The Country Club by Tim Miller Page A

cage.
          “Shut up!” he said in a low, but firm voice. “They’ll hear you.”
          “Who are you? Are you one of them?” the girl said.
          “No. Kind of, but not really. I’m trapped here too. I have to clean up their messes.”
          “Why don’t you just leave?” the guy asked.
          “It’s not as simple as that.”
          “Let us out of here. Just open this cage and get us out, we’ll take care of ourselves. No one will know,” the girl pleaded.
          Caleb looked at the large steel door on the cage. The lock was built into the door.
          “I don’t have a key. I have no way to open this,” he said.
          “You have got to help us. I know what they are going to do to us,” the girl said. “You can’t just fucking leave us here.”
          “Yes, I know. I want to help, but I can’t. I’m sorry.” He started to back away from the cage. The girl grabbed him by the wrist, but he jerked his hand away. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. Just stop yelling. That will make it worse for all of us.”
          He turned and walked quickly down the other hall, ignoring their cries behind him. If a place like hell really did exist, he was sure he’d be headed there. Even if he did have a key to the cage, he wouldn’t have let them out. Not without finding his own way out first. That was a horrible way to think, but they were strangers. Caleb had no tolerance for pain at all. He’d heard the screams and had seen what was done to those girls. The idea of him going through any of that made him shiver. If he could get them out while saving himself he would, but for the moment he needed to save himself.
          “There you are,” one of the security goons said. “Come on. We have a shipment to unload.”
          “Shipment?” Caleb said, but the goon was walking away.
          He followed behind the guy as they walked toward a large overhead door that rolled up. They were then standing outside on a loading dock. The sun was bright and nearly blinded Caleb who had been down in the dark for too long. There was a large tractor trailer backed up to the dock. One man opened the tailgate to the trailer. In the back was a stack of pallets carrying tortilla chips. Several pallets were stacked to the top of the trailer. A guy drove up with a forklift and unloaded each pallet one by one. As he moved the last one away, Caleb saw the real cargo. There were several women bound and gagged in the back of the truck.
          The goons herded them all out and walked them down through the hallways.
          “Follow us,” one of the men said to Caleb. “And bring your cart.”
          He ran and got his cart and followed the strange parade of prisoners and thugs through the dark passageways until they were standing in front of the cage again. One of the men removed each of their binds, while the others stood by. The large one told them all to remove their clothing and all personal belongings. When one of the girls removed her sweatshirt, she was obviously very pregnant. Caleb figured somewhere between four and six months if he had to guess. A couple of the girls had glasses, and they were allowed to keep those. The man ordered them all to walk by Caleb’s cart and to throw their clothing and belongings into his cart and file into the cage.
          He was surprised that no one resisted. A few cried and tried to beg for their freedom and would ask what was happening. Though he hadn’t resisted at all either, so who was he to talk? Once they were all in the cage, the large man locked it with a big metal key and placed it into his jacket. The man looked at Caleb and nodded to his cart.
          “Take this to the incinerator and burn everything. Their clothes, phones, wallets, purses, anything you find. Burn it all. Don’t dig through it or try to keep anything for yourself either. There’s cameras over there. We’ll see if you