Fat Louise (8 page)

Raul gazed with admiration at the man, making Jane wonder if he were Raul’s uncle, Javier. He flicked his cigarette to the ground before stepping on it, continuing to the house where he paused to knock on the door.
 

A soldier opened it, standing back to let the men enter. As the door began to close, Jane prepared herself to make a run for the front of the house until a loud scream filled the night.
 

The door was thrown wide open, and a young woman ran out of the house with a terrified expression on her face.
 

Horrorstricken, Jane saw Raul come back outside, catching the woman halfway down the path by her hair flying out behind her before dragging her to a stop. Her screams intensified until Raul slapped her across the mouth several times, quieting the woman. Raul didn’t release the woman’s hair, using it to drag her back inside the house, instead. Then a soldier came out and closed the door behind him before standing guard.
 

Jane sank to her ass in defeat. She couldn’t go anywhere until the guard went back inside.
 

It wasn’t in her personality to stay quiet. Under normal circumstances, she would call the cops or her friends to get help. Here, the police didn’t help, her friends were nowhere near, and if she tried to take on the men alone, she would lose.
 

The men disgusted her, and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hide if she kept hearing the screams coming from inside the house.
 

Many, many times over the years, she had wished she had the personalities of her friends. They were all ball-busters, not afraid of anything, whereas she usually hid among them. They had protected her since she was a kid, and she had become used to it. Without them by her side,
she felt lost and alone. If Killyama was there, she would have raised the gun in her hand and shot the guard before saving the woman whose cries were breaking her heart.
 

When Raul finally opened the door again, his shirt had been removed and his pants were unbuttoned He said something to the guard, and then the two turned and entered the small house, closing the door behind them.
 

Jane’s heart accelerated. Now would be the perfect opportunity to slip away. She planned out in her head how she would sneak through the grounds parallel to the road. That’s when the screams from inside escalated.
 

She couldn’t stop herself from leaving her hiding place to steal across the yard until she was scrunched down next to the small house where she peered through a side window. Her hand pressed against her mouth to stifle her own scream of revulsion. Raul was standing over the helpless woman removing his pants, Jane saw more of her brother-in law than she ever wanted to see, he had a tattoo of two pistols framing his cock. Jane felt like scrubbing her eyeballs to remove the picture from her mind.
 

The pretty little house on the outside hid the ugliness within. It was one large room with several beds the men were making use of as they raped many women. The one Raul was raping must have been giving him too much trouble, because the guard was holding her down for him. The one Jane thought was Javier was standing, watching his men commit the atrocities against the helpless women.
 

Fuck it; she couldn’t watch any longer. Jane raised the gun, pointing it at Raul’s thrusting ass, when a hand covered her mouth, jerking her backward and dragging her away from the house. Terrified, she struggled to bring the gun up to shoot whoever was carrying her into the dark shadows.
 

“Stop fighting me,” Cade hissed. “I’m trying to save your ass.”
 

Tears of relief flooded her eyes. She had managed to escape herself, but it was nice not being alone.
 

“We have to go back and help them!” Jane whispered furiously.
 

“We can’t help them without getting ourselves killed.” Cade took her arm, leaving her no choice except to walk away from the house of horrors.
 

“I can’t leave them!”
 

“We have no choice. Do you see a
swat
team to back us up? Javier has turned his house into a military stronghold. I had to call in a favor or I would never have found this place.” Cade dropped her arm. "If you try to help them, you’ll get them killed. At least they stand a chance of surviving when he sells them.”
 

“He sells them?”
 

“Javier sells everything. He’d sell his own mother if he thought someone would buy her.”
 

“Where are we going?” Jane asked, hating herself for leaving those women behind.
 

“We’re going to get your sister and get the fuck out of here.”
 

Chapter 8
 

“She won’t want to leave. She’s completely blinded by Raul.”
 

“Then we’re going to enlighten her. I haven’t busted my ass for half a payday.”
 

Jane tried not to let his words bother her, but it stung being reminded the only reason he was there was for money.
 

“Do you always have to be such an ass?”
 

“Yeah.” He held up his hand, motioning for her to be quiet. “Follow my lead.”
 

Jane watched as he peeked around the corner then began to maneuver across the grounds. She followed on his heels, dodging into the shadows of trees and staying still until he moved again. She was relieved when they were behind the house Bailey had described as hers. They went to the back door where Cade knocked quietly.
 

“How do you know she’s alone?” Jane whispered.
 

“I scouted here first before I went to Javier’s house.”
 

He tapped on the door several times before Bailey appeared.
 

Her frightened eyes saw Cade first. When Jane could tell she was about to scream, she stepped out from behind Cade.
 

“Let us in, Bailey.”
 

Bailey’s eyes widened, opening the door wider yet blocking the doorway with her body.
 

“Jane, what are you doing here?” She didn’t try to lower her voice.
 

“Shh! Let us in.” Jane wanted to reach out and shake her sister when she hesitated, but then Bailey moved back, letting them walk inside.
 

“What are you doing here?” she repeated as soon as Jane and Cade were both inside. “Who
are you?” she asked Cade.
 

“I came to get you out!” Jane snapped. “He’s Cade. Dad sent him to help us.”
 

“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving my husband,” Bailey hissed.
 

Jane’s mouth dropped open. “You’re serious? You wrote Dad…” Jane had held out hope that her behavior at Javier’s house had been because they might have been overheard. It appeared her sister had been serious, though.
 

Bailey shrugged. “I was scared at first. Now, I’m not. Raul has assured me everyone is very friendly toward American women, and I’ve even made several friends,” she boasted.
 

“Are you fucking insane?” Jane was almost yelling at her sister then regretted her words. Bailey was difficult to deal with under normal circumstances, and she never liked to feel as if she was in the wrong.
 

“I’m not leaving. You both need to leave before Raul gets back and finds you here.”
 

“Fine. Let’s go,” Cade said, moving toward the door.
 

“I’m not leaving without Bailey,” Jane refused.
 

Turning back to her sister, she implored, “How can you want to stay here? Are you deaf as well as blind to what’s going on around here? They are hurting women!”
 

The screams from the women couldn’t be heard inside Bailey’s home, but sound traveled, and the men didn’t seem worried about quieting the women’s screams. The houses were close enough that Jane would bet Bailey had heard them before.
 

“Raul explained that to me. It’s their culture. They admire power, and violence here is an expected response to challenges of power.”
 

“The women they are holding hostage in that house aren’t challenging them. They just want to get away from their rapists.”
 

“They’re not raping them; their courting them.” Bailey waved her hand. “Raul explained it to me.”
 

Jane’s mouth dropped open. At that point, she almost left her sister. If not for her father and stepmother’s anguish, she would have.
 

“Those women are being raped! They are being used as sex slaves. No woman in their right mind would believe anything else.”
 

Bailey paled. “But Raul told me—”
 

“Is Raul courting another woman?” Jane interrupted. “Because I saw him go inside the house and rape a woman who barely looked eighteen.”
 

“You’re wrong. Raul wouldn’t have touched those women. Maybe he was trying to stop them.”
 

Jane shook her head. “No. I saw Raul drag one back who was trying to escape, and then he had a guard hold her down while he raped her. Believe me; I saw more of him than I wanted to. Does he really think a tattoo of two pistols framing his dick is sexy?”
 

Bailey sat down on one of the chairs at her kitchen table. “I need to think,” she whispered.
 

“There’s no time. We need to leave,” Cade said unsympathetically.
 

“Please, Bailey, come with us. You know you can’t stay here.” She saw from the expression on Bailey’s face that she didn’t want to leave her husband, despite knowing he was a rapist. “Dad said, if you don’t come back, he’s going to stop your allowance. Do you think Raul is going to want you without that ten thousand placed in your checking account every month?”
 

Jane knew she had her there. Bailey shakily stood up, and they followed her to her bedroom where she began gathering her things.
 

“We can’t take much,” Cade warned her.
 

Bailey dropped the few items she had gathered onto her bed. “Let’s go, then. You’re not leaving me a choice either way.”
 

Jane glared at her angrily before picking up a few of Bailey’s clothes, thrusting them into a small overnight bag. Then they went back through the kitchen.
 

“Wait,” Jane whispered, turning back to her sister.
 

“What?” Bailey asked.
 

“Do you have any candy bars?”
 

“Yes.”
 

“Get them and any other food you can.”
 

Bailey went to her cabinets. Several minutes later, she had placed a few items in a large cloth bag. She handed Jane the bag as they went out the door.
 

“You’re worried about a candy bar? I know you’re a food addict, but you’re freaking crazy.” Bailey threw her a scornful look which Jane ignored, holding the food items close to her chest.
 

“How are we going to get out of here?” Jane asked Cade, who was staring at both sisters contemptuously.
 

“I have a truck parked up ahead. I want to get as far away as we can before daylight.”
 

“You two go ahead. Show me the direction you’re headed, and I’ll catch up,” Jane told him.
 

“What? Where do you think you’re going?” Cade shifted his body closer to her.
 

“I’m going to release those women then catch up to you.”
 

“No, you’re not,” Cade informed her. “There’s no way you will be able to catch up to us.”
 

“I will.” Jane firmly took a step away from him. “I’m not leaving them behind. I’ll catch up.” She opened the palm of her hand, showing the key’s to Raul’s SUV that she had stolen from Bailey’s kitchen counter. She had seen the vehicle parked in the driveway.
 

“Look, I feel bad for them, too. But it’s either them or us.” Cade tried to sway her, but self-preservation had never been her strongest personality trait.
 

She took another step back. “I won’t leave them.”
 

“Dammit to hell. You’re going to get them and us killed.”
 

“I think they would prefer death to what they’re going through now,” Jane said sadly. “I’m sorry. You two go.”
 

“Fuck.” Cade pointed to a palm tree. “Bailey, go hide over there. We’ll be back in ten minutes.”
 

“Wait, you can’t leave me alone,” she wailed.
 

“Go!” Cade ordered.
 

Her sister fled at the cold hostility in his voice.
 

“Let’s do this.” He moved off into the darkness, and she followed, carefully trying to be as quiet as he was.
 

He stopped not far from where the guard was once again positioned in front of the small house. Another soldier had appeared since they had left, probably changing shifts.
 

“Stay here,” he ordered before stealthily moving closer to the men who weren’t paying attention as they talked to each other.
 

A sharp sound of something thrown had both men turning, leaving Cade the perfect opening to jump them from behind. He stabbed one in the back, bringing him down, before struggling with the other one for his rifle. Using the rifle strap, he strangled the soldier.
 

Jane bit back her scream of protest, reason telling her it was either the guards or the women. It was a no-brainer.
 

Jane ran forward when Cade motioned for her after looking through the window. He hid the
soldiers at the side of the house while Jane slowly opened the door.
 

The large room held five women who started to scream when they saw her enter, but Jane spoke to them softly in Spanish to make them understand she was there to help them.