Natalie was extremely bored. Laura and Jennifer had been living with her for nearly two months now. She had gotten used to the excitement their random expeditions brought her. She would do research for them, hacking into computer systems that actually provided her with a challenge. Sometimes they would even have her mess with a building’s camera system so they could go anywhere without being seen, but with an eye in the sky, so to speak.
They had nothing planned at the moment, so the three of them were lounging around the house, staring lazily at the TV. Natalie pulled out her laptop and set it on her folded legs. She began drifting through the internet, not really paying attention to what she was doing. She continued her wanderings for about a half an hour before she stumbled upon something interesting. It seemed to be some sort of encrypted message.
She ran it through one of the decrypting programs she designed. Eventually, she had her message. It read: “H.T., 3 p.m. 12, 20 kg, brg csh” Natalie narrowed her eyes. What could this mean? H.T. Was that a person? A place? 3 p.m. was obviously some sort of meeting time, and 12 was the date. In that case, H.T. probably WAS a place. 20 kg. Kg was probably kilograms. Kilograms of what, exactly? And the last part of the message. Brg csh. That had to be bring cash. It seemed to Natalie that some sort of important exchange would be taking place at the mysterious H.T.
Natalie absentmindedly typed the initials “H.T.” into her favorite search engine. Tons of people popped up. She narrowed her search to destinations and locations. A list of museums, zoos, and other tourist attractions appeared. Natalie sat back with a sigh. There were millions of places this could be taking place at. It may not even be in this country. She looked back over the message, trying to trace its source. It seemed to come from a public computer, located in one of the local city libraries. She grinned; satisfied that it would be a local place.
Out loud, she asked to the room at large, “What would you guys consider a good, common place for an exchange involving money?”
Jennifer answered, without moving her eyes from the TV screen, “depends on what it being exchanged. A hostage, drugs, whores. It really depends…”
“Alright,” Natalie replied, thinking, “let’s say it’s drugs. Where would be a good place?”
Laura took this one, “probably any place that’s abandoned. An old warehouse. A parking lot. Maybe even a hotel.”
“A hotel? Hmm…” Natalie returned her focus to her computer screen.
Laura and Jennifer exchanged a look, shrugged, and turned back to the TV.
She modified her search again, this time with “hotels” and the city name. Only a few results popped up this time. “Hyacinth Towers,” she murmured. She clicked on a link to the hotel’s website. It was a high quality hotel, with state-of-the art services and gorgeous rooms. She looked back at the message. It said when the exchange was to take place, as well as the basic location, but it didn’t say where exactly in the hotel it would be. She figured it would be in one of the rooms, but which room? Perhaps it was a combination of the time and the date? She felt it was a long shot, but worth a try. She attempted to book an online room, and entered a special request for the 12th of that month and room 312. She was told that the room would be occupied during that day, but would be available the next day. Next she tried hacking into the hotel’s security system. Perhaps she could find out which guest would be staying in the room and could use it as a lead.
The room was saved for a man named Smith. It was an obvious cover name, but she knew she needed more information than that. She looked to see how the reservation had been made. It seemed to originate from a public computer, similar to the way the encrypted message had been sent. This public computer seemed to be located at a small cyber bar near the park. Natalie figured it might be worth something, so she explained everything she had discovered so far to Jennifer and Laura.
They seemed intrigued. “Perhaps we can do a little research,” Jennifer suggested. “It’s not like we’re making good use of our time, and this sounds like we may be able to get something out of it.”
Laura decided to head to library, and Jennifer agreed that she would go to the cyber café. Natalie said she would stay at her apartment and try to gather more information through the hotel’s website.
~~~~~~~
Laura approached the brick face of the run-down little library. Its faded sign read “Jason Kindling Library” and underneath it said, “To Educate Those That Will It.” She climbed the steps and pushed the door open. It distinctly smelled of old books and dust. The floor was of a dark wood and there were lamps with green shades upon a few rickety tables. A frail old woman sat behind the front desk.
Laura approached her slowly, and asked quietly, “where would I go to use a computer in this library?”
The lady looked up from the book she had been reading, and pointed with a wispy hand towards a desk behind her. Laura nodded her thanks and continued to the desk. She brought up the internet, and went to recent history. Natalie had told her that the email would have been sent three days ago. She began sifting through URLs. Eventually she came upon an email provider site. She flipped open her cell phone and texted to Natalie, “I think I may have found it.” She then copied the URL into the text and sent it. Her task complete, she stood up and turned off the computer. After thanking the librarian, she continued out through the door, down the steps, and back towards Natalie’s apartment.
~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Jennifer was just reaching the cyber café. It was completely devoid of people. Thanks to Natalie, she knew exactly which computer to sit down at. She continued to do exactly what Laura had. She searched through the URLs until she found an email provider that had been accessed three days prior. After sending the address to Natalie, she too continued back to the apartment.
~~~~~~~~
It was an incredibly hot day; Monica was dressed in a black tank top and shorts, and she was sweating incessantly. Nichole was quietly cleaning her guns on the seedy hotel’s bed, while Anna was changing in the bathroom.
“So let’s run through scenarios… How many people?”
“Oh, I’d imagine quite a few. Drug exchanges are usually busy.” Nichole answered.
“Ok, how many guns? How many weapons?” Monica wasn’t sure how many dynamite sticks to pack.
“Depends on the amount of people. Damn it, I wish there was some way for us to check out the hotel’s security… We’re going in there blind, Monica.”
“I know.”
**********************
“Jennifer’s a mad genius”, Laura decided. There was a calm coolness about her, despite the fact that they were going to crash a drug bust in about two hours. Natalie seemed especially somber, as though she felt responsible for telling Laura and Jennifer about it in the first place. For the most part, Laura was anxious. The three of them had been drifting for a couple of weeks, and she had no idea how they were going to support themselves. Plus, Laura knew that her brother Johnny was somewhere close, but she had no idea where. Natalie knew, but Laura would have to work on that later. Back to the drug bust.
“Jennifer, what happens when they start shooting?” Natalie blurted out. It was obvious she was nervous.
“Duck, I guess.” Jennifer was polishing her large, intimidating gun. She was busy thinking, but she was completely silent. She knew the most about the criminal underworld; had learned their secrets over poker games, and things had just advanced from there. Laura was catching up to Jennifer, but she had more to learn. Natalie was a computer hacker, but was hardly criminal. They made an interesting group.
“One hour.” Laura announced. She couldn’t decide on which knives to bring, there were so many choices. “I guess I’ll just bring them all…” She murmured.
“Ok, it’s time to go. Laura, you go and book a room for tonight, and Natalie and I will book another. Meet us in the restaurant and we’ll take it from there.” Jennifer loved the thrill, the tension, that was in the air. She thrived on it.
************************
In the restaurant, Laura ordered a paltry plate of mozzarella cheese sticks to keep the waiter busy for some time. It was almost 2:30, and the weather could not be more hot and miserable. It was all Laura could do to keep the butter knives in the restaurant from slipping from her fingers, let alone her throwing knives. Natalie hadn’t spoken a word since the trio left for the hotel, but as she and Jennifer returned from booking a room, she broke her silence.
“Ok, let’s be honest. I work with computers. I like computers. I don’t, on the other hand, like guns. Or knives, or whatever else drug dealers have with them. Can someone explain to me why we’re crashing the drug bust anyways?”
Jennifer took that one. “At a drug exchange, what’s usually there? Besides people and drugs?”
Natalie blinked. “…Money?”
“You bet. Tons of it. So think of it like this-we break up a drug bust, snatch the money and leave. No big deal. Of course, we’ll use intimidation”-here Jennifer patted her jacket pocket, which housed a rather poorly hid gun- “but hopefully, we won’t even be seen.”
Laura finally spoke up. “Not seen? How are we going to manage that?”
Jennifer smiled, and Laura and Natalie felt the sinking dread pit in their stomachs.
“Oh no… Jennifer’s on the jazz…” Laura sighed.
*****************
Anna liked to think she was tough and dangerous. She had taken on a chauvinistic pilot, and although it cost her a career in the Air Force, it had reinforced the idea that she was not to be messed with. She was only slightly frightened, therefore, when she, Monica, and Nichole started their descent up the hotel’s staircase.
“Hey, uh, so why exactly are we doing this? Because I’m a little fuzzy on the details. Kinda.” Anna knew that silence was sacred at this point, but the question had been bugging her insistently since dawn.
Nichole hissed, “Can’t afford to have drug dealers run around this city-they cause too much trouble. They ruin lives.”
Monica nodded silently. It was odd that two financially independent women and an ex-Air Force pilot would crash a drug bust for seemingly “no reason”, but we all know that isn’t quite true.
“So, are we going to just…Knock on the door?” Anna whispered.
Monica and Nichole traded glances. It seemed rather absurd, but…
With a wink and a smile, Monica rapped lightly on the door of room 312.
*****************
The door swung open silently, and out peered a clean cut, young Caucasian man in a business suit. For a moment Nichole thought they had made a major mistake, but she remembered that her parents didn’t exactly look like back-alley criminals, though they had done some major damage in their time.
“Hello.” The man smiled. Monica and Anna waited for something more, but Nichole knew the routine from the days when she would listen in on some of her parent’s deals. It was her turn to provide some vital piece of information.
“Hello yourself. I hope you accept cash here?” It was a long shot, but she had seen femme fatales get into her parent’s meetings using the same line.
“Ah, it just so happens that we do! Please, step in, and be sure to throw your guns, and all other weapons, on the floor before we shoot them off.” With that, the door was opened to the three novices.
Monica, the last to enter the room, had hardly enough time to survey her surroundings (initially deemed to be very high end), before everything went black.
~~~~~~~~~~
The few seconds of confused, anxious silence stretched on for ages before a crash interrupted the feelings of panic that we’re beginning to overtake everybody in the room.
The darkness was brief but when the lights flicked back on a new scene was being played out in the hotel room. Where before the picture had been that of three relatively innocent looking girls waiting politely at a hotel room door, it now featured almost a dozen people, all poised for battle, a tint of insanity piercing the ferocity in each persons’ eyes.
Jennifer, Laura and Natalie had made their way into the hotel room in the brief darkness and were all focused on a small safe that was peering out at the room from the back corner of the indulgently large closet. The unexpected return of the lights had caught them off guard and in their panic, Jennifer and Laura had drawn their weapons (like almost everybody else in the room) while Natalie stood stone still, terrified but, somehow, still upset that her program to keep the lights off didn’t work. Jennifer and Laura stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder. The gleaming tip of Laura’s knife always aiming at the opposite target of Jennifer’s firearm.
No one in the room was entirely positive of who was an enemy and who was an ally. Weapons constantly changed their targets in anticipation of who was the greatest personal threat.
Five young men in business suits all stood near to the center of the room, their backs to one another, handguns out towards the rest of the room. Their allegiance was clear. Nichole’s look of easy confidence, as she stood blocking the door, was set slightly askew by the fact that she very clearly couldn’t decide whom to target. A pistol in each hand, changing targets at every suspicious movement from either the larger group of men or the intruding group of Jennifer, Laura and Natalie. To Nichole’s left, further into the room, Anna didn’t move her aim from Jennifer, who she deemed to be the most capable seeming intruder. Monica, off to the right of the door, back to the wall, seemed unsure with her handgun as she aimed irresolutely at the mass of men in dark colored suits.
Nichole glared intently at the unknown girl, the hitch in their plan. Jennifer was clearly no one to mess with. Despite being entirely unaware of these girls’ intentions, Nichole smiled slightly at them. What else can we do? She thought, as the possible negative outcomes of this alliance pressed on her mind. Jennifer nodded ever so slightly and both women changed their targets to the group of men. Laura, Anna and Monica picked up on the cue and joined them.
“You’re outnumbered,” Nichole said, her ferocity and disdain evident in her tone.
“Hardly,” said the man who answered the door, “We don’t count the unarmed.” A slightly gratuitous glance at Natalie followed his statement. Not a second later, Anna had reached for her ankle holster and slid one of her many spare guns across the floor towards Natalie.
Natalie picked up the gun with an evident reluctance but tried her best to give off an aura of confidence as she pointed towards the men and said, “Now, you’re outnumbered.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of those words put a rush of adrenaline pumping through everybody in the room. Every movement was amplified into an enormous gesture, every tiny sound an orchestra. The tension was only growing greater with every passing moment, full of fear, uncertainty and an unmatched excitement.
One of the men twitched just slightly too violently in the never-ending silence and broke the focus that all the tension in the room had been mounted on. The knife in Laura’s hand slipped and fell to the ground with a hollow thud. The man nearest to her, clearly the oldest of the group, supposed himself the wisest and took advantage of her momentary disarmament by grabbing her by the shoulders, gun to her head.
The hostage taker only had a moment to be proud of what he thought was a brilliant move before Laura had palmed one of the knives hidden up her sleeve and jammed it into his gut. Not truly understanding what had happened, only understanding the sudden pain, the man released his grip on his hostage. Laura broke free but did not run. Knowing he was still fully capable of pulling the trigger of the gun that remained aimed in her direction, she slit his throat with a motion that was swift but somehow still incredibly reluctant.
There was no time for anyone to worry about emotions or morals. There was no time to worry about anything. Suddenly chaos reigned. Guns were fired. No one ever really knew from whom. Consciousness was lost and instinct was in charge.
A small explosion. Blood. Endless profanity. Shouts that were sure to grab the attention of other guests. More blood. And then darkness.
“Natalie, what is going on with the lights? You said this would be easy!” Jennifer was not angry or disappointed, just curious, an emotion that seemed magnificently out of place at the moment.
“This isn’t me. I have no idea what’s happening.” The room was pitch black. For the girls, moving seemed out of the question, in this strange hotel room filled with enemies and shrapnel from the momentary battle. This clearly wasn’t the case for the men, though. Scraping and scuttling from their movements revealed that they were all moving, but not very effectively.
The noise of the window opening was distinct and quickly followed by a shot. The lights flicked on once more and the only men remaining in the room were the corpse with the slit throat and a dying man with a bullet through his head.
“Who shot? How stupid are you? You could have hit one of us!” Nichole exclaimed.
“But I didn’t hit any of you. Now there’s one less criminal in the world.” Monica glared at Nichole, knowing she had no way to counteract her argument. Nichole smiled affectionately in defeat.
Jennifer looked around the room, formulating a plan. Before she could get very far though, she realized she was hurt, a piece of glass embedded in calf, as was another girl. She also realized they were now bonded, at least until they could escape, to these strangers whose names they didn’t even know.
“You’re hurt. What’s your name?” Jennifer asked bluntly, revealing her impatience.
“I’m Anna and it doesn’t matter. I’m fine. It’s just a graze. I’ve had worse.” She looked at her shoulder passively, examining the wound.
“I’m Jennifer. Laura. Natalie.” She said nodding toward each as she said their names.
“Nichole.”
“Monica.”
“Good. Now what do we do?” Nichole demanded.
“Check the safe.” Natalie said, grimly. She checked it without waiting for anyone else’s approval or response. The door to the safe was a jar, which saved them a lot of trouble. Natalie looked around for anything to carry the cash it contained. A laptop case on the floor of the closet seemed to be of sufficient size so she began to fill it without worrying about how much money was there or what was going to happen next.
“We need to go. We made too much noise,” Jennifer headed towards the door as soon as Natalie seemed to be done collecting the cash. Everyone else followed, despite the fact that Nichole, Anna and Monica had no reason to trust Jennifer besides her aura of confidence.
“We can’t just wander around,” Anna said. “We’ll attract too much attention. Most of us have some kind of visible wound or bloodstains.” She was right but they had to go somewhere and no one had planned for things to get this messy.
“Natalie, you look the least suspicious. Wait for the elevator. We’ll be down the hall. Call us if it’s empty and warn us if people get off and start heading towards us,” Jennifer said calmly.
The first time the elevator opened, a young man in a suit and an older woman stood arm in arm inside. Natalie made a quick excuse not to board and let it go. The next elevator was empty so she did as she had been instructed and called for everyone else, holding the elevator door open while they boarded.
The severity of what had just happened began to weigh down on all of them.
Laura was shaking visibly. She leaned against the elevator wall, staring at her bloody hands. Her actions had been necessary but that didn’t make the realization that she had taken that man’s life any less painful. She knew she had to be strong though, for Jennifer’s sake, for Johnny’s sake, for everyone in this elevator whom she felt an inexplicable affection for. She did her best to, at least temporarily, block out her pain and focus on the matter at hand.
Natalie’s expression was vacant. She could hardly comprehend what she had just seen. All she thought was going to happen was that they would sneak in and take the money and leave. No hassle. She had now seen two men die. I just want to code… She thought in the silence, When did I get wrapped up in all of this and more importantly why? It seemed impossible that she was the same person she had been such a short time ago.
Like always, Jennifer was formulating a plan. The past was behind them and the future was all that mattered. They had the money, how much, she wasn’t sure but it was enough for now. Getting out without being caught was crucial. If they escaped, they would be safe. The police in this town wouldn’t investigate something a simple as a drug deal gone wrong as long as nothing suspicious accompanied it, like half a dozen young girls covered in blood being spotted fleeing the scene of the crime.
Unsure of what was truly happening, Anna simply let herself enjoy the thrill. Since she had been court-martialed and discharged from the military, nothing mattered as much. Anna simply couldn’t make herself care that they were all in terrible danger and that two men were dead because of her actions. She couldn’t focus on the pain in her shoulder either. It was there, throbbing incessantly, but it wasn’t important. Surviving was the most important thing right now, and it was frankly the most fun to think about. A thousand dramatic scenarios of their escape ran through her mind, very few were plausible but it didn’t matter anyways.
Monica, sitting on the floor, hugging her knees, was struggling with the notion that she very possibly could have hit someone besides her intended target. She had been entirely confident at the time of the shot that she knew the location of everyone in the room, but what if she had been wrong? What if instead of hitting one of the criminals trying to flee, she had accidentally hit some one else? How would she have felt if she had shot Nichole? Her friend, her human friend. The idea was too much to bear. Remembering that the bullet had hit the man in the head as she had intended reassured her that she had done the right thing and no one had been in danger, but she didn’t know how long that reassurance would last.
Nichole twitched nervously as she tried to retain her composure. So many things had gone wrong. There were so many things that still could go wrong. Worst of all, three of the men had escaped. They we’re still out there. Nothing had gone right and she could feel herself starting to give up. Knowing that they still had to escape was the only thing keeping her going, the only thing keeping her strong. Her strength was more important than anything else right now. Her strength would save her and save everyone, if need be.
Everyone’s mind was deep in thought so no one got the momentary warning of the elevator beginning to slow before the door began to creep open. Any move they could make would be suspicious but it was too late to do anything, anyways.
“Ladies, I would be honored if you would have a quick word with me upstairs,” He said stepping into the elevator. He slid a key card and pressed the elevator button for the top floor, the penthouse suite. No one could quite find their breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The man was middle aged and dressed in a simple, fitted suit. He gazed around at them with confident yet gentle eyes. Nobody knew what to say, and nobody knew what to do. Monica looked up cautiously from the floor. As she adjusted her position, she brushed up against Nichole’s leg. The sudden touch of her friend snapped Nichole back into focus. She lifted her gun and pointed it at the man’s head. Following her lead, the rest of them all pointed their weapons at him as well.
Instead of looking unnerved, the man simply smiled. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“And why is that?” Nichole shot back, “give us one good reason. Right now, you’re in the way of our escape.”
“Well, first of all, I know exactly what went happened in room 312. I’ve been watching you ever since you first stepped over the threshold of my hotel.” The elevator hummed quietly as it climbed.
Jennifer made a small sound of recognition, “you…you’re the doorman. You were standing by the door of the hotel when we walked in.” All the rest of the girls looked at her in surprise. Monica frowned a bit, trying to recall the appearance of the doorman they had passed on their way in. He was certainly the right height and build, but there was no way to know for sure.
The man inclined his head slightly. “You caught me Jennifer. You have quite the eye for detail.” Jennifer flinched at the use of her name, and glared at the man. “You shouldn’t be so surprised. I said I’ve been keeping an eye on you all day. You do remember introducing yourselves to each other, don’t you?”
All the girls looked at each other quickly before turning back to him. Anna stepped forward and asked rather forcefully, “If you know our names, don’t you think it fair that we know yours?”
Natalie took this moment to chime in, “and where exactly are you taking us?”
The man held up his hand, stopping their questions. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, and some things you don’t. But first, I’d appreciate it if you took your weapons out of my face.” Reluctantly, they all lowered their assorted guns and knives. Just then, the elevator dinged and shuddered to a stop. “Ah, here we are,” the man smiled again, suddenly very chipper.
The doors opened to reveal a huge, beautiful room. Dark tiles covered the whole floor, and a sweeping view of the city could be seen out the tinted windows that dominated all four walls. Tasteful yet eclectic pieces of furniture were scattered about the room. A huge flat screen TV commanded the attention of one whole corner of the room. The red, plush couches that surrounded it looked extremely attractive to the exhausted girls.
With energetic steps, the man strode into the room, turned on his heel and opened his arms to gesture at the room around him. “Welcome to the headquarters of my pet project.” He grinned, “You may call me Mr. Lindsey.” The girls began filtering into the room, gazing around in astonishment at the splendor.
“You should consider yourselves lucky,” Mr. Lindsey continued, “No other people have ever been allowed in this room before.” His voice suddenly grew darker, “You’re also among the only people who have seen my real face.” The openness of his face closed off and he exuded an air of terrifying anger and regret. The tension in the room was nearly too much for the drained group of girls, and they began shifting uncomfortably, waiting for Mr. Lindsey to reach his point.
“So,” he continued lightening up a bit, “I have need of your services. You work for me now.”
“I work for nobody,” Jennifer spat out, and Nichole nodded emphatically in agreement.
Mr. Lindsey looked as though he expected such a reaction. “You don’t really have much of a choice. It’s either take my offer, or be arrested. It’s up to you.”
“You sound awfully secure in your convictions. What exactly makes you think we’ll do what you want?” Natalie inquired.
“Ah yes, a good question. You see, at this very moment, police are making their way to your apartment, Natalie. They’ve been looking for the three of you for quite some time.” He nodded at Jennifer, Natalie, and Laura. Natalie looked as though she was about to faint. “Especially you younger two…something about a connection with a gang shooting and five dead men?” He raised his eyebrow slightly as Laura squeaked in fear.
Finally, Natalie was able to choke out a sentence, “but…how did they find me? There’s no way that they could trace any of our actions back to my apartment…”
Mr. Lindsey looked at her steadily. “I believe it has something to do with a tipoff from a certain Bloomsburg Security employee.” At this, Laura’s legs gave out and she dropped into the nearest chair. She put her head in her hands and started shaking. Natalie’s eyes glazed over as she realized how big of an enemy she had made out of her former employer. Now they were using Laura’s own brother’s skills against them. “Yes…you three have quite the collection of dangerous enemies. A sociopathic killer, a murderous gang hungry for revenge, and an extremely powerful businessman with nearly unlimited resources at his disposal.”
Laura whimpered slightly and Jennifer sighed. Natalie cleared her throat and asked quietly, “so they have all of my stuff? All of my equipment? My computers…”
“No.” At this answer, Natalie looked up. Mr. Lindsey answered her confused look, “I had all of your belongings removed from your apartment and delivered here.” He nodded at Jennifer, “all of your things are here too, as well as Laura’s.”
As the three girls tried to absorb all the information they had just been given, Mr. Lindsey turned to Nichole, Monica, and Anna. “Now you three…”
Before he could continue, Monica spoke up, “perhaps before you enter the next phase of your tirade you should consider letting us patch up our injured.” She motioned to the pool of blood around Jennifer’s leg and the streams that stained Anna’s shirt.
Mr. Lindsey seemed slightly taken aback, but conceded that Monica had a wise point. He went to a cupboard and pulled out a large first aid kit. He tossed it to Monica, and she immediately began tending to Jennifer’s leg. Laura stood up and went to wash her bloody hands at a sink in the room’s kitchen area.
After they all finished cleaning up and settled down, Mr. Lindsey continued where he left off. “So yes, you three. I have noticed that none of you really have homes to return to. Nichole, you sold your parent’s property and have been traveling around for years. You seem to have no desire to settle down, but you can’t live out of hotels and motels forever.” Nichole glared at him, but didn’t dare contradict what he said. She knew it was true. “And Monica,” Monica looked up, slightly unnerved by being the center of attention, “You don’t want to return to your parent’s house. If you do, you will have to return to a life of social events and fancy clothes. A life I know you want to avoid at all costs.” Monica frowned slightly, and looked down at her hands, lost in thought. “And last of all, Anna.” Anna raised her head proudly, guessing what was coming, “You cannot return home. Even if you wanted to, they would not take you back. You have shamed your family and now they want nothing to do with you.” Anna showed no outward sign that his words had affected her, but in reality, the words hit her in her most vulnerable spot.
“And so you all can see,” Mr. Lindsey concluded, “You need me. I have a place for you all. A place to call home and a place that is completely hidden. All I need in return is the knowledge that you will help me with a couple jobs here and there. That’s all I ask.” As the girls looked around at each other, weighting their options, Mr. Lindsey added one more comment:
“Of course, you could all always just choose jail.”
