by Rachel Dylan
“That’s great.”
She didn’t mention that her friend Ron also had major issues with the FBI. She longed to believe that Kip was different. But her instinctual doubt remained.
The man she saw today, and had worked with for the past twenty four hours, seemed like a different type of man. Yes, he was unbelievably strong and she knew he could use lethal force if necessary. But he was also incredibly kind to her. It warmed her heart thinking about how special he was becoming to her. Could there ever be something between them? Maybe he wouldn’t want to stay in the FBI forever? Maybe it could work if he left, but could she continue to keep her secrets from him? She just couldn’t see how things would work out. Like all the other times she was troubled, she’d just have to turn her questions over to God and pray on it.
“You going to make that call?” Kip asked.
“Yeah, sorry. I started daydreaming.”
“About me?” he joked.
She laughed, but she felt her cheeks flush. Was he joking? She decided it was safer not to answer and looked at her cell locating the text message from Igor with Jorge’s phone number.
After one ring, “Hola,” a male voice answered.
“Is this Jorge?”
“Who is this?”
“My name is Sadie. We have a mutual friend, Igor.”
“Ah. Yes.” He paused. “What can I do for you?”
“Can we meet?”
“Sí. Where are you?”
“Outside Chihuahua.”
“Yes, I can come there. Meet me on the dirt roads off of Juevez and Alta. Are you coming alone?”
“I’m bringing my partner with me. Igor knows that we work as a team.”
“I will be there in a few minutes.”
She hung up and turned her attention to Kip. “Do we think this is safe?”
“Nothing is safe around here. Especially on the outskirts of town. The drug lords are in control. We need to keep a low profile. We’ve already stirred the pot too much as evidenced by our visitors at the hotel. Maybe Jorge can help us get a new ride.”
“We need a lead on Megan. And I intend to get one.”
“Be careful, Sadie. We can’t blow this.”
“We’ve wasted time we don’t have.”
Her phone rang, and her breath caught. “It’s Ms. Milton,” she said. “Hello.”
“Sadie?”
“Yes, it’s me. Have you heard anything else?”
“Yes. Yes. Megan called again. She’s in some place in Mexico. It sounded like the dog.”
“Chihuahua?”
“Yes. She heard guards talking about it.”
“How does she have a phone?”
“She couldn’t explain, but she said the phone was about to lose battery power and she had to talk quickly. I’m so worried. She’s freaking out. What can you expect? She’s sixteen. What are they going to do to my baby?” Ms. Milton sobbed openly now.
“Ms. Milton, listen to me. I’m in Mexico right now. I will do everything I can to find her. Did she describe any of her surroundings?”
“She said she was in a small old beaten-down warehouse. But that’s all she knew. Please, please find her. I’m begging you. I don’t know how much time she has. She thought they’d be moving them somewhere else tonight.”
“I will let you know as soon as I find out anything else. And if she calls you again, call me no matter what time it is. You hear me?”
“Yes. Yes. Again, I can’t thank you enough. Please bring my baby home.”
Sadie hung up and tears stung her eyes. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Ms. Milton was really going through. She only understood a piece of her pain. “Kip, we’ve got to find Megan. How is she getting a phone to make those calls?”
“I don’t know, but she might not only be saving her life but the lives of the other girls, too.”
“Only if we can get to them in time.”
“We will.”
“Look, Kip.” She pointed. “This is the dirt road turnoff.”
He slowed down and sure enough another car was parked farther down the road.
“That has to be Jorge,” she said. All of a sudden she felt cold, even though it was incredibly warm. This meeting was important. Maybe they could start finding answers.
“Do you want to take the lead?” Kip asked.
His question surprised her. “Let me start. But if you feel like we’re losing him, please step in.”
She tried to take a few deep breaths before stepping out of the SUV. She walked beside Kip over to the man she assumed was Jorge. He was medium height and probably in his forties. His jet black hair was cut short, and he wore a short sleeved button down. Not exactly a police uniform, but it looked a bit formal for the middle of rural Mexico.
“Jorge?” she asked.
“Sí, señorita. You are Ms. Sadie?”
“Yes. And this is Kip.”
They exchanged brief handshakes. His dark eyes narrowed, though, in apparent suspicion. “What can I do to help you?”
“What we need most is information. And Igor said you’d be the one to contact.”
He laughed. “I do what I can. Igor is a tough man.” He wagged his finger at her. “You do not want to cross him.”
Didn’t she already know that? “We’re actually trying to figure out what is happening to one of his businesses down here.”
“Which business?”
“I think you know which one.”
He looked away averting his eyes.
“The girls,” Kip said, his voice deep.
Jorge’s eyes flipped back to Kip. “You don’t want any part of that my friend.”
“I need to know what’s going on,” Sadie said.
“I don’t have good news for Igor, and you work with him. Yes?”
“I do,” she said quickly. “But we saw some things last night that made us think that particular business has gotten wrapped up in local politics, for lack of a better word.”
Jorge nodded. “Those who run things around here. They do not like that particular business.”
She wanted to cut right to it. “Drug lords have some moral qualms?”
“Sí, they do, señorita. And they definitely don’t want a Russian man coming down here and bringing that sort of business with him. They also believe that Mr. Vladimir will hurt their businesses. So they are trying to put a stop to his movements altogether.”
“What will happen to those girls?”
“Señorita, I’m not sure what the plan of the locals is. All I know is they want the Russians out of here. Completely.”
“I have to know about their location.”
Something flashed through his eyes. A knowing sign of something that oddly put her at ease. “You will find the girls at an abandoned farmhouse. It sits behind a large warehouse. The warehouse has merchandise for the locals. It is a few miles from here.” He pointed south. “But word is that they won’t be there long.”
“Igor said I could trust you.”
“You can.”
“Then why haven’t you told Igor this yourself?”
He looked down as the seconds ticked by. Then he gazed back up at her. “I do what I have to do. Igor, he will come for my family or send his men. I must protect them first. But what he is doing with those girls is not right. We’re a religious people down here in this city. It’s wrong. And we all know it.”
“And drug running isn’t?”
He shrugged. “I’m going to pretend like we never had the rest of this conversation. I hope that you will report any findings to Igor based on what you see. I have a family to protect.”
“I understand that, Jorge.” She took his hand again and shook it.
“Jorge
,” Kip said. “Any way we could trade cars with you?”
Jorge looked over at the SUV then back at his older sedan. “You joke with me?”
“No. But I have to warn you. There may be some people looking for this car. We’re not sure who they are or what they want. So I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“No, no. Don’t worry about that. I’ll gladly take your car. You’re getting the bad part of the deal here.”
They unloaded their supplies from the SUV and placed them into the sedan.
“At least it has air conditioning,” Kip said.
“I wonder what Igor has on Jorge?” she asked. “He’s afraid of Igor coming after his family. You could see the look of fear in his eyes. It broke my heart.”
“I think men like Igor make it their business to rule by instilling fear into people.”
“I find it interesting that these drug lords have some sort of moral qualm with human trafficking.”
“A lot of the drug business is purely financial. I’m sure it’s not all out of the goodness of their hearts, though. The bottom line is that they don’t want any of Igor’s businesses taking off down here because it will impact their operations.”
“We have to make our move tonight.”
* * *
Sadie and Kip spent the afternoon planning their rescue operation. Kip checked in with the El Paso field office and gave them a full debrief on the situation. They had the green light to proceed. The FBI was on standby in case they were needed for an extraction.
The biggest decision was whether they go in hostile or friendly with the locals. In the end, they’d decided they couldn’t trust anyone except each other.
Sadie looked at Kip. “We have no idea how many girls and women are in there. How are we going to get them out?”
“I know Megan is your top priority, but we’ll do everything in our power to help them all. Regardless of how many of them there are. Until we understand what we’re up against, it’s hard to have a set plan.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“You ready for this?” Kip asked.
Her heart was racing, but she was ready. “Yes.”
“Remember, we go in quiet. If we can get in and out undetected, all the better. If not, anything we can do to help make it look like it was a local operation we should do.”
Not wanting to take any risk, they left Jorge’s car about a mile away. Kip insisted that he could carry Megan if he needed to. And she believed him.
Now crouched down behind an adjacent building, it was time. A light warm wind blew against her face. She prayed for their safety and the safety of all of the girls.
He grabbed her hand and nodded. Through her night vision goggles she could see his calm exterior. He was in ranger mode, and she had no doubt that he was going to help them succeed on this mission. The only doubts she had were about her own abilities. This was not the time to have a panic attack. She needed to follow through and execute. Lives were at stake, and she wouldn’t get a second chance. Ms. Milton’s words rang loudly in her ears. Please bring my baby home. Sadie would do anything she could to reunite Megan with her family.
There was a high window on the back side of the farmhouse. Kip boosted her up onto his shoulders, and she braced herself for the worst. She peered into the window and gasped. A total sense of desperation filled her up. The room was empty. Completely empty. They were too late.
She patted Kip’s shoulder signaling that she wanted down.
“There’s no one there,” she whispered in his ear.
He looked around surveying the area. Then he pointed to another building. It wasn’t a farmhouse but a warehouse. One of many. Would they have to check every building in this area?
She heard voices. Female voices. She turned around and couldn’t believe it. She saw a group of about twenty girls across the way walking out of one of the warehouses. They were being escorted by two men.
“C’mon. Let’s follow them,” Kip whispered.
Where were they taking them? Two large vans were parked about a half a mile up. That had to be it. They couldn’t let those girls get in those vans.
“Vans,” she said.
He nodded, and they picked up their pace to a jog. They needed to get ahead of the group, but doing it without being detected was going to be difficult.
They decided to run around the back of one of the buildings. She was thankful she’d been keeping up her workout routine. “What do we do?”
“There’s two men with the girls and another two at the vans—presumably the drivers. We split up. You take the guys at the vans, and I’ll take the others. Don’t shoot to kill, but do what you have to do to protect those girls. Wait as long as you can for me to act first.”
She was prepared to do what she must in order to save innocent lives. She ran in front of Kip and made her way over to the vans. They had the element of surprise working in their favor. Once shots started to get fired, anything could happen.
With each step the girls took toward the van, her pulse quickened. From what she could see, none of them appeared to be injured. She thanked God for that. What in the world were they planning to do with them? Igor’s hired locals were obviously not following orders.
Sadie could see Kip coming up right behind the man in the back of the group. She watched closely as Kip squeezed his arms around the man’s neck in a sleeper hold using non-lethal force that crumpled him to the ground. One down.
Unfortunately, one of the girls noticed Kip and started screaming. Sadie had no choice but to act. With one decisive shot, she hit the first driver in the thigh. He cried out as he hit the ground. Quickly turning she fired a shot at the second driver—hitting him in the shoulder. Both drivers were down and incapacitated...for the moment.
Just as she was trying to catch her breath, strong hands clamped down on her grabbing her waist and picking her up off the ground. Where had this guy come from?
His grip was powerful, but she was a fighter. She hadn’t come all this way to be taken now by one of these men. Praying for strength, she elbowed him once in the stomach. He grunted but didn’t loosen his hold on her.
Reaching up behind her, she clasped her hands tightly around his thick neck. He might have been stocky, but thankfully he was short. She leaned forward and, using every ounce of energy she could muster, she flipped him over her body. Once he hit the ground, she pushed her foot into his neck making sure he couldn’t move. She didn’t want to really hurt this man, so once he seemed to start choking, she released some of the pressure. Then picking up her gun, she hit him on the side of the head with it. That should keep him out of a while, she thought.
She looked over and saw Kip surrounded by the group of girls. She ran over to them. An armed man was lying on the ground and not moving thanks to another sleeper hold from Kip. They didn’t have a lot of time.
Kip looked at the group of girls. “We’re here to help you.”
Some of them didn’t believe him because they turned and were ready to bolt.
“Wait, please,” she chimed in. “We are here to get you out. But we have to go now.” She surveyed the group in the darkness and realized the girls didn’t have the advantage of the night vision goggles.
One girl stepped forward. She looked a bit older and taller than the rest of them. “I’m in charge here,” she said.
Sadie was struck by the idea that they had a leader. She couldn’t imagine what all they’d gone through.
“Are you all American?”
“Yes,” the tall girl said.
“Which one of you is Megan?”
No one answered. The tall girl spoke. “Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m a private investigator. I was hired by Megan’s mom. But we want to help all of you. Can you drive?” she asked.
“Duh, I’m seventeen. Of course I can drive.”
“Good, you’re taking that first van.” She didn’t even mind the sassy teenage response. At this point, she was grateful for it. “You’re going to take a group of girls with you and follow us toward the border. We’ll lead you to an FBI liaison who will escort you back into the U.S. Can someone else drive the second van?”
Another girl stepped forward.
“Do not stop for anyone,” Sadie directed. “And stay with us.”
She heard Kip already talking to his FBI contact on the phone and updating his team on the situation.
“I need to know who Megan is. Her mom is worried sick.”
Finally, a short brunette toward the back stepped forward. “I’m Megan.”
“You’re coming with us. Everyone, we have to get out of here now. It’s not safe. These guards will not stay down forever, and who knows if there are reinforcements.”
They piled all the girls into the two vans. To have been through so much, the girls seemed remarkably calm and lucid.
“Thank you so much for getting us out of this. We didn’t know what was next,” the tall girl said.
“The FBI is on its way to the border. They’ll signal you with their lights. Four quick flashes. Only stop if you see that signal.”
“You don’t have to worry about us stopping for any other reason.”
“You’re doing a great job.” Sadie patted the girl on the shoulder as she stepped into the driver’s seat of the van.
“Where are we going?” Megan asked Sadie.
“Home, Megan. We’re taking you home.”
SEVEN
Megan sat quietly in the backseat of the sedan. Sadie couldn’t really blame her. She didn’t want to push, but she needed to know what had happened. They’d met up with the FBI escort, and he was taking the other girls on a different route just to be on the safe side.
Sadie decided to try to break the ice. “How did you make those phone calls to your mom?”
Megan sighed. “The idiot guy who was watching us left his phone lying around. We were all scared of him at first, but then we realized he wasn’t that bright.”
