148 Prostitution Den 1

Friday, 8:30 a.m.

Lino drove to a dirt road into a secluded village of Toledo, a city above the mountain region of Cebu. The chopper was almost there but before they could reach it the car went in a courtyard and to a garage. Five minutes after, the signal from Diane's earrings vanished.

The monitor in basement three clearly showed Lino went in the garage and stopped inside. He alighted from the car and closed the garage door. Nothing was seen from then on.

"What happened?" Leonard shouted, frantic on what went wrong.

"We are here Jenna and Richard are going down," said the helicopter pilot. The rescue team waited for the right time to descend. They all wore bulletproof vests and helmet.

The monitor in basement three showed Jenna and Richard slid down first from the rope thrown down from the chopper. With guns in hand, they hurriedly ran to the garage and busted the door by Richard's single kick. They saw the car inside and aimed the guns to the car. Four more armed men followed behind.

"Don't move," yelled Richard, as he strode to the car seats. There was no one inside. Jenna opened the back compartment. It was unlocked and no one was in it as well. The rest of the rescue team surveyed the whole vicinity. There was nothing but an abandoned farmhouse and dilapidated land. No one lived but a family of swallows nesting on the garage ceiling.

"Guys, check every nook of the garage. Focus looking for a trap door or any secret entrance," Paul's voice said in their earphones.

The whole rescue team turned the garage upside down. They pushed the car outside and thumped the ground but could not hear anything hollow. It was solid ground. Each man struck every wooden wall, nothing came out. Then Jenna tried an old wheel on the wall. When she tried to move it, it would not budge.

"Richard, try moving this, please," Jenna said.

Richard tried disengaging the wheel from the wall but it won't move at all. Richard sank his fingers under the wheel's body to yank it out. Then one man from the team switch on the light for the garage and the wall where the wheel was attached moved a foot forward and sideways. Richard right jumped away as it moved. An opening enough for a man came to view. Everyone felt silly. No one dared to touch the light switch and sorted to other harder ways. All of them chuckled and shrugged.

Richard went into the door and stepped on a steeled floor connected to a stair directly to the right. He observed the walls and saw a thick wall supporting behind. It was also undetectable outside for it seemed connected. They walked down the stairs and saw another clearing made of dirt walls and ground. There was nothing there, a dead end.

The operation aborted and the chopper went back to Arch Lithe Villa.

"How did that bastard Peralta get away? Where is the exit?" Paul slammed a fist on the table. "Don't let John know of this."

After all, tears had already been shed, John strengthened his resolve. He had to be strong for Diane. He should not panic easily or let despair drown him. He knew that well as a doctor. As long as Diane was alive, there was still hope to save her. If they could not find the way in that garage, then for certain, there was another way. Then he remembered Lisa and he hoped that way or key in that garage could be her.

John visited Lisa and sat beside the girl's side, his knees supported his elbows as he leaned down with his hands clasped together. There was not much progress in her situation but he stayed to wait so when she wakes he would be there to talk with her. He had to try no matter what, for Diane's sake. As he waited, he made a prayer that God would keep Diane safe.

9:02 a.m.

Before the rescue team arrived, Lino closed the garage door and walked with Diane dragging her by the waist to the secret door. He clicked on the light switch and the door with the wheel opened, but he did not go in yet. His finger moved the switch up and down ten times and the steel flooring rose up and a lift came to view. He went in and pushed the down arrow button on a red box and the door closed on its own as the lift descended. Diane absorbed what he did but remained silent. If an opportunity to escape comes then she knew what to do.

Minutes after, they arrived in a huge lobby decorated with chandeliers and paintings on the wall. Plain red carpet spread and concealed every space of the floor. Here, no one would notice it was hidden underground. Rather, one would feel they entered a hotel lobby. There was even a concierge in the middle of the room.

The entry point Lino used was exclusively for Gallante's men. There were more entries but only a few knew and were given the privilege to use those places according to their position in the underworld organization. The clients and investors had their own entrance as well.

When Lino strode with Diane dragged at his side, men with guns stopped him.

"What is the meaning of this?" said a guard.

"I'm here to gift a lady to Panther. Send me to Panther now," said Lino.

"You know that is not allowed."

"Just tell Panther what I have here is special."

Then a lady clad in a black long dress walked in the lobby from another secret door. She was surrounded by armed men. The people present bowed to her.

"Panther, welcome back from your trip," everyone said, aside from Lino, who carried Diane up to make her stand erect in front of him. Panther saw Lino but her focus was on the tied lady.

"My, my, what is this? I thought you won't come back here," said Panther.

"Here, take this girl and let the guests bid for her tonight, in exchange you know what I want," said Lino.

Diane examined Panther from afar. She could not believe the drug lord was a woman or maybe she had to give the entitlement of 'drug lady'.

Panther could be in her early forties and could not be considered beautiful, but elegant. Yes, elegant was the right word, Diane appraised. Staring at Panther brought back the memories when she studied Shakespeare's Cleopatra, an influential lady who won the hearts of great men in history.