After my brother bailed on me, I wasn’t sure who I could trust. My first thought went to Lock. I figured he would know what to do, but when I went to him, he went off on me. He told me how his brother was happy, getting married and didn’t need me asking after him. He yelled and screamed so much that I didn’t even get a chance to ask him for help. So I had to think of something else.
I tried my brother again, stressing how I needed him, used all the times I risked everything for him, but he didn’t budge on coming out of hiding. What he did give me was a number to someone he knew and trusted in the FBI’s Organized Crime Division. I didn’t ask any questions, just took the hand that was dealt. When I called the number and told the FBI agent what was going on, he wasn’t too interested in what I found until I told him who was behind everything.
Noelle needed serious medical attention. I couldn’t prolong it any longer, so I made a deal with the Feds. If they came and helped Noelle, my brother and me, then I would help them. Special Agent David Martins ended up flying from Washington on the next thing smoking with Ramone and they took care of Noelle. They took my statement and I took them to where I found both girls. I gave them a description of the man who beat both women and that’s when I learned about the fight club they were running.
Martins, who was a about my height with short brown hair and brown eyes, was the one who came up with the idea that I get into the fight club. Ramone would stick around as my handler or coach, whatever you wanted to call him. I was quick to help Noelle. That’s how I was raised. But thinking about being able to channel this frustration I had in me made me say yes.
I trained for months and lost a ton of weight; I had to in order for me to fit in with the girls. One great thing about Martins is he prepared me for what was to come. He hooked me up with some of the best street style fighters available. A few years back, I started kickboxing, but street fighting was something completely different. First, there are no rules to follow. It’s beat or get beaten. When I fight against these girls, I know I was trained better than any of them and all of them put together. Unless they were huge, like the girl I fought tonight, I annihilated my opponents easily.
Martins’ theory was if I could prove I had skills, I would be put in better fights. Now I guess, after weeks of fighting, I made it. I hope that they could find the players in this ring and shut it down. I wasn’t naïve to think I would stop this ring completely, but maybe I could save some lives even if only for a little while.
*******
Once I got to the area Noelle lived in, I drove around the block a couple of times to make sure no one followed me. Once I was comfortable that no one followed me, I parked three blocks from the warehouse where Noelle was hiding out. I locked my car in a twenty-four hour Laundromat on the corner. I walked inside and started a load of my fighting clothes, towels and some regular shirts. I stood by the window for a minute, then left the Laundromat and started walking. I doubled back a few times, again just to make sure no one followed me before I finally made it to the warehouse.
I took the old elevator up and when it opened, Noelle was standing behind the couch with a shotgun.
I put my hands up. “It’s just me, girlie… I’m alone.”
Just to give you a little insight on Noelle, she is twenty-four, but she’s been with this family working for them since she was sixteen and has seen more than I’m sure she’s ever wanted to see.
She stood from the couch and placed the shotgun gently down on the table behind her. “How did it go tonight?”
“It was painful but good.”
Noelle was a little taller than me was and a very beautiful woman with slanted brown eyes that made her features very exotic and her smile was stunning. It hurt when I thought about all the things they did to her, but at least on the outside she was getting better. The inside though is a different story, but guaranteed I’m going to work on that as well.
She was getting her color back, as well as her weight, which I was completely thankful for. Noelle is a little lighter than I am with long silky hair. She’s mixed with Black and Filipino. Her military father brought her mom over with Noelle. Her parents unfortunately were victims of a murder suicide when she was only twelve. She was buried in the system until the age of sixteen when she was taken.
She had told me that the cartel used and abused her for years. She did odd things for them as payment for keeping her alive, but they managed to protect her at least from the drugs and trafficking portion of the life. When she disobeyed an order, things changed for her. She told me they had asked her to clean up a girl and get her ready for sale. When Noelle realized the girl was only nine, she refused and actually helped her escape.