Clenching her teeth, Chloe forced herself to nod.
He frowned, then left.
The girl beside Chloe broke into sobs. “I can’t do this,” she wailed. “I’m not going to be someone’s slave. I’m not going to have an owner. I’m going to college to be a doctor. This isn’t happening, tell me this isn’t . . .”
Another jumped up and raced to the door, pounding on it with her fists. “Let me out! Let us out! You can’t do this!”
Chloe wrapped an arm around the girl next to her and shushed her.
Rachel went to the girl still screaming at the door and dragged her away. “It’ll be okay. Stop. We don’t want him back in here, okay?”
She calmed immediately, the threat of Neal’s return acting better than a sedative. Gulping huge gasps of air, she ran a shaky hand over her hair. “Okay. You’re right. I don’t want him back in here, but I’m not going to be sold. I’ll jump overboard and kill myself first.”
“You’ve made it this far,” Chloe said. “Don’t give up hope yet. What’s your name?”
“Hannah.”
“All right, Hannah, save your strength in case you need it.” She lowered her voice. “We are going to get out of this somehow.”
“How?”
All eyes were on Chloe and she sighed. “I don’t know, but I’m thinking. Just give me a little time to come up with a plan. But no matter what happens, don’t give up. Even if you’re passed off to—” she couldn’t say the word owner—“whoever, don’t think that it’s over. Hold out hope, okay? Because as long as we’re in this area, we’ve got people searching for us. Promise me.”
Hannah swiped the tears from her cheeks, nodded, and returned to the sofa where she curled up and closed her eyes.
Chloe urged her brain to process a plan a little faster. “Okay, girls, listen up. We’ve got to stop panicking and start thinking.” She was going to have to take her own advice. Shoving aside her fear, she waited for the rest of them to look at her.
When she felt sure they were listening, Chloe stood up. “Do any of you see any cameras or monitoring devices in here? Everyone look. And while you’re at it, see if there’s anything that can be used as a weapon. Anything sharp or heavy.”
With them busy, Chloe went to Rachel. “Go eat something. It’s been awhile. And you might want to check your sugar.”
Rachel glanced at the food. “You have a plan, don’t you?” Her soft words were hardly discernable.
“I’m working on one.” Sort of.
“Did you see the guards?”
“I saw them.”
“What do I need to do?”
Chloe walked over and picked up a slice of bread and slathered mayonnaise on it. She then added meat and cheese and topped it with another piece of bread. “Follow my lead. But you’re going to need to eat.”
“You think it’s safe to?”
“Yes.” She popped a piece of cheese into her mouth, chewed and swallowed. When nothing happened over the next few minutes, she breathed a relieved sigh. If they hadn’t drugged the girls when they had them earlier, they most likely wouldn’t start now.
Rachel fixed herself a plate, checked her sugar and gave herself some insulin, and shot Chloe a thumbs-up. Then she began to eat.
One by one, the girls followed suit. No listening devices or cameras had been found. Chloe had checked light fixtures and every nook and cranny she could reach. She’d even pulled up the edges of the carpet to see if she could spot wires.
But nothing. And nothing that would make a good weapon. Of course not. They would have thought of that before making this the holding room.
She studied the light fixtures. Could she break one of the bulbs and use the sharp edge as a knife? Maybe.
Walking from one end of the room to the other, she ate her sandwich and thought. “Okay, girls, here’s what I think we should do.”
They looked at her, waiting.
“Just go along with everything. Don’t fight them, don’t make them mad. Do whatever for now. Even if the auction goes as planned, they still have to deliver us to the men who are doing the buying.” Fighting the nausea the words elicited, she rubbed her forehead. “I know I’ve got people looking for me and I think I’ve left enough of a trail that they’ll be able to follow it.” Maybe. “So, don’t give up hope and let’s just stay alive until rescue happens or I can think of a plan.” She was repeating herself, but they needed it. They needed her to give them hope, make them believe they were going to get away and see their families again. Get their lives back. The responsibility sat heavy on her shoulders.
The girls nodded slowly, obviously still scared out of their minds, but glad to have someone on their side take charge.
A plan. She needed a plan. Think, Chloe, think.
When the door opened and Thelma and Louise arrived, Chloe was still thinking.
And still coming up empty.
24
No security footage, no nothing,” Blake said. He stood on the dock, hands on his hips, looking out over the expanse of water. Yachts and sailboats and other luxury crafts cluttered the peaceful area. “Where did all these come from?”
“There’s some kind of sailboat race going on. Or something. There are a number of good-sized yachts out there as well.”
“We need the chopper.”
“I’ve already got it making passes,” Linc said. “If they see anything suspicious, they’ll call it in.”
“So, we just stand here? Wait for the ship to come in?” He wiggled his fingers around the last question. “I’m not liking that plan.” He paced. “I want a boat. I want to be out there on the water.”
“You want to go search each ship, don’t you?”
“I do.” He slid a glance at Linc. “You do too, don’t you?”
“Of course. We need a search warrant.”
“We would. If we were searching.” He paused. “What if we just go knocking on doors, so to speak.”
Linc raised a brow. “I’m following you.”
Probably because he was thinking the same thing. “Good. I’ve got a picture of Rachel. We’ll approach each yacht as two officers looking for a runaway.” His frown deepened. “Some of those sailboats—in addition to the yachts—look big enough to hold a lot of people. I don’t want to skip them and miss her.”
“Let’s start with the yachts.” He paused. “And if you get weird vibes from anyone?”
“We play it cool and call in reinforcements.”
“Will you be able to do that if you think Rachel’s being held on one of those vessels?”
Blake rubbed his eyes. “I’ll have to, Linc. I’ll do whatever it takes to find her—including playing it cool and not attacking anyone I may think is involved.”
“Good enough for me.”
“Are you going to be able to play it cool if you think Chloe’s on one?”
“Guess we’ll find out.” Linc put in the call while Blake wondered if he believed his own words. If he thought Rachel and Chloe were on one of the yachts, he’d be hard pressed not to act immediately. “We’ll have a boat and a captain coming within the next fifteen minutes,” Linc said.
That was too long for his peace of mind, but he’d take it. “Fine.”
He’d put the wait time to good use. By praying. And calling in more reinforcements.
Chloe finally had a plan. A really bad, risky one, but at least it was a plan. Over the next few minutes, as she had the opportunity, she outlined it to Rachel under the pretext of helping Rachel with her pod. Thelma had turned away. “Leave your PDM hidden under something in the room,” Chloe whispered. “Tell them you have to get it before you leave.”
“What if you go first?”
Thelma looked at them, and Chloe raised her voice. “You got it, honey?” Thelma turned away once again and Chloe dropped her words back into a whisper. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. Pretty sure they’ll make us go last.” She glanced up at Rachel. “We’re the outliers.”
/> Rachel nodded.
“You about finished with that?” Thelma asked. “You need to sit down and shut up.”
“Almost finished,” Chloe said. Back to Rachel, she whispered, “You’ll have to tell me where the other girls are, so remember to wait until you find out.”
“I will.” The teen’s fingers shook and Chloe knew she was terrified.
“Shut up, you two,” Thelma said. “That’s enough. If it’s not fixed, it’s not fixed.”
Chloe closed her lips and patted Rachel on the arm while the girl pulled her shirt over the pod they’d done nothing with.
Louise busied herself with the last girl’s makeup. Megan. Chloe met her eyes in the mirror and winked.
Hope flared in Megan’s eyes before she lowered her gaze, but Chloe had a feeling she’d stay strong. And that the plan would work. Because she’d only get one chance.
And then it began.
Louise received a call and chose a girl. Over the next two hours, the woman removed each girl one at a time while Thelma stood guard. Louise would walk the girl from the room while the others waited in tense silence. Made up and dressed up, they looked as though they should be waiting for their prom dates.
Not their turn to be sold to the highest bidder.
No one spoke. No one cried. No one fought. Chloe almost wondered if that had been a mistake. A tip-off to their captors that something was up. Every fifteen minutes, the door opened and another girl disappeared. Chloe figured they were taking the ones sold to another location on the yacht.
She slid over to a shaking Megan. “Can you play sick when I nod at you?”
“Easily.”
Thelma shot her a look and Chloe walked away, not wanting to get Megan in any trouble.
And then it was just her, Rachel, and Megan in the room. When Louise returned, Chloe nodded.
Megan immediately bent over and retched. Louise shrieked. “Get in the bathroom before you puke on the carpet, you stupid girl!”
Megan bolted.
Chloe looked up and caught Rachel’s eye. In spite of being pale and scared, an underlying thread of steel emanated from her.
“I’ll help Megan,” Chloe said. “Does it matter if the girls go out of turn?”
Louise floundered for a moment. “No, I guess not.” She lifted her phone. “I’ll let Neal know what’s going on.” Her eyes hardened. “But get her ready. If she’s still puking, she’ll just have to go out there anyway.”
Chloe nodded and slipped into the bathroom while Rachel let the woman lead her away.
Oh, please, God, let this work.
Megan looked up as Chloe entered. She rinsed her mouth and shot Chloe an apologetic look. “I actually threw up.”
“I understand. You did great,” she whispered. “Now, we’re going to have to go back out there and you’re going to look shaky, but holding tight to your composure, okay?”
“Okay. The shaky part won’t be hard at all.”
“You can do this, Megan.”
“You promise you have a plan to get us out of here?”
“I promise I have a plan.” Whether it would work or not remained to be seen. Oh please, God, let this work.
“Then I can do this.”
“Think about what you’re going to do when you get home. What do you want to do more than anything?”
“Hug my little sister and tell her I love her. I was so mean to her the day they took me,” she whispered. “I don’t want those words to be the last thing I say to her.” Tears flooded her pretty eyes once more. She whisked them away and straightened her shoulders while she took a deep breath.
“Focus on that.”
Megan nodded. “Yeah.”
A hard fist knocked on the door. “It’s time, Megan. Pull it together and let’s get going.”
With one last steadying breath, Megan opened the door and stepped back into the room. Louise waited at the exit, door open. Megan walked over to her with a glance back at Chloe, who gave her a slight nod.
The two disappeared and the lock clicked back into place. Chloe browsed the food again, her knotted stomach rebelling at the thought of actually eating, but she was too restless to sit. And Thelma didn’t seem to mind her standing next to the food as long as she was putting something in her mouth. So, she chose a square of cheese and a cracker. Then another.
Every once in a while Thelma gave Chloe a sidelong glance. Each time their eyes met, Chloe forced herself to look away, as though afraid of her. And while she was concerned about the weapon in the woman’s right hand, she figured she could take it away from her if she had the chance. Which she planned to make happen very shortly.
“You’re last, sweetness,” Thelma told her.
Chloe stayed silent, working hard to keep her fear and nerves under control.
“You hear me?”
“I heard you.”
Thelma raked her eyes over Chloe with a frown. “Get in the chair. I want to pull your hair up. You’ll look younger.” She pursed her lips. “And the guys do like them young. Although some don’t care as long as they’re pretty.”
Again, Chloe bit her lip and said nothing. She walked to the chair and sat. The woman worked on her for the next few minutes, pulling her hair back in a juvenile ponytail, leaving a few strands curling around her ears. That was fine with Chloe. She usually wore it up anyway—and the style would keep it out of her face. She kicked the heels off and Thelma shot her a glare. “Come on,” Chloe said, “I never wear those things. My feet are killing me.”
Thelma rolled her eyes. “You better be able to move fast and get them back on before Louise gets here.”
“I will.” She paused. “So, how did you get into this?” Chloe asked. “Aiding and abetting the traffickers, I mean.”
“Same way most of these girls wound up on this yacht. Fell for a cute guy who had nothing on his mind but using me to line his pockets.”
“And now you help them.”
She shrugged and tried to put on a “don’t care” face, but Chloe saw the fear beneath.
“They’re still using you,” she said softly.
The woman stiffened and her eyes met Chloe’s in the mirror. “No. I use them now. They pay me well.”
“Louise, too?”
“Yes. We were taken at the same time. Sold to the same guy.” She swallowed and looked away as she sprayed Chloe’s already stiff hair. “I would have killed myself by now if not for her. She’s like my sister.”
“Why don’t you leave? Both of you? Why don’t you escape?”
She shuddered. “Because there’s no place to escape to. I have no one now. It’s been years. I don’t know where my family is.”
“I’m a cop. I can find them for you.”
A brief hope shone in her eyes. Just for a split second, then it was gone. “It’s too late.”
“It’s not—”
“It’s too late! Now shut up!”
Chloe snapped her lips together and waited for Thelma to finish. Before standing, she turned. “Do you mind if I ask you another question?”
Thelma raised her brows and sighed as though weary of the discussion. “What?”
“Did you ever come across a girl named Penny St. John?”
The woman paused. Frowned deeper. “Penny?”
“She was taken six months ago by a guy named Carson Langston—who we now know was Ethan Wright. At least we think he had something to do with it, since he disappeared along with her. At first, we thought he was taken with her, but when no trace of him was found, we figured he set her up and disappeared.”
“He’s dead now.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Because Neal killed him. He made sure to show us how much he made the guy suffer. Did you know they were best friends?”
Of course she didn’t know that. Chloe bit her lip and shook her head, not wanting to say anything that would close the woman up again.
“Yeah, he killed his best friend. Ethan would have done anything
for him. But that’s what Neal does. He kills people who cross him, are stupid and attract the attention of the cops, or people he has no use for anymore, so let that be a warning for you.”
Chloe met Thelma’s gaze. “What happens when he has no use for you anymore?”
Thelma’s eyes chilled and her lips curved in a matching smile, all hint of the vulnerable victim from just a few minutes earlier, gone. “That won’t happen, not as long as there are pretty and vulnerable teenage girls. As for Penny, I remember her.”
Chloe did her best to stay cool. “Will you tell me what happened to her?”
A shrug. “Same thing that’s going to happen to you.”
“Who bought her?”
“I don’t know. I don’t keep up with the transactions.”
Thelma was being awfully chatty. Because she wasn’t concerned that Chloe would be able to do anything with the information, no doubt. “Who keeps up with the transactions?” she asked softly.
“Neal.”
“On that little laptop I saw him with?”
“Probably.”
“Anyone else?”
She laughed. “No, I don’t think so. Doesn’t matter to you anyway. You’re getting ready to be a transaction. Now go sit down and wait your turn.”
“It doesn’t affect you at all, does it?” Chloe asked. “You have no compassion for the girls, for me?”
Thelma eyed her. “Why should I? No one had any for me.” She raised the weapon and aimed it at Chloe. “Now sit.”
Chloe sat. Waiting was all she could do at this point anyway. If her timing was right, things were going to get interesting in about seven minutes.
Blake pressed his hands to his eyes. “This is hopeless,” he muttered to Linc. “It’s been almost two hours and we’ve turned up nothing.” How was he supposed to find Rachel and Chloe when every person they’d talked to had given them a negative answer? “We’re wasting time.”
Then again, what else was he going to do?
“I know it feels that way,” Linc said, “but we’re not giving up.”
“Of course we’re not giving up.”
Their boat pulled to the next yacht. Two women, one blonde and one brunette, looking very comfortable in their bathing suits, walked down two flights of stairs and leaned against the rail to greet them. “What’s going on, guys?”
Called to Protect Page 23
