The other guy, joining us, laughs. “Pissy, ain’t she?” He spits on the floor.
“Seems so.”
I want to get smart with them. I want to ask them if being witness to a murder, kidnapped, assaulted, violated, and sold would make them pissy, but I don’t know much about these people yet. They’ve yet to show me who they are. Whether they’re violent people. They look like violent people.
The one I rode with smirks at me. “I’m Rebel. This is Carnie. We’re taking you back to our clubhouse. If you have any further questions, you can direct them straight to Cade.”
“Who’s Cade?”
Rebel—obviously not the name his parents gave him when he was born—points a thumb over his shoulder. “Cade’s the guy sitting in that Humvee behind me. I believe you’ve already met.”
Sure enough, there is a black Humvee parked in the lot, twenty feet away from where we’re standing. I can’t see much through the dark tint on the windows. The car’s massive—looks like something that belongs in an army convoy, not sitting in a diner’s parking lot. The door opens and a broad guy in a black hoody jumps down from the driver’s side. I don’t recognize him at first, but as he gets closer I see more and more of his face. It’s the guy from the side alley, the one who gave Raphael the bullet. The one who told me to say I was a virgin.
His face is expressionless as he arrives next to Rebel. “Went off without a hitch?” he asks.
“Surprisingly. You got everything prepped?”
Cade nods. “The guys have been warned. We should arrive back early evening or so.”
Rebel nods. “Okay. Don’t let her out of your fucking sight, you hear?”
“You know it.” Cade steps closer to me, and that’s it; I’ve been transferred over to yet another person. Rebel climbs back on his motorcycle and he doesn’t look back. He and Carnie burn off into the early morning without even acknowledging me again. I stare after them, wondering what the hell is going to happen next.
Cade takes hold of me by the arm, pulling me in the direction of the Humvee. Eyes fixed straight ahead, he doesn’t look at me as he opens the passenger door of the monstrous vehicle and waits for me to climb inside. I shuffle backward instead.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“I’m Cade,” he replies.
“I’m not asking what your name is. I’m asking who are you? Are you guys some sort of sex ring or something? Do you trade in people that are stolen off the streets? Are you going to use me up and then kill me?” I feel a little braver around this guy, so the questions flow one after the other. I probably shouldn’t feel brave around him, but he did tell me to lie to Raphael and Hector. Part of me wants to believe that’s because he was trying to save me from whatever horrors Raphael had planned for me. Equally, it could mean that he simply wanted his boss to have me instead of his enemy.
“We’re not gonna kill you,” Cade tells me, glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes. “And we don’t deal in girls, either.”
“Then why won’t you just let me go? You could just send me back to my family. I swear I won’t breathe a word about what I saw.”
Cade places his hand on my back and pushes me toward the car. “’Fraid we can’t do that. Rebel needs you.”
“He needs me? What for?” I have no choice but to climb up into the Humvee as Cade moves to my left and urges me forward.
“Not my place to tell you, kiddo. Just keep your head straight. Don’t freak out on me and everything will be fine. Rebel will get what he needs, you can go back to Seattle and everyone’s happy.” He slams the door closed and walks around the car, but he doesn’t get in. He locks the doors and heads inside the diner, instead.
As soon as he’s vanished inside the building, I get to work. There has to be something in here I can use as a weapon. Something I can use to get free. A cell phone to call my dad. I check the glove compartment, on the backseat, underneath the front seats as best as I can, contorting my body into awkward positions in order to get my head down into the foot wells, but there’s nothing. Not one scrap of paper. Not one piece of trash. Not even an owner’s manual. The interior of the car is spotless.
I don’t realize Cade has returned until I hear the driver’s side door opening. I’m on my front, looking under his seat at the time, which is where he finds me. He has a brown paper bag in his hand and a bemused expression on his face. “This isn’t our first time at the rodeo, kid,” he tells me. “Where are you planning on going, anyway? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
I push myself upright, slumping back into my seat. “I don’t suppose it’d matter where I go, asshole. All I’d need to do is find a payphone. I’d call the police and have them come arrest all of you, starting with that psycho Raphael and his weird boss.”
Cade nods, passing me the brown paper bag. He gets in, starting the engine. “Raphael is definitely a psycho. Hector, too, when you get to know him.”
The smell of melted cheese hits me, and I realize what I’m holding. Food. Actual, real food. I haven’t eaten anything since back at Hector’s ranch. I glance over at Cade, trying to suss him out.
“Is…this for me?”
“Before you start complaining, they didn’t have any salads. If you don’t want it, I’ll gladly take it off your hands.”
I close my hands around the paper bag, holding onto it tightly. “I do want it.” It’s annoying that he thinks just because I’m a woman, I’m allergic to carbs and a little grease. I manage to hold my tongue, though. If he wants to pretend like he knows who I am, based on the fact that I have tits and a vagina, then let him. That’s his loss. Cade pulls out onto the highway, and I tear into the paper bag, finding a simple grilled cheese and a chocolate muffin inside. Neither of us speaks. He drives. I eat.
I’ve never enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich as much in my entire life. The heaviness of it sits in the pit of my stomach, solid and weighty, which is reassuring. If I have to go without food again for a little while, I’ll manage. I don’t know when but I’ve decided that I’m going to make a break for it as soon as I can. At some point on our journey from here to our destination, we’ll have to stop, and he will take his eyes off me, even if it’s for a second. A second is all I’m going to need. I’ll be away before he even realizes what’s happened. Better start making plans.
“Where’s the clubhouse, Cade?” I emphasize his name, testing it out. I don’t know anyone called Cade—I don’t think I’ve ever had to say it before. He huffs out a laugh, changing gear.
“New Mexico. Should take us about thirteen hours to get there if you don’t talk the whole way.”
New Mexico? My body sinks back into the seat, heavy as a lead weight. That’s way further than I anticipated. I thought maybe we’d be traveling for a couple of hours and then we’d arrive, but no. We’re headed across three states. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. If we were only going to be trapped inside this monstrosity for a little while, that’s less opportunity for me to run. But now, the further Cade drives me away from Washington is further that I have to make it back home without them coming after and finding me.
You don’t need to make it home, I remind myself. It’s like I just told Cade. I’d only need to make it to a police station. Or anywhere I could report what’s happened. Then I’d be safe. A surge of adrenalin fires through my veins, electricity around a circuit board, powering me up. I need to be ready, and for that I need energy. I start on the chocolate muffin but then give up halfway through, the food making me feel queasy.