by Katie Reus
If that doctor—
The door handle jiggled, then a second later opened. Collette strode in—alone—wearing different clothes than earlier. She even looked different. In boots, black pants, and a black sweater she looked a little like the Grim Reaper. Her hair was pulled back into a sharp bun, and her eyes were cold and flat.
On instinct, Amelia sat up. She kept her pillow behind her, wanting to keep her weapons hidden. Collette was too hard to read and Amelia couldn’t tell if the woman knew what she was hiding.
“Glad to see you’re awake.” Collette flicked a semi-interested gaze over her as she leaned against the wall right next to the bathroom door.
Amelia didn’t respond, just watched her warily. Her fingers itched to slide back and grab the blade, but she didn’t want to give herself away.
Collette raised an eyebrow. “No questions about why I took you?”
“‘You’re a psycho’ seems like the most obvious answer.” Amelia probably wouldn’t be so bold if Collette had come into her room with backup, but if she could goad the woman into getting closer, maybe she’d have a chance to strike out. And she figured she’d only have one shot at this.
Collette’s gaze narrowed. “I’m surprised my father ever took an interest in you. You’re so unpolished.”
“Is that why you took me? Daddy issues?” Her voice was dry, but she couldn’t keep the slight tremble out of it.
Collette snorted and pushed off the wall, real amusement in her laugh, but she only took a single step forward. Not nearly close enough. “I took you for a profit. Fucking over my father was just a bonus. Besides, I heard you’d been getting friendly with a detective. Why?”
Amelia blinked in surprise. Was that why this psycho had kidnapped her? “Why have I been talking to a detective? Um, because one of my employees attacked me multiple times.” She wasn’t certain of the line of questioning, so it wasn’t hard to feign confusion.
“You sure that’s the only reason?” Collette’s voice had a deadly edge as she took another step closer. She was near the foot of the bed now.
“What other reason would there be? Why am I here?” she demanded, wanting to shift the topic of conversation.
“I told you, profit, though to be fair that’s a secondary reason. For the last two years I’ve sold over a hundred and fifty babies on the black market.” She sounded positively smug as she admitted to the atrocities.
Oh God. The remains of all those women who’d been found. That was why they’d been killed. For their babies. Amelia’s stomach pitched as she stared at Collette. She’d never used the term “evil” lightly before, but right now she knew she was looking into the face of it. “You kidnapped pregnant women?” Amelia slowly slid her hand behind her back and grasped one of the makeshift blades.
Collette rolled her eyes and stepped over to the mini-fridge. She ran a manicured fingernail over the top of it. “Of course not. We take them, impregnate them through IVF, and give them a happy, healthy life for nine months. They should thank us, really. No one cares about them and we’re doing the world a service, selling children to rich families who can take care of them.”
She turned all her focus on Amelia then, her smile glinting dangerous and sharklike. “You’re a little different from them, since you’re established in the community, but I couldn’t take the chance you were talking to the police. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Now you’re out of my way and I’ll make a very nice profit off you. A win-win for me. Besides, knowing it’ll hurt my father makes it worth it. I’m going to have someone move your car so it looks like you returned to the restaurant after I brought you back. So no ties to me.”
“Why would I even suspect you were involved in anything?”
“You came over to my house twice, and I know you weren’t fucking my father. Most women throw themselves at him, but not you. Something about you is off. I just can’t decide whether you’re lying to me or not.”
Freaking crazy bitch. “If I was working with the police or suspected you of pretty much the worst crime I’ve ever heard of, would I have gotten in your car?” Not giving Collette a chance to respond, she continued. “Unless you plan on letting me go, then get the fuck out of here. I’m tired of listening to you talk.”
Rage flared in Collette’s gaze. She stepped closer, mere feet from the edge of the bed now. Energy hummed through Amelia and she hoped it didn’t show in her eyes.
“I don’t let my men touch the product, but I might make an exception for you.” Her words were silky smooth. It was disturbing to see the manic glee in the woman’s eyes. She took another step forward now, her breathing more erratic, as if she was getting pleasure out of telling her. “Maybe I’ll just keep you around as a toy for them. I’ll watch as you—”
Amelia lunged forward. She flew off the bed, lifting the blade in an upward arc.
Surprise flared in Collette’s eyes, but she raised an arm, deflecting the blow from striking her in the chest. She cried out as the jagged edge sliced along her forearm.
Fear detonated inside Amelia. She needed to take Collette down as quickly as possible, before anyone heard them struggling.
Grunting in anger, Collette swung out with her fist, aiming for Amelia’s face. She ducked the blow and kicked at Collette’s knee. The jab from her foot wasn’t as effective as it would have been if she’d been wearing shoes, but Collette’s leg buckled under the pressure.
She fell to her knees, an agonized cry ripping from her throat. Moving on pure instinct, Amelia slashed out with the makeshift blade.
Collette rolled to the side, avoiding the strike. As she moved, she kicked out with her good leg, swiping Amelia’s feet out from under her.
All the air whooshed from her lungs as she fell hard against the floor on her side. Before she could move, Collette was on top of her. Amelia felt a blow to her ribs, then a slap to her face. Her ears rang from the shocks of pain.
She was vaguely aware of the woman snarling something at her, but she tuned it out. She reared back and head-butted Collette. The loud crunch of bone breaking filled the air.
“Bitch!” Collette’s hands went to her face.
Using the only opportunity she might get, Amelia jerked the blade up in one swift strike. It slammed directly into Collette’s chest.
For a moment Collette froze. Her hands dropped and she stared at Amelia with wide eyes. All Amelia could do was stare right back. Then she looked down at the jagged piece of glass deep in the monster’s chest.
She shoved Collette off her. The woman rolled onto her back, gasping sounds escaping her throat, until she simply stopped moving. Amelia scrambled back toward the bed, wanting to put as much distance between them as she could. Then reality crashed over her. She couldn’t wimp out now. She had to get out of here, get help.
Pushing back the bile that threatened her, she stepped around the blood pooling on the floor and patted down Collette’s pockets. No phone and no weapon, but she came up with a set of keys.
Her heart was a staccato drumbeat against her chest, her fingers trembling as she shoved the keys into her pocket and then tugged off Collette’s boots.
When Amelia was dumped in here, they’d taken her shoes, and she might need them in her escape. The boots were a little loose, but they’d do.
Right now she needed to find a phone and get help. If other women were being held here, she had to save them all. Unfortunately she had no idea what was waiting for her outside the door. There could be guards, cameras . . . She shuddered.
Well, there was only one way to find out.
She snagged the other makeshift weapon from under the pillow and crept to the door. When she pulled it open, all she could hear was blood rushing in her ears.
She pushed out a quiet breath when she saw an empty, dimly lit hallway. The rubber-soled boots were silent when she stepped out. There was a line of doors, all shut, in both directions. Since she had no idea which was the right way, she moved to her right and tried the first do
or she came to.
Locked.
Sweat soaked her back as she tried various keys. On the fourth try, it snicked open. Holding her breath, she opened the door. The lights were off, so she reached for a switch. When her fingers touched a dimmer, she turned it.
A blond woman wearing scrublike clothing rolled over on a bed, clearly a few months pregnant. She covered her eyes with her arm as she sat up. “What’s . . . who are you?” she whispered.
Amelia looked out in the hallway again, glancing both ways before she stepped inside and closed the door. There was no time to sugarcoat any of this. “I was taken, but I just killed Collette.”
The woman gasped and stood up fully, clearly taking in the blood on Amelia’s shirt and the jagged blade in her hand. “She has guards.”
“I figured. How much do you know about this place?” Amelia could practically hear a clock ticking in warning, telling her to hurry, hurry, hurry.
“Enough, I guess.”
“Are there other women on this floor?”
She nodded.
“Can you let them out?” Amelia held up the keys.
Hope bloomed in the woman’s gaze before it dimmed. “The guards have guns.” She sat back on the bed and placed a protective hand over her belly. “I don’t want to die.”
“Fine. I’m leaving your door unlocked. Do what you want. I’ve gotta find a phone. I know people who will help us.” She didn’t have time to beg the woman to make a run for her life. She had no idea what this woman had to be feeling right now, and while she wasn’t judging her, she needed to get help for all of them.
The woman popped up again, that hope back in her gaze. “This isn’t a trick?”
It sickened Amelia that the woman thought it might be. She shook her head and stepped forward, pulling the key she’d used off the key ring. “No. There aren’t enough keys on here for the rooms to have individual keys.” She was hoping they used a universal lock for all the rooms. “Is there anything you can tell me about this place, like where a phone might be?”
The blonde took the key. “Maybe. If you head down the hallway, that way”—she pointed to the right—“then make a left, I saw Collette going in and out of the first door on the left more than once. Is she really dead?”
Amelia nodded and lifted her makeshift weapon. “I stabbed her with one of these.”
“Good.” The anger behind that one word wasn’t a surprise.
Amelia hoped the woman used that anger to be smart. “Free as many of the others as you can and find somewhere to hide if you can’t escape. And shut the doors behind you. We can’t let anyone know we’ve escaped. Are there video cameras in the rooms?”
“I don’t think so, but there could be.” The woman looked around nervously. “I know they have them outside in the courtyard.”
“Okay, thanks . . . What’s your name?”
“Bonnie.”
“I’m Amelia. We’re going to get out of this, okay?”
Bonnie nodded, though doubt and fear lived in her bright green eyes.
Seeing one of Collette’s victims, knowing what she’d done to countless others, Amelia felt no guilt about what she’d done to the woman. She moved back to the door and peeked out again. The hallway was still empty, so either there weren’t cameras or someone wasn’t monitoring them. She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m going now. Be careful.”
She hurried down the hallway as fast as she could. At the corner she paused and listened. She heard male voices from somewhere. They weren’t agitated and she couldn’t gauge how far away they were.
Sweat bloomed across her forehead as she peeked around the next hallway. Clear.
She followed Bonnie’s instructions and went to the first doorway. Surprisingly it was unlocked. She twisted the handle and stepped into what was clearly an office.
Raw hope bloomed inside her until she heard a clicking sound. When she turned, the doctor was standing by a filing cabinet, a gun in his hands.
Pointed directly at her.
Chapter 21
Tango: NATO Phonetic Alphabet representation of the letter T. In military and law enforcement operations, tango often means target/terrorist.
“Second level, section B is clear,” Nathan said quietly into his comm. The facility was basically a giant square shape with a courtyard and parking area in the middle of it. Because of the structure, there was no outside visibility even without the giant privacy fences around the private property. “Moving onto third level, section B.”
The other teams all murmured affirmatives.
Dax, Freeman, and Bell all fell in behind him as they moved back to the stairwell. Elliott had scrambled the video capabilities, so while the enemy couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see the enemy either. One of the other teams had already found ten women, each in individual rooms. They’d been terrified but were now just sobbing messes. And no one knew how many guards there were.
Nathan and his guys had already secured three armed men, but none of them were talking. And he wasn’t waiting on them to go after Amelia.
He thought about how eerily quiet the place was as they moved up the stairwell in a well-trained unit. Taking point, he eased open the door when they reached the next level. Just like with the last level, it opened up into a long hallway. Their job was to sweep individual sections of each level.
M4 raised, he motioned that it was clear and he was moving forward. As he stepped out into the hallway, a blur of motion from one of the doorways caught his gaze.
A blond, pregnant woman stepped into the hall, saw him, and darted back into the room she’d come from. So far all the rooms had been locked.
“Potential civilian sighting three-quarters of the way down,” he murmured, moving to the first door. He didn’t have to worry about instructions; they all knew what to do. He started the clearing of rooms at the beginning, and the other three fanned out down the hallway. Then they’d move inward, meeting at the middle.
As he progressed from room to room, he didn’t have to pick any of the locks. They were all unlocked. The back of his neck tingled as he reached the third door. Something was wrong. These rooms were empty but clearly had been lived in.
His gut tightened. Everything was too damn quiet tonight. What if the women had been moved? What if Amelia was gone?
He shoved back that thought as he eased open the next door. For a moment, he froze. Collette Mercado was lying on her back with blood pooling around her body. She’d been stabbed right through the heart with a piece of glass. He moved inside and cleared the bathroom before checking her pulse. It was clear she was dead, but he checked anyway.
“Primary tango down. Body’s cold.”
Burkhart’s voice came over the line. “Repeat.”
He repeated what he’d said to confirm it. “I’m marking the door with a red X.” They all carried two sticks of chalk with them to mark off cleared areas. On silent feet, he stepped back into the hallway and marked the door.
Dax pointed to the door Nathan had seen the blonde come out of earlier. Keeping alert of his surroundings, Nathan hurried down the rest of the hall as both Freeman and Bell confirmed that they’d cleared their rooms.
When Nathan reached the room, Dax pointed at Nathan’s weapon. Then he motioned for him to hold it down. After he did, Dax opened the door. Ten pregnant women were all huddled in the room, sitting or standing and looking at them as if they were monsters. He scanned the faces, looking for Amelia. When he didn’t see her, he had to shelve that disappointment.
“We’re here to help you.” He kept his voice low as he stepped inside. He was dressed in fatigues and armed with an extra pistol, ammo, grenades, and tear gas. He knew his presence likely wasn’t going to comfort them, but there was no way around it.
When he stepped farther inside, some of the women cowered back in fear. The sight twisted him up inside. He held up his hands. “I know this has to be terrifying, but we are here to help you. Right now we’re still securing the facility, so we need y
ou to stay put. My man here”—he motioned to Dax—“is going to stay with you until we’ve secured every one of those monsters who works here.” He couldn’t keep the heat out of his voice.
His words seemed to have a calming effect. Surprisingly.
The blonde he’d seen earlier stood from where she’d been perched on the edge of the bed. “There’s another woman on this floor. She’s new, I think. She killed . . . she helped us escape. She gave me a key and told me to free the others while she went to find help. I told her where I thought the office on this floor is. Her name’s Amelia, but we haven’t seen her again.”
Amelia. His heart rate kicked up. “Where’s the office?”
After she gave quick directions, he nodded at Dax. “I’m going after her. Keep these women safe.” In the hallway he looked at Bell. “Stand guard.” Because no one was getting through that door. Then he nodded once at Freeman. “With me.” He was going to find Amelia no matter what.
“Who knows you’re here?” the doctor, whose name Amelia still didn’t know, asked her with a growl as he shoved his gun into her ribs.
“I don’t know.” She didn’t bother to keep her voice down as he pushed her through a swinging door into what was a midsized cafeteria.
“Don’t lie to me.” He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm in an unforgiving grip.
She winced, tears stinging her eyes. “I really don’t know.”
He looked around the empty cafeteria, his eyes wide, a frantic light to them. “Then why can’t I get in touch with anyone in the building? And why’s the security been shut off? You’re working with someone,” he muttered, tightening his grip and dragging her across the floor.
Maybe if he thought she was working with someone, he’d have a reason to let her live. She still couldn’t figure out why he was keeping her alive—and she didn’t plan to ask. It was possible he wanted to use her as a human shield.
“No one’s letting me take the fall for this,” he muttered to himself as he pulled her between bench tables and plastic chairs.
There was another door across from them with a red EXIT sign above it. Amelia didn’t want to go with him but couldn’t see another choice. But if they did escape, this guy would have no reason to keep her alive.