by Claire Adams
PJ just looked at me and smiled. She seemed a little impressed by thinking.
“There are eleven girls down here and most will be really drugged up so we will need time to get them out,” she added.
“Good, yes, I just had it out with Ana. She’s all hyped up and angry on her drugs. I’m not sure why they thought making the girls angry was a good idea.”
“They are probably only angry when they have to talk. If you leave them alone and just let them zone out, they should be alright,” PJ added.
“Dinner,” I heard the guard by the stairs yell out.
PJ and I looked at each other as we tried to think if there was anything else we needed to say to Jackson and the guys before we left the bathroom. I knew there was probably a lot more that he wanted to know, but I just couldn’t think of what else we should tell him.
“Is the food safe?” PJ asked as we opened the door.
“No idea,” I said quietly.
“Ilsa, you can come sit over here,” Stephano said as he pointed to a chair next to him.
I was surprised to see him downstairs and eating with us, but I figured he was doing it to try and butter Ilsa up so she would want to go upstairs with him. I still had no idea what PJ was going to do if she got brought upstairs, though. It scared me to think of what would happen if she was alone with Stephano.
After we sat down, I saw Stephano’s hands move under the table as he started to rub on PJ’s legs. He was laughing and being nice to her, I could see how a young girl would fall for him.
I remembered back to when I first met Stephano, he had acted exactly the same way and I had fallen for it. I had fallen right into his trap. It was funny that he still used all the same lines almost five years later.
It was easy to see how he wrapped the girls into his world. He was giving them drugs and feeding them. It was probably pretty easy for the girls to get wrapped up in the life that he was giving them. The idea of leaving seemed too hard when they had all the drugs in their system, plus they were addicted to the drugs.
I had to focus, though, the first thing I needed to do was get rid of that asshole that had strangled me. If I could get him out of the picture, I was almost positive we could get past the other guard. The only problem was I had to think of something really good to get him to leave or Stephano to make him leave.
“Girls, I’m so excited to have you all here and I can’t wait to find your forever homes. I know you all will be very happy with the men I give you to. They are rich and can’t wait to have a beautiful woman like you girls by their side.”
Stephano reached over and grabbed PJ’s hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it. She did a perfect impersonation of a shy foreign girl as she giggled and looked down at the table. I still had no idea what we were going to do when he decided to bring her upstairs, but I hoped PJ was coming up with an idea while she was over there flirting.
“Stephano, I’d like to propose a toast,” I said as I held up my cup. “To one of the best men I know. You are always looking out for us girls and we truly are so lucky to have you on our side. To Stephano!” I said as I raise my cup up into the air and motioned for the other girls to join me.
I knew my effort to butter him up was successful when he smiled at me and raised his glass in return. He was so vain that it was easy to build him up by simply working on his ego.
As dinner progressed, I noticed some of the girls talking and whispering to each other. Most of them spoke different languages, so I couldn’t figure out what they were saying. At first, I worried that Stephano would get angry because he couldn’t understand them, but he seemed really laid back and was enjoying himself with PJ.
The two of them were snuggled together and having a great time while they fed each other pieces of their dinner and took turns drinking each other’s wine. In fact, the more I watched them the more I realized that PJ wasn’t drinking her wine at all. She was drinking all of Stephano’s wine and hogging his glass and then he would grab hers and drink her wine.
She was good! PJ just have decided to grab a few of the pills and dissolve them into her own drink, and then get Stephano to drink it by flirting with him. I was beyond impressed.
Now, I just had to do my part. I needed to get rid of that damn guard.
Slowly, I got up and made my way over to Stephano and PJ. I kneeled down next to them and let my hands touch each of their thighs as they turned to look at me.
“Stephano, you know, Ilsa is a beautiful girl. Maybe the three of us should play together tonight?” I said in my sweetest voice possible.
Stephano looked shocked at my offer and I could tell right away that he was into it. He had been trying to get me to sleep with him for years and I hadn’t. It was probably beyond what he thought would ever happen and it was just enough to sweeten him up to right where I needed him to be.
“Well, I think we could arrange that. Perhaps tomorrow, though. Tonight, I’d like to have Ilsa all to myself.”
“Of course,” I said. I leaned in and then leaned in close to his ears. “You know that one by the back door was in the bathroom stealing your pills earlier.”
“Really?” he said as he pulled back away from me.
I pointed to the guard and then tapped PJ on the arm and pointed to him, as well.
“He was stealing pills wasn’t he,” I said to her.
She just nodded her head yes and then giggled and continued to flirt with Stephano.
“There was something else. I’m not sure if I should say it, though, but since she doesn’t understand much, I think it is safe,” I said as I looked at PJ.
“He was looking in on Ilsa in the shower and said he wanted to fuck her and take her virginity before you had a chance. I know Ilsa didn’t understand anything he said and she shooed him out of the bathroom right away, but I just thought you would want to know.”
Stephano instantly stood up and walked over to the guard by the back door. He had already seen that I had pointed to him and he knew something was wrong when Stephano came his way.
“Whatever she said, it isn’t true. Stephano, I didn’t do it. You know I wouldn’t do anything against you,” the man pleaded with him.
“You are done,” he said as he got up in the guy’s face. “I’ve had enough of you trying to have your way with my girls. I’m done with you.” He motioned for the other guard to come over there. “Out back, we will take care of the rest later.”
The guard from the stairs pulled his gun out and pressed it up to the other guard as they opened the back door and walked out.
“Stephano, no. Please no,” the guard continued while they walked out back.
I expected to hear a gunshot or something like that, but we didn’t hear anything. The nice guard was gone for a few minutes and then returned and stood right back in his same position.
“Thank you, Roxy. You’re a good girl. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Tomorrow, we will make sure your dreams come true.”
I just smiled at Stephano and made sure to look as alluring as possible. I couldn’t help but have a bit of a smile on my face knowing that we had gotten rid of the worst of the guards. There was a real possibility we were going to be able to make it out of his house that night.
Chapter 22
JACKSON
We had lost communication with the girls for a couple of hours while we positioned ourselves in the Duck Boat, but when dark fell we were finally in the water and our audio and video was working. I had heard bits and pieces of their dinner earlier in the evening and I was more than impressed with how PJ and Roxanne were handling things.
The two of them worked really well together and I couldn’t have asked for a better team. As our video and sound came back, it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. The video was dark, but I could hear a man’s voice that I assumed was Stephano’s.
“What is going on? Can you guys hear what’s happening?” I asked as I turned the volume up and unplugged my headset so the guys could
hear, as well.
It sounded like the audio was muffled or something. I couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on.
“Is he drunk?” Nate asked.
“Maybe, I haven’t been able to understand a thing he has said, though.”
“Why is it dark?” Chase asked.
“I don’t know. I know just as much as you do.”
“Well, should we go in? Do we need to move in?” Chase asked as he was all excited to raid the house.
“No, we aren’t going in until we see some sort of signal. We have to let the ladies do their jobs first,” I said as I held my finger up so the guys would be quiet.
“You’re soooo beautiful,” Stephano said.
“I’m going to tie you up now,” PJ’s voice said.
“Why is she talking to him?” Nate yelled.
“He sounds drunk, or drugged or something,” Chase added.
PJ flipped a light on and we were able to see that she was in bed with Stephano. He looked like he was two seconds away from passing out and he didn’t seem to care at all that she had just spoken to him in English and was using one of his ties to secure him to the bed.
We watched in disbelief as she tied him up and then slipped out of his bedroom. She moved slowly and took her time as she looked around each of the corners before she moved to the next section of the house. It appeared that she was trying to make her way back down the stairs.
Once she reached the stairs to the basement, PJ slowed down and moved less deliberately. She kept her head down and we saw as she walked past a security guard at the bottom of the steps.
PJ made her way down a dimly lit hallway and went right into Roxanne’s room. Roxanne was awake and waiting for her when she got there.
It was very exciting to watch the girls from PJ’s glasses. I felt like we hardly had to be there at all. PJ and Roxanne seemed to have everything taken care of. There was only one guard left to deal with. I hadn’t seen the other one at all when PJ walked through the main living area of the basement.
“He’s out. There’s a guard at the bottom of the stairs, I think if you went to him and said you thought I told you something was wrong with Stephano, then he would follow you upstairs and I could get the rest of the girls out of the house,” PJ said in a whisper.
“Oh, shit, they are doing this now. We need to get to the shore. George, quietly get us over there,” I said as I pointed to the spot next to Stephano’s house that I wanted him to park us at.
There was a dock in front of his house that had a boat attached to it, but we could slide right up to the end of it and tie ourselves off. It was dark out, but there was plenty of lighting on the grounds so we would still need to be careful.
We had no idea if Stephano had any other guys outside the house at all. For all we knew, he could have had pit bulls out there ready to eat us alive. We needed to be prepared for anything that might go down.
“Yes, I can distract him and get him upstairs, I think,” Roxanne said as she made her way out of the room.
“Wait,” PJ said as she jumped up off the floor and handed Roxanne her glasses. “Wear these, you will be upstairs and Jackson will need to see what is going on. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to start getting the girls out the back door as soon as you get up the stairs.”
Roxanne grabbed the glasses from PJ and put them on her face as she made her way out to the security guard. Roxanne glanced behind her and I could see PJ there, too.
“I think something might have happened to Stephano. Ilsa doesn’t speak English but she keeps doing this,” Roxanne said as she made some sort of movement.
“Did he die?” the guard asked PJ.
“She doesn’t speak English. I think one of us should go check on him.”
The guard looked at Roxanne and then at PJ as he tried to decide what he should do. Stephano was his boss and if something was wrong with him, then he needed to get help for the man. But he also didn’t want to leave the girls alone, either.
“I can stay here with the girls, if you’d like,” Roxanne said. “Or I can go check on Stephano, whatever you’d like.”
“You go check on him, but I’m coming to the top of the stairs with you. I don’t want any funny business going on,” the guard said.
The three of us looked at each other as we watched the monitor. We were almost to the dock and we prepared to make our way up to the house so we could do our part in getting the girls out.
“That sounds fine with me. We better hurry, though. I’m really worried about him,” Roxanne said.
As the boat pulled up to the dock, Chase, Nate, and I ran up the grass toward the house. We moved quickly and didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary. There were a couple motion sensor lights that flipped on, but other than that, we were in the clear.
I stood outside the glass doors to the basement and watched as Roxanne walked up the stairs with the security guard right behind her. PJ looked over at me, but she didn’t move until she saw that the pair had made it all the way up the stairs.
Then she ran as fast as she could to the back room, I gently tried to open the back door, but it was locked. Within a few seconds, PJ was standing at the back door with one of the girls. She unlocked it and opened it.
“Where’s Ana?” I asked.
“She won’t wake up. These girls are all drugged up and passed out,” PJ said.
“It’s alright. I’ll get her,” Nate said as he moved into the building.
I stood guard at the door as Nate came out carried Ana in his arms. She looked so frail. She certainly didn’t look like a grown woman, instead, she looked like a fragile child in his arms.
“We will each need to just grab the girls. If they can walk let them walk, otherwise just carry them,” I told the guys. “You stand guard at the stairs,” I said quietly to PJ.
She grabbed my gun from me and moved over toward the stairs, just out of sight if someone looked down them. Chase, Nate and I each grabbed a girl and took her out to the boat where George was left to try and care for them.
Most of the girls just went right back to sleep, but a few of them woke up and seemed disoriented. I hated to leave George out there all by himself, but we needed to get the girls out of the house as fast as possible.
“What’s going on up there, is he alright?” the guard yelled up at Roxanne.
We couldn’t see the video of what was going on, so I had no idea what she was doing or how she was stalling him so well. But she was doing a great job. Within the span of about five minutes, we had almost all of the girls out.
I carried my third girl to the boat and then took a minute to look at the monitor to see what was going on. I heard Roxanne talking and stopped dead in my tracks.
“He’s fine. You don’t need to go in there,” she said as she stood in front of Stephano’s door and talked to the guard.
I didn’t wait to see what was said next and started to sprint up to the house.
“This is the last girl,” Chase said as he helped a wobbly girl down the grass toward the boat.
“Get PJ and get out,” I said to Nate as he ran up behind me after dropping off the girl he had been carrying.
“I’m not leaving without Roxanne,” PJ said.
“Get the fuck down stairs, I don’t know what the hell the two of you are up to, but I’m not going to have any more of this,” the guard said as he led Roxanne back down the stairs with the gun held to her back.
Nate and I ducked down behind the couch as PJ stood by the kitchen and waited for them.
“What are you doing? Why are you out here?” the guard said as he looked at PJ.
Then out of the blue, Roxanne ducked down and PJ swung her leg in the air and landed her foot right square on the jaw of the guard. I expected him to go down to the ground after a hit like that, but he didn’t. Instead, he raised his gun and shot PJ.
I hesitated as I watched the scene, but luckily, Nate didn’t hesitate at all. He shot the security guard in the head. We both
moved quickly over to PJ to assess what had happened.
“Where did it hit you?” I asked.
“Shoulder, I’m good. Is Roxanne okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“We need to get out of here,” I said as I looked at Nate. “I’ve got her. You check the rooms to make sure we didn’t miss anyone.”
I wrapped PJ’s arm around my shoulder and Roxanne held onto her other side as we made our way down to the boat. I could feel PJ’s blood as it poured from her body onto mine and I knew we needed to get her medical attention right away.
“What’s your gunshot protocol? Where can we take you?” I asked.
“Anywhere is fine, we will figure out the logistics of it later,” she said with a smile.
We were getting ready to leave when we saw Nate carrying another girl down the grass toward the boat.
“She was hiding under a bed,” he said.
The girl was crying uncontrollably. As Nate set the girl down in the boat, Ana went over to her and tried to calm the girl. Then, Roxanne joined her as they both tried to calm the girl and soothe her crying.
“Let’s get out of here, George,” I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I’m damn glad you were here.”
“Best night of my life. I can’t wait to explain to my partners why there is blood all over our boat.”
“You can’t tell them the truth,” I said.
“Oh, don’t worry, they wouldn’t believe me if I did tell them the truth. I think of some outlandish story to tell them.”
Chapter 23
ROXANNE
I couldn’t believe we were in the boat and we had made it out of Stephano’s alive. I was worried, though, and I moved from the girl that was crying over to PJ. Nate was holding pressure on her wound and I sat down beside her and held her hand.
“You’re pretty damn good at your job,” I said as I squeezed her hand.
“You know if you ever want a job with the agency, I can put a good word in for you,” she said.