Hope (7 page)

Karen and Natalie had also heard the Suburban and came outside.

“Is it Carlos?” Natalie asked.

“Stay put. I don’t know for sure,” Neal said, stepping off the steps and slowly advancing towards the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The driver’s door opened up.

Neal looked through his sights and placed his index finger on the trigger.

Carlos emerged, but something was wrong.

Seeing Carlos, Neal lowered the rifle and raced towards him.

Carlos raised his hand, smiled and said, “I told you.” He lowered his arm then fell hard to his knees.

Natalie screamed and bolted towards Carlos with Karen just behind her.

Neal reached Carlos just before he fell over. “I got you, buddy.”

“I told you, I fucking told you,” Carlos said proudly.

Neal’s hand felt warm and wet. He looked down and saw it was red with blood. “You’re hurt.”

Carlos coughed and replied, “Um, yeah, I got shot.”

Natalie fell to her knees and began kissing Carlos on the forehead. “You stupid, stupid man, why, why?”

“I’m good, baby,” Carlos said. By his temperament, he wasn’t feeling too much pain and was actually quite happy about his success.

“Let’s take you inside and get you patched up,” Neal said, bringing Carlos to his feet. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah, let me just hold on to you,” Carlos answered.

With Carlos clinging to him, Neal slowly walked inside Carlos’ house and towards the spare bedroom in the back of the house.

Natalie frantically cleared the spare bed. “Put him right here.”

Neal put him in the bed and asked, “Where are you hurt?”

“My left side, just above my hip,” Carlos replied, pulling at his shirt.

The T-shirt Carlos was wearing was soaked with blood. Neal pulled it up and easily found the bullet wound. He examined it and said, “Clean shot, in and out, looks like it just went through some muscle. You’re one lucky son of a bitch.”

Carlos chuckled and said, “I’ll tell you what, it didn’t hurt at first, but once my adrenaline wore off it hurt real bad. Thank God I had that syringe of morphine.”

“You shot up morphine?” Neal asked as he cleaned the wound with a clean cloth.

Karen suddenly appeared with the trauma kit. “Here, you’ll need this.”

Carlos ignored Karen and answered Neal’s question, “Yeah, remember we found them months ago?”

“I remember,” Neal said, his full attention on the wound.

“Well, they came in handy. I only used a quarter of the syringe. That shit works great, I can see how people can get addicted.”

With the wound completely clean, Neal got an even better look. His previous assessment proved accurate. The bullet had traveled from his lower back straight through and out the front; the damage was limited to tissue only.

“Where’s the Lincoln?” Neal asked.

“I hid it over at the strip mall,” Carlos said, referring to the small strip mall where they had parked the day before.

“Well, when you’re healed up, we’ll go get it.”

Carlos grabbed Neal’s forearm and squeezed. “I told you, I told you I’d get the fucking truck, I fucking told you.”

With a half grin, Neal said, “You were right, you got it. I just hope you’re right in the end.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Carlos asked, grimacing.

“I just hope you’re right and this doesn’t come back to haunt us.”

“While it is important for people to see your promise you must also remember that hope is the keeper of both happiness and disappointment, the father of both progress and failure.”
– Bryant H. McGill

Guatay, CA

Charlotte looked up at the deep blue sky. It was so good to see it. The fresh air added to the rare experience and brought a smile to her face.

Hope ran up holding a teddy bear. “Look what Drew gave me. Isn’t he cute? I think I’ll call him Cuddles.”

“Cute,” Charlotte said smugly.

It had been a couple days since Hope and she had been reunited. No word had come about their being sold, but knowing it was still unresolved hung over Charlotte like a dark cloud.

Hope’s sense of perspective seemed to be short as she settled in more and more. It helped that Drew kept showing up with gifts, sweets, and what could only be described as tenderness in his approach to them.

After enjoying her respite from the dark room, Charlotte began to assess where she was. She turned around and looked at the building she and Hope had called home and noticed it was a large metal barn. To either side of it sat two smaller structures made from the same material. Across from the barn, a large two-story house sat surrounded by large pine trees. To the left of it sat a large detached six-bay garage. Men came and went from the garage and house. She counted eleven men, none of whom she recalled seeing before. To the left of the garage a long and narrow gravel driveway winded down towards a massive metal gate and was guarded by two armed men. That brought the number to thirteen and didn’t count Drew and Tony. From the gate she took note of the tall chain-link fence that extended out from either side. She followed one side and saw it disappeared behind a hillside; she followed the other side until it too vanished. Behind the barn a large tree-covered rocky hill towered over them. She couldn’t see any other house or building outside the fence line.

“Girls!” Drew hollered as he exited the house, his arms high in the air.

“Hi, Drew!” Hope replied.

Charlotte nudged Hope out of irritation. How could she respond to him so happily? It was as if she had forgotten everything that had happened.

Drew strutted over and gave Hope a hug. “How’s my little friend doing?”

“Good,” Hope answered.

“And you, how’s the big sister today?” Drew asked.

Charlotte was stubborn and decided to ignore him.

He smiled and said, “You’re a tough nut to crack, aren’t you?”

Charlotte cocked her head and smirked. “Are you serious?”

“I’m doing my best; plus I have some good news and some bad news,” Drew said.

Hope cradled her teddy bear and began to play make-believe with it.

“So which is it first?”

“You’re gross,” Charlotte shot back.

“Since you’re in a sour mood, I’ll go with the bad news. You both are stuck with me.”

Charlotte folded her arms, disgusted by Drew and his attempt to be fun. Her only reply to him was a rolling of her eyes.

“Now for the good news.”

“Yeah, I like good news,” Hope said to Cuddles.

“Hope, you have a positive attitude; you’re going to go far,” Drew said, patting Hope on the top of her head.

“She’s a six-year-old, what do you expect?” Charlotte barked.

“I’m six and a half,” Hope said.

“Whatever,” Charlotte grumbled.

“Charlotte, I know you’re upset. You have every right to be angry, but your situation is your situation. I can only tell you to make the most of it.”

“How am I to make the most of it? My life sucks! My mom is missing, you killed my dad, and we’re to be sold off as fucking slaves.”

Hope’s eyes grew as big as saucers.

Drew planted his hands on his hips. He wanted to counter her anger, but he knew she needed to vent.

“Tell me, please tell me how I’m supposed to make the most of this shit show?”

“You said another bad word,” Hope said, astonished. She hadn’t heard Charlotte speak this way before.

“Oh, shut up and play with your teddy bear,” Charlotte barked. She turned and headed towards a bench she had seen earlier next to a grouping of trees.

“C’mon, I have some good news,” Drew shouted.

Ignoring him, she treaded on.

Drew wanted to tell her and wasn’t giving up that easy. “Hey, walk with me so I can tell your sister the good news,” he said to Hope. He held out his hand, but Hope just stared. She had been accepting of his help, but here is where she drew the line. Seeing that she wasn’t going to take his hand, he awkwardly retracted it and again asked, “You want to hear the good news?”

Hope nodded.

“Then follow me,” Drew said and marched towards Charlotte.

“Leave me alone,” Charlotte barked, glaring intensely at Drew.

“I need to tell you something important,” Drew insisted.

Laughter erupted from a small group of men that had gathered near the garage.

Charlotte and Drew looked and saw them pointing at them.

“What are they laughing at?” Charlotte asked.

“It’s nothing. Ignore them,” Drew said.

Charlotte had given up on being nice. If she was going to be sold off, she just didn’t care anymore. She lifted her hand and raised her middle finger at them.

Seeing her response, the men roared even louder with laughter.

“Put your hand down,” Drew ordered.

Hope shuffled over and sat next to Charlotte on the old wooden bench.

“Christ, between you and those idiots over there, it’s impossible for me to tell you that I secured your freedom.”

Charlotte’s face instantly changed from anger to shock. “What?”

“That’s the good news. You won’t be sold.”

“You’re letting us go?” Charlotte asked.

“We can go home now?” Hope asked.

“No, you can’t; that was the bad news,” Drew said. His face twisted as he thought about the best way to tell them the next bit.

“You said the bad news was we were stuck with you. What does that mean?” Charlotte asked.

“I did everything I could, I talked Tony’s ear off, but he wouldn’t budge. He’s a good guy, well, maybe not a good guy, but he does have a heart in some ways. Anyway, he looks at you guys as a business transaction, nothing more, so I couldn’t persuade him with sympathy, so I had to buy you.”

“What?” Charlotte snapped. Her mouth gaped open.

“There wasn’t any other way. He wouldn’t let you go unless I paid the amount he was seeking from the slavers,” Drew said.

“I don’t understand, what does that mean? You own us?” Charlotte asked, her face flush with anger.

“Technically yes, but I won’t do anything to hurt you, I swear,” Drew insisted.

“I want to go home,” Hope said.

“You’re crazy. You’re all crazy, cruel and mean,” Charlotte yelled.

The men again roared with laughter and began to mock Drew.

“Fuck off!” Drew hollered then turned his attention back to the girls. “You need to know that after everything blows over, I intend on letting you go home, but right now it’s too dangerous out there.”

“We were fine until you showed up,” Charlotte said.

“If it wasn’t us, it was bound to be someone else,” Drew replied.

“That’s not true and you know it. If you care about us, then you’ll return us home,” Charlotte barked.

The group of men had grown, and the larger they got, the louder they became, their laughter echoing off the buildings.

Drew’s patience with Charlotte was running thin. It didn’t help that he was also being ridiculed. Frustrated by the cackles and howls, he turned and again blasted them, “Shut the fuck up!”

“No, fuck you!” one man yelled back.

“No, fuck you,” Drew yelled.

The man broke from the group and began to briskly march towards them. He was large, standing around six foot five. His arms were massive, like legs sticking out of his torso. The bright sun glimmered off his smooth bald head.

Drew turned to confront him but was clearly unnerved by his approach. “Charlie, back the fuck off.”

“No, fuck you, you little mouthy bitch,” Charlie hollered as he closed in on Drew and the girls.

Hope slid close to Charlotte and hid her face.

Charlie walked to within mere inches of Drew’s face and stared down. “You think just because the boss has you doing his errands that you’re something special. Let me give you the four-one-one, motherfucker, you’re not special. The boys think you’re a bitch and you need to be taught a lesson.”

“Just step back before something happens that you regret,” Drew declared, standing his ground. His heart raced with anticipation of a fight he would surely lose.

“Me and the boys think I should kick your ass then take that pretty little tweenie there and teach her the benefits of womanhood.”

“You have three seconds to back off,” Drew said.

“The boss doesn’t have a problem with us settling differences, so I say we settle this the only way—”

Drew counted the seconds in his head. He had to act because he knew what Charlie meant about settling differences, and he wasn’t about to wait for Charlie to make it official. He swiftly swung up with his right fist and drove it under Charlie’s jaw. The blow was fast and powerful.

Charlie didn’t see it coming and wasn’t expecting it. He had underestimated Drew and at his own cost. The powerful undercut rattled his jaw and sent him reeling backwards.

As Charlie wobbled, trying to get his footing, Drew struck again, this time coming down with his right fist. He connected against the left side of Charlie’s face near the point where his jaw hinged. This second blow was successful.

Charlie’s already wobbly legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground hard.

Drew wasn’t finished. He couldn’t allow Charlie to rise; plus he needed to prove not only to Charlie but to the men watching that he wasn’t someone to be messed with. He straddled Charlie’s unconscious body and leveled one heavy punch after another.

Witnessing the vicious attack stunned Charlotte.

Hope quivered as she heard the fight; she was too scared to look.

Drew didn’t know how many times he had hit Charlie before being pulled off by several men.

“Stop,” one man said.

“You’re going to kill him,” another said.

Drew struggled to get free. He was enraged and wanted to keep punishing Charlie. “Let me go.”

A single gunshot cracked.

Everyone froze.

“Enough!” Tony hollered from the front of the house, his pistol raised over his head.

Drew shrugged off the men and looked towards Tony before assessing the damage he had inflicted on Charlie.

Tony strode over. He looked down at Charlie and shook his head. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Charlie was mouthing off, and well, it was going towards violence, so I went ahead—”

“I’ve heard enough,” Tony said, waving his hand at Drew. “What did you see?” Tony asked the men.