Page 72 of Unfounded

On this particular night, Konner had been angry with Kristen’s attire. She’d entered the room in blue jean shorts and a tank top. The other men in the room had taken one look at her before turning their eyes on Konner, who instantly had gotten in her face.

“Change your fucking clothes!” Konner had yelled. Kristen had flinched, but hadn’t backed down. Boss had given Konner a knowing look before he and the others had left the room.

“What the fuck Konner?” Kristen had exclaimed when the men had left. In the blink of an eye, Konner’s hand had flown out, striking Kristen across the face. Blood had dripped from her lower lip as a large red welt had bloomed on her shocked face.

“You need to learn your place, woman,” Konner had bellowed. “You will not speak to me that way! Now go put on some decent clothes.” Kristen hadn’t been through arguing, though. She’d squared her shoulders as she’d faced her brother, once again.

“What has gotten into you?” she’d demanded. “I’ve worn clothes like this before, and you’ve never had a problem with it. In fact, when I was working for Invictus, you encouraged me to wear revealing clothing. Why are you suddenly offended by my clothing?”

“Stupid, stupid, female!” Konner had advanced on Kristen with his fist raised. She’d cowered under the brunt of his blows. “I’m about to rank up in the organization. I don’t need your slutty behavior to ruin my chances. You will cover yourself up. Do you understand?” He’d hit her relentlessly, despite her begging him to stop. He had gone at her like a man possessed. It had been violent and brutal as bad as anything Asshole and Jerk had doled out on Shelby and me.

In that moment, I’d almost felt sorry for Kristen as her own brother had hit her repeatedly. Hearing her cries of pain and disbelief. I’d had the impression this hadn’t been the first time she’d been hit by him, but it had been the first time he’d been this vicious, this intense. It had ended as quickly as it had begun.Konner, breathing heavily, evil gleaming in his eyes as he’d stared down at Kristen.

“Go change and don’t ever talk back to me again. Do you understand?” Konner had demanded around sucking in breaths. Kristen hadn’t spoken or looked Konner in the eyes, but she’d nodded as she’d climbed to her feet on shaky legs. I hadn’t seen her again until she beat on the back of the van for the men to pull me out. She’d caked on makeup, but she hadn’t been able to hide the bruising underneath.

Boss jerking my arm as we descend the stairs to the beach brings me back to the present. I don’t know all their plans, but I know Shelby will be placed under another section further down the beach. They plan to create as much damage and chaos as possible. I don’t fully understand their ultimate plans other than to cause as much damage and death as possible. Boss delights in hurting others. I’ve seen how much it pleases him when Asshole and Jerk deliver out his punishments for not answering his questions like he wants.

We reach the bottom of the stairs. I’m led a few steps away toward the beach. We stop as a family of beachgoers walk by laughing and teasing one another as they head up the stairs. My captors keep turning their heads watching the people around us. What are they waiting for? As the sun sets and darkness begins to descend, they slowly ease us toward the underside of the boardwalk.

I realize they don’t want anyone to see us going under the structure. I glance up at the last second to see Dalton peering over the edge. I can’t stop the tears that leak from the corners of my eyes. I try to let him know he needs to leave immediately with my eyes, but I don’t know if he understands. It isn’t like I can yell at him. Please get off the boardwalk, I plead in my head, willing him to understand and obey.

Boss drags me to a large pole in the center of the boardwalk. Jerk pulls out a set of handcuffs and leg chains. Asshole pulls myhands around the pole as Jerk cuffs me to it. My feet are jerked out from under me, my ass landing hard on the sandy soil. They put the chains on both of my feet. Boss pulls a Walkie Talkie from his belt.

“Jones are you in place?” Boss releases the button, waiting for a response. More time than I would expect passes before we hear static over the line, and a muffled voice replies, “Yeah, we’re ready.” Boss frowns.

“Jones?” Boss calls.

“Yes, sir?” Comes the clipped reply.

“Everything is secure?” Boss gives Jerk a look which spurs him into action. He turns and hurries down the beach toward where Shelby has been taken. The mood has completely changed. Boss and Asshole look agitated. I can only hope that someone has gotten Shelby away Konner and the others.

Movement catches my eye. Kristen is backing away slowly as if she’s trying to not be noticed. Boss suddenly whips in her direction, causing her to flinch. I can see indecision on her face just before she breaks into a run toward the water. Boss gives chase and catches her before she even gets out from under the boardwalk. He clamps a hand over her mouth to silence her screams, as he drags her back to where I’m being held. No one seems to notice due to all the chatter of kids playing on the beach.

“Tie her up with the whore,” Boss commands Asshole, who hurries to comply, pulling another set of handcuffs from his back pocket. He then produces a couple of gags and stuffs them into our mouths. I’ve never liked Kristen, but I don’t want her to suffer the same fate as me. Kristen has made mistakes, that’s undeniable. Still she’s a person. A person who deserves to live. She’s too young to die today. So am I. We have to free ourselves. We both deserve to live and have good lives.

Boss and Asshole check our handcuffs one last time before they step away from the pole where we are tied. “Ahmed? Haveyou located Jones and his crew?” Boss speaks into the radio. He is met with nothing but silence. “Ahmed! Respond!” Boss demands. I look to Kristen. Her eyes are wide with fear and concern. “Let’s go, Hadi. Something is wrong. We need to make sure Jones has the girl in place.” Boss and Asshole leave us as they go in search of Jones.

MARLEY

As soon as they are out of sight, I work hard to get the gag out of my mouth. Rosco had taught me how to escape being zip-tied, but not handcuffs. I tug on the cuffs to see if I can break the chain connecting them on the pole, but all I succeed in doing is scuffing the skin on my wrists. Kristen, too, is shifting herself around, scooting closer to me. We manage to spit out gags out at the same time. Thankfully, Asshole is lazy and only halfheartedly applied the gags.

“Marley, I know you don’t like me, and I don’t blame you at all,” Kristen asserts, her speech rapid. “But we need to work together if we are to get out of this alive.” She looks at me, shame written all over her face.

“I agree,” I tell her. “I don’t like you, but you don’t deserve to die any more than I do. What can we do, though?” An impish grin breaks out on her face.

“See if you can reach into my right front pocket?” I frown at her request. It seems like a crazy request, but now I know why she was trying to get closer to me. After a couple of failed attempts, we manage to get into position so I’m able to get a handinto her pocket. I feel a small metal object. A key! I pull it out carefully, my eyes widening as I see it’s a handcuff key.

“Holy cow!” I exclaim, my eyes flying up to meet Kristen’s. “Do they know you have this?” She shakes her head. I get the key into position and unlock one of Kristen’s cuffs. She takes the key from me quickly unlocking her other cuff, then she begins to unlock mine. She turns the key to the cuffs around my ankles just as I see two men headed toward us. Fear shoots through me thinking, Boss is coming back. As the figures gets closer, I can tell it’s not Boss or any of the other men who’ve been holding me captive. Enos and Dalton emerge from the darkness.

Kristen is fumbling with my ankle chains, not having any luck getting them unlocked. Enos and Dalton run the rest of the way to us. Kristen looks up seeing them approach. She looks at me. I can see the indecision on her face whether to stay to help me or run before they get to us.

“It’s okay, Kristen,” I tell her. “I will vouch for you. Neither of those men will hurt you; you know that, right?” She nods. Her face colors with shame.

“I know, but I’m ashamed of everything I’ve done,” Kristen whispers, just barely loud enough for me to hear her. “Everyone hates me for it. I only did it for my brother, and now he’s turned on me, too.” Her eyes shine with unshed tears. I take her trembling hand in mine.

“I know we got off to a bad start,” I begin just as Enos and Dalton reach us. “But I can see you aren’t really a bad person, Kristen. You’ve been influenced by your brother to do bad things, but you can turn your life around.” She gives me a weak smile in return.

“What’s going on?” Enos demands, staring down at Kristen. She looks up at him, tears trailing down her face.

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