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The GPS tracker led Alexander to the pink, two-story building on McCarty Street in Houston’s near-east side. The building looked as though it could have been someone’s residence back in the day. It would have been a large house, especially during the period it must have been built. Most likely, it was originally a business, a business with a residence above.
The large parking lot in front of the building was empty. No black SUVs. Alexander drove around the block a few times, checking out the building, looking for an entrance or a sign suggesting it was a bar. He decided to check out the other two locations the tracking device showed where the girls had been. The first, El Bar de Baile, was only a few blocks from the pink building. It was a large one-story red building with a black roof. No windows. The front doors had two small windows, about a foot long and six inches wide, covered by bars.
Alexander parked his MINI in the empty parking lot. He tried opening the grey front entrance doors. Locked. He tugged again to be sure. He heard a buzz and a click. When he tried the doors again, they opened. The air inside was warm and smelled of old beer.
He took a seat at the bar. Other than a young Hispanic woman bartender in ripped jeans, he was alone in the bar.
“Bud Light,” he told the bartender.
The woman pulled a beer from the cooler, popped the top, and set it in front of him. She wasn’t an attractive woman. Her arms were covered in tattoos in a design that began at her wrists and went to her shoulders. Other than what appeared to be a few flowers, Alexander could not decipher the art. Her English was good.
“Thanks,” Alexander said laying a twenty-dollar bill on the bar.
“I haven’t seen you before,” the girl said.
“No, I was driving by. I needed a beer. It’s been one of those mornings. I saw the open sign and decided this was as good as any. I was right. The beer is cold. Thanks.”
Alexander had heard the, “Haven’t seen you before” line a few times. He figured it was the line used by bartenders to root out undercover cops. He didn’t think his “just driving by” comment was all that convincing, but he’d said it. All he could do now was to wait and see what happened. He picked at the label of the bottle between sips trying to look absorbed in deep thought.
After several minutes, the bartender said, “You aren’t drinking very fast.”
“I know. I’ve got lots on my mind. Not a great day. Feeling a bit down, you know.” Alexander took a drink of beer. “It’s good though. Just what I needed. This is a nice little bar. Quiet.”
“It’s early,” the girl replied. She was hanging close to Alexander now.
“Well, it’s perfect for me.”
“You want to be alone?”
“No. It’s fine. It’s nice to have someone to talk to. How long have you worked here?”
“About a year. I usually work days. The money isn’t as good as nights, but way less hectic. It’ll pick up later. It’s hopping on Friday and Saturday nights. I do okay working days.”
“You like it here?”
“Yeah, it’s okay. I’ve worked in worse places.”
Alexander held up his beer. “Here’s to not working at worse places.” He emptied the bottle and set it on the bar. “How ‘bout one more?”
“Sure.” She set the bottle in front of Alexander and walked to the far end of the bar. Alexander was surprised she didn’t stay close after serving him the beer.
“Hola.”
The voice came from behind Alexander. His attention focused on the bartender, he hadn’t noticed anyone come up behind him. He spun around on his barstool and found an amazing-looking Hispanic girl in front of him. She wore a light blue sleeveless bodycon dress.
“Hi,” Alexander replied, unable to stifle his ear-to-ear smile.
“May I join you?” she asked with a heavy Spanish accent.
The girl sat on the barstool, crossed her legs, and faced him before he could reply to her request. They were parallel to the bar, facing each other. The girl’s leg was rubbing against Alexander’s. His heart was racing. The effect she had on him surprised him. The dress silhouetted the girl’s shape nicely. It didn’t look trashy. It barely covered her butt and exposed a pair of the best-looking legs Alexander had seen in a long time. Her breasts were not large but adequate.
“What’s your name?” Her English was much better than Alexander’s Spanish.
He considered giving her a fake name but saw no harm in her knowing his real name. “Alex. What’s your name?”
“Bonnie,” she said, her lips slightly parted, the outside corners upturned.
“It’s nice to meet you, Bonnie. Can I buy you a drink?” Alexander asked, though knew what her answer would be.
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
The bartender appeared with a concoction in a small glass. “Twenty bucks.”
Twenty bucks for a watered-down drink, if it had alcohol in it at all. Alexander wondered if the girl got a cut. He didn’t comment on the price as he handed the bartender another twenty.
Alexander wanted to converse with the girl, but he found himself at a loss for words. He usually didn’t have trouble talking to women, but this was different. He knew the woman he was talking to was likely a prostitute. If he came on too strong, asked for sex, she’d think he was vice and shy away.
“You are absolutely gorgeous.” He placed his left hand on her crossed leg.
She didn’t flinch. “Thank you.”
Alexander gently rubbed her thigh. “You have beautiful legs. So soft.” He slowly slid his hand up her inner thigh. As his hand got close to the edge of her dress, she gently put her hand on his. Alexander immediately reversed his hand, slowly rubbing the girl’s leg. He stayed between her knee and the point she’d stopped him.
“Where are you from?”
“I’m from Colombia.” She pronounced Colombia as it would be in Spanish.
“I’ve never been there. I hear it’s a beautiful country.”
“It is. Very beautiful, but very poor.”
Alexander continued caressing her leg. He eased his hand up her thigh, going higher this time. She didn’t stop him. He could feel the softness of her panties with the tips of his fingers. He immediately reversed direction before she could stop him. It didn’t seem she was so inclined.
He attempted to make small talk while he rubbed the girl’s leg. To his surprise, she uncrossed her legs and faced him. This allowed him full access up her leg, which he took advantage of, slowly and methodically. He would let his hand linger slightly longer each time, gently exploring her crotch through her soft panties. She appeared to have a bald kitty.
“How ‘bout another drink?” she asked as soon as Alexander applied gentle pressure to her ‘kitty’.
“Of course,” he said, pulling his hand away. He signaled the bartender, who quickly delivered another small drink. Alexander handed her another twenty.
The Colombian girl sipped her drink. Feeling bold, Alexander gently raised the hem of the girl’s dress, exposing black lace thong panties with white floral embroidered lace. She spread her legs slightly to give Alexander an unobstructed view. He was thinking about touching her when there was a commotion behind him.
Across the room, a Hispanic man in his late twenties or early thirties was yelling in Spanish at a young Hispanic girl. The girl looked as though she was still in her teens. Her long, dark hair tangled, her face droopy and eyes sunken, she looked rough.
Alexander could make out a few F-bombs, but nothing else. The young girl shrieked when the man grabbed her by the hair and pulled her in the direction of the bar. The girl put up a valiant effort but was no match for her assailant. In her frail condition, she wouldn’t be much of a match for anyone.
As they neared the bar, the girl twisted loose. The man grabbed her, doubled up his fist, drew his arm back, ready to swing at the girl.
Alexander grabbed the man’s fist. “I wouldn’t,” he said sternly.
The man whirled and glared at Alexander. “None of your business, asshole. Stay out of it.” He twisted his arm free from Alexander’s grasp, displaying a knife in his other hand. Instinctively, Alexander grabbed the man’s arm and bent it backward until he dropped the knife. He grabbed the man by the neck and squeezed. The man went limp in his grasp. Alexander lifted him by the neck and set him on the barstool.
“I know it’s none of my business friend, but here’s the deal.” Alexander held the man by the throat. “I was in the Marines for six years.” Six years in the Marines sounded more menacing than twenty in the FBI. “A couple of things I learned. How to kill – I learned that well – and you don’t beat on people, especially women.”
The man nodded, his eyes bulging.
Alexander loosened his grip slightly. “Now, I don’t want to kill you, but I’m not going to let you beat on the girl. You understand that?”
The bulge-eyed man nodded.
“Good. Tell you what. It wasn’t my business until you pulled a knife on me. That made it personal. I think we need to have a beer and talk about this. Do you agree?”
The man could only offer a weak “Okay.”
Alexander released his grip on the man’s neck. “Just a warning. If you make a threatening move, I will kill you. If you sneeze without warning, I will kill you. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Two beers,” Alexander said to the woman behind the bar, who looked like she was in shock. The beer order snapped her out of it.
Alexander took a drink of beer. “What’s the deal? Why are you beating on the girl?” He told the girl to sit down, pointing to the barstool next to the Colombian girl.
“She doesn’t speak English,” Bonnie said. She gestured to the frail girl and pointed at the stool next to her. “Siéntese aquí.” The girl slowly moved to the bar and sat.
“Well?” Alexander said, staring at the man next to him.
“That girl works for me. She ain’t doing her job. I need to teach her a lesson.”
“Damn. That’s some training program. I’m not sure the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would approve.”
“Uh?”
“Beating up employees is frowned upon.”
“She’s a whore. She needs motivation.”
“If she needs motivation, I’d say she’s not a whore. Maybe a sex slave.” Alexander felt his adrenaline pumping.
“I helped her, and she owes me. When she’s paid me back, she can split. But she refuses to work. How can she pay me back if she doesn’t work? I’m just trying to get her to work. Sometimes the girls need convincing. That’s all I was doing, convincing her to work.”
“This work. It involves getting men to buy them overpriced drinks?”
The man laughed. “That’s peanuts. It looked like you were about to find out with Bonnie. She’s got a nice ass, doesn’t she? It’s normally two hundred bucks for an hour in the back with her. She’s worth it too. That’s where the money is. Not these chicken-shit drinks. You’d pay two bills, go with her, blow your load in five minutes, and be gone.”
“And that girl refused to work for you?”
“Yep. She’s a stubborn bitch. Won’t play nice out here. We’ve sent guys who like to play rough, and they fucked her. Even so, they weren’t happy. She didn’t respond. Didn’t fight. The bitch knew they wanted to play rough, so she just laid there.”
Alexander leaned back and studied the girl briefly while she stared blankly into the distance. “What are you going to do with her? Beat on her a little more?”
“It’s none of your fucking business, but if you wanna know, I’ll tell ya. I got a couple of other girls, new girls, who aren’t as friendly as they should be. Yeah, I was taking her over and was gonna slap her around some. Use her to motivate the other girls. Know what I mean?”
Alexander took a deep breath. In all his years of dealing with bad people, he’d never been as angry as he was at the sleazeball sitting next to him.
“How do you mean, she owes you?”
“She was smuggled into the country. She’s illegal. I gave her a place to stay, gave her food and clothes. Look at that dress,” he nodded toward Bonnie, “those aren’t cheap.”
“They never quite pay you back, do they?”
“Sure, they do, but where they going to go? They make decent money. Most of the girls send money back to their families. I encourage them to save some cash. My clients like pretty young women, like Bonnie. Unfortunately, in this business, they don’t stay young and pretty for very long. I cut them loose when they lose it.”
“What happens next?”
“I don’t know. Some go home. Some work the streets. Probably get a pimp to help them out. I don’t know, don’t care.”
Alexander took a long drink of beer. “You are one shitty human being, know that?”
“Hey, it’s just business. If I didn’t do it, someone else would. I’m not the only one either. Notice all the bars around here? Same thing. I treat my girls pretty well.”
“I noticed.”
“Ah, she’s the exception. Damn that bitch. We’ve strung her out on heroin, raped her, beat her, she won’t play the game. I hate to waste her. Man, she was still lookin’ pretty good when I got her. She could’ve done well.”
“What do you mean, ‘waste her’?”
“Not that. I don’t kill the girls. Not directly anyway.” He chuckled slightly. “They may die when they leave here, but I won’t kill one.”
Alexander knew if he didn’t get out of the bar soon, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He’d killed a few men in self-defense, but never cold-bloodedly ripped out a man’s throat. He was on the brink of a first.
“How much does the girl owe you?”
“Ten grand, at least.”
“For what?” Alexander couldn’t believe what he’d heard.
“Room and board. She’s been here a while. Drugs too. She’s on drugs.”
“You kept her here and got her on drugs, and you say she owes you?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll make you a trade.”
“What kind of trade?”
“Her life for yours.”
“Huh?”
“I will take her and help her. In exchange, I won’t rip your heart out and stick it down your throat.”
The Hispanic man’s face paled. It was clear he believed the big man was ready, willing, and able to do as he threatened. “S-sounds like a fair deal to me.”
“Good,” said Alexander.
“What are you going to do with her? She’s a lousy fuck.”
In an instant, Alexander had his hand around the man’s throat. “Don’t push me, you little prick.”
The man nodded, and Alexander released him. He turned to the beautiful Colombian girl. “You want to come too?” He looked back at the man, who was rubbing his throat, “Is your life worth two girls?”
“Take her,” he said.
“No, I don’t want to go,” Bonnie said. “It is not terrible here.”
“Are you sure?”
Bonnie looked Alexander in the eyes for several long seconds. “Sí.”
“Hand me a pen,” Alexander said to the bartender, who stood frozen. “And a coaster.”
Alexander took the coaster, wrote on it, and handed it to Bonnie. “This is my phone number. He bothers you, or you want out, call me. And you, asshole,” he put a finger in the man’s chest, “she’s still part of the deal. It’s a twofer. She calls me, and I come get her. Let’s say I’m letting you borrow her.”
The man nodded in agreement, despite his visible confusion. Alexander could tell the wheels were beginning to turn in the man’s head, maybe already plotting a way to lure Alexander back to the bar for an ambush.
“Keep this in mind,” Alexander said. “I doubt you’d have much trouble finding me if you wanted to. Let me tell you, if I catch you anywhere around where I live, or if I happen to have an untimely accident, I have friends. They will know your face and where to find you.” Alexander held up his cell phone and snapped a picture of the man for emphasis. “They’ll find you, and when they’re done with you, what you’ve done to these girls will seem gentle.” Alexander took a sip of his beer, then turned to Bonnie. “Call me once in a while. I want to know you’re all right.”
“I will.” She looked at the coaster with the number on it. “You don’t speak Spanish, do you?”
“Not well.”
“Maybe I should come. You will need a way to talk to her.”
“If you want to get away, come with us. You don’t need an excuse. I don’t know what will happen to you, but you’ll be better off, I promise you.”
“I want to go,” she said quickly. “If I stay, he will just toss me out when I don’t look so good. With you, maybe I’ll have a chance.”
“You sure?” Alexander asked.
Bonnie nodded.
Alexander was second-guessing his offer to take her. He had no idea what he was going to do with the strung-out girl and now he had Bonnie to worry about. He would have a house full of young Hispanic girls. He had not thought this through.
“Tell her what’s happening, and we’ll go,” Alexander said.
He turned back to the man, now slumped over the bar. “What’s your name?”
“They call me Angel.”
“Remember what I said, Angel. I see you again, I’ll kill you. If you get lucky and get to me, my buddies will make you wish you’d never been born.”
“I got it. Please, just leave. Take the girls and get out of here. As soon as you’re out the door, I’m forgetting I ever saw you. Them too. Get the fuck out of here.”
Alexander rested his hand on Angel’s shoulder. “Smart move. Very smart.” He motioned the girls toward the door. “Bonnie, can you help her to the car?”
“Of course. Can I get a few things first?”
“Will it take long?”
“No. I’ll be right back.” She slid off the barstool and disappeared through a side door.
“Don’t waste the beer,” Alexander said, pushing the bottle closer to Angel.
“Not real thirsty right now.”
Bonnie bounced through the door carrying a full plastic grocery bag and a cigar box. “I’m ready.”
Alexander led the women out of the bar, keeping an eye on the Hispanic man thinking he might have had a gun behind the bar, but he simply sat, his head down. Defeated.
“The blue car,” Alexander said, pointing at the MINI Cooper.
“You’re kidding?” Bonnie asked.
“No. Get in. Hurry. Put her in the backseat.”
Alexander started the car and bolted out of the parking lot. He didn’t know where he was going but he wanted to get away from the bar as fast as possible. It took a few turns before he recognized a street that would lead him back to the freeway. His heart rate approached normal as he entered the On ramp.
“Now what?” Bonnie asked.
“No idea,” Alexander said. “I have no idea.”