36
Moreno
I lead the team, with Sawyer, Caden, and six additional soldiers behind me. We don’t have active surveillance or audio.
It’s risky, going in blind, but we must find Paige.
I won’t let anything happen to her.
The walkie-talkie is attached to my belt loop. There’s been only radio silence.
My cell phone hasn’t buzzed either.
While the signal is strong at our current location and there’s a nearby cell tower, there’s been no response, which means no news.
Paige is still unaccounted for. She’s out there, being held by Vance against her will. I can only fathom all the terrible acts that he’s doing to her, and it makes my stomach flop.
If he wanted her dead, he wouldn’t have been shy and would have murdered her in broad daylight, just like he did my wife, Serene.
Vance is a monster. Coming after what matters most to me, family.
Why me? Why my family? Not that I want anything to happen to Luca or Nikki, but his fascination with torturing me needs to end.
We take out the guards first at the entrance of their hideaway. Two guards versus nine of us, there’s no issue breaking in through the main gates, though we are overzealous with bullets, shooting several rounds into each guard.
Once we’re through the gate, we rush for the main door to the brick building. This isn’t where they used to house the girls. It’s newly built but lacks the level of security that one might expect for a trafficking operation.
Where are the additional guards on the perimeter?
“Keep moving,” I order my men to head inside the facility. Time isn’t on our side.
The eruption of gunfire had to be noticed. Their men are likely getting armed and prepared for us.
Caden shoots the handle of the door, granting us entrance inside. He and two of his soldiers enter first, sweeping the area, shooting anyone deemed a threat.
Female screams echo from down below.
The floorboards squeak and wheeze, bouncing as we walk. Each step hallow. It’s obvious there’s a basement, a bunker, some type of underground prison below.
We haven’t found the door for it yet.
There are too many of Vance’s men with guns shooting at us as we fire back.
A blaze of gunfire cracks one right after the other.
Blood spews as we take out four men.
Four.
It’s too few to be guarding a compound of this magnitude.
Female voices scream and shout down below our feet.
“Paige!” I don’t recognize her voice amongst the women crying for help, begging for safety and freedom.
I kick a gun away from one of the dead men.
“Something’s off,” I say, glancing at Sawyer.