“Keep going,” the detective says.
Fucking dick.
We resume the video and watch as the man opens the door to the container and practically throws Princess inside before shutting the door back. Holding back my outburst, I continue watching.
A few minutes later another car pulls behind the truck. It’s easy to tell who this is. Roman Hernández. He says something to the other man.
“What’s that bastard saying? Does this thing have sound?” I question.
“It’s video only,” Mr. Smythe says as he re-enters the room.
Hernández says something else and the first man goes to the trunk of the car. The trunk opens and the man reaches in and lifts out a limp Rose.
“Goddammit!” I shout.
They take her to the same container Princess was thrown into. As soon as the door opens Princess darts right past the man and runs right into Hernández. He lifts her up and both men take the women in the container and leave a few seconds later.
“So, we know they were here,” Hawk says. “Let’s keep watching and find out when they left.”
About an hour later, Hernández returns and enters where my girls are. A few minutes later, he exits with Rose and a scared Princess following behind and they all enter his car. What the fuck happened in there?
My phone buzzes in my pocket moments before the detective’s rings. Seeing that it’s Chains, I answer.
“Yeah.”
“Prez, we’ve been here at the Hernández estate for about thirty minutes now. We can’t get close enough to see anything, but we did just hear a fucking gun go off. We’re going in. Get here fast, brother.”
“Fuck, we’re about ten minutes away… We’ll be there in five.”
I hang up and run back to the detective’s car while explaining what the call was about. We all jump in and rush toward the estate going well over the speed limit.
A notch up for Detective Dick.
“Brother, I hate to say this, but you need to prepare for what we might find. We all need to prepare. They’ve been in his hands for almost ten hours now.”
I don’t say anything. The knot in my throat wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to. I nod my acknowledgment and prepare myself for what’s to come.
I do something that I don’t ever remember doing, even as a young boy. I pray.
‘Please Lord, let my girls be okay.’
***
We arrive at the Hernández estate roughly four and a half minutes later to Chains and his team seconds away from barging into the building.
“You got here just in time, brother. We’re just waiting for the all-clear from Detective Hudson,” Chains says.
Detective Dick walks up to us while shoving his phone back in his pocket. “I called for backup and an ambulance. Just in case,” he finishes when he sees my look.
His phone goes off. “Rick,” he answers. “What do you have for me, Hudson?”
“Alright, take your team and form a perimeter around the house, we’ll just simply go through the front door. Two minutes.”
“Alright,” he says as he turns his gaze on me. “Hudson has counted four men inside. Roman and his father being two of them. He hasn’t seen any signs of the women since he arrived, but that doesn’t really mean anything.”
“Hernández is desperate for Rose,” I growl out. “She won’t be far from his side.”
“Hudson and his team are on every possible exit,” the detective tells us. “I’ll go in first with the warrant. Can’t stress this enough, by the fucking book!!!!
“Buckle up boys,” Chains says with a sinister grin. “It’s ass-kicking time.”
We all quietly make our way down the driveway. I have a couple of my guys stay with the other detectives to watch the exits. It’s not that I don’t trust them, even though I don’t, but my woman’s life is on the line. By the books or not, I’m getting her back.
Chains and Brick go around to the back exits. Smart brothers.
On the detective’s mark, we burst through the door. It opens right into the living room where Hernández and his father are sitting on a couch.
“WHAT THE FUCK,” shouts Hernández as he reaches behind him and pulls out a handgun.
He aims right for me and pulls the trigger. Before the bullet can connect, I’m shoved out of the way and the bullet lodges itself into Rick’s shoulder.
Another notch up for the detective.
Trigger must see that Hernández is distracted by what just happened and he rushes forward, disarms him and shoves him down on the floor. At the same time, Ink does the same thing to Hernández’s father.
I glance over at the detective to make sure he’s still breathing before I jump up and head for Hernández.
“WHERE THE FUCK IS MY WOMAN?” I shout.
The sick fuck laughs and says, “You’ll never find her.”
Just then, a shot sounds out from somewhere in the house. I head toward the noise with the detective tight on my heels. We end up in a kitchen with a giant on the floor groaning.
“You shot me in the fucking ass. Damn, do you have no morals?” the man asks.
Looking over, I see Chains with a smirk on his face.
“Goddammit, Chains. What part of ‘by the book’ did you not get?” Detective Dick asks.
“Well, I did say freeze,” the smart-ass replies.
“Where is my woman?” I ask the man.
“I don’t fucking know who your woman is. Besides, there are no women in this house.”
Brick comes into the kitchen shoving a man at gunpoint.
“I give up,” the detective says, shaking his head.
“Hey, that’s the man from the surveillance footage,” Hawk says from behind me. “The one who had Princess in his truck.”
“Tell him what he wants to know,” Brick says to the man.
“Or what?” the man replies.
“Or I will pull every one of your mother fucking teeth out one by one,” Trigger says from the doorway.
The man goes pale before he stammers out, “The building behind the house.”
I don’t wait for anyone to respond. I run to the nearest exit and rush outside. I find the small building in the back corner of the back yard.
As soon as my hand is on the handle, I yank the door open. The room is eerily quiet and dark.
I’m feeling around the walls trying to find a light switch.
“Rose, baby, are you in here?”
No response. I don’t hear a single thing.
Finding a switch, I click it on, and the buildings single room lights up. What I see steals my breath and nearly brings me to my knees. Rose is chained up, hanging by her wrists from the ceiling and completely naked.
And, she’s not breathing.
“Holy fuck,” someone says from behind me.
“Help me get her down,” I tell anyone.
“Grab ahold of her body. Releasing the chain now.”
Rose’s limp body falls into my arms. She’s so cold. Her lips are blue, lifeless.
“Get that fucking ambulance here now,” someone shouts.
“There’s no pulse,” someone else shouts.