Liberty...And Justice for All (17 page)

“Yup,” the man said, and I noticed that he was handsome. Longer black hair which hung over the collar of his shirt; even features, warm brown eyes.

“Can I come with?” I asked, taking a page from Catherine’s play book and pointing my boobs at him. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw her wince at my sad attempt.

“I don’t think so,” he said and smiled. He jerked his thumb at Catherine. “One white stripper is usually all Henry can handle.”

“Well, she’s my friend,” I said, taking a step closer to him and smiling some more.
John, please forgive me,
I thought, and stuck my chest out a little more at the man. “And two white strippers are better than one. Plus, I like to party.” I shrugged my shoulders at him, making my chest bounce, and spread my legs a little.

Oh John baby I’m so sorry…

He gave me a long look. “Okay, white girl,” he said. “But you better behave.”

I grabbed my bag, relieved to know that my gun was near, but kept my expression neutral.

“If that’s the way you like it,” I said to him flirtatiously, and tossed my hair over my shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure I like it,” he said, wolfishly. He put his hand on my ass and led me through the door into the hall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tony watching us from his office. I didn’t acknowledge him. Instead, I smiled at my new friend and let him lead me out the door and into his armored Hummer, which was waiting at the curb with a driver.

“I like this car,” Catherine cooed as Henry hoisted her up.

“It’s called a Hummer,” he said to her, and she giggled.

Please dear God don’t let that one go any further. Not while I’m in the car with them,
I thought, and smiled nervously at my new friend.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Cyrus,” he said, and pulled me onto his lap. “How about you?”

“Liberty,” I said, and adjusted myself so his erection didn’t poke me anywhere invasive.

“I like that,” he said, leaning into my neck and nuzzling me. “It’s slutty.”

“It
is
kind of slutty, isn’t it?” Catherine asked, interrupting us.

“Shut up,” I hissed at her.

“Oh, if you two fight, I’d like that,” Cyrus said. “That’s hot.”

“We’d be into it if you are. We’re up for
anything
,” Catherine called to him. I watched in horror as she climbed up on Henry’s lap and started grinding on him.

Cyrus must have liked watching her, because he pulled me against him roughly as the car sped out into the desert. “I’m into it,” he said, rubbing me against him, over and over.

“Awesome,” I said, mentally pleading with both God and John to forgive me for what I was doing. I closed my eyes and tried to forget where I was as the car flew into the dark night. Cyrus continued to grind me against him and to touch me in all sorts of inappropriate places. I tried to ignore him as well as the fact that Catherine was noisily making out with Henry. I tried to stay calm by counting backwards from a million.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, the car pulled off the main road and started driving over what felt like rough terrain. “Are we near your place?” I asked Cyrus, interrupting his dry-humping.

He squinted at me and looked out the dark window. “Yes,” he said. He sat up and pushed me off him, smoothing his clothes. “I can’t wait to get you in there, so I can watch you two girls fight.”

“Me neither,” I said, weakly.

We rolled to a stop and the driver got out and opened our door. Cyrus pulled me out and all I could make out was that we were in the desert, under the stars. “Where are we going?” I asked. I didn’t see a building anywhere.

“Right over that ridge is headquarters,” Cyrus said, pointing. Catherine and Henry came out of the car behind us. Cyrus grabbed my ass and started herding me towards the ridge, Catherine and Henry following close behind.

That’s when I heard something. I would have said it was a gunshot, but it was too quiet. But I definitely heard a thud.

I turned to see the body of the driver crumpled to the ground.

I stifled a scream and turned back, practically bumping into my husband, who was suddenly standing in my path, with a very large gun sporting a very large silencer pulled out, aimed right at Cyrus’s face.

“That’s my wife’s ass,” John hissed at him. “You might want to take your hand off it.”

Cyrus raised his hands and smoothly smiled at John. “She was the one who said she liked to party. She wanted to come with me, man. You might want to point that thing at
her
.”

“Babe,” John said, and reached out his hand for me. I ran to him and grabbed it; he pushed me protectively behind him.

Corey was next to him, his gun trained on the men.

“Catherine, get behind Corey,” John said, and I recognized the cold fury in his tone.

Catherine stalked behind Corey.
I had this
, she mouthed at me.

“Let’s go,” John said. He grabbed my hand and kept his weapon trained on Cyrus. John and Corey grabbed the men, shoving their guns in their backs, and pushed them forward.

“He needs to stop being so controlling,” Catherine whispered to me as we walked behind them. “We would have been fine.”

I straightened up and looked at her incredulously. “You just about had sex with that thug, right next to me in the Hummer—and they were going to take us back to their fortress, surrounded by machine guns, make us do drugs, fight each other and then rape us,” I said. “That is the
opposite
of fine.”

“We were going to pretend to do drugs and then we were going to tie them up before they raped us. And then we were going to get Mia,” she reminded me. “How do you think we’re going to do that now?”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, frightened to deal with John but relieved beyond belief that he’d come, rescuing me yet again.

W
e all squeezed silently
into the back of John’s enormous SUV rental, which was parked on the opposite side of the ridge, out of sight. I still hadn’t glimpsed the Freeman compound. Cyrus and Henry sat, impassive, as John and Corey kept their guns trained on them.

“Corey. Give Catherine your sweatshirt,” John said. Corey obeyed and John took of his own light sweater, tossing it at me.

I put it on, afraid to look at John. I could feel the fury, white and hot, rolling off of him. I looked down at my garter belt and felt shame and mortification wash over me. I looked at Catherine’s red-satin outfit as she pulled on her sweatshirt and I winced. He was never going to forgive me for this.

And he was right. He shouldn’t.

“Text Matthew,” John told Corey. “Tell him to bring our guest back to her house. Tell him to do it now and get out here.”

Corey grabbed his phone and after what felt like forever, in which none of us spoke, we heard a car roll up next to ours.

Matthew pushed into the SUV and didn’t miss a beat when he saw that we had prisoners. “Gentlemen,” he said to them cordially, as he squeezed in next to Corey. He automatically grabbed his gun and trained it on the men.

“Everything okay?” I asked him.

“Our guest is resting peacefully at home. Good riddance.”

“Thanks,” I said. I didn’t want these guys to know about Shawna—I didn’t want her getting hurt.

The seven of us sat awkwardly in the back of the SUV. “So, what’s the plan?” Matthew asked John.

“We’re going into the Freeman compound,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Cyrus snorted and Henry looked like he was going to laugh.

“All of us?” I asked, looking at our captives.

“No. Not all of us,” John said, keeping his gun on them and not looking at me.

I wished I could pass him a note, one that said
I am sorry I’m a dumb fuck
or alternatively,
It was all Catherine’s fault!
He continued to not look at me and just stare straight ahead, which made me pretty sure that he didn’t want to hear it. So I just sat there, miserable, cursing myself, cursing Catherine, and wondering what the hell was going to happen next.

I looked up and saw Corey staring at Catherine in her red-satin outfit, while she ignored him and stared at her cuticles. Matthew had his gun on the men.

No one said a word.

It was another long, silent pause. I felt a grim resignation building in my chest: we were going to have a full-scale war, after all. And we didn’t have enough men. Catherine and I had forced John’s hand and left him in a vulnerable position. He couldn’t just keep these men hostage; they’d be missed. I wanted to ask John what the plan was, but I didn’t dare. So I just sat and waited, nothing but the sound of my beating heart to keep me company, as we sat together in the car.

Eventually, John must have made up his mind about a course of action. He straightened and turned to us. “Corey, watch these two.” John cocked his head at our guests. “The rest of you, with me.”

We got out of the car and under the half-moon; the mountains and the sky were the only things I could make out. Matthew, Catherine and I leaned up against the car as John paced in front of us, running his hands through his hair.

“First of all, I’ll deal with how pissed I am at both of you later.” He didn’t point at us or look at us, but we all knew who he meant. “You broke my trust—both of you. I don’t have time to get into that now, because we’ve run out of road.

“This has incontrovertibly fucked up our operation. I can’t keep these two as hostages. I can’t send these guys back—they know me now, they know you. They’re worthless but they’re officially missing now. Which will alert the Freemans to the fact that something’s wrong. Which just makes this all the more dangerous for us.”

He kept pacing. “If we have any chance of getting Mia out, we can’t wait for the other guys to fly out. So this is it. We go in and get her. Tonight. Right now.”

“The A-Team,” Matthew said, sarcastically.

“Ha ha,” John said, completely devoid of humor. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a choice. So Liberty and Catherine, you’re officially in. Just like you wanted,” he said and he still sounded very, very angry. “You will be shooting. You will be using high-power artillery. You will have to cover me and Matthew when we go in there.” He did not sound thrilled at the idea and I couldn’t blame him; I’d fired a machine gun only once, back in Rhode Island. My hands had been numb for an hour afterwards, and all I’d managed to do was shoot lots of things besides the target.

“What do we do with these guys?” Matthew asked, motioning towards the car.

“Cuff them, tape them up and put them in the back,” John sighed. “I don’t want to kill them if we don’t have to. Although I might shoot the one that had his hand on Liberty’s ass. Then we’ll dump them somewhere.”

“Do we trust the driver?” Matthew asked.

“Marcus. He’s driven for me before. He’s clean,” John said. “I’ll offer him another stipend to sit and wait. Corey can stay outside the compound with the girls.”

“How are you going to get in?” I asked.

“From what I’ve gathered, there’s a side entrance,” John said. “There are less guards there. I have no idea where Mia is in the building, though.” He looked up at Matthew. “We might have to split up. We’re not going to have much time.”

“No,” I said, rushing to him and grabbing his arm. “You have to stay together. Promise me.”

“Promise you?” He stood there, stiffly, with my hand on his arm. “Promise you, Liberty? Like you promised me?”

I didn’t say anything for a beat. I just stood there, feeling the sting of his words.

“I promise,” he said, shaking me off, his voice ice. “For what it’s worth.”

I dropped my hand from him. “Can you guys excuse us for a minute?” I asked.

I didn’t have to ask them twice: Matthew and Catherine scooted back into the car instantly.

That left me and John, out in the darkness.

“Babe,” I said.

“Please. Don’t,” he said.

“You have to forgive me,” I said.

“No I don’t,” he said. “Not right this second.”

“What if you go in there and don’t come out?”

“I’m coming out. I always come out.”

“But what if you didn’t,” I said, and I let the tears spill down my face, even though I didn’t deserve to be upset. I didn’t deserve anything. I had lied to John and I had broken a promise. The one person in the world who meant the most to me, and I’d ruined it. I’d ruined everything.

“What if you don’t come out and all this is my fault,” I said, my voice ugly and thick. I wanted to throw myself at him, to bury my face in his chest, but I knew he wouldn’t allow it. He didn’t want me anywhere near him.

John sighed, heavily, and looked up at the stars. “I’m going to come out. And it’s not all your fault. This was never going to be an easy mission. You didn’t help, and I’m fucking pissed at you for going behind my back, but it’s not the end of the world. You’re okay, my daughter is okay. So everything is gonna be fine, no matter what.”

“It won’t be fine if you and Matthew get shot,” I said. I wiped at my face roughly; I was verging on hysteria. “And then if you don’t love me anymore, if you never forgive me—”

“Babe. Stop.” He closed the distance between us and threw his arms around me. “Of course I still love you. You’re my wife. Remember the whole till death do us part thing? That wasn’t that long ago. I meant it then. I mean it now.” He tapped my chin and held my face up to his. He wiped my tears away.

“You’re going to have to get used to this unconditional love thing. Even when I think you’re being unreasonable, and I want to lock you up in our room so you can’t get out and put yourself in danger and do stupid things—even when I’m so angry at you I can’t see straight—I still love you, babe.” He kissed the side of my face and pulled me closer.

That made me ugly-cry for a minute. He loved me so much, he even let me wipe my gross face off on his shirt without flinching or even saying a word.

“You know I love you that much, too,” I said, sniffling into his chest.

“I know you do. That’s why we’re here. We couldn’t have made it this far any other way.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said again. “I was trying to do the right thing, I swear. I just messed it up royally, as usual.”

John laughed and that made me laugh and cry all at the same time. I looked up at him and stroked his face. “I want her to get better, too,” I admitted, in spite of myself. “I thought it might help.”

“I know,” he said, kissing my forehead. “I know.”

F
ive minutes later
, the prisoners were in the back of the SUV, their mouths and hands taped, and we we’d driven to the other side of the ridge. The compound was below us, at the base of the ridge. It looked like it was made out of aluminum siding, carved into the side of the hill, almost like a shantytown.

John was giving instructions to Marcus, the driver; Matthew and Corey were assembling the guns and talking quietly, and Catherine was pacing and smoking.

“Are you two okay?” She asked.

I nodded at her. “Only because your dad is a great guy.” I paused for a beat. “I wish—”

She exhaled in my face. “You can’t force it, Liberty. But I am glad you’re not getting divorced. I couldn’t deal with him otherwise.”

I clenched my hands into fists and stomped off, cursing her. I still felt like I was never going to get through to her.

John jogged over to me. “We’re going to have you set up on the top of the hill. You’ll need to use a scope—Corey can show you.”

“I remember. You taught me how to use one,” I said. I pulled him to me. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this. Maybe we should just call the police, or DEA, for backup. I know they have people in Vegas—you must know how to get in touch with them.”

“It’s too late for that,” John said, hugging me fiercely and kissing the top of my head. “If the dealers know we’ve taken their men, Mia could already be dead. We have minutes, not hours, here. And on top of that, I don’t know if I can even trust local or federal on this. I don’t know if they have someone inside, I don’t know if they have deals, I don’t know so many things that I can’t even risk the phone call at this point. This has to be just us. Tony hired us for this mission and we’re going to deliver, and then we’re going to get the hell out of Vegas. I’ll instruct Tony to do the same. Then we can prepare a whole file on what we’ve learned about these guys and what they’re doing at the club, what their infrastructure is like, anything we’ve learned. We can send it to local law enforcement. From the safety of Rhode Island.”

“Maybe we can drop those men off at the police station,” I said, “instead of leaving them in a dumpster. Maybe the police can hold them and once they get our information, they can use it to charge them…”

“Maybe,” John said. “Either way, I’m not planning on killing them unless I have to. But I can’t promise you that no one else is going to die tonight.”

“Just not you,” I said, my heart thudding in my ears. “Not Matthew.”

“I already told you. I’m coming back out. And you know Matthew is,” he said and laughed. “I have a feeling he’s going to enjoy this.”

“Freak,” I said, under my breath. John bent down and kissed me on the cheek.

“Cover me, babe,” he said. Slinging his artillery rifle over his shoulder, he disappeared over the hill, meeting Matthew on the other side.

I watched him go but for once, I didn’t let myself cry. I had a job to do, and it was an important one.