I looked back at Nate. “I’m going to ask one more time. Where will we find Jessica?”

Nate didn’t even hesitate. “Third door. Middle of the hallway.”

“Key?”

He nodded at Laser. “He’s got ‘em.”

I looked at Laser, who was already pointing to the desk. Stevie walked over and pulled up a ring of keys. He brought them over to me and I handed them to Laser. He flipped through them, then held one out to me.

I took it from him. “I’m going to go check the room. Stevie is going to keep this gun in your mouth. If you move, he’s going to shoot you. If Jessica isn’t in the room, I’m going to come back and shoot you. Do you understand?”

He nodded, breathing heavily through his nose.

I motioned at Stevie, who came over and took the gun from me, careful to keep it inside of his mouth. “He twitches, shoot him.”

Stevie nodded.

“Joe,” Isabel said. “This is ridiculous.”

“I agree,” I said, staring at her, my voice rising. “It is ridiculous. It’s ridiculous that some piece of crap is locking up girls and forcing them to do who knows what. It’s ridiculous that he’s dealing to them. It’s ridiculous that anyone has to live here and live under his thumb. It’s ridiculous that anyone would get to the point that this is their best option. It’s utterly ridiculous.”

I’m not sure if Isabel recognized it or not as she looked away from me, but I was talking just as much about Elizabeth as I was Jessica and any other girl that was there. When I walked in, all I could think about was Elizabeth ending up in some place like this. Having to listen to some jackass like Laser just in order to survive. So, was putting a gun in his mouth over the top?

Maybe.

But I didn’t care.

I glanced at Stevie and Boyd. “We’ll be back.”

They both nodded.

Isabel followed me down the hall, past two doors and we stopped at the third.

“If she’s here,” Isabel said, “that’s great, but we can’t just leave the others…”

“We’re going to clear this entire building, Isabel,” I said. “Trust me. No one is staying here another second if they don’t want to.”

She bit her top lip, then nodded.

I stuck the key in the lock and twisted the knob. The door swung open to a dark room. We both squinted as our eyes adjusted.

A twin mattress was against the far wall amidst a pile of clothes and shoes. I didn’t see anything on the walls. The room smelled like a weird mixture of perfume and sweat.

On the mattress, two bodies stirred beneath a wool blanket. One propped themselves up. A girl. Long, stringy blond hair, her eyes barely open.

“Who is it?” she asked, her eyes still adjusting.

We both stepped into the room.

“Is there a light in here?” I asked.

She jerked to a sitting position. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Relax,” I said. “We’re friends.”

I could see her face more clearly now. Caked mascara. Small nose. Thin mouth. Tiny gold earrings. A long sleeve T-shirt.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

“I’m Isabel,” Isabel said. “This is Joe. Are you Jessica?”

She stared at her, trying to place her. “Yeah. I’m Jessica. How do you know my name?”

The body behind her stirred and shifted under the blankets.

“We’re looking for Marc,” Isabel said. “Do you know where he is?”

She sat up straighter on the bed, more nervous now than when we’d entered the room.

The body behind her shook free from the blankets.

His eyes were swollen shut, purple and silver balls. A red jagged cut ran across the bridge of his nose and there were similar cuts at the corners of his mouth. I could see some bruising on his cheeks, too.

“Who is it?” he rasped, clearly unable to see us.

Isabel brought her hands to her mouth and sucked in her breath.

“It’s me, Marc,” she whispered. “It’s Isabel.”

THIRTY-TWO

Jessica helped prop Marc up. He moved with the stiffness and difficulty of someone who’d gotten the crap knocked out of him. Given the condition of his face, I guessed that was exactly what had happened.

Marc ran a hand through his thick, black hair and turned his head in Isabel’s direction. “Isabel? How’d you find me?”

Isabel looked frozen, unsure whether to go to him or stay where she was. Jessica sat close to him, her eyes still moving between us, not sure she trusted us yet.

“We, uh, we’ve been asking around,” she said. “We were worried about you.”

He turned in my direction. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Joe Tyler,” I said. “Isabel has been helping me with something else. She was worried about you. I offered to help her find you.”

“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “Okay.”

I noticed a bottle of water on the floor. I picked it up and handed it to him. “Water. Sounds like you need some.”

He held his hand up and I placed the bottle in his hand. He fumbled with the cap, got it off and took a long drink.

“How did you get in here?” Jessica asked.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Laser is taken care of for the moment. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Get us out?” she asked. “How? And what about…” Her voice trailed off.

“Don’t worry about Laser,” I said. “He’s done. You want out of here, you’re free to go.” I looked at Marc. “What happened to you?”

He took another long drink from the bottle, then handed it off to Jessica. “I tried to get her out of here.”

“Laser?”

He nodded. “And the other guy. Nate.”

I glanced at Isabel. I wondered if she still thought I’d been too harsh in sticking a gun in Laser’s face.

“I found out she was here a couple days ago,” he said, touching her arm, as much to steady himself as to show affection. “They let me in, but they wouldn’t let her go. I tried to break down her door. They came after me.” He shrugged. “We’ve been in here ever since, basically.”

“They know who you are?” I asked.

He sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Your last name? Do they know it?”

“My last name is irrelevant,” he said.

It wasn’t, but this wasn’t the time to argue the point with him.

I looked at Jessica. “I assume you want out of here?”

She nodded. “Yes. Please.”

“Okay,” I said. “Here’s the deal. We’ll get out of here. Your debt with Gino Miller has been settled, as well as the debt with Marc’s father. There is nothing to fear there. So no more running and hiding.”

“How do you know about all that?” Marc asked.

“Because I do,” I said. “You’re square. There’s no danger from Miller and your father isn’t holding you to the deal he made with you.”

“How do you know…?”

“Because I do,” I said. “We can talk more about it after we get out of here. Grab whatever you need.”

Jessica stood and gathered some of the clothes on the ground, stuffing them into a duffle bag. Isabel helped her. I sat with Marc on the bed.

“Anything you need me to get?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I just came to get her. I didn’t bring anything with me.”

“Alright. I’m gonna help you stand. Grab onto my arm.”

He did and we got up together. He was a little unsteady on his feet and leaned into me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Isabel and Jessica filled the bag and left a few things on the ground, things she’d decided she didn’t need, I guess. Or want. Too many reminders maybe.

“You can place them tonight?” I said to Isabel.

“Of course,” she answered. “We’ll just take them back with us.”

“When we walk out, neither of you say a word,” I instructed them. “If either of them talks to you, ignore them. I’m the only one talking. Gino’s guys are out there, but they’re with us. You are safe. Any questions?”

They both shook their heads.

We walked out of the room. The other four were exactly as we’d left them, with Laser a little more slunk down in the recliner. I put Marc’s hand on Isabel’s arm and stepped away from him.