“Look, lady, this isn’t the Hilton. You get what you get.” Shirley-Rachel scratched her forehead with the barrel of the gun and turned to her friend. “We need to get back up there and clean up before the next shift arrives. We can hide this for a while. Maybe come up with a story. Maybe he tried to escape?”

Kelsey nodded enthusiastically, better now that she had a task and maybe a way out of this. They left without another word or a glance back. They locked the door securely, and I heard them run around the pool and up to the house.

“How bad is it?” Wab called from the corner.

Rania didn’t answer right away. She threaded a needle and mixed salt into the water before speaking. “Let’s just hope he stays unconscious for a bit.” Then she cleaned her hands with the sanitizer and got to work.

✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦

It was hours before we heard anything else from outside. Rania kept us updated on Miig.

“He’s running hot. When the water’s cooled off, I’ll try to keep his temperature down by wetting his forehead.”

“Wound is closed, and the blood is clotting now.”

“Swelling is a bit much, but cold water will help. It’ll be ready to use soon.”

“He’s a champ. Already looks a little less pale.”

The sound of cars coming up the drive made me hopeful for minute before I realized new people could mean a repeat of last night’s attempt at extraction. I caught Chi Boy’s eye. “You hear that?”

He nodded.

A few minutes later, there were voices just outside, and the door opened. In the sudden burst of full sun, I saw four figures. They stepped inside, including an older woman in a floral print dress. “Ladies and gentleman, my name is President Purdue, and I am…” She stopped talking and her small smile disappeared when she saw the streaks of blood on the floor and Miig with his shirt off and his middle bandaged with dish towels and Isaac’s sweater.

“What in Jesus’s name happened here?”

Three other women stepped forward to look, each one carrying a wicker basket. They gasped and muttered amongst themselves behind the older woman, never raising their voices. Clearly, she was the one in charge.

“The idiots you left us with last night cut open my husband.” Isaac was all fire and wrath. “Took his rib like animals and brought him back here to die.”

“Is he dead?” she asked, leaning in but not coming any closer.

“Not yet.”

Rania jumped in. “But if you want him to be okay, and you do, we need ibuprofen and ice and some drinking water, to start.”

The woman turned back and nodded to a blond in a white sweater set, who handed her basket off to another before heading back to the house.

“Anything else?”

“Freedom would be nice,” Wab remarked from her cage. “Or a gun, so at least it’s a fair fight. Hell, I’d take a pointy stick right about now.”