Brave Enough

Twenty - One

      Buck slams his hand down on the edge of the firehouse table. "Buck slamming things around isn't going to bring them home. Calm down. Athena, Marcus, Jerome, and Talia are working their hardest to find them. You need to eat something," Hen tells him.

       "I can't. My girls are missing and there isn't anything I can do to change that. Hen o miss them."

       "Buck you need to eat. You are going to make yourself sick."

*****

     "James? Cleo? Where are you, girls? I home and I miss you," Buck calls out into the dark. A little girl screaming startles Buck. "Cleo?! What's wrong? Cleo?!" Buck runs down the dark hallway. "James! Cleo!" Cleo walks out of Buck's room her skin coated in blood. "Cleo? What happened?"

She points at him. "You said you'd make James happy. You lied!" She shouts. Buck runs toward her and into the room. James lies on the bed not moving and covered in blood. Colin stands over her with a wicked grin on his face.

"What did you do? Colin, what did you do?" Buck shouts.

Buck sits up in his bunk gasping for air and sweating. He gets up and puts his shoes on. Running down to the weight room and punches the punching bag until he's too exhausted to move.

      "What happened, kid? You haven't been sleeping most shifts. It's been over a month. You're going to end up sick and unable to do anything," Bobby says walking into the weight room.

       "I'm fine. I only have a couple more hours before I have a couple days off. I'll sleep then." Bobby sighs and leaves Buck standing alone in the weight room.

*****

       "Buck, get your shit together. I think I've found them. We're going to Mexico!" Jerome yells running into the kitchen of Buck's apartment. "Come on this isn't a drill. Marcus is in the car waiting."

      "Wait how the hell did you find them?" Buck asks throwing a bunch of clothes and necessities into a travel bag.

      "Well, I've been trying to hack her computer for over a freaking month and finally got in. She had a lot of research on Mexico. But, one city, in particular, was consistent. Sayulita it's small and a beach area. We should be there in a day and a half. We'll stop in Cárbo or a little farther to sleep depending on how long it takes and then we will drive the rest of the way in the morning.

****

Buck, Jerome, and Marcus stand outside of their fourth motel hoping this one will be where they are. At the desk, a man sits with his feet up. "Hola," He says. "No Habla Español?" They shake their heads no. "It's okay I know English."

"Have you seen these girls?" Marcus holds up a photo of James and Cleo.

"Sí. The Buckley girls. Echo and her daughter Winnie. What Echo wouldn't do for her? Winnie is at the babysitters. Not sure where that is. But, I think Echo is at work. A place called Titans. About a block down the road. You can't miss it."

      "Thank you, sir. Let's go. We need to find James as soon as possible. It's amazing she was even able to hide for this long. I don't want to risk them being exposed," Marcus leads Jerome and Buck towards Titans. Much to their disappointment, they find that Titans is a strip club and up on stage is no other than James with blonde hair. Men sit scattered around the lounge either watching her or enjoying lap dances.

"How the hell are we going to get to her?" Buck asks. Jerome points to the VIP lounge sign. "You want me to order my girlfriend for a private fucking lap dance?"

"Do you have any better ideas? Because as of right now that's the only I see. If you want I'll do it," Jerome walks up to the hostess. "Hello. I'd like to do VIP with the girl on stage. Blonde hair, tanned skin, and nice ass."

"Okay, I'll have her in there in a moment. Is it all of you?" He nods. "Okay, three hundred." Jerome reluctantly pulls out two-fifty."

"Y'all I need fifty more," Buck and Marcus hand over fifty more.

*****

"Echo you've got a VIP request. Room three. Three Americans," Jolie says.

With a sigh, James heads into the private room. "Hello, I'm Ech...."