Intuition by Crystal St.Clair Page B

have brought me into the basement because the sound of traffic sounds further away.
    A gust of wind swooshes through my hair from something falling on the ground beside me, “Here’s a blanket. It’ll keep you warm.”
    “Will you at least take this damn thing off of my eyes?”
    “No! Not yet.” The door slams shut then another one opens.
    “Drew?”
    Nobody answers but feet rustle hard against the floor. Something large drops then slides against a wall. “Hello? Who’s there?”
    Musky old man cologne and booze whisks into my nostrils, “Why hello, beautiful, you must be Destiny, Sebastian’s Destiny. Well, it’s about time we meet!” The familiar voice makes my stomach clench to try to hold back vomit. It’s the exact guy who held a gun to my back.
    “You Bastard!”
    He cackles enthused that he’s got me right where he wanted in the first place. “That’s what they call me, but no. My name’s Johnny, he says proudly.
    Johnny claims he knows all about me but that dirty scumbag doesn’t know shit! As soon as I get the hell out of here he is first on my hit list, then anyone else who wants to interfere. I call it like I see it and tell the truth, but I guess that’s a foreign language to guys like them. These scumbags are the reason I became interested in law in the first place. I’ll put their asses where they belong – in jail or six feet under.
    A woman's awakening groans come from the wall. She must have been brought down here and shoved into the corner. Her voice sounds hoarse and beat. “Where the hell am I? Hello?” Transition of her awakening and gaining consciousness turns her curiosity into begging and curling screams.
    “What the fuck did you do to her?” I scream.
    “Shut the fuck up!” Johnny barks back. His voice is recognizable; I know that I've heard it before.
    A shoe with a hole peers in my sight from the bottom of the blindfold that I manage to push up a little by squinting my nose. There is no doubt in my mind now of who is behind all of this, I know my shots anywhere. “Exactly what we’re going to do to you!”
    I should have known that Paul is behind all of this like Sebastian, and I had suspected, but this! When he removes the blindfold and cuffs from my hands there is no hesitation to warn me not to make any stupid moves and I’m not about to, not until Sebastian or my father come and I know that they will take care of them They’ve got to…
    “Get over there and keep that whore alive,” he orders “Anything you need we will bring it to you,” Paul slides over a bucket of warm water with a cloth.
    Doing as he says I dip the cloth into the bucket and clean off the woman’s wounds on her face. One of h er eyes are bruised and there are small cuts scribbled across the rest of her face. She jolts against the gentle touch of the warm cloth as it holds against her skin and brittle hands. The erosion on her wrists must have been from being tied together too tight. Johnny comes back to bring a plate with a sandwich. It isn’t with ease that I’m able feed her swollen lips with small pieces torn off.. They beat the shit out of her, tortured her, and for what fucking reason? No good reason that’s why!
    Her mouth tries to spit out words as I wipe the small amount of blood that make her accent stronger and harder to hear, “Gracious. You don’t have to do this, save yourself, Chica. All hope is gone for me now.”
    “Don’t say that! I would have done this even if they didn’t want me to. I’ll make sure that you get out of here too,” I promise. “There are people looking for me; we won’t leave you here!”
    Her name is Isabella and she is only twenty years old. Isabella confirms my suspicion that this place is a prison house for prostitution. Women are brought here against their will and slaved for sick entertainment. Human trafficking is the second largest illegal income nationwide, next to drug trafficking. Isabella is only one of more than twenty million