Page 5 of Carnage
“What do you mean you can’t?—”
The bathroom door slams against the wall. “Rue!”
“Shit.” He tenses against me, motioning for me to be quiet. “What?” he asks the man.
“You’re taking too long. Leon wants you back.”
“It’s been, like, three minutes. Can I take a shit? Jesus.”
“Gross. I’ll be outside the door waiting.”
Rue’s face falls. “Okay.” He rubs his forehead. “I don’t know what I was thinking,” he says after the door closes.
He pushes past me, opens the stall, and hurries out. I’m shook, but I snap out of it just before he opens the bathroom door to leave. I grab his arm.
“Do you need help? Seriously?”
“It’s no use. Sorry. I shouldn’t have involved you.” He pulls his arm away. “I can’t let them see me talking to you. They’ll hurt you. Maybe both of us.”
“Wha—” He hurries out before I can finish.
Oh fuck no.
It takes me a second to react, but when I rush out he’s already being yanked across the bar by some big muscular thug. I head back to Whisper, fired up now.
“Hey. You up for a little trouble?”
Whisper grins. “Always. What’s up?”
“Weirdest interaction, but I think I need to intervene.” I turn in the direction of Rue’s table but it’s empty. My eyes shift to the dance floor but he’s not there either. None of the guys are. “Fuck.”
“What’s going on, Carn?”
I explain everything that happened in the bathroom. “And now they’re gone.”
“Come on. They can’t have left the parking lot yet. That was just a few minutes ago.”
We push our way out of the club and into the parking lot in time to see a beat-up SUV pulling out. Whisper catches the license plate as I power walk my way to it, but they turn onto the street and tear off before I can get close enough.
“Dammit. They’re gonna hurt him. I know it.”
“I got the plate. Let’s see what we can find.”
“I have to find him, Whisper. He reached out to a stranger for help. He’s desperate.”
“I hear ya, man. We’ll find him.”
“His name is Rue, and the guy mentioned someone named Leon, but that’s all I got. I don’t know who he’s with or anything. The fear in his eyes was real though.”
“Think he’s being trafficked?”
“Maybe. Kidnapped for sure.”
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
As soon as we’re back in Whisper’s van, he gets busy typing the plate number into his computer. Whisper can find anyone. While he’s doing that, I open the Murder Buddies chat.
Me: If anyone’s out tonight, keep an eye out for an early model Durango, orange but damaged with black paint scratches. Plate number 438-5TR. Let me know if you get eyes on it and I’ll be there.
