Warriors in Paradise (34 page)

“Terry, please go to the stairs without looking back and walk down the stairs to your father.”

Terry did not move.

“Oh, fuck.” I thought. “What now? What am I going to do if he goes ballistic?”

“Terry, please go down to your father.” I prompted him.

Terry paused before saying, “I imagine I will not see you again, will I? No, I guess I won’t,” he added, answering his own question. “Anyway, thank you for taking care of me and for being nice, even though you drugged me, kidnapped me and stuck me in a nasty little room.”

“Terry, you are a beautiful boy with a bright future. Sorry you had to go through this, but rest assured that your sacrifice was worth the cost. No, you will probably not see me again.

“Now, please go down to your father, and don’t look back or up. Good-bye, Terry.”

“Good-bye, Rocco. I think I am in love with you, you big, beautiful queen.” He stood up and walked toward the stairs.

I started breathing easily again.

The five girls arrived at the second floor landing just as a big redneck with a baseball cap and a ponytail walked by. Instead of walking toward the north side where the waiter was waiting, the girls disappeared into a passageway between two shops.

Santi slowly moved back and faded into one of the other passageways. When I was sure that Rupert and his men were following Terry’s progress down the stairs, I slid back into one of the passageways. Neither Rupert nor his men had noticed me.

As soon as Terry came down the stairs and Rupert had hold of him, he started walking to the exit while saying into his phone, “Green light, green light, go ahead!”

Several men with earbuds rushed into the Torpedo Factory simultaneously, some of them racing to the second floor. They went into the passageways and looked inside the shops. A couple of men stayed outside, watching the entrances and exits to the Torpedo Factory.

Pattinson’s men were closely scrutinizing people, especially women, as they left. Nobody paid much attention to a team of seven athletes dressed in the same warm-up suits, with stylish Afros, as they walked out of the Factory to their waiting team van.

Soon after, a large redneck and a muscular Latino walked out and around the building.

Rupert’s men made a nuisance of themselves until closing time by searching everywhere. The five girls and the waiter had simply vanished into thin air.

Rupert was extremely angry and frustrated with his men, but at the same time, he was elated that he had his son back.

Pattinson was not a man who dwelled in the past. He learned from past mistakes and moved on. He acknowledged that he had lost the girls and that he did not know the identity of the kidnappers. Fine. “A battle lost yesterday is a war won tomorrow.”

Pattinson knew that he had to be very careful. He now had to prepare himself for tonight’s dinner and auction. Nobody in the Corporation knew about this, and he intended to keep it that way. Their attention would be focused on the mystery surrounding Alexander Coombs’s suicide, Nancy Smith’s heart attack, and Nicanor Toro’s death. They needed to rebuild their Latin American network. He wondered about who was going to be his next supplier of girls from the American continent.

Getting together

“Where’s Charlie?” asked Juliette.

“Behind us. You will see him soon,” I answered as I removed my enormous Afro wig. “Hello, Camille, Juliette…and how are my gorgeous Russian girls?”

The five girls looked at me and suddenly shouted excitedly, “Oh my god, I couldn’t recognize you! Is it really you, Caleb?”

Camille jumped into my arms and kissed me hard. Juliette and the Russian girls were shouting, “We are so happy to see you! We thought you were dead! Thank you for coming to our rescue! It was awful! We couldn’t call anybody! Where is Santi? Where is Valentina? Where are we going?” And so on and so forth. All of them were crying and talking at the same time, throwing their arms around me, hugging and kissing me.

“Hello, Juliette,” said Miranda. “I am Charlie’s mother.”

Juliette threw her arms around Miranda’s neck, hugged her hard, and cried louder. She could not speak.

It was an emotionally charged moment. Even Miranda started crying. Though Jonathan was swallowing hard, he kept his eyes on the road and his emotions in check.

After ten minutes, I raised my voice while holding Camille and said, “It is great to see you all and to see you well. Later we will have time to talk about what happened and answer all of your questions. But now, I need your attention.”

I waited until everybody had calmed down and I had their full attention.

I said, “We are going to a safe place, where we can talk and decide what to do next. Charlie and Santi are well. You will see them soon. Valentina is in the hospital in Acapulco. She is expected to have a full recovery. You need to contact your families to tell them that you are OK, but before you do that, we have to talk and decide what to say and what to do. Do you agree?”

They all answered emphatically, “Yes, yes, yes.”

“By the way, the man driving the van is Jonathan, Miranda’s brother and Charlie’s uncle.”

Juliette stood up and threw her arms around Jonathan and started crying again.

I said, chuckling, “Juliette, please don’t choke him now. We need him to drive us to the hotel. After that, you can choke him all you want.”

Reluctantly, she let go of him after planting a big wet kiss on the back of his head.

A couple of minutes later, we were pulling into the Red Barn Motel on Route 50.

I said, “We have booked four rooms. One is a triple.” I gave a key to one of the Russian girls. “One is a double with two individual beds.” I gave that key to Juliette. “The two rooms in between yours are where we will be staying and where we will have our meetings.”

***

Charlie and Santi arrived in the Camry minutes later. Charlie walked toward our room and into the arms of Juliette. Santi looked a little sad.

Everything started again—the crying, the hugging, and the kissing.

Half an hour later, after everybody had regained a measure of composure, we met in one of the rooms.

We told them an edited version of what had happened at the yacht party, about waking up on the beach, and about Nicanor Toro, Nina Scott, and Aaron Carson. We told them a little about the auctions and the type of men who participated. We answered their questions, being careful not to mention specific names or places. We were dealing with the most powerful men in the world. We had to be cautious, for the girls’ sakes and ours.

We told them to call their families and tell them that they were OK. The families must be worried sick not knowing what had happened to them.

We told them to be wary of what they said on an open line. We asked them to come back after calling their families so we could discuss what we should do next.

The Russian girls left for their room. Charlie and Juliette went to the other room. I stayed with Camille in my room. After Camille called her family, she took some time to comfort me, and I took some time to comfort her back. Miranda, Jonathan, and Santi went to Dolly’s Diner for coffee.

The plan had worked! We were back together, although I wasn’t sure how close together.

Part 4 – The Three Amigos

Chapter 12: Parting Ways

The girls tell their story

T
he experience had changed them all. They were not the same individuals who had gone to the Independence Day party just a couple of days ago.

After the girls called home and cleaned themselves, they got together in Santi’s room. Miranda asked them what had happened after the Independence Day party in Acapulco.

Juliette said, “I remember going in a speedboat from Santi’s house to the yacht, greeting Nina Scott, and meeting Nicanor Toro, Aaron Carson, and Christian Millán. I remember we wanted to leave, and the Russian girls asked us if they could come with us. After that, everything is fuzzy.

“I remember waking up the next day and then being taken to what seemed like a military airport and flown out of Mexico. During the flight, I was given a tranquilizer, because the next thing I remember is waking up in a little room by myself. I started shouting, and a woman came in, slapped me, and told me to shut the fuck up. She explained the rules. I would be permitted to use the bathroom once a day. I would be given three meals a day. I would be allowed twenty minutes of exercise a day.

“Every day, I was sedated.

“We were kept apart. I had not seen Camille or our Russian friends until this afternoon, when we were taken in an SUV to meet you.

“I started coming out of the drug-induced stupor while we were driving with you in the van. I still don’t feel that I am back to 100 percent normal. What is keeping me awake is that I am so happy and excited that I’m away from that awful place, that I am back with Camille, Charlie, and you, and that I just talked to my parents. That is what is keeping me alert, but my body is still asking me to lie down and sleep.”

Camille and the Russian girls told a similar story. They were still under the effects of the sedatives. The effects would soon wear off. All they needed was a good, healthy meal and a long, uninterrupted, recuperative, and relaxing sleep.

***

Miranda asked the girls, “Would you like to go out for dinner, or would you like to order in?”

All the girls wanted to do was to sleep, so they decided to order in.

Santi said with his Mexican wit, “What should we order, and from whom? We have the following fast food choices: Mierdonald’s, Mugrer King, and Kentucky Fried Shit.”

Charlie said, “Ha, ha, ha…I agree with Santi. I know that you’re tired and only want to lie down and sleep, but I suggest we walk up to Dolly’s Diner next to the motel and have a salad or whatever you like before you go to sleep. You need a good meal to fully recuperate.”

The girls reluctantly accepted Charlie’s suggestion, and they all marched down to Dolly’s Diner. The girls ordered basic, nutritious food and ate silently.

After eating, the group walked back to the motel. Caleb asked Camille if she wanted company. She told him she was very tired and would rather sleep alone. He said fine, although he was hurt a little by the rejection. The same thing happened to Charlie.

Santi called Mexico. He was unable to talk to Valentina. They all spent the night at the motel.

Parting ways

Charlie, Santi, and Caleb were up at daybreak. The others were still in their rooms. The three of them did some stretching and exercised for half an hour. They showered and got dressed.

Miranda and Jonathan were up. Santi knocked on the Russian girls’ room.

At 8:30 a.m., they were having breakfast at Dolly’s Diner.

Miranda asked Juliette and Camille, “Have you decided what you want to do?”

Juliette responded, looking at Charlie, “Yes, I would like to fly back to Toronto. I want to see my family as soon as possible. Camille and I have already called the airlines, and there is a flight leaving Dulles Airport at twelve noon. Fortunately, Charlie and Caleb brought our travel documents, plane tickets, and valuables. We can leave without any problem. Is that OK with you?”

Charlie said, “I would like you to stay here so we can be together a little while longer, but if you want to go, I understand. I’ll miss you, but I respect your decision.”

“What about you?” Caleb probed Camille.

She responded, “I would also like to go.”

“Yes, of course. I would also like you to stay a little bit longer, but I understand if you decide to go today.”

Miranda looked at the Russian girls and asked, “What about you? What would you like to do?”

One of the Russian girls responded, “We need to go to the Russian consulate and ask for replacement passports. The problem is that we don’t have any ID, so first we need to ask our family in Moscow to send us some so that we can apply for our new passports here in Washington, DC. We’re also going to have to ask our parents for money to pay for the new passports and plane tickets to travel back to Russia.”

Jonathan said, “Where are you documents and plane tickets?”

“They’re back at the hotel in Acapulco.”

Jonathan said, “Three Russian girls without travel documents—leaving from Washington, DC without any record of entry into the United States—is going to raise several red flags. The people from the Corporation would soon find out, a risk we certainly want to avoid. Perhaps it would be better if we take you back to Mexico so you can get your travel documents and plane tickets and fly back to Russia from Acapulco.”

“And how are we going to do that? They will ask for our passports on leaving the United States and entering Mexico.”

Jonathan said, “Don’t worry. We have the means to take you to Acapulco without any problems with the American or the Mexican authorities.”

“Well, if you can do that, it would be the best solution. How soon could we go with you to Mexico? We would like to fly back to Moscow and see our families as soon as possible.”