The Country Club (8 page)

Chapter 18

     Brett Higgins walked off the airplane and into the terminal at the San Antonio International Airport. He couldn’t believe he flew all the way out there, but after the phone call from that girl, he knew she was about to get herself killed. He stopped by the Alamo car rental window and picked up his car. The only vehicle they had left was a Dodge Dart. At six foot three, it was hard for him to squeeze into the Dart, but he made it.

     The drive to Round Rock didn’t take as long as he had remembered. The place looked much the same as
before. He was taking a big risk by coming back there. The last time, the police chief warned him to leave and not come back. He hoped he could find the girl and her friends before they tried to locate The Club. He’d been calling her cell phone for hours but it was going straight to voice mail.

     When he spoke to Crystal earlier, he hadn’t told her quite everything. He got much closer to The
Country Club than he had let on. He ended up right inside the thing. Since that time, he’d tried to block out the things he’d seen and done there. It became easier to forget over time with the help of Jack Daniels and Xanax. He drove the Dart through town unnoticed and drove clear out to the road where The Club was located.

     Once he reached the dirt road, he became more nervous. Last time, he had a Club member with him who had gotten him in. They figured out who he was, and he barely escaped with his life.
He hoped they would at least listen to him this time. Though for all he knew, the girl and her friends were already dead.

     He turned the car onto the road and barely made it a few hundred feet when he saw a black SUV headed his way. Brett stopped the car, reached into his bag and took out his bottle of Xanax. He took two pills and waited for the SUV to pull up. Once it stopped in front of him, he stepped out of the car as several men climbed out of the SUV.

     “You sure have some balls coming back here,” one of the bigger men said.

     “Hi guys. Yeah, I’m not exactly here on vacation
,” Brett said.

     “
You know what we said would happen if you came back.”

     “Yes. I remember. I’m just here for some kids. I guess they’re like college kids or bloggers or something. It was a girl and a few of her friends
,” Brett explained.

     “What about them?”

     “Are they here? That girl is nuts. She’s hell bent on exposing this place. If they’re here, just let me take them with me. I promise they won’t be any more trouble.”

     “What makes you think we can’t take care of things ourselves?”

     “I have no doubt you guys can take care of it. I’d just hate to see these kids hurt for just being stupid. I can get them out of your hair. They are not a threat,” Brett insisted.

     “Maybe not. You coming back here after what you pulled last time. Now that is a threat. So we need you to come with us.”

     Brett knew he was going to say that. Without argument he walked to the SUV and climbed in. They drove the familiar route to the mansion. Once they pulled up he got out with the men and walked into the front. As they stepped inside, Dominic was there in the lobby.

     “Well, I thought that was you. Couldn’t stay away could you?”

     “I’m just here for the kids, this girl and her friends. She’s a blogger or something. She called me yesterday. I don’t want to see them hurt. They have no idea what they are getting into.”

     “Neither did you
,” Dominic said.

     “Yes, I know. I was lucky, and thank you for that. I’m just trying to help.”

     “Well, if they were here, they’d likely be getting put to use by now. So I’m afraid I can’t help you. On the other hand, I believe I had warned you what would happen if you returned here.”

     “Yes. I know what you said. It’s not like I could call ahead. I tried to stop them before they came here, but I was too late
,” Brett said.

     “I see. Well that is unfortunate
,” Dominic nodded to one of the goons. “Take him downstairs. Put him with the others.”

     “What?” Brett said as two of the goons grabbed him, wrestling him to the ground. They twisted his wrists around and walked him to the elevator. Once on the elevator, they hit the down button. Brett began taking short, rapid breaths as he put his hand to his chest.

     “I-I can’t. Bre-breathe,” he said as he knelt onto one knee.

     “What the hell?”
one of the men said.

     “I-I just need my. P-pills
,” Brett said as he reached into his right pocket until he felt his fingers wrap around it. One of the goons bent down to pull him back up.

     “Let’s go. You won’t need your pills down here
,” the goon said.

     Brett took his hand out of his pocket, but instead he was holding a pocket knife. He thrust the pill into the closer goon’s throat, stabbing him in the neck repeatedly. The second goon began reaching for a gun, but in the close quarters, Brett was able to spin and stab him in the neck as well. In a matter of seconds, both men were lying dead on the floor. Brett stood in the elevator holding his knife, covered in their blood. He dug through each man’s pockets and removed their guns and extra magazines. The elevator doors opened into the darkness of the basement. Brett held a gun in each hand as he stepped into the darkness.

Chapter 19

     Sophie sat in the cage looking at the floor. She had stopped crying a while ago. The men had come and taken several of the others to who knows where. Joel and Crystal were gone, she was sure they were both dead. This whole thing had been stupid. Why couldn’t Crystal have just been into drinking and guys like a normal girl their age? Why did she go along with her stupid ideas? She always followed Crystal on her crazy theories and nothing ever came of them. This time, only death will come.

     Footsteps sounded from down the hall, but these weren’t like the ones from the goons. These were hurried steps, as if someone were running. A man carrying a gun appeared
; he was breathing heavy. The other girls in the cage sat up when they saw him.

     “What’s going on?” Sophie asked.

     “I’m getting you out of here,” the man said.

     “Who are you?”

     “I’m Brett,” he said as he put one of the guns into his waistband and fumbled with a set of keys, until he found the larger one, inserting it into the lock, until the cage door popped open.

     “You’re that reporter guy
,” Sophie said.

     “Right.”

     “Why are you here?”

     “You want to ask questions or get out of here? Let’s go!” She stood and stepped outside the cage. The four other girls followed along. All of them were naked. Their ages looked like they ranged from sixteen to forty. None of them spoke to Sophie though.

     “Let’s go this way. We are going to have to go out through the main part of the house. Gonna have to shoot our way out. They won’t just let us stroll out. If we can get to one of the SUVs, we can get the hell out of here.”

     “Are there any clothes anywhere?” Sophie asked.

     “I don’t know. Trust me, I’m not checking any of you out. I know what they do here. I’ve seen it. Being naked is the least of our worries.”

     They walked to the elevator and squeezed their way in.

     “What about Joel and Crystal? We have to help them.”

     “They are probably dead already,” Brett said.

     “We have to try and find them!”

     “Let’s clear the building first. We can go through after and see if they’re here. There is no way to sneak around this place.”

     “Then I should have one of your guns,” Sophie said.

     “You ever used a gun?”

     “No. You just point and shoot, right?”

     He pulled one out and showed it to her.

     “There is no safety, it’s a Glock. You pull the trigger and when it’s empty the slide will lock back. I’ll get you another magazine, you put it in and push this button, and the slide will go forward and it’s ready to shoot again.”

     “Sounds easy enough.”

     “We’ll see,” he said as he handed it to her. The elevator door slid open as they stepped off. They were at the ground floor. There was no one in plain sight as they walked slowly through the lobby. The other women huddled together behind Brett and Sophie. Sophie saw the door just a hundred feet in front of them. She wanted to break into a full run for the door and be free from this place forever. But she knew that would only leave her vulnerable.

     “Hey!”
a man yelled from the stairway.

     Sophie looked up and saw a goon standing there, reaching for his gun. Brett didn’t hesitate. He fired two shots, hitting the man in the chest and sending him toppling down the stairs.

     “That’s it! Go! Go!” Brett yelled as the women took off running for the door. Gunfire erupted from the stairwell and from their right. Sophie kept her head down, but heard one of the girls behind her yelp and fall to the floor. Sophie turned and fired several shots at the men to her right. None of them hit, but it was enough to distract them. She turned and saw Brett shooting at several men coming down the stairs. Brett was a good shot, dropping one goon after the other.

     Two more of the other women went down as Sophie was almost to the door. Just before she got there, it opened and two large goons stepped inside. She held up the gun and fired, hitting one of the men right in the face. The back of his head exploded, sending blood, skull
, and brains onto the other man’s suit. She turned to fire at the other man, but he struck her in the side of the head with the butt of his pistol. The blow knocked her to the ground. She landed hard, her head bouncing off the tile floor.

     As she looked up, the man shot the remaining girls behind Sophie. She still had her gun though. She held up the gun and pushed it into the goon’s crotch and pulled the trigger. His eyes went wide as blood showered over Sophie. His screams didn’t sound like the large man he was. They sounded like that of a ten year old girl. He put his hands over the hole where his nuts used to be and fell to the ground. Sophie stood up as the man lie on the floor whimpering and twitching.

     She looked around the room saw several dead goons. Brett was nowhere in sight though. Sophie stepped over the man and pulled the front door open. She stepped outside looking around. There was a large driveway with several SUVs parked in the front. She ran over to one of them, but stopped. Crystal and Joel were still in there somewhere. Sophie knew she would never feel right if she escaped and left them there.

     She walked to the back of the SUV and opened it. There was a large duffel bag there. She sifted through it and found a tactical vest, several more handguns and ammo. She pulled on the vest. It was big enough to cover most of her body. She placed several extra magazines into the pouches on the vest.

     There was a hunting knife in the bag as well. She inserted that into the sheath on the shoulder of the vest. She wished she had some shoes, but this was the best she could do. Taking a deep breath, she stared at the front door. She looked at her reflection in one of the windows of the SUV and decided she looked like a total badass. Taking a gun in each hand, she walked to the mansion and stepped back inside.

Chapter 20

     Crystal was almost numb from the pain. Joel had scalped her, cutting the skin and hair off the top of her head completely off. It hurt like nothing she had ever felt before. He may as well have set her head on fire it hurt so badly. Once he cut through the top part of her skin, he ripped the flesh away, she thought the whole top of her head would come off. Her vision got fuzzy and she wasn’t sure if she’d passed out or not.

     One thing she did hear, was Denny clapping.

     “All right! Joel! You animal. Fuck that shit up! That is what I’m talking about! How’s it feel man?”

     “Felt pretty good I guess.”

     “How can you say that? You just scalped your best friend!” Caleb said. “You enjoyed this?”

     “I guess she wasn’t really my friend. Like Denny said. She just wants to use me. So I guess I’m using her now.”

     “That’s right!” Denny said with another clap of his hands. “That is fuckin’-A right dude. These bitches, they string us along by our balls and play all the games. They think, oh they got the pussy so they can do what they want. That’s why this place is so special! All that shit is off here. Here, we are the ones in control. We take what we want from them. We are the ones playing the games, we are the ones who hold their lives in our hands. It’s perfect!”

     Crystal couldn’t believe the bullshit he was saying. There was only one thing that hurt worse than the physical pain, and that was the guy she thought was one of her best friends raping her then torturing her. Though Denny had a point. She had strung Joel along for a long time. She knew how he felt about her and used that to get what she wanted from him. In all honesty, she hadn’t thought much about it. Girls do that to guys all the time. They have for centuries. When she really thought about it, she hadn’t even realized she was doing it.

     The three men jumped as the sound of gunfire from outside the room. There were several repetitive shots. Some louder than others. In seconds it sounded like an all-out firefight.

     “What the fuck is going on out there?” Denny said. He walked to the wall and pushed the button repeatedly, but no one answered. “Shit! What the fuck!!”

     Joel, still naked backed away as Denny had a near meltdown. He fumbled with the door unable to open it right away. Crystal watched Caleb as he picked up a hammer from the table and cracked Denny on the back of the head. Denny had moved at the last second, so it wasn’t a clean hit, but enough to knock him to the ground. He turned and looked at Caleb who was standing over him.

     “You little shit! You’re dead! You hear me! You’re fucking dead!”
he screamed, but Caleb kicked him in the chest, knocking him to his back. Denny sat up and grabbed the hammer, biting into Caleb’s hand as they both tumbled to the floor. As they rolled around fighting, Crystal looked up at Joel who was frozen in place, still holding the knife.

     “Joel? Joel?”
she said until he finally looked at her. “Cut me loose. Please?”

     “I-I can’t. They’ll kill me
,” he said.

     “Look at what is going on! We have to get out of here. Shit you can stay if you want. Please, I’ll forgive you of everything, just cut me loose!”

     There was more gunfire from outside and screaming as Caleb and Denny struggled. Denny was on top, punching Caleb repeatedly, but Caleb jammed his thumb into Denny’s eye which distracted him long enough to knock him back. He grabbed Denny’s hair and began smashing his head into the metal table over and over. Denny reached up to the table and grabbed for a small knife and swiped it at Caleb, grazing his arm.

     The door flew open and a tall guy stepped inside and looked around. Took one look at Denny and shot him in the face. The blast took the whole left side of his face off. He then pointed the gun at Caleb who was still wearing his coveralls and gloves. Once Caleb saw the gun
, he held his hands up.

     “No! I’m—
” he began, but the man shot him twice in the chest. He spun around, pointing the gun at Joel, looked him up and down, and then looked at Crystal.

     “Cut her loose
,” he said. “We’re getting out of here.”

     “Are we supposed to? Do you work here? Joel asked.

     “Fucking cut her loose I said!” the man said pointing the gun at Joel.

     Joel walked over to Crystal and cut the straps off her head, chest, hands and feet. The man with the gun helped her to her feet as Joel looked away from her.

     “Thanks Joel,” she said. “Can I see that knife?”

     “For what?”

     “I just need it real quick.”

     He handed it to her. The instant it was in her hand, she was on top of Joel. She lunged at him, stabbing him in the chest faster than he could react. As he fell to the ground, he tried to speak but his lungs were already filling with blood. Crystal let out a scream as she stabbed him over and over in the chest, stomach and neck. The look on his face registered both surprise and confusion as to why she was killing him. Crystal came to the realization then, that Joel was the stupidest fucking smart guy she had ever known.

     She kept stabbing until the man with the gun was pulling her off him.

     “Come on. Let’s go.”

     “I’m gonna kill this motherfucker! He’s the one who did this to me!” she screamed.

     “I don’t think he’s getting up. Come on. We gotta go.”

     “Who are you?”

     “I’m Brett. You called me the other day. I didn’t tell you everything, and once you made it clear you weren’t going to stop, I had to come out here and end this.”

     Several more gunshots erupted from outside. They walked out of the room and onto the walkway. Looking over the railing, Crystal saw none other than Sophie wearing nothing but a tactical vest and firing two handguns, one in each hand, killing everyone in her path.