TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter THIRTY SIX

River O'riley

... NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON ...

Lucy hadn't held anything back, I'm not sure what changed her mind, or why she decided to talk to me, but her insight is about as valuable as gold..
Every piece of information brings me closer to putting it all together and finding a solution.

She sobs as she recalls to me her first memories of Jun, and how he snatched from a bus stop in the early hours of the morning.. She'd been on her way to a downtown community college where she'd been taking several classes..

She shivers and cringes as she describes to me the house where she was kept for six years along with the rest of Li Jun's private collection of stolen girls.. She tries to explain the layout as best she can and even draws me a picture of the floorplan and configuration of the girls' rooms..

She stumbles in disbelief at her own dumb-luck as she conveys to me the confusion in which she managed to escape.. The fateful day when Jun took her out of the house and into the garage to keep him company, turning his back to take a phone call and opening a window of opportunity for her to run..

She shakes her head in irritation when she tells me about how she went to the police, only to be misunderstood and doubted.. She explains that she didn't trust the Chinese-spaking officers for fear of their associations and the other officers just looked at her funny..

She cries some more, reaching a painful breaking point where talking becomes difficult.. Overwhelmed by the discussion of discovering that her mother had passed away while she was captive and her father, a gangster with an opium addiction was in no condition to help her..

She had been all alone, with nowhere to go..

Once again I find myself relating too much.. Feeling too strongly about the suffering this woman has endured at the hands of the devil now down in the basement..

She tells me how she left the Foxhole because Triads started turning up and causing trouble for her, following and threatening her into returning to Chinatown..
After obeying The Mountain Masters demands, her loyalty had not been rewarded.. Instead Jun had discarded her at the Factory.. Condemning her to a whores life.

As I sit now in a serious silence with Lucy, her dark purple hair tangled and hazel eyes tired, I am lost in thoughts of the girl who brought me to this moment..

Frankie..

And now I am one step closer to seeing her returned to the life she was meant for.. I am closer to losing her.. To letting her go..

Shite..

How am I supposed to let her go?

-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-

A knock at the door has Lucy jumping in fight and me rising tiredly from where I sit to drag my weary bones across the living room.. "Relax Lucy, It's alrite'.. It's just Deyton checkin' in.."

I pull open the front door to find Dey dishevelled on the other side..

"You're not gonna believe what I found, man--"

Deyton steps aside, behind him four more girls, all wearing the same white-rose tattoo on their necks, all with different brightly coloured rainbow hair stand there in the stairwell, shivering, wrapped in blankets and huddled together..

"Holy-- shite.." I move to let them all into the apartment and Lucy rushes to greet the girls, comforting those that are still crying.. She leads them inside and settles them in the living room where they whisper among themselves.. "Yer' sure that's all of 'em?"