Axel hurriedly stood up to see who hit him, it was a tall black man. Axel got into a fight with him and everyone watched. Axel was able to knock him out and he turned to see Calev running down the street.
Axel ran after him. Caleb ran for his life by avoiding the obstacles on his way, Axel was also determined not to let him get away.
He needed him to answer a lot of questions.
Caleb noticed Axel was almost catching up with him, there were a lot of people on the street which was making it so hard for him to run.
He decided to cross the street since the other side was free. He would be able to run properly and get away.
Without looking at both sides of the road, Caleb ran on the road, he was about to successfully get to the other side when a truck hit him.
Axel paused and everyone in the streets screamed in fear and horror.
Before the cops could get there, Axel got off the streets.
Axel returned back to the hotel, he was confused about what to do. That was the only lead he had and now it was gone.
It was going to be more difficult than he thought, twenty four hours was almost gone and still, he had no lead yet.
After so much thinking, an idea popped up in his head. It was a crazy one but he was willing to try it.
He headed out back and went to a bookstore, he bought an Albanian dictionary and headed back to the hotel.
All he had to do was wait, wait till nightfall.
**********
After hours, it was night again. Axel waited till it was almost midnight before heading out. He got into the car Max provided for him and drove into the streets.
He drove to the spots where girls stand at night and wait to get picked up and satisfy their clients.
The plan was to run into one of these men, put a tracker on them, and see where it led him.
He got to the place and walked to one of the ladies.
“Hi, looking for a date?” The lady asked and Axel smiled.
“Love your dress, is that silk?” He asked.
“Do you want to know the price?” The lady asked seductively with a smile.
“Yeah, it compliments the shape of your body and makes you look amazing.”
“The rate is forty euros for standard.” The lady said and Axel thought of a way to keep the conversation going. He needed to keep the conversation going so one of the Albanian men would walk to them.
“Standard? Could you be more specific?” He asked and the lady frowned.
“Back home, the standard covers a range of possibilities. Like kissing, you know, closed lips, open lips.”
“If you are not buying, piss off.” The lady said angrily and started to walk away but Axel followed her.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t buying, I just like to get comfortable before I purchase. Do you understand?” Axel asked and the lady still tried to get away from him but he was determined. He couldn’t lose this lead again.
“I don’t give a shit about anything you say. You are going to get me in trouble if you don’t buy.” The lady said with fear written all over her face.
“Trouble? Really? With who?” Axel asked.
“Piss off.” The lady said again.
“Okay. Listen, if I want a packaged deal, do I get a discount?” Axel asked and stood in front of a car that was stopping in front of the girl. The person in the car got annoyed and drove away.
“You fuckimg just cost me two now.” The lady said angrily at Axel.
“Okay. My name is Axel… ” Axel trailed off as he noticed the girl was staring in a direction, he also looked in the direction and noticed a car parked at the other side of the street. A man walked out of it and walked towards them.
Axel looked at the girl as she trembled in fear. She looked so scared and as the man got to them, he spoke the Albanian language to her and hit her face before she walked away.
Axel couldn’t do anything at that point, he needed something so he couldn’t act irrationally.
“Why are you bothering the girl?” He asked in a weird accent.
“None of your business.” Axel replied.
“She is my business.” The man replied and pinned Axel to the wall.
“If you are not spending money, you are costing me money.” The man said.
“I was negotiating.”
“No negotiating, price is price.”
“Now you owe me for the two that got away.”
“I owe you nothing.” Axel replied and the man got angrier.
“Fifty euros or I kick your ass.”
“Fine.” Axel replied and gave the man fifty euros.
“And another fifty for being an asshole.” The man added and Axel gave the man another fifty euros.
The man cursed at Axel in his language and walked away.
Axel walked back to his car and entered when he got in. He placed a call across to Max and he picked up immediately.
“Hey, Max, you got that?”
“Yes, their car isn’t moving yet.” Max replied.
“I can also hear them, I thought you only placed a tracker on him.”
“No, I taped him too.” Axel said and Max chuckled.
“They are so dead.” He chuckled.
“Their car is moving.” He said and Axel ignited the car.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Axel replied as his eyes were fixed on the car.
He starts to follow them and anytime he misses them, he asks for direction from Max and he leads him to see them again.
After almost half an hour on the road, they finally pulled over on a construction sight.
“Where the fuck is this place?” Axel asked as he parked his car in a corner. He made sure he wasn’t seen as he walked out of the car.
The men he followed were in the middle of the site with other men.
There were two tents in the place, different men were walking out of one while Albanian men were walking out of the other.
Axel was careful as he walked into the tent where different men were walking out from, he got in and was surprised to see cotton everywhere. He pulled the first cotton and saw a man making out with a high lady.
He checked another and saw only a lady there, she was sleeping on a metal bed.
Axel realised it was where the ladies were kept and he started to search hurriedly. He kept seeing different kinds of men with ladies and different kinds of ladies but still, no sign of Nora and Lily.
He got to the last cotton and he opened it to see Nora and a man was taking off her clothes. She couldn’t do anything because she was too high on drugs. She has been drugged.
“Get the fuck off her.” Axel said angrily and pulled the man off Nora, Axel punched him repeatedly till he passed out.
He rushed to Nora and carried her in a bridal style, he walked out and saw men coming towards him. It was obvious Lily wasn’t with her.
He hurried to his car and placed Nora in the backseat, he got into the front seat and hurriedly drove away.
The men also got into the car and chased after Axel.
Axel hurriedly placed a call to Max and he picked up immediately.
“Hey, Axel.”
“I found Nora.” Axel said as he drove past cars hurriedly.
“Really? That is fucking great news. What about Lily?”
“She wasn’t there. I am kind of in a mess right now, can you find a route I can take to pass these guys?” Axel asked as he took another turn.
He glanced at Nora through the mirror to see if she was okay.
“Yeah, hold on.” Max replied and turned to the computer in his presence.
“Take the next right. It is crowded, you should lose them there.” Max said.
“Okay.” Axel said and took his next right. Truly it was crowded and he lost them in the crowd.
“One more thing.”
“What’s up?” Max asked.
“Can you get a doctor to come check up on Nora? There are too many drugs in her system.”
“Sure, I will make a few calls. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she will be fine. I will call you when I get back to the hotel.”
“Okay.” Max replied and ended the call.
Axel got back to the hotel with Nora, he placed her on the bed and a doctor showed up. It was a doctor from Max.
He helped her get the drugs out of her system and assured Axel that she was okay before he left.
Hours passed and Nora finally woke up at midnight. He was awake and watching her.
Nora saw Axel and sighed in relief, she had tears in her eyes as Axel moved closer to her.
“Hey, what happened?” He asked and Nora cried.
“Lily. Where is Lily?” She asked in tears.
“She is not here. I didn’t find her with you. What exactly happened?” Axel asked and Nora sniffed.
Their experience must have been so bad. For Nora to break down this way, means she must have gone through a lot. It must have been so unbearable for them.
“When we were kidnapped, we were taken to a place where we were injected with drugs, Lily… ” She paused and cried.
“Lily couldn’t take it, she kept passing out and they kept hitting her so she could wake up. After that, we were moved to a house.”
“A house? What house?”
“It wasn’t really a house, it looked like a good building from the outside but on the inside, it looked so isolated.”
“It had a red door, it is a little bit close to where we were supposed to stay.” She explained and Axel could recall the building.
“When we got in that building, someone named Marco showed a special interest in Lily. She complained to me that she was cold and her body hurt a lot, she looked so scared and weak. I couldn’t help her, I couldn’t do anything, Axel.” She cried and Axel held her hand.
“That was the last time I saw her, we all got moved but Lily wasn’t moved.”
“Okay, it’s fine.”
“One more thing Axel.”
“What’s that?”
“I overheard one of the men talking before I got drugged. Lily was going to be auctioned.”
“When?”
“The last time I heard, it was supposed to be in twenty four hours and I think that was last night.” Nora said and Axel nodded.
Deep down he was worried, he kept hearing Lily’s screams over and over again.
“It’s okay.” He muttered and Nora sniffed.
Axel sighed and ran his hands in his hair.
He kept wondering how his Lily was doing.
Is she okay?