Page 7 of Maceo

“Is this all of them?” she asked quietly.

“That’s it.” Rolling down the window, I spoke to the crew. “Meet us at the safe house.”

They nodded and made their way back to the SUV we drove in. Shar slowly pulled out from behind the building while I let my contact know the job was complete. The ride to the safe house was mostly quiet. Every so often, I could hear sniffles and whispers coming from the back.

They were scared and rightfully so. They’d been captured and thrown into the back of one van only to be coaxed into the back of another. They didn’t know if they could trust us, so I wasn’t offended by any means. Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the garage of the safe house. This was one of my rental properties that was currently uninhabited.

Getting out of the car, Shar and I opened the doors to let them out before heading inside. The house had five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Three of the smaller rooms housed two or three twin beds while the bigger rooms had bunk beds. We never knew just how many people we would be rescuing, so I wanted to make sure everybody had a place to rest their heads.

As we stepped into the house, everybody looked around.

“I promise, you’re safe,” Shar said. “My name is Sharina. Who are you?”

They looked around at each other before finally speaking up.

“Jeremiah Patton.”

“Amanda Green.”

“Colin Denver.”

“Zane Capers.”

“Peter Ladell.”

The last woman was the same one who was crying. She seemed a little hesitant to answer the question. Shar was staring at her, waiting for an answer.

“Charity Lynn,” she finally said.

“It’s nice to meet you all… given the circumstances. I know you must be scared, hungry, and tired. I have food being delivered shortly. If you’d like, you can go upstairs and pick aroom. The closets are full of clothes. The dressers have socks and underclothes. The bathrooms are fully stocked with toiletries, washcloths, and towels.”

“How long are we gonna be here?” Zane asked.

“A couple of days max,” I answered. “I have a connect down at the police department that is going to help contact your families and get you home.”

“What if they come looking for us?” Amanda asked. “Are you gonna be here? Who’s going to protect us?”

Just then, the crew came walking through the front door. I nodded toward them.

“They are gonna take shifts being here with you. Me and Shar will be by in the morning to check on you.”

The worried looks on their faces returned. Shar clasped her hands together.

“Why don’t you all head upstairs and take a nice hot shower. Change into some clean clothes and come back down to eat. You need a good night’s rest. As he said, we’ll be back in the morning, and we’ll answer all of your questions then.”

Hesitantly, the group headed up the stairs. Shar made her way into my arms and rested her head on my chest. For a minute, she just stared after them.

“That’s six more,” she said softly.

“Six more, but how many to come?”

She looked up at me. “How long are you going to keep your family in the dark, Maceo? What if this becomes too much to handle? You know they would help you.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

She rolled her eyes. “You can be really fucking stubborn.”

“Sometimes.”

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