Page 43 of Grimm
I made my way down the stairs into a basement. The low lighting made it difficult to see, but midway down the stairs, I made out the outline of a figure and shot until his body hit the floor. When I made it to the bottom, I went right, Viper and Joker following, shooting in succession behind me.
When the last body dropped in front of me, I took in the space. Shock and disgust hit my system. At least six human-sized cages, like holding cells, were lined up against the back wall of the room. The horrendous smell was almost unbearable, and I had to cover my nose with my forearm in a miserable attempt to block it out.
“Viper! Joker! Get your asses over here, now!”
There had to be at least ten to fifteen people crowded into each cell.
“Holy fucking shit,” Viper whispered in horror as we stood in front of the cages, watching these frightened people huddled to the back walls of the cages.
“What do we do?” Joker asked.
“We have to call the LVPD.” I ran my hand through my hair. How the hell would we get out of here before they showed up? “At least after I see if David is here.”
I pulled out the picture from my back pocket that Gina gave me the first day we met. “David! David Coleman,” I yelled over the sobs, holding up the picture and showing it to the people locked inside the cages. “Your sister sent me to find you. We’re not here to hurt any of you, but we need to know if anyone has seen this boy. His name is David Coleman, he’s nineteen years old, and his sister is Regina Coleman.”
“You know my sister?”
The voice was so light and childlike, I thought I was hearing things until he slowly moved forward to the front of the cage Joker stood in front of.
His frame was small, his clothes stained with God knows what, and he looked like he hadn’t bathed in at least a couple of weeks. He no longer looked like the carefree boy Gina had described. He looked broken.
I moved to the front of the cage and held up the picture. “Are you David? David Coleman?” I asked, even though he resembled the picture and Gina. They had the same dark, almond-shaped eyes that looked like they peered into your soul.
“Yes, I’m David. How do you know Gina?”
“She sent me here. Where is the key?” I asked.
One woman, who slowly walked forward, pointed to the large man lying at the base of the stairs. Her clothes were torn, and she was doing everything in her power to keep her body covered. Her bare feet were covered in blisters and dirt, her brown hair matted with dirt and what looked like blood.
Viper raced over to where the man was and dug through his pockets until he pulled a set of keys from his back pocket. He raced to the first cell, unlocked the door, and continued down the line until all the cells were unlocked. I opened the door to David’s cage. He walked out but looked at me with skepticism.
I didn’t blame him. Any of them. There was no telling how long they’d been locked up and abused.
“We’re going to get all of you out of here. Follow Viper, and he will lead you outside. Then we’ll call the cops.”
“And you’ll take me to my sister?” David asked.
“Yeah, man. She never stopped looking for you.”
He nodded, and his shoulders sagged in relief.
He followed the others out while I hung around, still shocked at what we’d uncovered. Now that David was safe, it was time to figure out the next steps in taking Alonzo Bianchi down and making him pay.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
GRIMM
Two months later…
“Tavish!” she yelled. “This is it!”
I walked from the kitchen with David following me. Both Gina and David had been staying with me since we raided the basement at the pawn shop. It was something I needed to adjust to. I’d bought this place when I moved out of my parents’ home in my early twenties. No one had ever lived with me. Despite the adjustment, it felt right with them being here. I was more complete with them both here.
David’s adjustment had been alongprocess, and he still wasn’t quite there yet. And no one expected him to be, not with what he had been through, which we still didn’t know exactly what that was. He rarely talked. Other than the occasional “Hey” to me or his sister, he was mute.
Since we found him in the basement along with children, young men, and women in cages, he’d been slowly on the mend, physically. Emotionally, not so much. By mend, I meant he was comfortable around me and his sister. No one else. So, we limited people coming to my home. If any of the brothers needed me for anything, I always went to them when before, they would come to me.
Although he didn’t talk much, he didn’t flinch when I approached him anymore, which was progress, no matter how small. Attending therapy was the most important thing for him right now, so he went about three times a week, sometimes with Gina.
