by Low, Gennita
“I’m sorry I got you into this mess.” Kelli held her hand and pressed it to her cheek. “I was so tired of setting myself apart from others as an officer, I was lonely. Rocco seemed nice, attentive and such a gentleman.”
“Can’t blame yourself for wanting to find love.”
“Yes, I can. I won’t be so stupid as to fall for another guy who talks sweet to me.”
Mitchell pictured Remy, whispering sexy things to her in bed. Tears welled in her eyes. More than ever, she wanted to be with him. She could live with the guilt, but she couldn’t live without Remy.
“I thought it was Rocco running things here, but it’s that Candi woman who yanked his chain and got me dragged into this horror show.” She settled herself on the mattress. “She’s got a bug up her ass about Rocco. But she uses him to trap the women. Every one of the girls in here was lured here by Rocco.”
“Well, we’ll just have to get ourselves out of this mess.” Mitchell wiggled her fingers and toes, and twisted her ankle back and forth. After a few minutes, she strained to raise her forearm two inches off the nasty thin mattress she was laying on.
Kelli patted her shoulder. “You’re getting there.” She lifted one of Mitchell’s legs and bent it back and forth. “I take it you went to work for Rocco at the lounge?” She chuckled. “I never would have pictured you in thigh-high shiny boots and a corset. Which, by the way, you look hot in.”
Trying to keep her mind off the close confines of the room and what Candi had in store for them, Mitchell said, “I might save the outfit. I kind of like how sexy it makes me feel.”
“That’s right, you had a date for Valentine’s Day.” Kelli’s eyes rounded. “That was today, wasn’t it?”
Mitchell nodded. “I didn’t feel right going out having fun when my best friend was missing. I spent Valentine’s Day pole dancing at the Naughty Ladies Lounge.”
Kelli massaged her muscles. “I’d have paid good money to see that.”
“I made good money doing it. I’m considering changing careers.”
With a snort, Kelli hugged her. “Like that would ever happen.”
“I gave up the navy, why couldn’t I give up my current job?”
“Because you like it entirely too much.” Kelli went to work on Mitchell’s other leg. “You didn’t quite answer me on the date issue. Is he back? Are you going to see him?”
Heat rose in Mitchell’s cheeks. “He’s back.”
“And you two have already done it.” Kelli dropped her leg and clapped her hands. The happiness in her expression was incongruous to their current circumstances.
Footsteps outside the door brought them back to their plight.
The women in the room whimpered or moaned, their eyes glassy, their movements lethargic. They’d be no help breaking out of this prison. Their rescue would be up to Kelli and Mitchell.
Mitchell flexed her arm and bent her legs.
Kelli glanced at the door as a key scraped the lock. “If only they’d wait a few more minutes.”
“Don’t fight. Make them think you’re as drugged out as the rest of them,” Mitchell urged. “Wait for our chance.”
The door swung open and two men strode in, followed by two more.
The first two grabbed Kelli by the arms and half-carried, half-dragged her out of the room. She remained limp, a woman spaced-out on drugs.
Lying with her eyes closed most of the way, Mitchell pretended to be asleep, observing everything through slitted eyes as they crossed to where she lay on the mattress.
The second two men draped Mitchell’s arms over their shoulders and dragged her out, closing the door behind them.
She didn’t make it easy on them, pretending complete immobility, which wasn’t too far from the truth. Muscle control was slowly coming back, and she prayed it would be soon enough.
At the end of a long hallway, the men turned into a room that was much different than the one where the women were held captive. This room had a Persian carpet spread across the concrete and the walls had been painted a soft shade of wheat gold. To the right were six lounge chairs filled with men dressed in slick black business suits. Their avid gazes followed Kelli, taking her in from the top of her strawberry blond hair to her trim ankles and bare feet. One leaned across to the other, speaking in a foreign language.
When they carried Mitchell into the room, the gentlemen in the lounge chairs sat forward, talking to each other softly and smiling. She bet her boots and corset were the subject of their conversation.
Candi sat to the side of the room with Rocco in the seat next to her. She whispered something into Rocco’s ear. He nodded and turned to look at the audience of men. “Gentlemen. I present these two beautiful women for your consideration.”
Caught between Rocco’s thugs, Mitchell watched the well-dressed men through her eyelashes.
“We’ll start the bidding at five thousand dollars,” Rocco said.
A hard knot lodged in Mitchell’s throat and she was glad because she might have said something out loud, otherwise. They were to be sold like cattle or slaves. Sex slaves by the expressions of lust clearly etched into the men’s faces.
She’d go down fighting before she had sex with any one of them. In Mitchell’s opinion, men or women who treated people as cattle weren’t human. She tested her legs, carefully so as not to draw attention to herself. Shaky, but they might hold her up.
The man on the front row with heavy eyebrows and really dark skin nodded toward her.
Yeah, baby, come and get me. I’ll show you what it’s like to tangle with a real woman.
Mitchell plotted the man’s demise as she gave her body the time it needed to recover from the paralyzing drug.
Another man in the middle row nodded toward Kelli. “I would like to examine the women more closely,” he said with a deep Middle Eastern accent.
Candi leaned over and spoke to Rocco.
Rocco nodded to the man. “Look, but do not sample the merchandise.”
The man rose from his seat and walked first toward Kelli, held between the two men.
She glared as he made a wide circle all the way around her. Then he crossed to Mitchell, his lip turning up on one corner. He touched her hair, letting it run between his fingers.
Mitchell remained quiet, docile, pretending she was drugged and unable to fend off the man’s leers. He reached for the top of one breast pushed up by the corset she still wore. When he squeezed the mound, his eyes flared and so did Mitchell’s temper.
That did it. She couldn’t take it one second longer and spit square in the man’s eye.
The man yelled and cocked his arm to backhand her.
Mitchell yanked herself sideways and the buyer hit the man holding her right side. She took advantage of his distraction, planted one of her sharply pointed heels into his instep, jerked back her elbow and hit him in the gut, then turned quickly and jabbed two fingers into her other captor’s eyes.
He screamed, let go of her and clamped his hands over his face. “Bitch!”
Next to her, Kelli had incapacitated one of the men who’d been holding her with a quick elbow to the groin. She ducked beneath the arm of the other, planted her foot in his back and shoved him toward the men in the fancy seats. Too surprised by the attack, the buyers didn’t have time to move away as the big guy fell into the middle of them.
A loud bang made Mitchell drop to the floor and roll to one side.
Candi held a handgun pointed at the ceiling. “Anyone else moves and I put a bullet in you.” Her brows angled toward the bridge of her nose as she glared at Kelli and Mitchell. “That means you two. I have no problem putting you out of my misery. There are plenty more women where you came from to satisfy my clients.”
Kelli rose to her feet. “Yeah, well, we’re not for sale.”
“And neither are the other women in that room.” Mitchell rose as well, glad her legs felt more steady.
Candi nodded toward Rocco. “Deal with them before I waste two perfectl
y good bullets on them.”
Rocco pulled a case out of his pocket. The same case he’d had on him in the limousine when he’d paralyzed Mitchell.
A shiver ran over her. Mitchell backed away, bumping into one of the big guys she’d taken out earlier.
He was on his feet, and pissed.
If Rocco got that needle in her, she’d be down again. If he shot enough of that stuff in her, her organs would shut down and she’d be dead. So the idea was not to let him get that needle in her.
Chapter Nine
‡
Remy studied the door and the area around it. A camera was attached to the wall over the entrance. He’d have to get past that to get inside.
“How do you plan to get in?” Swede asked.
“Come at the door from the side.” He unbuckled his vest and let it slide down his arms and rest on the floor. Then he yanked his black T-shirt up over his head. He slipped his vest back on and buckled it in place over his naked chest.
Irish chuckled. “You might have a chance with the women, but the men might not be your type.”
“Wait here until I get the shirt over the camera.”
The team hunkered in the darkness, ready for the fight.
Remy slipped along the wall, clinging to the shadows as much as possible. When he came to the wall facing him, he turned and ran along it toward the entrance, tossed his shirt up over the camera and came to a halt in front of the door.
He knocked like the other man had and waited.
The door cracked open and a man with a gun ducked his head out.
Remy grabbed him by the hair, jerked the man’s head down and his knee up, connecting with the guard’s nose.
The man went down, blood spewing from his broken nose.
His team was already behind him, ready to storm the stronghold, take down the bad guys and free any captives. Irish made quick work of securing the man and his mouth and dragged him into the dark where they’d been hiding.
The team entered the labyrinth of storerooms and offices, checking each door along the hallway.
Remy took one side of the hallway, Tuck took the other and they cleared each room until the hallway ended in a T-junction. The sound of voices drew them to the right.
Angry shouts made Remy break into a run.
Then a loud bang echoed off the ceilings and the voices went silent for a moment.
His heart in his throat, Remy ran toward the end of the hallway where the sound had originated. Footsteps pounded behind him.
Two men emerged from a doorway three feet in front of Remy. When they spotted him, they drew their guns.
Before they could fire, Remy and Tuck plowed into them like linebackers on a winning football team. They slammed them to the floor and knocked their guns from their hands. Remy rolled his guy over and yanked his arm up toward the middle of his back.
“Help!” the man shouted.
Remy rammed the guy’s face into the concrete and he lay still, out cold.
Swede jumped on the man Tuck had pinned, pulled his arms behind his back and slapped handcuffs on his wrists.
Tuck pressed the man’s face so hard to the floor, he couldn’t shout, but he grunted a lot. Pulling a bandana from his back pocket, Tuck stuffed it into the man’s mouth, careful not to get his fingers bitten off.
Two men down. How many more did Rocco have to defend the place?
A big guy emerged from the door at the end of the hallway.
Remy leaped to his feet and charged. If the man spotted the team before he got to him, the bad guy might pull back, lock the door and kill Mitchell before Remy could get to her.
The man’s eyes widened when he saw what was going on and his cheeks flushed an angry red. He drew his gun and stepped back.
Seeing his chance slipping away and still too far away from the man to get there on time, Remy threw himself into a slide like a baseball player sliding into home. With his feet in front of him, he hit the man’s ankles, knocking his legs out from under his body.
The man fell sideways, hit his head on the doorframe and stayed down.
Remy bounced back on his feet and dove over the downed man into the room.
A woman screamed.
Rolling to the side, Remy came up, pointing his handgun at the men advancing on him.
“Eyes right, Remy!” Mitchell shouted.
His gaze cut to the right. Too late. A man kicked the gun out of his hand and it flew across the room under a chair. The same man reared back to kick him again.
This time Remy was ready. He grabbed the man’s leg and yanked hard. The guy fell flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him.
Another man flew at Remy.
At the last second, Remy stepped to the side, his gaze sweeping the room.
The man missed and crashed into the wall.
Tuck, Swede, Fish and Irish entered the room, guns drawn.
“Put down your weapons or someone will get hurt,” Tuck said.
“That’s right. Someone is going to get hurt.” Candi, the redheaded dancer from the Naughty Ladies Lounge, held a gun to Mitchell’s temple while Rocco pinched her arms behind her back. The woman snorted. “That’s right. Put them down or this bitch dies.”
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists or human traffickers,” Irish said.
“Then you won’t miss her.” Candi pressed the gun harder and Mitchell’s head tilted away.
Mitchell’s body went limp. Rocco struggled to hold onto her as she slid toward the floor. When her head cleared the barrel of the weapon Candi held on her temple, Mitchell kicked. Her foot flew up in the air with those impossibly shiny, thigh-high boots. The sharp toe of the boot caught Candi’s arm, flinging it upward.
A shot rang out, and then the gun flew through the air to crash on the ground in front of a group of men crowded near the back of the room, hands raised.
“Touch that gun and I’ll blow your head off,” Remy warned.
“We don’t want trouble,” one of the men said.
“Too late, you’ve already got it.” Irish advanced three feet and pointed his AR15 at the men.
Mitchell rolled out of Rocco’s reach and pulled Kelli into her arms, shielding her. She turned to Candi and Rocco. “You two will never ruin another human being’s life ever again.”
Seeing her safely away from harm allowed him a moment’s relief. Remy’s gaze met Mitchell’s and his heart swelled with the love he felt for her. She was one of the toughest and yet most sensitive and caring women he knew. No other woman had touched him as deeply as Mitchell. He’d be lucky to have her in his life. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to help a friend in need. Only he didn’t want to be just friends, he wanted more.
Despite the nature of their jobs, they could make it work. Couldn’t they? He didn’t know how he’d do it, but somehow he had to convince Mitchell they were meant to be together.
“The cavalry is here,” Nacho’s voice spoke in Remy’s ear. “I’ll brief them and bring them in while Big Bird holds down the rooftop.”
“Roger,” Remy replied.
Before long, the NCIS, FBI and local police swarmed over the warehouse. Ambulances lined the road outside and the women were loaded and taken to local hospitals for a full evaluation.
Candi and Rocco were led away in handcuffs, the law enforcement officers reading them their rights.
After giving her statement to her boss and the FBI, Mitchell climbed into the ambulance with Kelli and rode to the hospital.
Time dragged, and she hadn’t seen Remy since he’d stormed into that room where she and Kelli had been placed on display for sale to the highest bidder. And she missed him. But the women who’d been held captive had to be taken care of first. How many other women had not been as lucky to escape being sold into sexual slavery? Mitchell prayed the authorities could trace them and return them to their homes.
At the hospital, Mitchell and Kelli were checked and released with a stern warning to drink lots of fluid to flush any of the re
maining drugs from their systems.
“You know you don’t have to take me home.” Kelli stood in the lobby of the Emergency Room, a blanket draped over her shoulders. “I can get there on my own. I know you’re late for your hot date with that Navy SEAL.”
“It can wait.” Mitchell could think of nothing she’d like better than to see Remy and snuggle up to him in bed, but she wouldn’t abandon the woman who’d spent the past week in captivity. “I don’t want to leave you alone the first night back.”
“Thanks.” Kelli hugged her. “But I’m okay. Just glad to be out of that hell hole.”
“Let me call a cab. My car is at the lounge. I can get it tomorrow.”
“You ladies need a ride?” A deep, and familiar, voice called out behind Mitchell.
Mitchell spun, her heart leaped into her throat and tears welled in her eyes.
Remy stood with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates in the other. “Seems to me, you owe me a date.”
A tear slipped down her cheek and she brushed it away. “I believe I do. But I can’t leave Kelli alone after all that’s happened.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. But I have a solution for you both.” A grin stole across his face.
“You do?” Mitchell and Kelli said at once.
Remy nodded as he stepped closer. “The team is over at Irish’s apartment, next door to mine. They’re too wound up to sleep, and will be up all night with a John Wayne movie marathon. Irish has a spare bedroom with clean sheets. I thought Kelli might feel safe with a bunch of SEALs guarding her bedroom door. And if she can’t sleep, she can join the guys.” He tilted his head. “What do you say, Kelli? Mitchell will be next door.”
“Oh, I will?” Mitchell cocked a brow. “Since when do you make my decisions for me?”
He held up his offerings. “I brought bribes.”
With the box of chocolates and the flowers, he looked so damned adorable, Mitchell couldn’t hold the stern look long. She turned to Kelli.
