Two of his men came in, pushing past Gedeon, each going to one of the women and ruthlessly catching her by the hair to drag her into a semi-sitting position. Both began to make demands and pepper the woman with slaps and a fist in various places on her body before she could accommodate them. Two more men entered the hut and eagerly claimed two other hapless women.
“I brought you at training time. We have two other cabins. The same thing is going on in those cabins right now. We’re very organized. We train the sluts exactly the same. When they’re ready, we sell them and bring the next ones in. We try to make that turnover as fast as possible, and the money is unbelievable.”
Meiling could hear the curt dismissal in Frankie’s voice. She also heard the soft warning growl that sent a shiver of terror down her spine. Had anyone else heard it? It was so low. So deceptively quiet.
“You have three cabins here in the jungle already set up and running?” Gedeon reiterated.
“That’s right,” Frankie said. It was clear he believed Gedeon was on board.
“All of them have the same number of men keeping these women under control?”
“Yes.”
“And no one knows anything about this operation other than the men here now and your father?”
“He doesn’t know,” Frankie said, contempt in his voice. “He wanted Orlov paid off immediately. He would live with that asshole’s shoe on his neck for the rest of his life. I tried to tell him we could get out from under him, but there was no listening to my idea. So the hell with him. I’m getting us out. The only one who knows is my brother. He’d kill me if he knew you were here. He thinks you’re flying in tomorrow morning. I told him you’d be coming in then and I arranged for your arrival. I told him I’d give you the money then and you’d pay Orlov off and the debt would be cleared.”
“Those men you have patrolling, you didn’t by any chance give them orders to shoot me if I didn’t take this offer, did you, Frankie?” There was an edge of humor in Gedeon’s voice, inviting Frankie to laugh with him.
Frankie took the bait, laughing heartily. Nervously. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
Meiling heard the lie in his voice. What else could he do? He’d shown Gedeon a secret operation even his father didn’t know about.
Frankie was eager to offer Gedeon a share in his new business venture for all the favors Gedeon had done him in the past. A woman cried out in pain, and that must have been the catalyst for Gedeon to act. Meiling heard Frankie shriek. Plead. Women screamed. One of them yelled at Bess not to shoot. A gun went off. Meiling saw the two guards running toward the cabin. The dogs fought the leashes, desperate to get away. Swearing, the guards released them in order to retain possession of their guns. The dogs ran off into the jungle.
There was a sudden silence in the cabin as Gedeon, his elegant suit streaked with blood, somersaulted out the window closest to Meiling. He landed in the brush and went absolutely still, his gaze focused on the two men rushing up the stairs and into the cabin.
“Who did this?” one of the men shouted.
Two of the women answered that it was a stranger, they didn’t know, and the guards opened fire, their guns spouting bullets. Meiling had to cover her mouth to keep from crying out. She should have known the guards had been instructed to murder the women if there was any kind of trouble. Frankie had all but told Gedeon they were expendable. That meant the teens and younger children in the huts were as well. The men “training them” had to have heard those shots.
Meiling realized it was going to be a massacre. Gedeon realized it as well. With one incredible leap he was on the porch in the doorway, his gun blazing, and then he was running for the forest, his speed a blur. She saw him shed his jacket on the run. She was fast, but there was no way she could possibly keep up with him. She did stop to pick up his jacket, folding it over her arm as she sped after him, leaping over fallen tree trunks and avoiding tall termite hills.
She spotted his shirt in a tangle of brush off the trail. He was cutting through the jungle, well off the trail. She followed, using as much speed as possible. She was used to sprints, not steady long runs. She found his trousers on a low branch and beneath it his loafers.
She knew leopards. Shifters. They were all bad. Not just bad. She had thought they were the worst kind of evil on the planet, until she had begun tracking Frankie and his brother, Miguel. The brothers weren’t shifters and knew nothing of them. They came from a family of criminals, making their money running drugs and spending it like water when all around them were incredibly poor people. They cared nothing for those living in abject poverty. They seemed to care for nothing but themselves.