Stronger (The Unit Book 2)

by Greyson, Sarah

  She walked to the man closing the distance in five paces. She touched his cheek and again felt his skin burn beneath her touch. “Are you sick?” she asked concerned about the man who agreed to help her.

  “No. I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.” He had to get out of there. She was doing something to him, softening him in a world that only punished that quality. He turned to leave her and her hand fell to her side. She had found an ally she could use. Would she have occasion to use him?

  A short time later the man returned with an empty bucket and a towel just like he said he would. She got up from the cot and greeted him in the middle of the hut. “Thank you for your kindness,” she whispered so only he could hear. “I have another question,” she whispered.

  “What is it?”

  “What day next week will I be sold?” She watched as the man’s face went hard. His expression was now unreadable. He masked his feelings quite well. She had no idea if she had made him angry or repentant.

  “Next Friday. You have about ten days left.”

  “And I will not receive drugs during this time,” she inquired hoping they would not give her any. She needed a clear head to come up with a plan.

  “No drugs. Not for you. They want you to suffer for escaping them and ruining their sale of you last time,” he confided. “With no drugs and no others in your hut, you are forced into isolation with nothing but time to think about what is coming.” He bowed his head and stared at his dusty boots.

  She was thankful they sought to punish her. She did not want the drugs again, although it would be nice not to care, but it was now up to her to figure a way out of this. She had asked for and received the help of one guard. Would he be enough?

  “Tell me, how many men guard me?” she pushed hoping his kindness would continue.

  “I have said enough to get me killed. I can’t answer any more of your questions.”

  “I understand,” she acquiesced under the stare of a man who really was afraid for his life. She threw herself into him and hugged him. He stood stiff and erect unused to the affection of the merchandise, especially one who smelled so heavenly and was so beautiful. “Thank you for the towel,” she said as she reached to take it from his hand. She approached the corner with a lump rising in the back of her throat. As she knelt to clean up the mess, she started to gag.

  He touched her shoulder. “Here, let me,” he said as he reached down and took the towel from her small hand.

  “Thank you.” She stood and walked to the other side of the room. She would surely vomit again over the smell.

  When the man finished picking up the vomit, he walked to the door of the hut. He turned to look at Lola sitting on the cot. “I’m sorry,” he said, then he turned and exited through the door.

  Chapter 24

  An RV camper that housed the mobile surveillance headquarters for The Unit blended in perfectly with the wealthier area of Mexico. Inside the RV, The Unit took care to outfit it with the latest in technology. The antenna, which was mounted to the top of the RV, looked like a regular television antenna, but it was really used to monitor satellite feed. There were several computers for display of the satellite feed. They used this feed to monitor and track the activity of the Ortiz Cartel. It was important for this mission that they kept close enough to the Ortiz compound but far enough away as to not alert any nosy neighbors to their business. It was for that reason they moved the camper every few days. The camper’s windows were lined with heavy opaque curtains so they could see out, but nobody could see in. The camper had enough room for sleeping quarters for the five men. The bathroom was cramped, but it served its purpose. There was a partition which separated the driver and passenger seats from the rest of the RV. Inside, they had stocked the camper with enough food and water to last three weeks. They weren’t sure they would be in the camper for that length of time but had to take every precaution. They couldn’t risk being seen. They had to be very careful about the noise level as it had to appear as if the RV was unoccupied, and they had to be cautious of their movements. If they rocked the camper, it could give away their hiding spot.

  Their plan was to keep the RV parked in a shopping center parking lot, rotating between the three in the area so they could remain invisible. They had stocked the van with all the weapons they would need to take down the Ortiz Cartel, but each man was starting to grate on each other’s nerves. Spending a lot of time in close quarters was par for the military, so this was nothing new to them. Everyone, with the exception of Tyrrell, served in the Army and served in one or more of the wars the United States were engaged in over the last decade. Tyrrell was a Navy Seal. He wasn’t used to surveillance. He was used to action. He was growing more annoyed by the minute.

  Rob sat motionless in one of the leather seats inside the RV. He could not stand himself. His shoulders were slumped and his hands laid limply in his lap. He had failed Lizzie, and now he had failed Lola. Thoughts of Lizzie grunting and screaming entered his mind. He was racked with guilt. In the next breath, his thoughts turned to Lola. He still could feel her touch. He could still smell her unique scent. He could still feel her lips pressed against his. His body started to tremble. Thoughts of losing Lola took over. Thoughts of finding her dead, just like he found Lizzie clouded his judgment. He begged God. “Please God. Let me save her. Let me be the one to rescue her. I know I failed Lizzie, but if I could rescue Lola, it would somehow start to make up for not saving Lizzie. I’ll never forget Lizzie, and I’ll always carry the guilt, but at least I will have saved Lola. I know you don’t owe me anything because of the sins I have committed, albeit for the greater good, but sins nonetheless. I have taken the lives of men, bad men, but I still killed them. Please forgive me Father, and please give me the strength and the wisdom to save Lola.” As he said his prayer, he swiveled his captain’s chair away from the other men in the camper. He did not want them to see him in his current state. The shame of Lola being taken right from under his nose was too much to bear.

  After a few minutes, his muscles began clenching along his jaw line. He had a headache he would ignore for the sake of this mission. He had to think of it as a mission and detach himself from Lola if he could. If his emotions clouded his judgment, they would both be lost. He moved into Tony’s space in the back of the cramped RV. They had been staking out the Ortiz Cartel from a distance using the best money could buy for two weeks. They had the routines of Ortiz’s men down. The only thing they didn’t know was when the auction would be held. They hadn’t sensed any movement in regards to the girls and women located in the huts. They had caught a glimpse of the women as they were led into the mansion on the property, but he had yet to visually confirm Lola’s presence. “Have you seen her yet?” Rob asked Tony in a clipped tone. The GPS chip in her necklace confirmed her location, but Rob wanted visual confirmation.

  “Not yet, but think of all the other girls we are saving besides Lola. There must be fifteen girls up for auction,” Tony reminded his friend.

  “Let’s go over it one more time.”

  “Okay. We have two armed guards here.” Tony pointed to the computer monitor showing two men stationed outside the large warehouse on the property. “This,” Tony said motioning to the warehouse, “must be where they keep their drugs and ready them for distribution.”

  “How many men and women have you seen enter and exit that building daily?”

  “There are about twenty civilians working in the warehouse.” Tony continued, “here,” he pointed to the four men currently meeting under a tree talking and smoking, “are the four roving armed guards.”

  “How many men are on the huts?” Rob questioned.

  “Two, as far as I can tell. Look at how close the huts are to one another. Two men can easily guard fifteen scared women and children. Didn’t Lola say Ortiz kept them drugged?”

  “Yes. She said that when she was on the drug, she didn’t care who or where she was, as long as she was given more.”

  “Here,” Tony
said pointing to the mansion, “are two armed guards guarding the front door to the mansion. And every time I have seen Ortiz, he has been alone. He obviously feels confident his security is enough to keep him safe on his grounds.”

  “Here,” Tony pointed to the rear of the mansion, “are two more guards.”

  Rob looked at the men in the back of the van. He knew two of them better than he knew himself. The variables were Aaron and Tyrrell. He had no choice but to trust them with his life as they would trust Rob with theirs.

  Rob met Tyrrell’s eyes, “Here’s what we are going to do.”

  After Rob laid out the plan, each man started to make their way to their gear bags. They armed each weapon and placed silencers on their Walther P22’s. These guns were perfect for a mission like this. A Walther P22 with a silencer made one noise, the scraping of metal on metal. There was no crack, just the action slide. If they were going to pull off this operation, they had to be as silent as possible. They were outnumbered twelve to five. However, Rob was certain their training made up for the fact that Ortiz had more men on the ground.

  Tony pulled out two dowels and a length of medium gauge piano wire. He set to the task of making a garrote. He drilled one hole in each dowel and threaded the piano wire through the hole. He then wrapped the wire around itself to secure its attachment to the dowel. Piano wire stretched and attached to the dowels, one on each side, made for the perfect weapon for choking a subject. The piano wire cut as it strangled. There would be gurgling noises as the subject choked on his own blood. He may not need it with the suppressed fire power they were carrying, but he wanted to cover all bases.

  Aaron and Steve were cleaning their sniper rifles as they readied for battle. Soon, they would be taking down a notorious drug cartel. They prayed everything would go as planned. The FBI considered this an unsanctioned mission. They could not be caught nor captured or they would die in Mexico with no one coming to save them, no reinforcements. The Unit was the only chance these women and girls had of being rescued in time.

  Tyrrell was on his cell phone gathering intelligence when Rob approached. “Sure. Thank you, sir.” Tyrrell pressed the end button.

  “What’s up? What have you learned?” Rob questioned.

  “They are moving on the girls on Friday.”

  “This Friday?” Rob asked clenching his fists at his side.

  “This Friday. We have five days. We have our plan. We have our weapons. We know our jobs. We will take them down,” Tyrrell reassured Rob.

  “I just hope we don’t lose in the process,” Rob said as his thoughts once again drifted to Lola.

  Chapter 25

  Lola looked over the side of her cot and down at the ground. She had marked the days until the auction and each day she would put a mark through the day as a countdown to the auction. She had two days until she was sold and still no Rob. Where was he? She felt certain he was out there and he was going to rescue her, but the closer it came to the day, the more anxious she became.

  She was always nauseous now. It must have been her nerves. The first time she had pills. This time she was left alone with her mind.

  She missed Rob. She missed his strong hands on her stomach. She missed his strong hands caressing her face. She missed his rough, strong hands brushing against her soft skin. Finding herself thinking of him constantly, she shook it off. She had to come up with a plan in case he couldn’t find her in time. What if she became someone’s property? How would she survive? Would Rob continue to look for her until he found her and saved her again? All these questions left unanswered in her mind.

  Her friend was back: the man who brought her the towel and continued to clean up the subsequent vomit. She had been throwing up at least twice a day. It had to be her nerves. But nerves wouldn’t explain her heightened sense of smell. She could smell everything. It was unnatural to smell that well.

  Her friend walked to the corner and began gathering the vomit into the towel. He would make it as bearable as possible for her while she was here.

  “The doctor is coming later today,” he told her as he shook out the towel in the bucket.

  “Will it be the same as last time?”

  “Yes. He will examine you to make sure you are still a virgin.”

  Oh no! She didn’t think about that. She was no longer a virgin. What would they do with her when they found out? Would they still sell her? They had to. They sold Dangani, Cece, and Alisha and two of them weren’t virgins. She just wouldn’t be wearing white. They could still make a profit off of her. She knew she was attractive. She knew men wanted her. Someone would buy her. Surely they had to sell her. All they cared about was money.

  “When will he come to examine me?” Lola asked trying to prepare herself for the debasement to come.

  “This evening. He is examining all of the girls today. The man to choose your clothes will be here afterwards.”

  She was thankful for this bit of information. However, that meant that she would come face-to-face with bald, fat man who tried to take advantage of her. The man who smelled of alcohol and cigars. The memory of that incident made her even more nauseous.

  She stood from the cot and walked over to meet the man at the bucket. She recoiled from the strong odor and took a few steps back. He reached out and placed his hand on her arm to steady her. She felt faint. Maybe she got up too fast. She felt her knees go weak and then everything faded to black.

  She awoke on her cot. The nice man was gone. She could tell from the sun’s position through the crack between the roof and the wall that it was late in the afternoon. She must have passed out from all of the stress.

  She was right about the time because a little while later the nice man came back with her dinner of chicken, rice, and carrots. They did make sure she was well fed; she would give Ortiz that. She was famished. She ate every last bite of her dinner and placed the empty plate back on the floor. She drank the entire glass of water he brought and placed it next to the plate. As of late, the only time she could eat was in the evenings. She couldn’t touch her breakfast or lunch. Just the thought of food while she was so nauseous made it so much worse.

  The nice man entered her room to remove her dinner dishes.

  “I’m scared,” she confessed to the man.

  “I’m truly sorry. I don’t like what they do, but I have no choice but to do my job. They pay well and I have a large family that depends on the money.”

  She nodded, pretending to understand. Still she couldn’t fathom how such a kind man could stand guard with a gun strapped to his shoulder ready to shoot anyone who got out of line. Would he shoot her?

  “Would you shoot me?” she wondered aloud.

  “If I was ordered to, yes.”

  His words scared her even more. He didn’t really care about her if he could kill her based on an order. But it was true, if he disobeyed, more than likely he would be killed and so would his family. She had heard Rob talk with Tony about the Ortiz Cartel and what she heard scared her even more.

  The Ortiz Cartel was a ruthless cartel smuggling drugs into the United States and selling innocent girls and women, who they kidnapped from all over the world, into slavery. God, they must have scouts in every major city. Ortiz was a powerful man. She was sure he killed anyone who didn’t comply with his wishes. It still perplexed her about the nice man who would kill her. He wouldn’t help her escape, but she had to try.

  She walked seductively to him swaying her hips slightly and pushing her breasts out, standing straight. She flung her long hair over her shoulder and brought her hand to it. She took a strand of her hair and started to twirl it around her finger while she looked directly into the man’s kind brown eyes. “Would you help me?”

  “How?” the man asked considering helping the gorgeous creature before him.

  “Can you get me out of here before the doctor comes?”

  The man backed away from her as if her presence was a strong fire giving off heat too hot to stand next to. He didn’t want
to get smoke in his eyes. When he was next to the door, he spoke, “I am sorry. I can’t help you. They know where my family lives.”

  She lowered her head in defeat and whispered, “I understand.” And she did understand. She didn’t want anything to happen to this man’s family. This man who had been nothing but kind to her. The man apologized again and left, carrying the dinner dishes, through the door.

  When the sun had set, the doctor came in to visit her. “Ah, so we meet again,” he said his lips curling into an evil smile. “Take off your bottoms and your underwear.”

  Lola unbuttoned her shorts and hooked her thumbs into her panties and shorts and pulled them down her legs. She stepped out of the garments and stood exposed before the man.

  “Lie down and spread your legs,” he said clinically.

  Lola sat onto her cot and laid back. Embarrassed and ashamed, she let her knees fall to the sides until she was laid vulnerably open before the doctor. The doctor put on a pair of latex gloves, pulled out the tube of jelly, and squirted some on his fingers. He pressed into her opening and then froze. He looked down at her and met her eyes. “You’re no longer a virgin?” It sounded like a question, but it was more of a statement. “I will have to inform Senor Ortiz. He will not be pleased.” He smiled his evil grin as he said it. Weren’t doctors supposed to swear an oath to uphold ethical standards? What the hell was ethical about examining women and girls in the manner in which he did?

  “What will happen now?” Lola mumbled afraid of the answer.

  “I will talk to Senor Ortiz and get back to you.”

  The doctor took care to remove his gloves stuffing one inside of the other so the side that touched his hands was now on the outside and the jelly side was inside. He placed the used gloves in his bag and left the hut.

  An hour or so passed and now no light shone in the room from outside. It was completely dark. She couldn’t determine the time, but she was extremely tired. She laid on her cot to sleep.