“I’m going to give you an address,” Rachel informed them. “You’re going to drive there. Pretty soon the Department of Justice is going to show up. The FBI, the local cops, pretty much everyone is going to converge on the scene.”
Trapp had a bad feeling that he knew exactly what was going on. “And why is that?”
“Because they’ve busting the human trafficking operation,” Rachel said it with sarcastic satisfaction. “All of those women—well not all of them—the ones who are still alive are going to be found today.”
Trapp heard his men shifting uneasily behind him. Romero was the one who finally spoke. “Why now Rachel?”
“Because now is the right time.” Rachel’s eyes were haunted. She had seen things and done things that none of them could fathom. But this was different. “They’re ready to go home now. They want to be with their families. So when the news crews get there…” She let her statement hang.
Trapp picked up the thread of her conversation. “The families will come to claim their loved ones. That’s what you’re saying.”
“And if you interfere in any way,” Rachel warned. “Your women will be executed like dogs.”
“And why would we interfere?” Trapp asked quietly. He willed his sister to snap out of it before it was too late. Did she not understand? “What did he give them, Rachel? Did he give you the same thing?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” Her words were soft. “Just a little shot.”
“He infected you Rachel!” Trapp thought his heart might rip in two. Didn’t she understand what that bastard had done? “He gave you a disease all in the hopes of you infecting us.”
“Mr. Trips isn’t bad,” Rachel said distractedly. “There’s only a little burning. Then you go to sleep. I’m so tired. I want to go to sleep.”
“Rachel!” Trapp struggled to keep a lid on his emotions. He could not put this in the kill box. There was no way to tamp it down and forget about it. This was real and it was horrifying.
“Where is the antidote?” Yates asked tersely. “Rachel, who has that? I know Hasim wouldn’t risk infecting himself. He has an antidote to this disease.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rachel shrugged. “Hasim is going to be in the truck. It’s a big truck. The sides are armored. He’ll be watching you know.”
Suddenly Yates sucked in a quick breath. “That’s what those papers were from Hansen Pharmaceuticals.”
“What?”
“Bones.” Yates pointed at their tall friend. “That place where Marina was kept. They were developing something there. Or packaging it, that doesn’t matter. There has to be some of it left there.”
“What?” Bones lifted his eyebrows expectantly. “What am I looking for?”
“It’s an antidote to this disease.” Yates pointed to Rachel. “She called it Mr. Trips. On the manifest it’s called the Down Trip. The boxes will be labeled like that. They have to have more of it there. It will be injectable.”
Trapp pointed to Bones. “Take Sparks and go. You two may need to blow your way in. Whatever it takes.”
“Hey!” Rachel looked indignant. “They can’t leave.”
“Bullshit.” Trapp had to remind himself that this wasn’t really his sister. It was, but he was going to have to deal with this Rachel a lot differently than he would have the other version. “The rest of us are still here. We’re going to play your stupid game.”
“They can’t leave!” Rachel lifted her weapon as though she intended to shoot them.
“Trapp, no!” Romero shouted. “She’s infected.”
But he didn’t care. That didn’t matter right now. The only thing that mattered was keeping his sister from shooting his friends. So when Trapp charged Rachel and wrapped her in his arms, he didn’t think for one second about the possibility of getting the Mr. Trips disease from her. He simply wrapped his arms around his baby sister and held her tight.
“Get off of me!” Rachel shouted. “Get off! Get off! You’re a liar and I want you dead!”
“No you don’t.” He was so sure of that. He didn’t even feel one moment’s worry that he was somehow wrong. This was his sister. This was not some monster created by Hasim’s torture.
Her shouts went from crazed to sobbing. Soon she was clinging to Trapp. And soon enough she wasn’t struggling anymore. She was crying and holding on as though she were looking for the only lifeline in a world gone mad.
Chapter Seventeen
“You trash talking idiot!” Isabella screamed at the top of her lungs. “It’s all your fault that we’re here anyway! If you weren’t always sticking your nose where it didn’t belong, they never would have come after us!”
“You need to shut your mouth!” Tasha shot back. Her voice was so loud Isabella could have sworn the building actually shuddered. “You’re nothing but a useless whore! If you had done your damn job none of this would have happened!”
“My job?” Isabella couldn’t help but be a little affronted even though she knew it was an act. “I couldn’t do my damn job because I was running all over the east coast cleaning up your messes!”
Their screaming catfight had the desired effect. Within minutes two men showed up with guns in hand. They entered cautiously and stared open mouthed at the women. Isabella threw a few more insults at Tasha while she watche the guards. They had to get closer.
Isabella rolled as close to Tasha as possible. The two of them had rearranged the positioning of the women, placing themselves near the middle of the barn. They were currently straining at their bonds and making it appear as though they were actually fighting.
“Hey!” One of the guards approached. He held his gun up, the muzzle pointed at the ceiling. “You bitches need to stop it! You sound like raving shrews.”
“Did he just fucking call me a shrew?” Tasha turned on him, giving him a kick with her legs.
The guard went down in surprise. His gun clattered to the dirt floor. Isabella reached for it with her uncuffed hands. They’d just been pretending. Now it was time to put the rest of the plan in action. She held the weapon in her hands and pointed it at the second guard. The guy looked more than a little mystified by the sudden change in circumstances.
“Drop it,” Isabella gestured to his gun. “Don’t make me blow you full of holes.”
On the ground, Tasha was beating his partner to a pulp. They guy was already unconscious. She was just busy trussing him up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. The guard glanced at his friend and then started backing toward the door.
“You won’t shoot,” he told her. “There are four more men out there with weapons. They will come running and you don’t want that!”
Marina snuck up behind the guard and smashed him in the back of the head with a heavy chunk of wood. The man’s eyes rolled up toward the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground.
Marina made a face. “What an ass.”
Cassidy was already on her feet with her back pressed to the door of the barn. She peeked out into the yard and then made a face. “He wasn’t lying though. There are four more men out there. What are we going to do?”
Isabella swallowed. She’d had field training like any other Homeland Security agent. She’d been overseas. She’d carried an AK-47 at her side almost constantly in those days, but it had been a really long time since she had shot anything.
Tasha held up her hands. “I carry a .45, but I’m no good with a long range weapon.”
“I am.” Jai’s voice was so soft that Isabella wasn’t sure that she had heard correctly. Then Jai shrugged, looking embarrassed. “Yates is teaching me. I can shoot a target at a hundred yards with his 30/30.”
Isabella raised her brows. Considering the recoil alone was enough to dismember the tiny woman. That was pretty impressive. Isabella handed over the second guard’s gun. “Think you can hit a live target?”
“These jerks?” Jai’s eyes gleamed. “Yes.”
Cassidy was still on lookout. “Okay. The vehicle is about two hundred yards
south. It’s a big truck. Did anyone think to check these two bozos for keys? Because if we can’t find them here, we’re going to have to find them out there in someone else’s pocket.”
Marina was already on it. She gave them all a look of regret. “No keys.”
“Maybe they’re in the vehicle,” Cassidy said hopefully.
“Cassidy, you run for the truck and see if you find keys,” Isabella decided. “Jai and will start firing. That will hopefully get them distracted and also take a few out of the equation. The rest of you check them when they’re down for keys.”
“Got it,” Marina nodded her head. “We should all find weapons in here, just in case.”
“Weapons?” Tasha looked dubious. “What weapons are you going to find in here?”
Marina picked up a scythe. “I think this could take off a head quite nicely, don’t you?”
“My God, are you the grim reaper?” Tasha looked miffed as she searched for something suitable.
“Some days,” Marina mused. “Yeah. I’m totally the reaper.”
“Okay ladies,” I urged. “We need to get moving. Ready?”
They were all armed and dangerous. I knew from their expressions that they were all just as scared as I was right now. For some reason that made me feel better. We were all in this together and we were going to get out of it together too.
Jai and I positioned ourselves on either side of the doorway. We aimed the barrels of our rifles through the openings between the slats in the barn wall. I glanced over at the other woman. For all of her small size and quiet nature, she was very efficient and looked totally at ease. That made me feel a lot better because I my hands were sweating so bad I thought I might drop the rifle and accidently shoot myself.
I looked through the scope of my rifle and sighted my first target. “All right, Jai?”
“Got it.”
I swallowed the huge lump in my throat. “Go.”
I squeezed off a shot. It didn’t hit his head like I’d intended, but I got him in the neck. From my peripheral vision I saw Jai’s target go down like a deer. The next shots weren’t so easy. The guys were now ducking down low, trying to figure out who was shooting at them. They popped up periodically and Jai and I fired at them. I saw her hit someone’s arm, and I got the other one in the leg.
Cassidy was already running flat out for the truck. I knew the moment the men spotted her. The first guy got up to try and chase her down. I shot him in the back. He collapsed to the ground. His friend decided to stay behind cover.
True to their word, Marina and Tasha were groping pockets for keys. Finally Tasha whooped and I saw her waving a set of truck keys in her hand. I put the safety back on the rifle and then slung the strap over my shoulder.
“We need to go,” I told Jai. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She and I bolted from the barn like our butts were on fire. She was surprisingly fast for someone so small. I had to stretch to keep up with her as we dodged around old farm implements, huge piles of hay, and junk in the yard. There was one man left. He was already running for the truck. I saw him pull a pistol from a holster and take aim at Marina.
“No!” I shouted. “Marina, get down!”
To my shock, she spun lithely around and rolled out of the way just as the guard squeezed off a shot. Then she doubled back and buried the scythe in his chest. It happened so fast I was left standing in the middle of the farmyard still trying to process the sight of the sharp blade sticking out of the center of his body. He was dead. We were free.
*
Trapp gathered Rachel to his chest and held her close as their tactical vehicle bounded over the ruts in the road. This location Rachel had taken them to was remote as hell. That didn’t bode well for the whole media circus and DOJ/FBI triumphant case solved scenario that Rachel had described.
“Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be?” Trapp asked his sister.
She nodded. “It’s right out here.”
“How do you know?” Trapp suddenly realized that he had no idea what was really going on with Rachel. “Have you been there?”
“Yes. There’s an old house. I’ve been living there.”
“And that’s where the women are? In the house?”
“No.” Rachel shivered. “They’re kept in containers in the back.”
“We have to keep them quarantined,” Trapp told Yates and Romero. “We can’t let DOJ just turn them loose to their families.”
Romero grunted. “Then it’s time to kidnap them again.”
“What?” Trapp tried to mull that one over. “It is the only option, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Romero confirmed. “If those women are anywhere near their families, they won’t be able to resist.”
“I see the containers!” Yates called from the passenger seat. “I texted Bones and Sparks our coordinates. They’re almost at the Hansen packaging warehouse now.”
“They won’t find the antidote,” Rachel said softly. “It’s here.”
“What?” Trapp grabbed her face in his hands. “Where? Where is it?”
“In the ground.” Her words were so matter of fact, but they made no sense.”
“Are you sure?” Trapp demanded.
“They’re safe underground here,” Rachel was almost singing now. She looked so faraway.
“Tell Bones and Sparks to get their asses out here.”
Yates gestured to the windshield. “I see a house.”
“What about guards? Are there any men here?” Trapp couldn’t imagine leaving everything unprotected like this.
“The plan is in motion, the pieces are set,” Rachel chanted softly. “Hasim is safe and sound.”
The fucking bastard had left! That was what she was telling him. Hasim had left his handiwork and intended to be out of the country by the time they unraveled the whole plan. Hasim didn’t care if Rachel told them. He was still betting that they wouldn’t get the women inoculated before the media got there to bust the story wide open.
Shit! Where were Isabella and the others? Were they really in danger? Or had Hasim taken them with him to the UAE? Were they even now in the air on their way to some far flung desert stronghold? Trapp could not allow himself to consider such a thing. He would lose his dan mind.
“Tell Bones and Sparks to get their asses back over here!” Trapp snarled. “We’ve got a cluster fuck on our hands!”
“They’re coming, boss.” Romero sounded tense. “Where are Cassidy and the others?”
“I don’t know.” Trapp felt grim, but he could not afford to split their focus like that for the moment. “Let’s focus on finding the antidote. Rachel says its underground. You think it’s in a hole somewhere?”
“The house has a cellar,” Yates pointed to a set of doors on the right side of the house as they pulled up to the front door. “Let’s go check it out.”
Yates threw the vehicle in park and they all tumbled out. Trapp had been trying to stay away from his friends. He had been in close contact with Rachel. If she was truly infected, there was a good chance he was too. He didn’t feel any differently though. He felt fine.
Romero had already pried up the cellar doors. He clicked on his flashlight and descended the steps. Yates and Trapp were right behind him. Trapp lost track of Rachel, but without a vehicle she wasn’t going far. They had to find the antidote.
Yates was standing at the bottom of the steps shining his light over a bunch of neatly labeled crates. “Do you think they wanted us to find this?”
“It was a little too easy, Romero muttered. “But can we afford to worry about that now?”
“Do you hear that?” Trapp cocked his head to one side.
Romero groaned. “Screaming. Where’s Rachel? Did you let her out?”
“Do you think…?” Yates trailed off. “She let them out of the containers. Shit!”
Chapter Eighteen
“Do you see…?” Isabella peered through the windshield as they bounce
d down the road away from the horrible barn.
Cassidy was driving. She was steering them expertly down a rutted road that looked as if it hadn’t been well used in ages. Suddenly she sat straight up in her seat. “Oh my God! That’s a person!”
“It’s a woman!” Marina said quickly. “Stop! Stop!”
Cassidy hit the brakes and the big truck skidded to a stop in a puff of billowing dust and gravel. Marina was already out of the car. Isabella opened her mouth to tell the other woman to be careful, and then she saw that there were dozens of them outlined in the headlights.
Isabella realized what was going on. “Shit! Someone let loose an entire container full of prisoners! We have to catch them! They’re going the wrong way!”
Isabella, Jai, and Tasha spilled out of the vehicle. Isabella heard the other women yelling at the captives. She tried to see where they were coming from. Seeing a straggler dressed in a dirty, ripped party dress, Isabella latched onto the young woman’s arm.
“This way!” Isabella urged. “You have to come this way! We’ll take you to safety. Promise!”
The woman was sobbing incoherently. Isabella began dragging her back to the truck. She snagged two more captives on her way back. Cassidy was still in the driver’s seat as Marina and Tasha helped load women into the back of the truck.
“Did you get them all?” Cassidy called out to Isabella.
“I don’t know! How are we even supposed to know how many there were? My God, they could be out here dying of exposure!” It was horrifying to imagine. Surviving this long only to be killed by the elements?” Isabella shoved her crying, terrified captives toward Tasha and Marina. “Where’s Japriya?”
“I saw her dart off into the woods. Then she was gone!” Cassidy was pointing toward the truck’s left side.
“I’m going after her,” Isabella decided.
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