He leaned into my ear, "Look straight ahead at the door and make it a face of terror."
I nodded, quivering my lips slightly.
"Your friends should be here by now. I will leave you in the room upstairs, kill the man who comes in the room. I know you took the second knife from the other couch, use that. Make it silent."
I sniffled, "Please, don’t do this. Please. I won't tell anyone."
He spoke louder, "I won't speak of this again. I will just take you right here and right now. Do you want that? Do you want me to f**k you in a filthy elevator?"
I shook my head. Even my va**na was contemplating never opening back up for business. The fact it was a human-trafficking brothel was killing my severe attraction to bad guy Servario.
He shook me once, and as the elevator doors opened, he shoved me out into the hallway. He opened a door and pushed me inside. He closed the door slowly and leaned against it.
"Time to learn to deep throat." My eyes went wide but he nodded, "Hurry up."
I crawled over to where he was, catching a glimpse of the camera behind him. The rooms were taped.
He chuckled but I could hear the deceptive tone within the laugh, "Maybe if you're really lucky, you'll end up in one of the movies they make here. Hopefully not the darker stuff though."
I gagged and crawled to him. He undid his pants and leaned against the door. The camera above him didn’t look like it could catch us at the angle we were at, and he seemed to be a master of keeping his head down. I pulled his pants open all the way and fished in his underwear for his cock. I looked up at him, "Please, don’t make me do this."
He slapped my face lightly, "Think of it as a nice going away present."
I started to cry and grabbed hold of his cock. It was nearly inverted. I had never seen it so small. He was not turned on. He had done it to show me the cameras and the angle at which I had to do everything. I buried my face into his groin, savoring the scent of his musk and cologne. He was like an angel amongst the hellish place we were. If I closed my eyes, we were in a hotel room somewhere nice, and I was being punished for not doing something right, but it was a joke and I was letting him boss me around. I tried to get his c*ck near my mouth but he slapped me and shoved me off of him, "You stink and your swollen face makes me sick." He did his pants up and stormed from the room. I got up and looked around. It was a small room with a bed on the wall opposite the door. Optimum viewing area.
I held myself and started rocking back and forth on the bed. The camera remained in my peripheral the entire time. The room was beyond shabby, it was more of a cell. The bed was dirty and soft, and the shabby blue bedspread looked like it had either never been washed or overly washed and was threadbare.
I waited for it to happen, for the man to come into the room. Would he be the leader of MI6 or would he just be some pervert who broke in the new girls? Either way, he was dead as soon as he got the door open.
I sat, staring and rocking for so long that I started to get tired. My adrenaline was gone.
I started making designs in the carpet and plotting my escape for when no one came. The man didn’t want to break me in, he wasn’t interested in a dirty, used up woman. He liked fresh and young things.
The doorknob rattled as I was blinking and letting my eyes stay shut for five seconds at a time. The turning of the knob had me wide-awake instantly.
I braced myself for what I would do.
A slight man with a dark suit and smooth grey hair pulled back into a ponytail entered the room. He had a grey mustache but kept his gaze low. I leapt at him, begging on my knees and preparing to stab when I saw something I hadn’t been prepared for.
I looked into the eyes of my mother and stammered, "P-p-p-please, sir. Don’t make me do this. Please."
She winked and opened the door, backing out but looking both ways down the hall. I crawled out, following her steps exactly.
I didn’t feel relief seeing her. I felt fear like I never had. Where were my kids?
The fear only lasted a second. A man came up the stairs, not paying much attention. Mom lifted her hand and down he went. I didn’t even see the weapon. She ran from room to room, moving as if it were a dance. I assumed she was avoiding the cameras. She moved like a ninja, light and agile. She held double swords in her hands, very thin and shiny blades. She kept them tucked up into her arms with her wrists at an odd angle, until it was time to strike. Only then could you see the lightening speed with which she could kill.
In each room she went into, men dropped to their knees, and then face-planted into the nasty carpet. Girls shouted, covering themselves. Other men died on their bellies with girls screaming below them, pressed into the mattress by a dead man. Mom never gave thought to the girls. She was a true assassin.
I followed her down the stairs, holding my little knife and realizing how amazing she really was and how lame I actually was.
She killed two men on the stairs, dodging a bullet from a man below in the lobby and throwing one sword. It pierced a man's chest.
It was like watching Kill Bill. My mom was badass.
She grabbed the sword, pointing it at the sleazy man at the front desk when we got into the lobby, "You were warned."
His eyes were wide, like he was face to face with the devil himself. He shook his head, "I had no choice. You know I had no choice."
She lunged once, slicing him from throat to groin. I gagged as he spilled out onto the carpet and slumped over.
I turned to see the blonde smiling at Mom. She winked at me, "’Bout time, Evie."
She had a British accent and a sheen to her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Mom nodded, "Get your shit, Elise." She turned to me, pulling the mustache off of her upper lip, "Are you okay?"
I nodded, "Mom?" Tears filled my eyes, "You came."
She smiled, "Darling, of course I came. I've been here all along. The minute you and Jack phoned my cell phone, I knew what Servario was going after. I knew he would risk you to get it." I could see the heartbreak on her face, "He is the best of the best, my dear girl, but I don’t give a flying f**k about the rest of the world. I won't have you risked."
"Where are the kids?"
She nodded upwards, "With Fitz, where else would they be?"
I shook my head, "I don’t know. They're safe?"
She laughed, "Safer than you. Now move your ass and act like you have a brain. Grab the guns from behind the counter. Servario is in a meeting room on the second floor. You go there and Elise and I will get the party started down here. Don’t fire the first shot until you hear the blasts."
I didn’t know what that meant but she snapped her fingers, "GO!"
I jumped and ran around the desk to the stash of guns. I grabbed two SIGs, an MP7, and the magazines. I stuffed my pockets and waistbands. I walked back up the stairs. My heart was racing but my body was ready.
I held the two SIGs in my hands, ready to start the fireworks. The second floor was empty of guest rooms. There was a dining room that looked like it hadn’t been used in years, decades even. I assumed it was the epicenter of the smell of the wretchedness in the hotel. It had a dank and nasty feel to it.
I crossed the large room, past the old tables and chairs. A rat crossed my path. I almost shot it but decided to just walk faster. The shot wouldn’t help me out. I shuddered as I made it into the next area. It was like a boardroom maybe. I could see a large table and other chairs but no one was in there. I crossed through into a new hallway. A man was standing guard at a door, similar to the one I had just passed. He gave me a sideways look, "Who are you?"
I nodded, "Your relief."
He almost nodded but he stopped himself. He lifted his gun, also an MP7, "Wait."
I sighed, "There is some shit storm downstairs. Some guy came—they said it would be better if you helped them and I came up here."
He looked ready to shoot me but the first blast shook the hotel. I took the moment he was looking around, trying to steady himself from the earthquake feeling, to fire my shot. I was back to sharp-shooter Evie. I almost felt proud, but I didn’t have time. The door at the end of the hallway opened. I smiled instantly as I saw Coop running down the hall. He nodded at me as I pointed at the door next to me. Before we could speak, the door opened and a huge man came rushing out, "What was that?"
I shook my head, "Earthquake, I think."
He frowned, "Who are you?" I never heard the shot, but the man dropped and suddenly I could see Coop again. He nodded at the door. We slipped inside to find a suite of sorts. It was massive, still shitty and old. It smelled like food and sex. I almost gagged but my heart was in my throat.
Voices were coming from the room off of the back of that one. I could make out Servario and an Englishman who spoke, "Servario, I think it's safe to say we're under fire, leave before you are seen. I'm going out the back now. You can come with me through the tunnels, but we will run an awfully big risk being seen together at the end of the tunnel."
Servario laughed, "I'm not leaving until I get what I came for. You have the thing you wanted; we both know her parents will come for her. That might even be them downstairs now. If it is, you're in over your head. Now I want the information you have on the Burrow."
The other man sounded panicked, "Gustavo, you and I both know, I have bullshit information. Now I need to get out of here."
"I don’t believe you, Anderson. I want the information. I got rid of Mary and James. I cleaned up all my messes that were your messes really, weren’t they? James was your son, wasn’t he?"
I looked back at Coop. He scowled and I shook my head, mouthing, "I'll explain later."
He nodded, "Okay. Are you alright?"
I nodded. It was a lie, but I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself.
Servario opened the door, "We aren’t going anywhere, Anderson. Your supper is here early." He smiled at Coop and I, "Come on in."
An older man with grey hair with steely-blue eyes snarled, "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"