Taken by E.M. Leya

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Pain brought Trenton awake, not easing him from sleep, but blasting him from it like a bomb. He sucked in air and jerked as if he could move away from the pain, but it only made it worse.

He blinked tears back as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. His shoulder was on fire and he reached up to touch it only to find it wrapped with gauze. It was then he noticed the tubes sticking out of the back of his hand.

He blinked a few more times, still trying to breathe through the pain. The tubes were I.V. lines, that much he knew, but how had he hurt his shoulder, and where was he? He looked around taking in the pale walls, small window, and tiny T.V. mounted in front of him. "Hospital." He said the words aloud but his voice was raspy and hardly more than a whisper.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to remember where he'd been, what the last thing he could remember was, and that was when it all came back to him. The trafficking ring, the sex, the rape, the others in the cage with him as gunshots rang out. Searing pain, then blackness. He recalled Ian talking to him, but couldn't recall anything he'd said.

Opening his eyes once more, he looked up and down his body, careful not to move. His shoulder had to be the worst since it was where the pain was all coming from. He also had bandages around his left thigh, but his leg felt numb and heavy. Thankfully, it didn't hurt like his shoulder did. He saw the bruises up and down his body, but they'd been there for weeks, new ones replacing old as he was used and raped at their convenience.

Did his team know he was here? That he was out? Did they all survive the raid on the mansion? Had any of them been hurt? He needed answers, but as he looked for a call button to summons a nurse, he saw it still hooked to the wall behind his bed.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" he called, but his voice was only a whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Can anyone hear me?"

The door slowly opened and he saw a man in a black suit peek in. "You're awake. Let me get the nurse."

Whoever the guy was closed the door again before Trenton could speak. Did he have a guard on his room? Why not a cop? Who was the guy in the suit? Had the team been found out? Was he being held for what he did with the team?

The door opened again and a young nurse walked in with a huge smile. "Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"Hurt," Trenton said, then shook his head. "What happened?"

"I can't help you with what happened, but I do know there is a large group of people waiting for permission to come in and see you. I was told the D.A. is working on getting approval. As for the pain, I can help with that. Is your leg hurting?"

"No, shoulder." He swallowed hard. "Can I have a drink?"

"Only ice chips for now, but we'll see if I can get the doctor to allow you some water. You got out of surgery a few hours ago."

"I was shot." He meant it as a question but it came out as a statement.

"Yes. Twice. Once in the shoulder and again in the thigh. Both should heal fine with some time and physical therapy. You also have a couple of cracked ribs and a lot of cuts and abrasions." She fiddled with his I.V. for a moment, then shot something into the tube. "Just a painkiller. It might make you drowsy but affects everyone differently." 

"Who's here?"

"I'm not sure who they all are. There are about eight to ten of them in the waiting room. Mostly, men, but I did see a couple of women. All the patients brought in last night are under guard and have a no visitor policy, at least until the D.A. confirms identities and finds family. For now, I can't even bring you a phone, but I expect that to change soon." She punched a few buttons on the machine that was connected to his I.V. "They'll be glad to know you're awake. Let me go grab you some ice chips and then I'll call the doctor and see if we can get you some water."

"Do you know how the others are?"

She gave him a small smile. "All I know are rumors. I'm not exactly sure what happened last night, but I will say the rumors are that a lot of people were saved."

Trenton nodded, relief sweeping through him. "Thank you."

"Here's the call button if you need it, but I will be right back with ice chips." She moved the small box from the back wall and secured it to his bed.

He watched her leave and wondered who had him under guard and why? Nothing made sense. If the team had come in to save them, then they should be here with him. Unless the police came in after and the team hadn't gotten him out first. Then he could see the police maybe having all hostages under guard, especially if they didn't arrest all of the traffickers. Witnesses were not something the traffickers would want around.

He recalled the voice yelling to kill the hostages right before everything went black. Had that been when he'd been shot?

A moment later, the door opened and the man in the black suit stepped inside. "As a favor to an old friend, I'm passing you a message from Noam. He's in the waiting room and trying to get permission to see you, but everyone from last night is under guard for now. Noam says your friends are all here and waiting to see you and everything is going to be okay."

"How many died?"

The man frowned. "I haven't heard final numbers. There were a few casualties, but not a high number. Two SWAT members shot, but in stable condition."

That reminded Trenton that he had heard SWAT there before he'd been shot. So how was his team involved? Had the police acted before his team could? "When can I talk to Noam?"

"He's waiting for a call from the D.A.. Once he has that and they approve visitors with hospital security, then he can come in. As I said, I'm just passing a message as a favor for him. He's been trying to get me to let him in all morning."

"Thanks." Trenton wished someone had answers.

Before the guard could leave, the door opened again and this time Beau walked in.

"I need to see—" The guard stood in Beau's way.

"Right here. I'm his physician." Beau held up his badge. "I'm just checking on him before I meet with his surgeon for an update." Beau's gaze traveled over Trenton as if making sure things weren't worse than he'd been told.

Trenton sighed. "Beau…" He noticed the dark circles under Beau's eyes and how his hair was out of place as if he'd been running his fingers through it all night. "Everyone's okay?"

Beau nodded as the guard wrote down some information in a notebook, then stepped aside. "Everyone is fine. They're all out in the waiting room wanting to see you. I just got a quick break from Children's Hospital and decided I'd come see how you're doing so we could calm everyone's nerves.

The guard stepped from the room, leaving them alone.

"What happened?"

"I can't say much here. I'm not sure how secure it is, but we'll give you the whole story when we can. The district attorney and SWAT went into the mansion late last night and raided the place. Arrests were made and all the hostages are now at different medical centers getting help. There were a few deaths, but mostly guards. Though I did hear a couple of hostages were shot." Beau walked over and looked at the I.V. bag and nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but she just gave me something for it. How bad am I?"

"I just read your file and it looks like the shoulder is going to be okay. Some muscle damage, but you got lucky and it went clean through. As for your leg, you took a shot to the thigh that went straight through, but it did hit an artery. You lost a lot of blood. It was touch and go for a bit, but they managed to keep you alive. Other than a nasty scar and some tenderness for a while, that one shouldn't be an issue at all. I'm guessing you're going to need physical therapy for the shoulder. You have an array of smaller injuries, but I'm guessing those happened prior to the raid last night."

Trenton nodded, but couldn't meet Beau's gaze. He hated the guys knowing what had been done to him.

"Hey, look at me." Beau stepped closer. "No one is going to treat you any different or think differently about you. You're back home and that is all we care about. I'm sure there will be plenty you can talk to Katie about if you want, or even one of us, but don't start feeling like anything is different now than it was before. We all care about you and are here no matter what you need." Beau settled a hand on his good leg. "We're just glad you're home."

"There were plenty of times I didn't think I'd make it back." He'd tried so hard to stay positive, but some nights when he had been raped repeatedly, he'd struggled with keeping his head in a good place. He'd been ready to give up so many times.

"You can thank your friend, Ben. He gave us everything we needed to make this happen."

Trenton's eyes widened. He'd forgotten about Ben. "He's okay?"

"He's fine. Wasn't there when it all went down. Noam talked to him a bit ago and he's helping the D.A. with the case. He was worried sick about you, especially when he'd heard others had been killed."

"He saved me. I couldn't have gotten out of there without his help. I looked for a way. Tried to think of a way to contact you guys, but there was nothing. I…" He shook his head, closed his eyes, and turned his head away from Beau.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now." Beau gave his leg a squeeze. "Would you like me to see if Katie can come here and talk to you? Would that help?"

Trenton sighed. "It's fine. I'll be okay. I just need to get used to the reality that I'm really safe again. I feel like I'm going to wake up from a dream and find myself still there."

"Remember when Faith first got home and she'd wake up with those horrible nightmares? She'd be sleeping in the basement and we'd hear her screaming all the way upstairs. Like her, your mind is going to need time to get used to things. Give yourself that time. Don't try to be strong if you don't feel strong. That's why you have us. We've got you, and we aren't going to let you fall."

"Thanks. Tell everyone I'm okay. Make them go home. There's nothing they can do here." He finally looked up at Beau. "How long will I be stuck here?"

"At least three to five days would be my guess, but that also depends on how things heal and how many other injuries we haven't discovered yet. I've just noticed standing here talking to you that your finger looks like it's been broken."

Trenton lifted his right hand. "Second or third day I was there. It doesn't hurt anymore." He didn't want to think about the way the man had twisted his finger until it snapped while he'd been holding it behind his back and raping him.

"Everything needs to be looked at. What else aren't you telling us?"

Trenton shook his head.

"They did a rape kit when you came in. They noted all visual bruising and cuts, but if there is anything internal, you have to let us know."

Again, he shook his head. "There's nothing more."

"You sure? Because I just left a dozen small children that showed evidence of just how horrible and perverse this group was. If there is more we need to know about, no matter how embarrassing or upsetting it might be, you need to tell us. Tell me. You don't have to let the rest of the team know."

Trenton finally lifted his gaze to meet Beau's. "There isn't more. Yes, I was raped, but I don't think there was any damage done. I don't want to talk about it. Just let it go, okay?"

Beau sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just as your doctor—"

"I know. It's okay. I swear there isn't anything more to report. They beat me, raped me, kept me cold and hungry, and sometimes drugged. I don't know what the drug was, but it would give me a wild high, then I'd crash for hours. Heroin and something." He shifted a bit now that the pain in his shoulder had eased. "They didn't drug me as often since I didn't put up a fight. I never started craving it. Others will be way worse and probably go through withdrawal. Ben snuck me some extra food when he could. I'm better than most of the others who were held. I'll be okay. I just need some time."

Beau nodded. "We'll give you all the time you need, just know we're here. All of us. As for getting the group out there to go home, it won't happen. They need to see you're okay. You don't have to talk to them long, but at least let them see you're okay. I'll head out there now and give them an update, but you know they won't relax until they have eyes on you."

That was exactly how the team was. They had to see for themselves. "I'm hungry. Can I eat?"

"I'd say yes, but I'm sure they are just giving you some time post-surgery to let your stomach settle. I'll talk to your surgeon and see if we can get you something in a few hours. You also need to plan on the D.A.'s office coming in to interview you soon. They'll want to talk to you sooner than later so everything is fresh in your mind."

As if he'd ever forget. "How did the D.A. get involved so quickly?"

"That would be Noam's fast thinking. Stuff we'll discuss once we're not here." Beau took a step back. "Can I get you anything?"

"Can you get a message to Ben?"

"I can sure try. What's the message?"

"Just tell him thank you. Tell him I'm okay and thank you for getting me out of there." He would tell him face to face someday, but until then, he needed Ben to know how grateful he was.

"I'll get word to him. Call me if you need anything. I know Bryon has a phone he's going to leave with you with all our numbers programmed in. And I know your brother is in town, but when they told him you were in the hospital, he got kind of strange and said to keep him updated, but he wouldn't come to see you unless it was really serious."

Trenton smiled. "Yeah, he doesn't do hospitals at all. Bad experience in one when he was little. His number was on my old cell phone. Can you ask Bryon to program it into the phone he's leaving? I'll call Levi as soon as I can." He didn't know how to feel about his brother being in town, about him knowing what had happened to him.

"Sure thing. Let me know if you need me. I'll be at Children's Hospital a lot over the next few days, but you know I'll come if you need me here."

Trenton remembered all the kids screaming and crying. "Take care of those kids first. They need you more than I do."

Beau nodded once. "They need someone, that's for sure." He lifted a hand. "Stay strong okay? This nightmare is almost over."

As he watched Trenton walk out of the room, he wondered if that was true, because each time he seemed to close his eyes, the nightmare continued.