“What do we do?” Amanda asks after the sound of Angel’s footsteps fade away.
“He said it’s safer here,” Penny offers.
“This is the closest we’ve been to freedom,” I remind them.
“I bet we can kick some of the boards away. This shed doesn’t seem very well built,” Amanda adds.
“And what?” Penny snaps. “Run around in the forest until we’re eaten by wild animals?”
I feel the rope moving at my waist, telling me that Amanda is trying to get her hands free. Being able to move autonomously is a good idea, so I lift my hands to my mouth, working the knot loose on my wrists.
It seems like forever before Amanda is free, then she turns around to help me, and we work together to free Penny.
“I don’t want you to stay behind,” I tell Penny, knowing that Amanda is on board and Penny’s the only reluctant one in the group.
“We’ll die out there,” she says with a sob.
“And we’ll die if we stay,” Amanda explains. I know we all feel the same way, but Penny is still having a hard time.
“We have to decide,” I say, the urgency to get away boiling inside of me.
“I’m going,” Amanda says, and I sense her moving to the back of the shed, only able to see the outline of her person from the moonlight filtering in through the cracks between the boards.
Amanda kicks at one of the boards, and the sound echoes all around us.
She pauses, knowing she’s making too much noise to keep from being discovered. I don’t know how much time we have, but I know it’s going to take forever to get through the wall using only our hands.
Chapter 18
Thumper
“And the staff?” I ask Angel after he returns from outside.
“I’ve told them all to stay in the staff quarters, but who knows if they’ll listen. Miguel is still bent out of shape about Juan.”
“He needs a bullet in his fucking head, too,” I mutter as I watch Lauren pace around my office.
She’s nervous, and it’s the first time I’ve seen real fear in her eyes since we met all those years ago. Training and being in the middle of a real life or death situation are completely different.
“The women?” I look to Angel.
“They’re all in the shed. Let’s hope they don’t get any bright ideas because that place isn’t as secure as I originally thought.”
“Hopefully, they won’t.” But I know better. I know there’s a very real chance we’ll go out there after this is all done, and that shed will be empty. I can only pray that the threats waiting for them in the forest are enough to keep them inside.
All the plans are in place, and as much as I hate to send Cara back to the States, I know my reasoning for wanting to keep her here is selfish. I’m a monster to her, and that part of the situation is purposeful, but I know it’s going to be hard to focus with her gone. I’ve repeated over and over in my head that I have a job to do and worrying about her makes that impossible.
Lauren’s buyer is coming tonight, and plans are in place to move the other three girls tomorrow morning. Their nightmares will soon come to an end.
Amanda is being returned to her family. We managed to track down Penny’s sister that ran away years ago, and since we’d never suggest Cara go back to that cult her mother dragged her into, we’re going to have to just release her on her own, letting her choose where in the States she wants to live and then providing services and aid until she’s ready to fully be on her own.
We hear the truck coming up to the house long before it reaches what we consider the driveway. The house is so isolated that any new sounds are easily heard.
As planned, I instruct Angel to tie the rope around Lauren’s wrist and connect it to an eye bolt in the middle of the living room floor. I turn away, giving them a moment of privacy when he cups her jaw.
“Are you sure?” he asks. She must nod because I don’t hear a verbal response.
I pat the gun at my back, making sure it’s still there, a nervous response, as we wait for the man to approach.
Before he can climb out of his truck, Angel and I are standing on the front porch.
“Mr. Siliguri,” I say, holding my hand out, trying to act professional even though the last thing I want to do is touch this man.
A bullet to the head is the only thing he deserves.
“Mr. Lanza, actually. Siliguri didn’t want to make the trip for just one girl.”
I grit my teeth as he shakes my hand.
“Our contract is with Mr. Siliguri,” Angel says, refusing to shake the man’s hand when it’s offered to him.