by Paige Yancey
She circled the structure and came out a couple of buildings down the street.
The guard at the door turned away, giving her the chance she needed to cross the street in the open. Moving as quickly as possible, she rounded the back of a warehouse and slipped up the alley beside her target. She peered around the corner.
The guard leaned against the building, speaking into a walkie-talkie. “No sign of her, yet.”
A staticky voice said, “Notify us, as soon as she shows.”
“Yeah, okay.” The guard hooked the radio on his belt and took a drag on his cigarette.
Maddie found a small piece of a brick and flung it past the guard.
He jerked to attention, his gaze following the noise.
Maddie sprinted along the wall, praying he wouldn’t turn back around before she reached his position.
The guard took a step toward the brick.
Maddie’s foot slipped on gravel.
As the guard turned toward her, she hit him like linebacker, going in for the tackle, knocking him to the ground.
His head hit the concrete with a loud crack, and he lay still.
Her pulse pounding, Maddie leaped to her feet, flipped him onto his belly and secured his hands with a zip-tie. After she stuck a strip of duct tape over his mouth, she straightened.
Two down.
Easing the door open, she looked inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the interior darkness. The warehouse floor was strewn with a few broken crates and discarded pallets. At the far side of the warehouse, a narrow band of light shone from a half-opened door. Nothing moved between her and that door. She slipped into the building and moved from crate to crate, across the open warehouse floor
Making sure to stay in the shadows, she thought of Derek and the men who would come to help her and her sister. As she neared the open door, she heard voices.
She hunkered low and listened.
“Once we get the other chick, we’ll move all the women to a new location, so that we can get them ready for sale.”
A different voice said, “After this sale, the Mayor wants us to lay low for a while, and then he’ll have us set up operations in a different town.”
As Maddie moved past the door and further into the warehouse, the voices faded. On the other side of the lit office, she found another door and pressed her ear to the panel. The sound of hushed voices and faint sobs drifted through the cracks.
Maddie’s heart sped up. She’d found the women. Maddie tried to turn the nob, but the door was locked. Another fun thing her Dad had taught her was how to pick a lock.
“Never know when this will come in handy,” her Dad had said when she’d been a young girl.
The voices inside the room quieted.
Maddie pulled out the lock-picking kit her father had made for her. She slipped a narrow piece of metal into the lock and wiggled it around until she felt a soft click. When she tried again, the door knob turned, and she slipped quietly into the room.
Maddie flipped the switch on her tactical flashlight and a red beam lit the room.
Six women huddled onto small cots throughout the room. Another woman lay on a cot in the back, against the wall, her long, golden-brown hair tangled around her shoulders with blood caked on one side. The women on the cots swarmed around Maddie and, in hushed excited voices, all asked her questions at once.
A short woman with long blond hair said, “Who are you?”
“Did they get you, too?” said a woman taller than Maddie with short curly black hair.
A very thin, dark skinned woman with short black hair touched her arm. “Do you know what’s happening?”
Maddie put her finger to her lips and motioned for them to be quiet. “I’m here to help you escape. We have to keep it down, so they don’t know what’s going on,” she whispered.
All the woman glanced toward the door and hushed.
The blonde said, “What can we do to help?”
Maddie crossed to the woman lying on the cot in the back of the room, knowing deep down that this was her sister, Janie. She swallowed hard on the lump lodged in her throat and looked down on her sister, praying she was still alive. She felt for a pulse at the base of her throat and shined her flashlight at her sister and waited for the tell-tale sign of breathing.
Janie’s chest rose and fell at a slow, steady pace, and her pulse thrummed against Maddie’s fingertips. Though she was as pale as death, she was alive.
Grateful tears stung Maddie’s eyes. She blinked them back and straightened.
The woman with the short dark hair approached Maddie. “When they brought her in, she was unconscious. When she came to, we had her stay awake for a while to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. Now, she fades in and out, complaining of a headache. She’s been sleeping a lot over the last few hours.” She held out her hand. “My name is Lori. They took me from the university. I’m studying to be a nurse.”
Maddie took the woman’s hand and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you so much for taking care of my sister.” When she set Lori at arm’s length, she faced the other women. “There’s a team of men coming to help us, but I’m afraid to wait in case they don’t arrive on time. We need to rescue ourselves. Can you ladies help me get my sister out?”
All the women nodded.
Maddie gently shook Janie’s shoulder and leaned close to whisper in her ear, “Janie, sweetie, wake up.”
Janie came to, blinking up at the light shining into her eyes. She shook her head gently, winced and placed her hand to her temple. “Maddie?”
“Yeah, sweetie, it’s me.” Maddie choked back a sob.
“What happened? Where are we?” Janie squinted, glancing past Maddie to the women gathered around, her eyes rounding. She grabbed her sister’s hand. “Oh, no, Maddie. Did they get you, too?”
Maddie smiled. “No, sweetie, I’m here to get you out of here.”
Janie closed her eyes for a moment, and then reopened them. “Oh Maddie, am I glad to see you.”
Maddie hugged Janie then helped her to sit up.
Janie swayed, but remained upright.
Though she was anxious to get out of there before they were discovered, Maddie couldn’t rush her sister. She waited a moment, and then helped Janie to her feet and slung one of Janie’s arms over her shoulder.
Janie leaned heavily on her.
Maddie told Janie what she had told the other women. “We have to get out of here. Can you make it?”
Janie nodded. “I’m ready.”
With her arm around Janie’s waist, Maddie led her toward the door.
Lori went to Janie’s other side to help.
“Hold her, while I check to see if we’re clear.” Maddie turned off her flashlight, handed off Janie to Lori, and stuck her head around the door.
No one moved in the darkness of the warehouse. She could still hear voices coming from the office. Since they hadn’t come looking for the women, the kidnappers probably didn’t know their guards had been rendered useless.
Maddie ducked back inside the room. “The coast is clear. Let’s go.”
She hooked Janie’s arm around her shoulder again and guided her through the door, turning away from the office to cross the warehouse toward the front of the building. She hadn’t had time to check the back of the building for guards, but the ones in front wouldn’t be able to stop them.
As Maddie and the seven women neared the front entrance, a man shouted and sharp popping sounds echoed through the building, making Maddie and Janie freeze. They knew the sound of gunfire.
“Get down!” Maddie cried. She and Janie dropped to the floor.
The others followed suit.
“Don’t stop,” Maddie urged. “Crawl for the door.” She herded the girls toward the front entrance, half-dragging Janie along beside her. Once there, Maddie reached up and opened the door. “Go. And stay low.”
The girls exited on their hands and knees, one-by-one until the only ones remaining were Madd
ie, Janie and Lori.
Janie lay against the floor, her body shaking. “I can’t move.”
“You have to,” Maddie said.
“Save yourself,” she said.
“I’m not leaving without you,” Maddie said.
Chapter 8
Derek was first to peer around the corner of the structure, and his heartbeat ratcheted up.
Across the street, a couple hundred yards away a dark figure rose from a crouching position near the entrance of the warehouse where Maddie was supposed to meet the kidnappers. As the person stood, a long ponytail swung around her shoulders.
Maddie.
Before he could move or shout, she entered the building through the front door.
Holy hell. She went in.
His heart racing, Derek took a step.
Bear grabbed his arm. “It’s too late to go after her.”
“But we have to stop her,” Derek said, straining against the hand holding him back.
“Follow the plan.” Bear said. “We’ll get her out.” He pointed upward. “We need your Eagle Eye up there. Cover our backs.” He gave Derek a shove toward the rear of the building. “Go. Find a way up. Let us know when you’re in position.”
After glancing once more at the door Maddie disappeared through, Derek straightened his shoulders and turned away. He jogged around the old, empty warehouse to the rear where he found a rusted fire escape ladder. The rungs were too high for him to reach. With a quick look around, he spotted a stack of wooden pallets. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and stacked the pallets beneath the ladder until he could reach the first rung. Then he climbed the fire escape all the way to the top of the building. Every minute counted. The sooner he took his position, the sooner the team could go in.
He took up a position where he could see the front and side of the target warehouse and set up his rifle. “I’m in position,” he said into his mic.
“Roger,” Bear said. “We’re going in.”
One by one, the three men and dog crossed the street and slipped along the south side of the building. Taz and Bear stopped at a side entrance. Kujo and Six continued until they disappeared around the back of the building.
Derek glanced up and down the street. “All clear,” he said into the mic.
Bear said, “Door’s locked. Use your weapon, silencer on.
Kujo confirmed. “Roger.”
“On three,” Bear said softly. “One…two…three.”
Derek held his breath, wishing he was with the team and afraid the noise would alert the kidnappers.
No sooner had Bear and Taz entered the building, then the popping sound of gunfire reached Derek.
He held his position when he would rather join the team inside the warehouse.
“You have to move, Janie. I didn’t come in here to leave without you.” Maddie grabbed Janie by the seat of her pants and dragged her toward the door.
“The women are escaping!” a voice shouted behind Maddie.
She turned.
A man ran toward her, waving a hand gun.
“Go, Janie,” Maddie yelled and shoved her sister toward the door. She rolled to her feet and braced herself for a fight or a bullet. Either way, he wasn’t getting her sister.
From the darkness, a flash of fur hit the man from the side, knocking him to the ground.
A large German Shephard pinned the gunman to the ground, growling.
A man raced up behind the dog. “Good boy, Six.” Dressed in black tactical gear, he carried a rifle. “Which one of you is Maddie?”
Maddie threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I am.”
“I’m Kujo, and this is Six,” he said. “We’re here with Derek.”
“Oh, thank God. Where’s Derek?”
“He covered outside, while we secured the building.”
“You took care of all the kidnappers?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, but there could be more on the way.”
She nodded toward the guy on the ground. “What about him?”
“You want me to shoot him?” Kujo asked.
“No, but, I don’t want him to get away.” She pulled zip-ties from her pocket and handed them to Kujo.
“You would have made a good Boy Scout.”
“I know. Always prepared.”
While Kujo bound the man’s wrists, Maddie secured his ankles.
Kujo turned back, pointing his rifle with its attached light to look into the smoky darkness. He signaled toward the doors, and then said, “Derek indicated the entrance you came through is clear. We need to move out. Bear and Taz are flanking us from the right and left. They found a few men, but we think they might have alerted more. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”
Two men appeared out of the shadows, dressed similarly in black tactical gear.
The bigger man stepped forward. “Time to go.”
As they reached the exit, sounds of gunfire rang out in the street outside of the building.
Chapter 9
While the Brotherhood Protectors team was inside the warehouse, Derek waited, his rifle at the ready to engage any bad guys that might compromise the mission. He could only guess at what was happening inside with the sound of gunfire filling the air.
The front door of the warehouse opened and four women ran out.
Derek’s pulse sped as he peered through his rifle scope. None of the women were Maddie.
He trained his scope on the door, praying the next woman out would be Maddie.
Two more women, emerged, one leaning heavily on the other. Neither were Maddie, but one looked like her sister Janie.
Derek stood, slipped his rifle strap over his shoulder and pulled out his cellphone. “I’m calling the police and an ambulance,” he said into his mic.
“Good,” Bear replied. “We’re almost through clearing the building, but we don’t know what injuries the women have sustained. We’ll need help with the cleanup.”
Derek made the call to his friend Jonesy, asking him to send the police and ambulances for the women. When he ended the call, he spoke into his mic, “I’m coming down.”
“Yeah,” Bear said. “We’ve got it wrapped up down here.”
“What about Maddie?” Derek held his breath.
“She’s here. She’s okay.”
With a sigh, he asked, “How many casualties?”
“None dead,” Bear responded. “But a few of the kidnappers will need medical attention.”
“I’m glad we didn’t have to kill anyone,” Derek said. “It makes it easier to hand over the operation to the police.”
Taz chuckled. “Yeah, we’re not in the sandbox.”
Derek climbed down from the roof of the warehouse and crossed the street to where the men and women stood, his gaze scanning the faces until he located the one he was looking for.
When Maddie saw him, she ran into his arms.
He held her there, the warmth of her body against his, reassuring him that she was alive and breathing. “I wanted to be in there with you.” He smoothed his hand over her hair.
“It’s okay. Your team got us out,” she said.
“Your woman would have made it out without our help,” Kujo said. “She’s badass.”
Derek tipped her head up. “She’s her father’s daughter.” And he kissed her.
She leaned up on her toes and kissed him back.
“Hey, you going to introduce me to the man who’s sucking my sister’s face?” Janie limped over to where they stood. “What dating site did you find this hunk on?”
Derek turned to face Janie. “Hi, Janie.”
Janie’s eyes widened. “Derek, when did you get back in town?”
He tightened his hold on Maddie. “It’s a long story. We can talk about it over a beer, someday.” He stared down at the woman in his arms. “Which reminds me…we need to talk.”
“About?” Maddie asked.
“Later.” Out of the corner of his eye, Derek noticed a large van and an S
UV coming toward them from the north. He stiffened. “Hey guys, we have company.”
All three of Hank’s men turned as one.
“What have we got?” Bear asked, staring at the vehicles approaching at a high rate of speed.
“A large van and SUV coming our way,” Derek stated.
The vehicles sped toward them.
“These your cops?” Kujo asked, motioning for Six to come closer.
“They’d show up with lights flashing.” Derek’s arm stiffened around Maddie. “Take cover!”
The men herded the women around the side of the warehouse and took up defensive positions.
Derek hustled Maddie into the shadows. “Stay.”
“I’m not a dog.” Maddie followed him to the corner of the building. “I can help.”
“Please,” Derek said. “I need to know you’re safe.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
The van and the SUV skidded to a stop in front of the building, and men piled out, carrying rifles, handguns and submachine guns.
“Not my guys,” Derek said into his mic.
“Don’t fire until they do,” Bear warned. “We have to hold them until the police get here.”
“Roger,” Taz said.
“Can do,” Kujo agreed.
Derek wanted to shoot the bastards, but knew he had to wait. His job depended on it. As it was, he’d be in deep shit when his boss found out he’d continued with his investigation after being told to stand down.
The men stood behind the open doors of the SUV and the van.
One man shouted, “Give us the girls, and we’ll let you go free.”
“Dumbass,” Derek muttered. “Why would we give them the girls, when we have them and they don’t?”
“Give us the girls, or we’ll kill all of you…including the girls,” the man shouted over the hood of the SUV.
“Not happening,” Bear called out. “We have them, and we aren’t handing them over.”
“Have it your way,” the man shouted.
The armed men opened fire on them. One of the men slipped behind the steering wheel of the SUV and sent it rolling slowly toward the corner of the building with the doors open, using the bulk of the vehicle as cover.