Keeping his bride

CHAPTER28Nicholas

ALDO ALERTS US early Saturday morning about a possible human trafficking situation not too far from here, and I make my way down into the control room. Thousands of servers line two of the walls in the back. There are several computer stations with multiple monitors, jammers, and all the other high-tech equipment and hardware that our resident hackers need to help us on our quest to hunt down the bad guys and bring them to justice.

Not that we aren’t bad guys too in our own right. We are just doing some good to help balance out some of the bad.

I go to where Aldo is seated in front of five monitors. His skin is pale and his eyes look bloodshot behind his glasses. I would tell him he needs to get out more, but we both know he has no interest in the outside world. Aldo has been a loner for as long as I’ve known him. My dad hired him when he was young, probably around the age I am now. And he’s been a real asset to the team in bringing down the seedy criminals who deal in the flesh trade while simultaneously protecting everyone staying here along with my family.

My father may have several drug rings and do his fair share of gunrunning, but he would never sell a human being for profit. That’s where he draws the line. That’s where we all draw the line. And since the bastards get away with selling young women and children more often than not, we have made it our lives’ work to stop as many of them as we can. The government certainly can’t stop them, and the police are usually being paid off to look the other way. So someone has to step up and bring these bastards down.

“What did you find?” I ask, taking a seat next to Aldo.

He runs a hand through his dark hair before he begins typing so fast I lose track of the movement of his fingers. “One of our drones caught some suspicious activity in this old, abandoned hospital. It’s supposed to be empty and guarded, but it looks like it might be holding girls until their next shipment. Perhaps whoever is doing this paid off the regular security guard to keep quiet about it.”

I stare at one of the monitors while he brings up feed from one of the drones. That’s the great thing about technology. You can have eyes everywhere and all at once. It’s crazy how the world is evolving so quickly. You just gotta try and keep up, and Aldo is always on top of the latest technological advances and gadgets.

At first, there’s just grainy footage. But with a few keystrokes, Aldo has the video enhanced and zoomed in. Some big, bald guy is dragging a couple of young women into the decrepit building with boarded up windows. When the man emerges again, he locks the door behind him and leaves in a black, nondescript van.

“I’m going to send in a drone with infrared sensors to see how many heat signatures we can pick up inside. Most of the hospital is made of thick concrete and brick, so we probably won’t get an exact number,” he explains.

“But it’s better than nothing.” And better than going in blind and risk being ambushed, I think to myself.

“Exactly,” he agrees. “We’ll know a lot more in about twenty minutes or so,” he tells me.

Just then, the door to the control room opens and in walks my father. While Aldo does his thing, I decide to fill my dad in on what’s going on.

“We’ll wait for the thermal info before we do anything,” My dad suggests after I’m done talking.

“I want to lead the team,” I tell him confidently.

He hesitates, his gray eyes pinning my own. “I don’t know if you’re in the right headspace right now, Nico. You know, with everything happening with Selina.”

“It’ll be good for me to get out and do this,” I offer.

My father considers it for several seconds before giving me the go ahead. I’ve watched him lead a hundred different teams before, and now it’s my turn. I know what is expected of me, and I know the danger that’s involved. Extraction of these women won’t be easy, by any means; and there’s a good chance that someone will end up hurt…or worse.

But the reward always outweighs the risk. We’re saving innocent lives. Nothing can surpass that.

The abandoned hospital sits on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. The beach that the hospital fronts is dead at this time of night, so we drive right over the sand and to one of the side gates with our vehicles packed full of our best men and enough firepower to take down whatever and whoever we find inside.

The fence is easily breeched; and once we’re inside, all is quiet. Everyone knows what is expected of them from this point forward. We always plan ahead for every possible situation and outcome. But no matter how hard you prepare; something is always bound to go awry. I just hope that tonight is not one of those times.

Aldo sends me a text the moment we are inside the fence. I can faintly hear the drone above us, so I know he’s searching for any potential hazards in the area as well as scanning for how many bodies are inside the hospital.

His text reads: At least eight inside.

Most of them are going to be helpless, scared women. But we won’t know how many guards are here until we get in the building.

I hold up eight fingers, signaling the number of people to everyone before I motion for us to get ready to move in. Aldo didn’t spot any motion detection cameras stationed anywhere on the property, so we have the element of surprise on our side. These fuckers won’t know what hit them until it’s too late.

I grab my Glock from behind my back and hold it steady in my right hand before we move to the back door of the main building.

Miner takes the lead, standing in front of the old, rusted door with his gun cocked. I’ve known Lance Miner since I was a teenager. He’s a huge guy, ex-military and a total bad ass. He lives for missions like this. After his sister was sold into human trafficking and murdered, he dedicated his life to protect girls just like her. That’s how he came under the employ of my father.

We became instant friends. Both of us were affected by the flesh trade when someone we loved was taken, and it changed our outlook on life. It changed us more than we let on. And tonight, he is the perfect person to lead this mission with me.

I hold up my fingers, counting down silently to my team.

Three…

Two…

One…

And after that, Miner kicks in the door and pushes through as he makes his way into the abandoned hospital.

The breach didn’t seem to trigger any alarms, and we move silently through the dark hallway towards a light source and faint voices.

The closer we get, the louder the cries and voices grow.

“Please!” a woman calls out before I hear something that sounds like a fist hitting flesh.

The loud, tortured cry that follows the hit has my feet moving faster. The group moves with me fluidly like we’re one entity. Our footsteps are silent. Our breathing is steady and slow.

When we reach the end of the hall, there is a large open room that looks like it used to be a waiting room. From our point of view, we can see two guards surrounding six women, who are tied to various chairs in the room. One of the guards is currently assaulting one of the girls, who is crying hysterically.

And when he raises his hand to strike her again, I take the shot without even second-guessing my decision.

The man’s hand explodes in mid-air, and he screams out in agony. He reaches for a gun with his other hand, but it’s too late. Miner is already on him, tackling him down to the ground.

My men take out the other man before he even has a chance to react. Two of them haul him outside, getting him away from the women.

“We need bolt cutters,” Miner urgently requests from one of our men, who is carrying a backpack of tools. We didn’t know what we would need, so we packed all the essentials.

When Samson hands Miner the bolt cutters, he begins working on the chains around one of the women who is bound to a chair near him.

The man whose hand was blown off begins to bellow in distress from the corner of the room. “Shut him the fuck up,” I tell Samson, who in turns drives the butt of his gun into the man’s face, effectively knocking him out cold.

The only sounds filtering through the room now are some muted cries from the women and the chains rattling as they’re unceremoniously cut off. We work on freeing three of the women who look to be in bad shape, much worse than the others. Several of us carefully carry them out to an awaiting van while the others are left in the room momentarily.

Once the three women are safely in the van, Miner offers, “I’ll go back in and secure the rest of the women.”

I give him a nod. “I’ll be there in a minute. Be careful,” I tell him.

“Always,” he says to me before disappearing into the dark building.

I’m sending a status update to Aldo on my phone when loud cackling from my right catches my attention. One of the men we captured is grinning and laughing, almost in full hysterics now as one of my guards searches his pants pockets.

“What the fuck are you laughing about?” I growl at him, taking a few steps closer.

That’s when I see the man raise his hand. I only have a split second to react when I see the detonator tightly grasped in his palm. “Miner!” I scream, but it’s too late.

There is a faint beeping sound before the entire building trembles and explodes, erupting into smoke and fire. The blast hits me, knocking me off my feet and throwing me into the side of the van where the women are. I vaguely hear their terrified screams as I fall to my hands and knees, the wind knocked out of my lungs.

Quickly, I try to recover and gather my wits. Glancing over at my men, I see that all of them are lying on the ground, but they all seem to be alive. My head is still spinning as I stand, and I quickly assess my body for damage. When I find no visible wounds, I run into the rubble that used to be the hospital. “Miner!” I call out, hoping to hear a response.

Someone follows behind me with a flashlight, the beam of light reflecting off the carnage. The three women are dead, their lifeless bodies covered in blood.

“Fuck,” I grind out.

I hear someone grunting in pain, and I turn to see Miner under some rubble, his legs pinned and his chest moving in a weird rhythm as he stares up at the ceiling with wide eyes.

Kneeling down by his side, he reaches out for me, and I grip his hand in mine, holding it tightly. “You’re gonna be okay,” I grind out, but even I know his chances of leaving this place are not good.

His breathing is ragged and panicked. I can see fear in his eyes for the first time ever. He was always so damn strong and confident. His brown eyes slowly find my face and momentarily focus. “Take care…of my mom,” he tells me as blood trickles from his mouth.

“I will,” I give him my word.

He takes one last long gasp, and then his eyes go unfocused, the life slowly filtering out of them, and I know he’s gone.

“Fuck,” I hiss out between clenched teeth before reluctantly releasing his hand. Even though I know they’re dead, I go to each of the women and check them for a pulse. I don’t find a single heartbeat.

I’m covered in my friend’s blood when I finally emerge from the hospital.

“Miner?” someone asks.

I shake my head solemnly. “Didn’t make it. Neither did the rest of the women.” I swallow hard. That is a jagged fucking pill to swallow. Not only did I lose my friend, but I also lost three innocent women I was in charge of protecting. They thought they were safe, and I let them down. They deserved so much better than this.

My hands curl into fists at my sides as I glance around, looking for one person in particular. And when my search comes up empty, I can feel my blood fucking boiling inside my veins. “Where is the man with the detonator?” I demand in a sneer.

“He escaped during the explosion,” one of my men tell me, unable to even look me in the fucking eye.

“Find him,” I tell several of the guards. “And don’t you dare fucking come back to the compound without him.”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

I get a few affirmative nods before four of them take off running behind the building and two get in vehicles, the tires squealing as they fly down the road.

I hear sirens in the distance, and I know we have to move. The women that survived are our only concern now. I can’t turn back time. I can’t take back what was. I can’t change anything. The only thing I can do now is move on and survive and make sure these women are okay.

We pack everything up and get in the van. I tell the driver, “Nearest hospital. Hurry!”

Once I make sure the women are safe at the hospital, then I’ll return home. I don’t know how to deal with what happened tonight. I’m so used to violence and death that it doesn’t affect me as it once did; but Miner was a close friend of mine, and those women were innocent. This means more to me. Their deaths require vengeance. And I want to be the grim fucking reaper that brings them justice.