I breathed it in and contacted Kaplan.
She answered after two rings.
“Did you find anything?”
“I found the girls.”
“You what?”
“The girls. They’re here.”
“He’s keeping them in his house?”
“They’re downstairs in like a dungeon. You have to come and get them out.”
“How many?”
I licked my lip. “Eight. They said ten or twelve have already been sold.”
My quiet response was met with a heart-wrenching silence. Unnerved, I quickly filled the space, telling Kaplan what the girls had told me.
“And I think they’ll be paraded around again tomorrow night. Mendez said he has a business meeting in the evening. I can only assume he has a new set of buyers coming in. He said it was a last-minute change, which is why Quella’s been brought here instead of going to Palm Springs.”
“Okay, good. That’s good. So, we’ll move tomorrow night then.”
“What? No, you have to come and get them now.” The cool breeze kissed my skin and I shivered, rubbing my arms.
“It’s a waste if we don’t catch the buyers at the same time. Now tell me the logistics of the house.”
I clenched my jaw, hating the idea of those poor girls spending a second longer in those dank cells.
“Blondie, you still there?”
I huffed out a sigh and went on to explain exactly how I’d gotten into the room and that I had no idea what was behind the black door.
“Okay, well, I have someone trying to track down the plans for the house. Now that we know the location, we might have more luck. I’ll get the team prepped. Do you know what time the meeting is?”
“Not specifically, just in the afternoon or evening.”
“See if you can find out. We have the house surrounded on all sides, from a distance admittedly. His security is pretty damn tight, but we have been monitoring incoming and outgoing traffic. As soon as we see the buyers arrive, we’ll move in.”
It felt good to know they were close enough to monitor traffic. The isolation of this mission didn’t feel quite so debilitating. “You can’t let those girls be taken.”
“They won’t be. Trust us. Mendez and his dirty little business associates are going down tomorrow night; I can assure you of that.”
“Thank you.”
“Go get some sleep. You still have to play innocent tomorrow and I want as many details as you can get me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hang tight, Caitlyn. In less than twenty-four hours, you’re going to be free.”
“Promise?”
Kaplan snickered and hung up.
I lowered the phone and ran my thumb over the large crack in the screen. I missed Eric. It was an insane time to think of him, but I couldn’t help it. Gazing up at the star-filled sky, I thought about where he might be. Hopefully tucked up in his bed, unable to sleep as he worried about me. I hated to put him through that, but I was where I was supposed to be.
I was given this gift for a reason and this time around, that reason was pretty damn good.
Squeezing the phone in my hand, I slid it back into my pocket and turned back for the “maintenance” room. I wanted to tell the girls what the plan was, ease their fears before they were yanked into that God-forsaken room again.
I sniffed in one last taste of fresh air before squeezing back into the pool area.
“That was an interesting late-night phone call you were making.”
I gasped, my heart exploding as a strong hand clamped around my arm, dragging me away from the pool and any chance of warning the girls.
38
Caitlyn
His fingers were sharp and hard, digging into my arm until I thought my muscles might pop.
“Please, Miguel,” I whispered.
He ignored me, hauling me up the stairs and throwing me into a small room off the hallway. I landed on the bed and spun around to face him.
He loomed over me. The menacing glint in his eye told me he was about to have a little fun.
That was obviously how they controlled the girls, an over-powering threat that weakened them with terror.
I couldn’t let that happen. Those girls were counting on me not to lose it.
“Who were you talking to?” he barked.
I peeled his mask free, soaking in his expression. There was no way he planned to rape me. I wasn’t his type. It was a comfort not to fear his persona, like so many girls probably did.
I shifted on the bed, hanging my feet over the edge and gripping the mattress. “I was trying to call my boyfriend.”
An explosion of pain burst across my cheek as he backhanded me.
“Ah!” I grabbed at it, the stinging pain radiating across my entire face. I hadn’t even seen it coming.
“Do not lie to me.” He crouched down, getting in my space and grabbing a fistful of my hair. I whimpered as he yanked my head up to face him. “I know how to break people.” The back of his finger whispered softly over my aching cheek. “Do not make me spoil this beautiful face.”
“You don’t think I’m beautiful.”
“Don’t I?” He shoved me back onto the bed, slipping off his jacket.
My mind scrambled for the right words. I made sure his mask stayed off as he pulled his shirt free and slowly undid his belt. He was just delaying things. Making me think he was going to abuse me when he had no intention.
I glanced at his beefy hands. In thinking that, there was nothing stopping him from using those hulking fists.
“Tell me what I need to know.” He leaned over me, grabbing a handful of my shirt, his silent glare threatening to rip it off.
“You’re not going to do that.”
His eyes narrowed.
So I kept going. “I mean you could, if you wanted to, but you don’t want to. You don’t find me attractive. You’re just trying to scare me with the idea that you do.”
The corner of his eye twitched, his skin paling. Stepping back, he yanked my shirt, bringing me with him.
“You are a good liar.”
“I’m not lying.” I swallowed. “I saw you looking at that waiter. You’re in love with him.”
His brow creased, his hand balling into a fist.
I held up my hands. “No, please, wait! No one else knows. It’s just me.” I patted my chest. “I have a gift. I see things no one else can. That’s why I had to check out that room. Your face told me. You were worried about the idea of me going in there.”
“I gave nothing away.”
“Not to any normal person, but I’m different.”
“You a witch?”
I shook my head. “I can just see...behind people’s masks. I know what they’re feeling and I can always tell if they’re lying.”
He looked skeptical.
“Like right now, you don’t know whether to believe me or not, but a small part of you can’t help it.”
I kept staring at him, ripping off layers and reading whatever I could.
“You don’t like your boss, but you stay because of that waiter. You love him. You’ll do anything to protect him.” My lips parted. “You feel guilty that he’s here. Is he a slave?”
His eyes grew wide and he let go of my shirt as if he no longer wanted to touch me.
“You’re scared. You’re scared that I can see the truth, but you don’t have to be. I won’t tell anyone. I can see that my life depends on that.”
Whipping a gun from his back pocket, he pressed it against my forehead.
My voice quaked, my words spurting out of me in a quick torrent. “I’m telling you the truth. I won’t say a word, I swear.”
“Who’s coming for the girls?”
The hard metal on my temple made me spill. “The FBI. They’ve been investigating the missing girls and one of the agents, the one I work for, suspected Mendez. Quella was my in.”
“You are too young to be an undercover agent.”
“I know. I’m not even getting paid. No one knows I’m here except her and her team.”
“Mendez will kill you.”
“Only if you tell him.” I looked up, trying to ignore the gun in my peripherals. “These girls should not be enslaved like this. They don’t have anyone to protect them. They’re being sold and abused. Imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t managed to save your love. Where would he be right now?”
Miguel blanched and pushed the gun a little harder into my skin. I kept my eyes on him, whipping off masks as fast as I could. There was that guilt again, the disgust in helping Mendez run his business, the fear at losing the man he loved.
“Please, don’t kill me. Help me. Help me with these girls.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
I should have stayed on point and kept talking about the waiter, but the words came out and I couldn’t take them back. A hard edge morphed his humanity into something dark and sinister.
“They are not my problem. If I help you, Mendez will kill me.” His fingers danced over the gun. “But if I kill you, or better yet drag you to him and reveal your treachery then he will reward me nicely.”
Money.
Miguel loved money. No, wait. He needed money.
A hungry, desperate spark traveled across his face and he snatched my arm, yanking me off the bed. “Come.”
I dug my heels into the floor. “No, please! I can reward you even better. I can get the money you need.”
He stopped, glaring down at me. “How do you know I need money?”
“It’s a guess. You said reward and I saw it on your face, a spark of desperation and the hope of freedom. Are you in debt?”
His eyes flashed with a warning.
“How much? I mean, who do you owe it to?”
The muscle in his jaw clenched tight. He was ashamed of his debt, like he should never have let it happen.
My mind scrambled to decipher what it could mean, my own desperation making the task a challenging one.
He humphed and continued to drag me toward the door.
“Listen, I’ve told you what I can do. I can spot lies, read emotions. Those skills can be really helpful. Like...like...in poker! I never lose! I could win you money.”
That made him flinch.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I really kick butt, because I can see what everyone is feeling about their hand, so it makes it easy to call the bluff and play smart, you know? I could—I could win you some money and you could pay off your debt.”
The shift in his expression was encouraging. My stuttering heart slowed just a little.
“Do you—do you like poker?”
His lips twitched with a smirk. “You can win at poker?”
“Every time.”
With narrowed eyes, he wrenched my arm, pulling me out of the room and down the hallway.
“I need you to prove it.” He pushed me into a large kitchen area. A wooden table sat in the corner, surrounded by staff. They were still in their white uniforms.
They all stiffened when he approached the table and yanked out a chair. It scraped against the tiles.
He plonked me down. I winced as my butt smacked into the hard wood.
“Deal her in.”
The staff all eyed each other. I gave them a quivering smile.
“Do it!”
I jerked at his shout. He pulled out some money and threw it in front of me.
“Quadruple it,” he whispered in my ear.
Picking up the twenty-dollar bills, I counted out five and felt like throwing up. “I don’t know if I can—”
He squeezed my shoulder, hard. I winced and shut up, peeking at the two cards in front of me.
It was Texas Hold ‘Em again. I memorized my cards then looked around the table. They were all really nervous having Miguel sit in and it was overtaking my ability to read their hands.
“Dude,” I muttered. “What the hell did I ever do to you?” I gave the dealer the finger and it broke the tension. The men chuckled while Miguel crossed his arms, his eyes tightening with an advisory glare. I tried to ignore it and get on with proving my worth...and hopefully saving my ass.
With the tension snapped, faces began to relax and I was able to see a little better. I lost the first round intentionally, wanting the boys to think I was a little dumb. They were still confused as to why Miguel even wanted me to play, but they quickly cottoned on by the third round. Ten rounds later and I had more than quadrupled Miguel’s pot. The rest of the staff sat in stunned silence, confusion marring their tired features.
Miguel pulled me from my chair, extracting his gun at the same time.
“Not a word about her to anyone.” He aimed the gun at each poker player until their heads started bobbing erratically.
“Si, señor,” was muttered by all before he pulled me away.
I handed him his money. His right eyebrow arched, a smug smile pulling at his lips. I didn’t know what the hell Quella saw in this jerk.
He hauled me upstairs to my room, shoving me inside. Roughly spinning me around, he yanked the phone out of my pocket. My eyes bulged wide. He smirked at my fear, his intense glare making me shrink away from him. Unsure what to do, I slid beneath the sheets in my clothes, hoping he’d take the hint and leave.
“Tomorrow, when Quella is watching football with Rosa, you are to tell her you feel sick. Come up here to lie down. There will be a dress waiting for you. Make yourself look rich and pretty.”
Dread sucked the moisture from my mouth. “Why?” I croaked.
“Because you are going to help me pay off my debt and then make me a rich man.”
“And if I refuse?”
He shrugged. “I’ll take you to Mendez instead. You’re a little old, but I’m sure he could find a buyer for you...or kill you.”
I bit my lip and laid my head on the pillow, pulling the sheets up around my shoulder.
With a snicker, he left the room. My eyes burned as I squeezed them shut, wishing Kaplan had said she’d come that night. Damn those stupid buyers! Why did she need them anyway!
My heart ticked inside me, like a time bomb waiting to explode. I had to get some sleep. It was after four, and I still had a harrowing day to survive before Kaplan came to save my ass. Tears slipped from my eyes. I chewed at my lip, praying I could handle whatever shit was thrown my way in the morning.
39
Eric
“Get up.” Gramps kicked my bed, making it shudder.
I groaned and pulled the sheet over my head. “Let me sleep. It’s not even morning yet.”
“It’s past nine o’clock. That’s enough moping; now get your butt out of bed. We got some talkin’ to do.”
I flicked the sheet down and threw him an evil glare. He met it head-on with two raised eyebrows and his don’t mess with me face. I rolled my eyes and sat up, leaning over the bed and pressing my fingers into my eyes.
My head felt like sawdust, my mouth dry and gluggy. It had been a crappy night’s sleep and facing a new day was damn depressing.
Gramps slapped me on the shoulder.
“Up you get, boy. There’s coffee waitin’ for ya in the kitchen.”
I slumped after him, rubbing the back of my neck and rolling out my shoulders.
The smell of brewing coffee tantalized my taste buds and I eagerly grabbed a mug. Gramps gave it to me black, just the way he liked it, and we sat down at the table together.
“Talk.”
“I did,” I mumbled. “Last night.”
“But your rationale was unsound, illogical.” He rubbed his bald head. “Caity is in love with you; I saw it when she was here. She wouldn’t just walk away for no good reason.”
“She did, Gramps.” I slapped the table. “And she didn’t just walk, she frickin’ ran, okay? She. Does. Not. Want. Me.”
Gramps’s wide lips pursed before he shook his head. “I ain’t buyin’ it.”
I let out a disgusted huff.
“And yo
u’re a fool to believe her so easily. There has got to be a better explanation for this.”
“Well, whatever it is, she sure as hell doesn’t want to tell me.”
Gramps gave me a hard look. “You’re probably not in a frame of mind to hear it anyway.” He took a loud slurp of coffee, eyeing me over the rim of his mug. “You know what you need?”
I shrugged.
“To burn off some of that anger. Let’s go.” He stood up, slapping me on the shoulder again.
“Where are we going?”
“For a run.” A slow smile stretched across his face and my heart sank.
It wouldn’t be just any run. It would be a Marine boot camp he’s trying to kill me run. I sighed, knowing there was no way out of it. Pushing myself up, I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and went to get changed.
He drove me out to Cleveland National Forest, which was about an hour and a half away. I munched on my banana and the granola bar he shoved under my nose. We didn’t talk much. I slid on my shades and rested my foot up on the dashboard while Gramps drove. There was no music, no chatter, but it wasn’t an awkward silence either. The only thing to taint it was my raging emotions. I kept them under wraps, letting them simmer and burn until I thought my insides might combust.
Closing my eyes, I tried to make up for the sleep I had lost the night before, but it didn’t work. Every time my lids shut, I either saw Caity running or a young kid waiting outside a baseball stadium. It was torture.
Eventually I gave up, sitting forward in my seat and distracting myself with the scenery.
By the time we pulled into the park, my nerves were vibrating with a deep-seated angst I couldn’t shake. Although the run would probably kill me, I felt like shouting to the sky, “Bring it on!”
Gramps slammed the door shut and locked the car, looking over at me.
“You ready?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“Let’s go.”
For an old guy, Gramps was a freaking machine. He jogged ahead of me, starting out at an easy pace I knew he could maintain for miles. I loped after him, feeling good for the first thirty minutes and then the weariness of lost sleep kicked in. I began to stagger and stumble. Sweat ran into my eyes as we negotiated the rocky trail. Gramps, of course, had to choose the steepest, narrowest trail for us to take.
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