had enough to call the FBI, but it was about making sure it all happened at the right time now.
"I need a fucking gun." Punk groaned.
"Hey hey… I got you." Dean nodded, pulling his out from his jeans and handing it to him as Punk nodded gratefully and took it.
"You also need to make it clear that this is Teresa's business, she started this." Punk said, "You gotta tell Frankie all of this so he knows, get a SWAT team in because they'll need it."
"Ok." Dean nodded, "Ok, I got it. Do you need me here?" He asked him.
"No… No I got this part. As long as they're here for 1am, that's all I need you to do." Punk said as Dean nodded, "I gotta… I gotta go get April." He said frantically.
"Ok, be careful." Dean warned, "Lot of guys up there in white coats. Big guys." Dean said as Punk nodded, "I'll call Frankie." He said as Punk nodded, watching him leave back up the stairs and out of the side door, already on the phone to Frankie whilst Punk walked up the stairs the other way to get into the institute. He knew he couldn't be careless here. He had to be perfect.
He kept his gun lowered by his side. As CIA operator, and with all the facts and figures confessed, he was not holding back against anyone who came in his way, and he knew the FBI wouldn't either.
He opened up the door and walked out, creeping his head around the corner to see if the corridor was empty or not, which thankfully it was. He supposed the staff were preparing for the auctions going on soon.
Once it was clear, Punk continued to climb the stairs to the second floor, where he could see some men in white coats floating around. He kept himself low and quiet, watching the few men wandering up and down. They really were like body guards.
He then listened suddenly as he heard commotion coming from the stairs. He panicked and ran around the corner where one of the first rooms were, looking on as he saw a group of men walking from the stairwell, walking with Linda.
Punk's palms began to sweat, watching Linda show them to each room. It wasn't a situation he knew how to prepare for but luckily once the men had been shown the rooms, Linda and the men in white coats all left, which gave him an open corridor.
He relentlessly began opening up the doors. The first one he knocked the man out using the gun, looking over at the girl standing in her underwear. He wished he had the time to assure her it'd be ok, but he didn't.
He moved along and done his best to quietly take the men out, eventually coming to a room where his action wasn't needed as AJ sat on the floor beside the dead body.
"Oh my God." Punk sighed with relief, stepping over the body, helping her up as she clung onto him desperately, "It's ok." He nodded, "It's ok." He said, taking his jacket off and wrapping it around her, "You're ok." He said as AJ shut her eyes tight and clung onto him tightly.
"H-How… how are you here?" AJ looked up at him.
"I'll… I'll tell you on our vacation." He said, "Are you hurt? Did they do anything?" Punk asked her as she shook her head.
"No… no, I'm ok." AJ nodded.
"Ok." Punk nodded, taking her hand and leading her out of the room, "The cops are coming, we got everything we need. We just need to get everyone out safely." Punk said as AJ nodded.