Second Spirit -6- by Melanie Brown

Second Spirit

By

Melanie Brown

Advisor: Lisa Charlene
Copyright © 2024

Part 6

I stood frozen, staring down the business end of the Taurus .380. It’s not a big gun, but I bet it hurts. A lot. Kajika stood next to me, unsure of what to do next.

The man with the gun said, “You. Bitch. Cut those ties from Carl. Do it now!”

I actually grinned at him. “I’m your cash cow. You won’t shoot me.”

Looking confused, the man said, “You can speak English?”

“My bad.”

Scowling, the man pointed his gun at Kajika’s head. “Our buyer is really only interested in you. If he has one, I’ll put a bullet through your boyfriend’s brain if you don’t untie Carl.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know this kid.”

Kajika looked at me wild-eyed. He growled, “You bitch!”

I giggled and looked at him square. I just moved my lips to say, “No bullet.” After ejecting the chambered round earlier, since I didn’t want Kajika to accidentally shoot me, I never chambered another round.

“Really?” Kajika said aloud.

Misinterpreting what Kajika meant, the man said, “Really, punk.” The man looked towards me and said, “You got ten seconds, little girl, before you get splattered with his brains.”

That brief instant of changing his attention towards me provided Kajika with that moment he needed. Emboldened by the knowledge that the gun was unloaded, he let out a whoop and his whole body tensed with hard muscle. He rushed toward the man, his arm extended with a clenched fist.

Startled, the man spun – too late – and pulled the trigger. The hammer clicked uselessly against the firing pin as Kajika landed a crushing blow to the man’s jaw. Kajika may be only fourteen, but he’s all muscle.

When the man fell, knocking over the table and spilling the plastic ties all over the floor, I ran up to him and kicked him as hard as I could in the groin. Hey, girls get to fight dirty. The man had dropped the gun when Kajika punched him. I picked it up, and though it seemed heavy, I pulled the slide back and let it pop a round into the chamber. His lip bleeding, the man started to stand back up.

I snarled, “Don’t move, asshole. The gun’s loaded now.” Holding it with both hands, I aimed the gun at the man’s head. He hesitated a moment and then started to get up again. I shouted, “Freeze!”

In obvious pain, he looked at me and said, “I don’t believe you.” He started to get up.

I moved the gun to point at center mass, so I’d be sure to hit something, trying hard to sound like Dirty Harry, but only succeeded in sounding like a pissed little girl, I snarled, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”

He hesitated a few moments.

“Do it! I swear to God I’ll kill you!” I kept my aim steady despite the weight of the gun.

He just smirked.

Everybody jumped, including me, when I fired a round into the wall behind the man. The only sound after that was the empty shell casing clattering to the floor. My ears rang. Kajika put his hands over his ears.

I pointed the gun straight at the man’s nose.  I shouted, “Hands behind your back or the next one is for your head!” The man scowled at me but rolled to his stomach and put his hands behind his back.

To Kajika, I shouted, “Get some ties and secure his hands! And then secure his feet!”

As he secured the man’s hands, Kajika asked, “Who the hell are you?”

I frowned, holding the pistol steady. “Never mind me. Just tie him up, okay?”  As soon as the man was secured, I stuffed one of the pairs of dirty underwear into his mouth. “Grab his wallet.” I held the pistol steady and pointed at the man’s head.

Kajika extracted the wallet from the man’s hip pocket. “He had a shitload of money too.”

“Put it in your pocket since you have pockets. Do the same with Carl’s money. Throw away the credit cards.”

Kajika laughed. “You were going to sell us, but now we own you!” Kajika approached me. “Look what else he had on him.” He handed me a cell phone. It was a fancy new one.

I handed him the gun. “Give me the phone. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.” I studied the phone for a moment. “You live here. Is there a place close by? I’m starving. No. Don’t say the name, but just let me know if you know of a place.”

Nodding, Kajika said, “Sure. And the manager is cool. She’ll help us.”

I punched 9-1-1 on the phone’s keypad. “Cool. Let’s run like hell on my signal.”

He gave me a puzzled look as I tapped the call button.

“Window Rock 9-1-1. Please state your name, location and emergency,” said a pleasant woman’s voice.

“I don’t have time to give details, but I’ve tied up two human traffickers in the basement of this house.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll leave the phone open on this call so you can trace it. I’ll leave their gun here, too.” The dispatcher started asking a string of questions. I set the phone down on the chair I had been sitting on.

To Kajika, I said while pointing at the chair, “Put the gun on that chair.”

Kajika looked confused. “Won’t we need that?”

I shook my head. “If we have a gun, we risk getting shot. Leave it. Let’s go!”

He hesitated a moment and then reluctantly put the gun down. We turned and dashed up the stairs.

We stepped out into the bright afternoon sunlight. The sound of several sirens began to echo around the streets.

“We have to get off the streets,” I said looking around quickly. “Where’s this place you know about?”

Pointing, he said, “A few blocks this way. The manager of the restaurant is a friend.”

“Lead the way,” I said, waving my hands.

With sirens getting louder in the distance, we ran through various parking lots. I had no idea where we were headed. I was just glad the sounds of sirens stayed behind us.

We stopped running, and I caught my breath. There were several restaurants nearby.

“I don’t care which one, do you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Kajika bent over, clasping his knees as he caught his breath. “Just around the corner is a Panda Express. The manager knows me and has helped me before.”

I nodded. “Let’s go.”

Kajika walked at a normal rate as we went around the corner. In front of us was a Panda Express.

As we entered the restaurant, a middle-aged Indian woman behind the counter looked up. She frowned, “In trouble again?”

End of Part 6