Page 38 of Avenging Kelly

“It’s okay, honey. He won’t hurt you. That’s my friend, Kelly.”

“Five girls,” Anna whispered, answering my previous question.

“Hi,” Kelly whispered to her, offering a kind smile as he kneeled down to be on her level so he didn’t intimidate her. It was beautiful to see.

Anna waved and then hurried down the hallway to the other doors, opening them and rushing inside each room before hurrying out and to the next one.

A minute later, girls flocked into the hallway, some pulling on jackets and sweatshirts and staring at Kelly and me. I put my finger up to my lips for them to quiet down, since we didn’t know where Rick might be.

I turned to Kelly and kissed him, handing him a book of matches I carried out of habit. “Take them down. I’ll bring up the rear, and when you see me, light up that dumpster. Move it closer to the building and dump some of the trash next to that back door so they can’t get out that way.”

I picked the sat phone out of my pocket. “I’m calling nine-one-one now.”

Kelly quickly grabbed Anna’s hand and the two of them went out the window with the other five girls following.

“Nine-one-one. How can I direct your call?”

I rushed down the hallway to double check the rooms to see that everyone was out. “I’m on Ramada Street, and I can see a fire behind a building across the street.”

“Is it a residence or a business?” the operator asked.

There was going to be a lot of noise when the fire department came on scene, so I kicked in the locked door near the window, finding an office. There was a laptop on the desk, so I grabbed it and shoved it under my sweatshirt.

I rushed out of the office and started for the window when I heard a smarmy laugh at my back. I slowly turned and narrowed my gaze at that slimy mother fucker, Daddy Rick.

“What—did you think you’d walk out of here with my money makers? Naw, that’s not gonna happen,” the pimp stated, referring to the girls fleeing out of the window as he held the revolver level with my head.

I could smell the smoke from the literal dumpster fire on the first floor, and I knew there wasn’t much time before Rick smelled it, too.

“You better put that laptop back where you found it right now, motherfucker. That’s none of your fucking business, and I’ll put a bullet in your skull before I let you leave with it. Who the fuck are you and why’re you here?” Whatever drug he’d taken earlier was wearing off, and I needed to get out of there as fast as I could.

I rushed forward and kicked the gun out of his hand before I took him to the floor. We were wrestling to get to the Smith & Wesson because the girls weren’t off the landing yet, and I was afraid he was going to shoot them. Unfortunately, he got there first.

I put my body between the last girl and Fleming as I stood, seeing him level the gun at me again. I was pretty sure I was going to meet my maker, so I prayed out loud. “God, thank you for my brother and my mom. Thank you for bringing Kelly into my life, and—”

I was shoved from behind as a voice said, “Forgive Kelly for what he’s about to do.” A shot rang out and everything went quiet. When I looked up to see Rick Fleming dead on the floor, I was truly grateful for Kelly’s pinpoint accuracy.

I rushed over to Kelly to see that he was okay and pointed to the window for him to get the hell out of there. “Get them down to the street,” I ordered.

Once all of them were out of danger, I rushed to where Fleming was sprawled, and I reached into the waistband of his pants to grab the bag of cash from his poker winnings. I sprinted out the window and down the ladder, and I didn’t look back.

I held up the cash and grinned as we stood across the street, seeing the police, fire department, and two ambulances roll up outside the bar that was on fire. The small flames had been fanned by the wind and grown a little bigger than Kelly or I had intended, but the authorities were there, and those girls would be safe.

I saw little Anna searching the chaos to find me, and when she met my eyes, I held up my finger to my lips. She mirrored my gesture before she blew me a kiss. I did the same and took Kelly’s hand to lead him away. It felt damn good to know that something had finally worked out.

16

KELLY

Marianna’s car was parked at a grocery store a block away from the bar, so we walked in that direction, still monitoring what was happening at Dare Ya for a few minutes longer. The girls were being talked to by the police and looked over by the EMTs before they were put into the ambulances.

The fire department was busy extinguishing the fire—which had mostly stayed at the back of the structure—and hosing down the dried weeds in the alley behind the bar to ensure it didn’t start again and spread down the block.

Anna blew London a kiss before a female officer approached her. “Did you tell her your name?” I asked, wondering if the police were going to come looking for us.

“Last name only, but I don’t think she’ll tell anyone. You wouldn’t believe what I found.” London then reached under the back of his sweatshirt and pulled out a small laptop. Leave it to my man to find evidence we might use to figure out who else was involved in my sister’s abduction. I truly wanted to hug the life out of him.

“Where to?” I asked him.

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