Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Two women. Both are hurt. One’s in the far right corner, on the floor. Man standing over her. His partner is shoving the other woman away from the first one. Second woman just went down in the middle of the floor. Her assailant is kicking her.
Maestro stood to one side of the door, while Keys was directly behind him. Keys tapped his shoulder and Maestro opened the door, stepped to his right and shot the man standing over the woman in the far right corner. He fired one shot straight to the middle of the forehead. Simultaneously, Keys shot the man kicking the woman. Keys didn’t miss when he aimed at someone, and neither did Maestro.
Maestro held up his hand to the women on the floor. “Don’t scream. Need to know if there are more of you. More guards. We’ve come to get you out of here.”
The woman in the middle of the floor sat up, looked him over carefully and then crawled across the room to put her arms around the second victim. Keys ignored the torn clothing strewn around the room and handed her a shirt he’d brought with him. “You have decent clothes somewhere?”
“In the holding rooms. They brought us here to have a little private fun, they called it,” the woman said, taking the shirt. She began to put it on the woman crouched on the floor. “Paula, it’s okay. They aren’t going to hurt us. I think they’re here to help.”
“We’re in a time crunch,” Maestro said. “I don’t want to push you, but we need to get you somewhere safe. You both need medical assistance.” The one she called Paula looked as if she’d been in a train wreck. Clearly, she was terrified and nearly comatose. He’d seen that look hundreds of times before. Human beings pushed beyond their minds’ ability to accept the trauma happening to them.
“I’m Cecily.” She took Maestro’s hand so he could assist her to her feet. He wrapped her in a shirt he’d brought. They’d learned victims often didn’t have clothes. It was one of the ways their captors stripped them of dignity and made them feel vulnerable.
Maestro crouched down beside Paula. She looked young, still in her teens. “I know this is difficult, Paula.” Deliberately he called her by her name. “We’re going to get you and Cecily out of here. Can you walk? I’d carry you, but we have to clear the rest of the rooms.”
“Everyone else is down in the holding room,” Cecily volunteered. “There’s a tunnel. They brought us in through that way. We’ve never been anywhere other than the room they hold us in, the training rooms and now here. This was the first time anyone took us here.”
If Maestro had to guess, the two men assaulting the women had most likely been the ones to kill Andrew McGrady. They were probably celebrating.
“How many other women?” Keys asked.
“Six,” Cecily answered readily. “Paula, baby, we have to go. I’m right here. I’m not going to leave you.”
“I’m putting my hands on you,” Maestro said, “but only to help you get to your feet. Think about getting out of here.” He sent up a silent prayer that whatever powers might be would give the girl the strength to tolerate his touch.
Paula’s gaze clinging to Cecily, she let out a little sob as she gave a barely perceptible nod. Maestro didn’t wait. He lifted the girl to her feet. She shuddered with pain and nearly collapsed. Broken ribs for certain, he informed Keys and included Steele. This one can’t be out of her teens and she’s in bad shape.
We have the hospital we use standing by. Clock is ticking, Steele reminded them. Get them out of there before Billows makes his rounds.
“We’ve got to go, ladies,” Maestro said. He signaled to Keys to lead the way. He’d bring up the rear. Keys was the man who could see through walls. “Tell us where the opening to the tunnel is.” He kept his voice soft and compelling.
Cecily wrapped her arm around Paula’s back. “You have to go down to the very end of the hallway. There’s a lock on the wooden panel.” She looked and sounded alarmed. “They have a special way of opening the lock. They shut the door, so it automatically locked.”
“We’ll get through,” Maestro assured her. “Keep moving.”
The progress down the hall was excruciatingly slow. He wished he could carry Paula, knowing every step she took hurt like hell, but he needed his hands free.
“You’re up,” Keys said.
Maestro moved around the women to hover his palms an inch from the paneling. The screams and cries of women mixed with male arousal and ugly visions drowned out the intricacies of the lock. He was going to have to touch the wood. His gut knotted at the necessary decision. He knew childhood memories would flood in, bursting open the doors he’d sealed shut in his mind. He clung to Azelie, using her as a buffer. The lightness of her. The sunshine in her. The joy she had for life and the people she surrounded herself with.