Rescuing Melissa (ALPHA TEAM: Guardian Hostage Rescue Specialists)

59. Escape

FIFTY-NINE

Escape

MELISSA

The cane twisted in Melissa’s grip. Her hands were cramped from holding it tight. The sound of metal rasping on the other side of the door had her stomach tangling in knots. Pierce was undoing the locks. A look of pure terror filled Henrietta’s face. Melissa swallowed her fear. At least one of them needed to be strong.

It was now or never.

Dear God, she could die!

Charles lumbered over. Something wasn’t right with the way he moved his legs. She waved him away, but he gave a determined glare like there was no way in hell she was keeping him from helping out. Not that she could fault him.Live or die, they would do it together.

Charles positioned himself behind the door and took the paddle Henrietta offered. His expression was nearly as fierce as the mother of two. Melissa’s blood chilled.

Belle had been silenced. After Henrietta’s concerns, they cuffed and gagged Pierce’s first princess. Some sort of crazy lived in Belle’s eyes. The others sat in their cages, fearful whimpers accompanied their tearful sobs, but they hadn’t shouted a warning. Melissa and Henrietta had debated freeing them, but Henrietta didn’t trust the brainwashing the girls had undergone. Not to mention, they didn’t have the combinations to the locks.

“Now or never,” Henrietta said. “They will kill us for this.”

Melissa couldn’t speak. She knew the evil beyond that door. The killing would only come after great pain.

When the locks released, she and Henrietta jumped. The door opened inward. Scott stepped through. The cane in Melissa’s hand came up and then smacked down. Again and again, she struck, mindless, not with fury, but with suffocating fear.

Whack! Whack! Whack!

Scott dropped something from his shoulders. It landed with a solid thump.

A body? Had they brought another woman down?

There was no time to think.

The whip cracked. Her cane struck.

Scott cursed.

Melissa wielded the cane in one hand and the whip in the other, becoming something wild and altogether not sane.

Her ex-husband fell to his knees, giving her a much better target to aim at. She took advantage of his position and landed another volley of strikes.

Charles kicked Scott. His bare foot smacked Scott’s stomach with asquelching sound. Charles brought down the paddle. That thick chunk of wood cracked her ex-husband on the head.

She took a step back, horrified—hell, she was a part of this madness.

A second figure shouldered through the doorway.

Henrietta fell upon Pierce with a ferocity Melissa had never seen before. The twisted expression on Henrietta’s face didn’t even look human.

And then, to confuse things even more, a blonde flurry of fists, arms, legs, and feet rose from the ground, spinning and kicking in a blur of motion. Melissa couldn’t keep track of anything. The blonde concentrated her energy on Pierce, aiding Henrietta’s efforts. Somehow, the girl kept out of range of Henrietta’s cane.

Melissa staggered back, her hand moving from her mouth to her chest as if that would silence her heart’s raging beat.

Charles beat Scott over the head with the paddle and kicked him in the ribs with legs and feet that didn’t work quite right. Scott covered his face as he curled into a fetal ball. Charles’s assault was relentless.

Henrietta screamed at the top of her lungs. The blonde furry of fists and feet landed blow upon blow on Pierce until he, too, was reduced to a pile of quivering flesh on the floor.

Melissa couldn’t make out the words for all the screaming.

Wait!She was screaming, not Henrietta.

The blonde grunted as Pierce gripped her ankle and yanked her to the ground.

“Get a pair ofgoddamnhandcuffs!” The woman yelled.

Melissa paused; this had CJ written all over it. He had to be close.

My Hero!

The woman kicked Pierce in the chin, both of them grappling on the ground.

Henrietta stood over them, looking unsure of what to do, perhaps worried one of her strikes might hurt the unexpected help.

“Get cuffs!” The woman barked again. She put Pierce in a headlock, and his face reddened.

Melissa looked to the wall and scanned for cuffs.

Henrietta shouted. “The bed! Get him to the bed!”

Pierce’s face turned an unhealthy shade of purple.

The girl did some judo-flip move, which had her on her feet and Pierce’s neck locked in a ninja elbow-hold. With Henrietta’s help, she dragged Pierce to the four-poster bed. His mouth opened and closed, gulping for air.

Melissa reached for the collar and closed it around his neck with a satisfyingclunk.

Pierce stared back, purple-faced, his eyes bulging with murderous intent.

Henrietta moved to the head of the bed and pulled out a set of metal wrist cuffs attached to long chains. She snapped these around Pierce’s wrists before Melissa could blink. Seconds later, a set of ankle cuffs followed.

Melissa glanced toward the open door. Shadows raced toward them growing larger as booted feet echoed down the tunnel. She turned to stand in victory over her tormentor, but the look on the blonde’s face made her pause.

A hand gripped Melissa’s hair and yanked her head back.

Scott growled. “You fucking, bitch.”

Something cold and sharp pressed against her throat.

Scott pulled her against his chest, spinning her toward the door. Pierce had been trussed up like an animal. The blonde stood behind him, holding the chains. Henrietta teetered by her side. Charles was on the ground, blood trickling from his temple, knocked out cold. And there, barreling through the doorway, CJ came to an abrupt stop.

“Come any closer, and I kill her.” Scott pressed the knife to her throat.