The Escort

46 - Sacrifice

Slash's eyes fluttered open, the bridge of his nose hurt like hell and he pinched it slightly just to make sure it wasn't broken. As his vision adjusted to the dim lighting, he looked around and saw Michael slumped on the floor, face down, so he crawled to him and started to frantically shake him, as he whispered yelled. "Mike! MJ! Wake up, man! Man, u good?!"

Jackson let out a deep groan and struggled to raise his head, his curls completely covering his face. Saul hurried to brush them back to take a look at him and cursed under his breath when he realized MJ's nose was bleeding profusely, so he reached for the bandana he always had in the back pocket of his jeans to wipe the blood and helped him sit up with his back against the wall.

"Where are we?" Michael lowly asked, regaining consciousness, scanning the place with his half-open eyes.

"Looks like some sick fuck's basement." Slash said standing up, and proceeded to pat every single one of his pockets. "Motherfuckers took my phone, and they even took my smokes!"

Michael smirked sideways, closing his eyes again. "Course they gon take ur phone, u dumbass..."
His friend huffed and sat down next to him. Suddenly, he started to chuckle, making MJ look at him. "What's so funny?"

Slash's grin grew wider and soon enough he started to laugh. Michael closed his eyes again and smiled as well. "I know... We're so fucked."

***
Three patrol cars parked in front of the hideout, Bill ran to the front door and found it shattered. They were too late.
He tried Michael's phone once again, but it went straight to voicemail, same with Saul's.

Mesereau ordered a CSI team to search for evidence, fingerprints, anything that could identify the people who took them.

"I told him, I fucking told him not to come back here, I told him!" Bray repeated with tears in his eyes, his heart aching with despair, thinking of the torture his beloved friend might be enduring.

***
Michael and Slash continued to laugh, and each time their noses stung from it, they laughed even harder. "C-can you believe this, man? I mean... How dumb can we be?"

"We're so fuckin' dumb, we coulda just ring my father's doorbell and ask him to whack our asses."

They guffawed again, vividly imagining that sequence, and then Michael's eyes widened as he stopped. "Wait... Ain't this your father's place?"

Saul wiped his tears and shrugged, looking around once again. "Could be, I haven't been to his latest acquired mansion. I honestly haven't seen him at all since Sinaloa."

Michael stood up and walked over to the armored door. As expected, it was locked, and even though he pressed his ear hard against it, he couldn't hear a thing. "This certainly looks like a mansion's panic room or some shit." He walked around, trying to find some opening, but there were thick, concrete walls all around.

Their heads whipped up to the ceiling as they heard heavy footsteps. Slash called MJ and signaled a couple of folded chairs that were stored in a corner. They grabbed one each and stood on either side of the door, ready to hit whoever came across with them.

They gulped expectantly as they heard keys and heavy locks being slid off, but soon after the gate opened, their expression fell and they quietly placed the chairs back on the floor, raising their hands, as the two men on the other side pointed their weapons to them.

***
Laura put the gun in her jeans behind her back and tied her hair. She washed her face with unsteady hands, and as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she tried to be strong, to be brave, to encourage herself. She moved her eyes to the picture that was glued on the mirror's frame, the one she had purposely set there to remind her why she was going through with her plan.