Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
“Ooooh, look at this one!” Fiona exclaimed as she held up a sparkly dress. “The tag says it’s a Versace.”
Bree couldn’t believe how fun this was. Each bag was a treasure trove of satin and lace.
There were some duds mixed in, but for the most part, everything was beautiful.
The donations would make so many girls and women happy.
She hadn’t found anything appropriate for herself yet, not for everyday living, but that was more than all right. She was having an amazing time anyway.
Looking through the door to the front, Bree could see Smiley pacing back and forth outside with his phone to his ear.
He didn’t look happy. Well, he looked unhappier than normal.
Whoever he was talking to, and whatever they were talking about, it seemed intense.
For a split second, she wondered if it was about her, but then she mentally rolled her eyes at herself.
Just because Smiley was having what looked like an important phone call, that didn’t mean it was about her.
Besides, if it was about Mateo hopefully being captured, surely he wouldn’t hesitate to let her know. He knew how stressed she was about what was going down today.
She’d just turned to dig back into the bag she’d been assigned when suddenly the door that led into the alley slammed open.
Shocked, Bree didn’t have time to do anything but gape before three men stormed in. They each made a beeline for a woman. The largest of the men came toward her, and Bree tried to back away, only to trip over one of the bags sitting on the floor behind her.
“No!” Julie yelled. “Let—”
The rest of her words were cut off abruptly as the man who’d grabbed her slapped a hand over her mouth.
Fiona was struggling with another man, who’d lifted her completely off her feet and was already walking toward the door.
The man nearest Bree reached down and grabbed her upper arm, yanking her back onto her feet roughly.
Then he wrapped an arm around her neck and squeezed.
Bree grabbed his arm, trying to wrench it away from her neck so she could breathe, with no luck. He force-marched her out the back door, following the other two men.
The entire abduction took less than thirty seconds. And aside from the door banging open, it was eerily silent. The men hadn’t said a word, and Bree—and Julie and Fiona too—had been too surprised and overpowered to scream. To try to alert Smiley that something was terribly wrong.
The kidnappers dragged them toward a large black SUV and opened the back hatch. Bree’s vision was going dark, as the man who held her hadn’t loosened his arm even a fraction. She took in gulps of air when he finally let go to shove her into the cargo area of the vehicle.
Her arms and legs tangled with Julie and Fiona’s, and before they could untangle themselves, the back hatch slammed shut.
“Fuck!” Julie exclaimed, as she began to desperately fumble for any kind of latch or handle that would open the back hatch again.
Sparing a glance at Fiona, Bree saw that she was huddled in on herself, staring into space.
“Help me!” Julie cried, as the vehicle began to move.
Bree scrambled to her side, and when she didn’t see any kind of handle, she went to her ass and began to kick at the glass with all her strength. Julie followed suit, but the glass refused to break.
That’s when Bree realized her vision was going foggy.
Looking around, she discovered it wasn’t her vision. There was literally fog filling the back area of the vehicle! It was only then she noticed the clear partition between the cargo area where she, Julie, and Fiona had been placed, and the backseat.
Two of the men who’d grabbed them were staring back through the Plexiglas, grinning manically.
Bree coughed and felt the world start to spin.
“Oh, shit,” Julie muttered, as she brought her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth.
But it was no use. The fog was thick and it was getting harder and harder to think. They were being drugged. She could only think of one person who’d have a vehicle made with unbreakable glass, a partition between the cargo area and the rest of the car, and a way to gas the occupants.
Mateo Castillo.
He wasn’t being handcuffed and taken to jail. He was here. Now. And he’d found her.
Not only her, but he’d taken Julie and Fiona as well.
It wasn’t fair! They’d already been through hell.
Crawling over to Fiona, Bree wrapped her arms around the woman and held on as tightly as she could, even as she felt herself losing consciousness.
Whatever Mateo had in store for them wouldn’t be good.
She knew that as well as she knew her own name.
But she vowed to do whatever it took to get Fiona and Julie out of this. Mateo was after her. Not them.
The last thought she had before passing out was how pissed Smiley was going to be. The guilt he’d feel would be overwhelming. He’d assigned himself as her protector, and yet she’d been taken right out from under his nose.
She had no idea how Mateo had known where and when to strike, but that didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was surviving until Smiley and his friends could find them.
Thirty minutes later, Safe’s house was packed to the gills, but Smiley barely noticed. He couldn’t get the sight of that empty back room out of his head. He hadn’t heard a damn thing. No screams. Nothing. Castillo had swooped in and somehow taken all three women without making a sound.
Hurt had already given Tex access to the store’s security camera footage.
He was already working on tracking Castillo through other CCTV cameras in the area.
Meanwhile, Hurt was trying to connect the security camera app for Julie’s system to the television at Safe’s house, so they could view the footage.
Even knowing Tex was on this, Smiley felt sick. He couldn’t help but feel as if this was his fault.
“What the fuck went wrong with the task force?” Cookie bit out. He wasn’t asking anyone in particular, but the room in general.
All of Cookie’s former teammates were there.
As were Smiley’s friends. Everyone wanted to do something, but they didn’t have a direction to take yet.
So they had to wait. Which normally wouldn’t be a problem, they were all used to waiting, but this time things were personal.
Not only was Bree’s life in danger, but Fiona and Julie’s too.
And everyone was more than aware of what had happened all those years ago in Mexico. How badly the women had been abused. How Fiona had been drugged. And how she’d had that relapse when she’d come back to California. This was literally her worst nightmare come true.
And Julie…she hadn’t exactly dealt well with being a captive last time, although she was definitely a different person now than she was all those years ago.
Then there was Bree. Yes, she’d been taken from her apartment back in Vegas, but she’d been rescued pretty quickly. How was she holding up?
Smiley couldn’t stop thinking about what he should’ve done. How he should’ve kept her on base or at his apartment until he’d gotten confirmation that Castillo was taken into custody.
Minutes later, Hurt had finally gotten the security footage pulled up from My Sister’s Closet, and everyone gathered around the TV to watch.
Kevlar sidled up next to Smiley and put his arm around his shoulders. He needed the support, and didn’t push his team leader’s arm away. He wasn’t sure he could handle seeing Bree being taken.
As he leaned against Kevlar, Hurt clicked play. Holding his breath, Smiley watched as the girls smiled and chatted. Fiona held up a dress she’d just taken out of one of the garbage bags full of clothing. Then the back door slammed open, and all three women spun around as three men stormed inside.
To Smiley’s shock, Castillo himself was among the three kidnappers. He stood out amongst the others, as he was quite large, both in height and weight. He stormed toward Bree, who stumbled backward and tripped over one of the bags.
Fiona and Julie were struggling with the other two men as Castillo grabbed Bree. He wrapped his arm around her neck, and Smiley could barely breathe himself as he imagined the panic Bree must’ve been feeling.
And just like that, the back room was empty.
The entire kidnapping had taken no more than thirty seconds.
Twenty-four seconds, to be exact.
The view changed to the camera in the back alley, and Smiley watched as the women were forced into the cargo area of a large SUV. He could see Julie pounding on the back glass as the vehicle sped out of the alley.
To everyone’s dismay, they could clearly see the license plate on the SUV had been blacked out. No doubt they would pull over somewhere and take the tape off so they wouldn’t be stopped by the cops.
After watching the video, the room was silent as the men absorbed what they’d seen.
Smiley didn’t know what to say. To do. His first instinct was to get in his car and start looking for that black SUV. But he didn’t know where to start. Riverton itself wasn’t a huge city, but it was close to others in Southern California. They could be anywhere by now.
Tex had notified border control, and they were on the lookout for the vehicle and the men who’d taken the women.
But Castillo wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t attempt to simply drive across the border in the same car he’d used to abduct the women.
Also, Smiley knew for a fact that Bree wouldn’t just sit in the back and not scream her head off if there was a chance someone could hear her.
He figured Fiona and Julie would do the same.
No, Castillo would have to subdue the women in some way—and that was what worried him the most.
“Fuck,” he swore.
Kevlar tightened his grip around Smiley for a moment, then straightened.