“Is your boss, Mr. Finch, in there?”
He stares at me, eyes filled with fear and saliva running down his chin.
“I’m only interested in your boss, Billy. Answer me and I’ll let you go. Blink once for no and twice for yes.”
He blinks twice.
“Good. Now I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Billy.” I squeeze harder, until he gags and tears leak from the corners of his eyes. “I’m a liar.”
I slice his throat and keep hold of his jaw while the blood and the life drains out of him, and then I gently lower him to the floor. When I’m sure he’s dead, I turn my attention to the girl on the bed. She’s conscious but staring into space. Almost like she’s catatonic. Her dark hair is matted with bodily fluids, her naked body covered in sores and burns and welts. I’d say she was around the same age as Imogen.
Suddenly, indescribable rage is burning through every sinew of my body. Not just for what this poor girl has endured, but because it makes me think of the fate that could have been my girl’s too. I wish I could revive Billy and kill him again, slowly and painfully, but my priority is getting this girl out of here.
I drop my backpack onto the floor and pull out the T-shirtand leggings Edgar provided. Then I gently perch myself on the very edge of the bed, so I’m nowhere close to touching her. “Hey,” I say gently. “I’m going to get you out of here. You want to get out of here?”
To my relief, she turns and blinks at me. At first sight, I’m scary to most people with my mask and tattoos, but I suspect she’s seen and been subjected to horrors much worse than me. It breaks my fucking heart that I didn’t get to her sooner. I should have shut down that fucking auction and got every single one of those girls out of there. I have no idea how I’d have done that, but I should have at least fucking tried. Yet always I’m driven by my need for revenge against the Brotherhood. Shutting down one auction wouldn’t solve the long-term problem of eradicating their evil from the world, and it would also likely get me killed.
“They won’t let me leave,” she says, her voice cracked and raw.
“I know. But that’s why I’m here.”
“A-are you real?” she whispers, her fingers gently reaching out to me, like she’s grasping at a mirage.
I allow her fingertips to brush over my mask. “Yeah, I’m real.” I leave the clothes next to her. “Put these on and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“No,” she croaks. “If you’re really here to get me out, you can’t leave me.”
“I’ll just be—”
“No!” She grabs hold of my forearm. “Please don’t leave me. I’d rather die than stay here.”
I know she means that, and so I reluctantly agree, turning my back while she dresses. She does so more quickly than I expected, no doubt thanks to the adrenaline coursing through her and giving her a much-needed burst of energy.
She kicks Billy in the face as she passes him and I smirk behind my mask. “What’s your name?” I ask her.
“Leah. Yours?”
I ignore her question. “Let’s go, Leah. Do whatever I tell you to, okay?”
She nods to the guns draped over my chest. “Can I have one of those?”
“Have you ever used one?”
“Used my daddy’s shotgun once. Can’t be all that different.”
I scrutinize her face, trying to get a read on her. Is she going to fucking shoot me? Does she believe I’m like one of the monsters outside?
“What if something happens to you? I really need to get out of here, mister. Please?” I can’t ignore the desperate plea to her voice or the haunted look in her eyes.
“Fine. Don’t shoot it unless you absolutely have to, okay?”
She nods, licking some dried blood from her lip.
I pass her a gun and she holds it like she’s used one before. That puts me on edge, but I don’t have time to change my mind now. If she didn’t remind me so much of Imogen, I’d have told her she’d have to trust me instead of handing her a fucking gun. “I’m going to go next door and deal with the four sick fucks in there. You wait outside for me, okay?”
She nods.
I open the door a crack and find the hallway clear, so I signal her to follow. The floorboards creak and I wince. Her breathing gets heavy real fast. She stumbles into me and then gasps loudly. The door opens and one of the men steps out. I grab him quickly, slicing my blade through his neck. Leah screams. The other three come rushing out of the room and she opens fire, bullets zipping through the open doorway. She takes two of them out but the third ducks to the floor and aims a gun at her. I crush his skull with my boot before he can fire off a round.
