“Does Vlad or Nikolai ever come with them?” Frost queries.
“That’s the mean guy’s name? Figures. He kind of looks like one too. They were only here the very first time I came home and found them holding the kids hostage and forced me to agree to help them to pay off my mother’s debt. Since then, I only ever see them when I go there. Though lately I’ve mostly seen the guard they assign me when I arrive. I see Vlad and this Nikolai asshole rarely, and it’s only been more since your guy, Hulk, has come in. They seem to be there a lot more. Whatever information they want, they want to get it themselves. No one else is allowed to touch him.”
Their mouths tighten, but they both nod. “And the person who normally guards you is always the same where they take you?” Bowie asks. “And it’s never the three who bring you in or take you back?”
“Yeah, pretty much. The guy at the place they take me, which I think is a house, is a jerk, but he keeps his hand to himself and seems to be afraid of Nikolai. Anytime he’s around, he gets skittish, but if he’s around anyone else or Vlad, he’s stoic and all business. I call him Jumpy in my head, but his name is Igor.”
“Good, this is helpful,” Bowie says, pulling the icepack from his shoulder to quickly type out something on his phone. I look at his shoulder, and it’s definitely going to bruise, but when I poke and prod at him a little, he doesn’t react overly much, so I have to say he’s going to be fine.
“Do you remember anything else?” Frost asks. “We’ll get you to help us with the map of the drive, but is there anything else other than the information you gave your siblings or have told us already?”
I think about it for a long time. The majority of the times I’ve been dragged there, it’s always the same. Clean up their soldiers who seem to get in a lot of scuffles, but also the few that get shot or cut. Nothing life or death, so far, but enough that they’re definitely not sitting around idle often. Finally, I tell them, “Thesoldiers I see are normally young, and they come off as reckless and trying to prove themselves. Most of the time, unless they are speaking directly to me, they speak in Russian. The odd time they don’t, it’s normally to say that Vlad ordered something. A shipment to be moved, a woman or man to grab, and sometimes, people to check out. But they only ever say him, or them, no names or identifying information.”
“Probably been told to make sure they don’t say anything you can actually use against them if you go to the cops, or are grabbed by them,” Frost suggests.
“There is one guy—Peter or Paul—who is always in to see me, but not in the way that I would think he was trying to get in my pants or something. He seems to be the one that Jumpy calls on when he needs something done.”
“And this Jumpy guy, how does he treat the guy?” Bowie asks.
I shrug. “Same as most, I guess. He barks orders, but when they talk to each other, he usually talks to him quietly and away from where I can hear.”
“I’d bet money that this guy is the eyes and ears of those soldiers and he reports to the Jumpy guy about what the soldiers are doing,” Frost declares. “And it gives us another angle to work.”
“The area they’re holding Hulk in, how big is it?” Bowie asks, watching me intently. “As best as you can guess. Anything in the room that stood out, no matter how small.”
I purse my lips in thought. “It’s big enough that it has a long table that Vlad likes to keep his torture instruments on. I didn’t look at them closely, but I know that there’s normally a whip, brass knuckles, and some knives of varying shapes and sizes. They keep most of the room in shadows so I can’t see everything. They keep Hulk in the center, and when I was cleaning up his back, I was able to see that they have a hook on each side of himthat I imagine is for the same purpose. Behind Hulk is a plain steel wall, and sometimes when I go in, I can smell faint traces of bleach, so they must clean it every so often. I’ve also gone in when he’s not been hanging and tied to a chair. The chair is usually against that back wall and has a hook on the back of it as well that they chain him to. They never shackle his feet though. Only the upper part of him and his hands.”
I’m saying this so matter-of-factly that it takes me a moment to see the anger on their faces. I stop and stare at them. They look positively murderous, and it takes me a second to remember that they’re not angry at me, but at what is happening to their friend. “I’m going to enjoy taking those fuckers apart,” Frost states icily.
Bowie nods his agreement before asking, “Anything else that you can tell us, Avery?”
I shake my head. “I know there are cameras in the room, but they don’t have audio. I risked it speaking to Hulk, but I called that douche’s bluff when he was asking me about it.”
“Bet he’s getting it now,” Bowie says grimly. “He knows you talked about something else, but he can’t prove it, even if his gut is telling him that he’s right.”
“Hulk and I gave him the same story. Well, Hulk told him what he could. He’s pretty weak,” I warn them. “He doesn’t want many pain meds, but I had to give him a good dose last time to keep him from dying from the shock and pain.” I look at my watch. “They’re probably going to be coming to get me soon to give him his next round of antibiotics.”
“What time do they normally come to get you?” Frost asks, typing away on his phone.
“They’ve been getting me every evening after my shift ends. So between six and seven.”
“Ballsy of them to take you out in the light of day,” Bowie remarks.
“We need to figure out what ways they’ve taken you and fast,” Frost says briskly. “Avery, give us what you can, please. Bowie, call Bullet and tell him what we know. We need to get Cryos on this as fast as we can and figure out a way to follow them. Then we need to set up close by that we can watch them when they come to take her. Between us and the Misfits, we can have people stationed all over the city to watch for them if we know the vehicle.”
Bowie nods. “We need to get our brother back. Avery, we may need to get your help with this as well. Are you up for it?”
Am I?“Will my brother and sister be safe, no matter what? Even if Vlad or one of his men kill me?” It’s a terrible thought to consider, but it has to be done.
“On my life, I promise you that they will be,” Frost vows. “But nothing will happen to you, Avery. We’ll make sure of it.”
I have no choice to believe them, but I have no idea how I can help them. Getting the giant of a man out of that place is going to be hard enough, and even with me being taller than most women, I don’t know that I can do this on my own. Still, I owe it to them to try. Especially if it means my family is safe.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HULK
She saved me, and now it’s my turn to save her.
