CHAPTER SEVEN
Nadia and Gabe spent the next six days working hard on the pet shop case. The two of them had decided to switch shifts and split up with the rookies to teach them how to properly stake out a building. The first few days went well; there wasn’t anything major happening. The activity inside the pet store seemed normal and on the up and up. Nadia was starting to get discouraged after the week of hard work, when she finally spotted a man who matched the image of Carlisle she had found, walking up the alley and into the back door. He had in his hands a small, brown box. It appeared sealed. “Alright Matt, get your camera out and stay close. You don’t want to get caught.”
“I know, Nadia. I’ve watched the videos and read about this. I got it.”
“It’s not as easy as you’re thinking; those videos leave out a lot of real world training.”
“Just go, okay, I have your back.”
Nadia was unsure of Matt’s capability to actually have her back, but it was go time, and there wasn’t room for second guessing. That’s when mistakes happen. They got out of the car and walked around the side of the building. Matt had his camera ready for action.
Nadia peered into the window, and that’s when she saw what was happening. Ramon was being strung up from the ceiling. His hands were bound by rope and his arms were around a metal hook. There was a chain attached to the hook and he was being held there, his feet a foot off the ground. She rubbed her shoulders, thinking how much that had to hurt his joints; he wasn’t a thin man by any means. His body was naked, and there were welts along his white skin. The street lamp's light was dim, Nadia tried peering into the dirty window but couldn’t make out what the welts were from.
“This is great, my first case and already it looks like a murder; I need a picture!” Matt said. Nadia couldn’t move fast enough. She lunged for him, but he was already snapping off pictures. Her stomach sank when she saw the flash go off.
“Run, you idiot, RUN!”
She tried to scramble to the car. Matt was a few steps behind her when three large men stepped in front of them. Nadia slammed right into the middle one, unable to stop her feet in time.
“What have we here, Bruno? Why, a few peeping Tom’s I’d have to say.”
Nadia’s whole body shivered when she looked at the one they called Bruno’s grin. His teeth were yellow and rotting. She tried to back up, but the man held her arm tight.
“I’m not sure Dan, but this one here likes taking pictures. Maybe we should add him to our collection; I have a few pictures I strum through every chance I get.”
“Get your hands off me, you filth,” Nadia heard Matt say before Bruno gagged him.
“I think we should kill that one and keep her to play with. She’s cute enough. She’ll make for entertainment, least until Carlisle can figure out what he wants to do with her.”
Nadia’s heart was racing. Her fight or flight was kicking into over drive, and she didn’t know how to get out of this situation. She had called and checked in with Gabe twenty minutes ago, so that meant she still had forty minutes before he would begin to worry. Forty minutes. Could she keep them distracted for that long?
“Oh, you don’t want to play with me. I like to bite,” Nadia said, thinking, if she could engage them, then she might have a chance. She tossed her hair back over her shoulders and smiled at Bruno. “Unless you like that sort of thing.”
“Oh, I like this one boss; she has spunk to her. Let’s keep her.”
“Silence, Bruno. We don’t know what her game is yet.” Dan held onto her arm tight as he looked her body over a few times. “Carry any weapons girl?”
“Do I look stupid? Of course I do. You’ll see there’s a thing of mace on my key ring.” She thought to herself that, maybe if she gave that bit of information away, they wouldn’t search her and find the retractable knife Kain gave her that she kept hidden in her bra.
“Yes, you do look stupid, peeping into strangers’ windows. Who knows what you might find?” Dan slipped his hand into her pocket and pulled out her keys. The mace was there just as she said. He tossed the keys to the third man who had remained silent though this whole ordeal. “Get rid of the car.”
“I wanted to find a cat; is that so bad? I’m lonely and need company. I thought, maybe if I saw one I liked, I could come back tomorrow and get it.” Nadia looked over to Matt who had terror in his eyes; he was panicking and not staying calm. So much for all those educational trainings he went through, totally useless. “Can my friend and I go? We promise not to come back to the pet store, ever.”
“No,” Dan and Bruno both said unanimously.
Fuck.
“Bruno, get rid of him; this one’s the brains. We’ll take her to the boss so he can decide what he wants to do with her.”
“Um, excuse me, Dan is it? When you say, ‘get rid of’ do you mean, like, let go?” Nadia’s stomach was about to turn over. Had Matt just been sentenced to death?
“Yes, ‘let go’ like ‘meet his maker’ sort of freedom. You like that idea, missy? Your eyes are dilating; I bet that’s from excitement.”
Matt started to twist and wiggle; he was fighting back against Bruno’s hold. His eyes were wide and he was screaming, however, the gag was muffling the sound. Bruno wrapped his big arms around the back of Matt and picked him up. Matt began kicking his feet, flailing about, trying to get free.
“Please, please, let him go! He’s just a kid; he’s only 21. His whole life is ahead of him,” Nadia begged Dan. She wasn’t too proud to beg. She knew when she was up shit creek without a paddle, so to speak.
“Bruno, hold him still. I’ll just shoot him now and be done with it. We have shit to do.”
“No!!” Nadia screamed out. Dan’s hand came up to her throat and he squeezed. He cut off her voice and began crushing her wind pipe. She had no idea how much time had passed. Had it been forty minutes yet? Please God, let it have been forty minutes.
“Stand still you little fucker,” Bruno said to Matt. He was trying to hold him still, but Matt wasn’t going to go down easy; he would fight for every last breath he took.
Off in the distance, Nadia heard the most beautiful sound, sirens. Thank God! Bless you Gabe. Forty minutes must have passed, or else this was a crazy random happenstance. The sirens got closer and closer. Nadia’s internal monolog began praying that she would get out of this. It was then she noticed her car was gone; the third man had made off with it to dispose of it somewhere.
“Let’s get out of here. Come on, Dan.” Bruno started to panic as well. He released Matt who then started running in the opposite direction of everyone, straight towards the sirens. “Come on, Dan!”
Dan let Nadia fall to the ground and started running opposite the sirens that were approaching.
Nadia fell onto the concrete, and immediately her hands went to her neck; she took a few deep breaths before she stood back up and ran up to the officers that were approaching. She was gasping for breath, and her heart was about to jump through her chest. She stopped when her hands hit the hood of the police car. She looked at the driver, and her heart sank with relief; Kevin. She ran to him as he stepped out of the car, gun drawn. She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him tight. His big hands engulfed her body as he started to calm her down.
“Gabe called me, told me where you were and that you hadn’t checked in. We came as fast as we could. Are you okay? We can get you to the hospital to check you out.”
“No, Kevin, I’m not okay. Where’s Matt?” Nadia started looking around frantically for him. He’d gotten out of there, but she hadn’t seen where he went. She had hoped he made it out and to safety.
“No, just you. We didn’t see anyone but you and the two men who took off in that direction. Don’t worry, there was a cop car heading towards that end, and my partner went out that way too; they’ll catch ‘em. You’re safe now.”
“No, I’m not. I know too much. I saw too much. Those two men work for Carlisle, the owner. He had this man, Ramon, the employee
I bought my cat from, strung up from the ceiling. It looked like he had been beaten or something. He looked like he was in pain. Go look for yourself. Then, oh god, Kevin, my car! A third man ran off with my car to go dispose of it, and that man, Dan, gave him my keys. He knows where I live now!”
“Shhh, Nadia, calm down. We’ll find it and him. Sit down in the car while I call in a BOLO on your car.”
Nadia sat down on his driver’s seat and listened to Kevin call into his dispatch and relay the information. His back up arrived three minutes later, and they began assessing the situation. They broke the back door to the pet shop down, and Nadia heard one of the women gasp when she saw what had happened inside. Nadia got out of the car and ran to the entrance. Poor Ramon. His stomach had been slit open, and parts of his intestines were hanging out of his skin. His head was leaning forward, and there was a single bullet wound to the temple. She hadn’t heard a gunshot, so she assumed there was a silencer involved.
Kevin turned around and saw her standing there. He went over to her and pulled her back to his vehicle and told her to stay put. She sat in his cop car and cried. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. It felt like her whole life flip flopped in one instant.
She recognized the SUV pulling into the parking lot as Gabe’s. She could feel his amount of anxiety as he came running up to her.
“Nadia, oh my God, how stupid can you be?” Gabe pulled her in tight for a hug. He was suffocating her with his grip.
“Gabe, stop, can’t … breathe…”
“Shush, I can’t believe you almost died. You are a total fucking idiot, but I love you, and I called your brother. He and your sister are aware of what happened and are expecting a phone call when you’re able to. Thank God you’re okay.”
Nadia wiggled out of his grasp and brought her hands up to her face. All of a sudden, she felt very overwhelmed and light headed. “God Gabe.”
Kevin walked up to them, standing by the cop car. “Hey Gabe, take her home. I’ll stop by her place tomorrow and get an official statement from her. Nadia, give me this Matt’s information and we’ll track him down.”
Nadia was took shaken up to be useful, so Gabe gave Kevin all the information he needed, including Scully’s phone number. Kevin walked Nadia back to his car, and they left to take her home.
“You want to tell me what happened?” he asked. His tone was low and curious but not mad.
“We had been sitting there for hours, you know? Then we saw Carlisle show up. He actually showed up! So we went to see what was happening. That’s when we saw what they were doing to Ramon. Matt chose that moment to be a friggin moron and start snapping pictures. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. I made him run with me, but we ran into three guys. I assume they’re Carlisle’s goons. Bruno, Dan, and then the third. They gagged Matt then took my car keys and mace. Dan gave the third guy my keys and told him to dispose of the car. I tried to keep them talking until enough time passed that you would get worried and call the cops. Guess that part of the plan worked. Matt escaped when the sirens came in ear shot. I’m not sure what happened to him after that. Kevin didn’t see him when they approached.”
Nadia took a few breaths; that was a mouth full to repeat. Gabe reached over and held onto her hand. They rode in silence for the remainder of the car ride to her home.
“Nadia, isn’t that your car in your driveway?” Gabe parked the SUV down the road and pulled out his gun from the glove compartment. Since the new CHL law became effective January 2011, everyone Gabe and Nadia knew had been carrying guns.
“What are you doing to do?” she asked.
“What do you think? I’m going to go check your house out make sure that asshole’s not in there, then call Kevin.”
“No, you call Kevin first. You don’t need to play a hero.” Nadia unbuckled her seatbelt and made like she was going to open the door too.
“You are not going out there!” Gabe demanded.
“Neither are you! Now call Kevin!”
“Fine.” Gabe got his cell phone out and pressed in Kevin’s number.
Nadia stared out of the window, off into the distance, watching her house. She ignored the conversation that Gabe was having because she suddenly realized Triple T was inside the house. What if he was hurt?
“Nadia, they’re on their way. We’re to stay put.”
She nodded and looked over to him, her eyes wide with fear. “Do you think whoever is in there would hurt my kitten? He’s just a baby…”
Gabe squeezed her hand for comfort; he had thought the same thing too. “I’m sure Triple T is fine. He’s probably hiding under your bed, waiting for you to come save him.”
“I can’t stay here tonight. I need to get my cat, get a few clothes, and go hide somewhere.”
Gabe agreed with her completely, but where would she stay? “Do you want to come to my place or maybe to one of your siblings’?”
“I don’t know yet. I need to call them.”
“Don’t you remember? I told you already. I called them, and they’re aware of what happened. Once we’re settled with what went on with your car and house, we can give them an update again. No need to worry them before we actually have something to worry about.”
“I guess you’re right. What is taking your boyfriend so long to get over here? Doesn’t he have sirens to use?”
“Nadia…stop, you’re getting testy. They’ll be over here as fast as they can. Why don’t we go to the back seat and you can lay your head on my shoulder, take a little nap? It’ll help the time pass by.”
That did sound like a good idea to Nadia. She went to the back seat and Gabe followed. She curled up in his arms, and before she could count to five, she had passed out.