Chapter Eighteen
Rebecca
How could I not worry? The two men I loved…yes, loved…were about to have a gun battle with men who had no qualms about kidnapping, raping and, I suspected, murdering women.
I turned to the three women who had huddled onto a double seat behind me. “Are you hurt?”
“No, we are not hurt,” the one in the middle said. She was stunningly pretty with long dark hair and big brown eyes with lashes that could be mistaken for false but seemed very much her own.
“What is your name?”
“Sorenna.”
“I am Rebecca. How long have you been held here?”
“We have been three weeks. A long time.” She frowned at me. “And you?”
“Not that long, a few hours perhaps.”
“Then you are lucky.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but I guessed she saw it that way. “Did they touch you?”
“No, we are unharmed. Hungry, scared, but not hurt.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? In three weeks?”
“Yes, I heard them talking, we would sell for less if bruised and battered and…” She pursed her lips. “No longer virgins.”
“Jesus.” My mouth fell open. “They were going to sell you?”
“He was, Bateman, he tricked us all to coming here, to United Kingdom, said he had good job and nice house for us, that we would be cared for and…and it was all lies.”
I studied the other two girls. One had red streaks in her short dark hair, the other, also dark, had curly hair and big hooped earrings. They were also very pretty, slender, and elegant.
“How did you meet him?” I asked. I figured I already knew the answer.
“Online, Facebook, he was so handsome, kind, had a big house, fancy car, he offered me…all of us…a new life.” She squeezed the hands of the other two girls. “They don’t speak English too well.”
“So how did they communicate with him?”
“Bateman speaks…spoke Romanian.”
“Ah, I see.” My mind was spinning. How many other girls had he done this to, and where were they now?
Movement out of the front windscreen caught my attention. A thick-set guy, gorilla-like neck, had emerged from the barn and was racing toward the farmhouse.
In hot pursuit was Cillian, Finn, Jamie, Phil, and Dalton. They all had their weapons at the ready and masks pulled up.
One of the girls behind me let out a squeal and slapped her hand over her mouth. I could understand why she was terrified. Galahad were mean as fuck and as efficient as a deadly SWAT team. They were in full predator mode; only one outcome would satisfy.
Their prey ran into the farmhouse, and the door slammed shut. But this didn’t stop my masked guys who took it down in three expert kicks.
My heart was hammering, my skin prickling with adrenaline. Galahad disappeared into the house, and I held my breath. What if it was Bateman? What if he’d lured them there to kill them all?
Nausea gripped me, and my body tensed to steel. I curled my hands over the seat in front of me and stared, unblinking, at the wide-open door, wondering what was going on in there.
More shots fired, five in total. I jumped with each one, even though they were muffled coming through the van. And then a great billow of black smoke came from the door.
“What is happening?” Sorenna asked, shooting forward, her face beside mine.
“A fire.” I shuddered. “Something is on fire.”
“Should we go see?” she said.
“No!” I was horrified. “We were told to stay here. The guys will handle it, I know they will.”
“You know these men?”
“Yes, they came to save me, and it seems, that meant they saved you, too.”
“They are good men?” She frowned as more smoke puffed onto the yard. A cat darted out and galloped toward the barn.
“Yes, they are good men, we are safe with them, I promise.”
She exhaled and turned to the other two, spoke fast in Romanian.
Cillian and Finn raced from the doorway.
“Oh, thank goodness.” I pressed my hand to my chest.
But they didn’t come to me, they went into the stable. The next thing I saw was them carrying Reg Jack’s dead body between them. Cillian looked my way, briefly, before going back into the burning farmhouse.
A window to the right of the door burst out into the yard, and an orange licking flame followed it. The whole house was going up, and it seemed so were the bodies. Smart, it would destroy evidence that Galahad had been here.
Phil appeared at a run, and he did come to the van. But instead of jumping in, he pulled something from the back then stooped, screwdriver in hand, and fiddled at the front. Below the hood.
“What is happening?” Sorenna said.
“They’re torching the place.”
“Torching?”
“Burning, the police will find only ash when they arrive.”
“We should go.” She looked nervously over her shoulder. “Before police arrive.”
“You’re scared of the police?”
“In my country, Romania, the police are not good. Here…I don’t think so either. I have no passport, no documents.”
I nodded. “I see…we’ll be gone before the police arrive.”
As I’d spoken, members of Galahad emerged into the yard. Along with Finn and Cillian, they were all coughing, spluttering, staggering, and wafting their hands before their faces.
“Get a move on.” Phil stood and gestured wildly. He held a set of number plates in his hand. He’d obviously switched them. “Hurry.”
They made a dash for the van and piled in, bringing with them the charred scent of smoke and ash. Jamie leaped into the driver’s seat, Dalton at his side. Phil lumbered into the back, and Finn and Cillian flanked me.
“What went down?” I asked.
My question was ignored. Dalton spun around, dropping his bandana to his neck. He had a smear of black over his left eyebrow and he was breathless. “Are you ladies all okay?” He eyed each of us in turn. “Any injuries?”
“No, I think we’re okay,” I said.
Jamie revved the engine and then reversed at speed.
I clung to the seat in front, and Finn wrapped his arm around my shoulder to stabilize me.
The van then did a wheel spin before accelerating at pace down the bumpy track.
We all bounced this way and that. Dalton pressed his hand to the ceiling to prevent himself from hitting it.
We took a left at a gate with a dangling lock and chain then passed another farmhouse with a herd of black-and-white cattle grazing in the meadow.
“What happened?” I asked again.
“You know what happened.” Cillian scraped his hand through his messy hair.
“They’re all dead?” I said, then swallowed. “And burning, right?”
“Too good an end for those bastards.” Phil huffed.
“What were they doing? What was their plan for the girls?” I frowned, and my belly clenched. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Human trading,” Jamie said, his grip on the steering wheel intensifying. “These bastards lured girls here from abroad with promises of a better life and then sold them on to the highest bidder to be sex slaves.”
“Yes,” Sorenna said, bobbing her head vigorously and her long hair falling forward over her shoulders.
“They were going to sell us, fifty thousand each, I heard them say that. Fifty thousand pounds per girl. We would never have been seen again. The good Lord only knows what our fate would have been. The kind of man who buys a woman would not be a good one.”
“Sick fucks.” Phil slammed his hand into his fist.
“That’s…that’s appalling.” I swallowed down a bitter taste. Goodness only knew what future these three women would have had if we hadn’t turned up…if Reg hadn’t taken me.
I shuddered, and Finn tightened his hold on me.
“I guess it’s a silver lining,” I said. “That I ended up there and then so did you, it means these three women are free now.”
“That’s very positive of you.” Finn pressed his lips to my head. “I’m so proud of you, how you’ve handled this.”
I shivered again. “I just want to get as far away as possible, and then shower. I can still smell him on me.” My guts clenched.
“He really didn’t touch you, though?” Finn ran the back of his thumb down my cheek.
“No, you turned up just in time.” I felt the color drain from my cheeks at the thought of what would have happened.
“Won’t be long till we’re back at the house. And Dalton will check you out.”
Dalton studied me over his shoulder. “Did he drug you when he followed you into the car?”
“Yes, with a needle in my neck, paralyzed my body yet I could still hear. I was awake, just, but couldn’t move, and my thoughts were fuddled, you know, a struggle to keep together.”
His brow furrowed.
“What do you think it was?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, some kind of anesthetic perhaps. We’ll do a full toxicology, but it’s good that it’s worn off so quickly, it means there are unlikely to be long-lasting effects.”
“Yeah, that’s good.” Cillian squeezed my leg. “’Cause it’s too late to make him suffer some more.”
Thankfully the road surface improved, and we were driving back into the city. The buildings and road signs were comforting. At one point I’d thought I might never see them again.
We drove along a dappled avenue, tall houses basking in the sunshine, and soon arrived back at the Rose Cottage.
“I wonder if Andrew is here?” Phil commented. “He’ll need briefing.”
“Depends how easily he can win Chelsea over,” Dalton said. “She was pretty mad at him.”
“And not the kind of woman who can have the wool pulled over her eyes,” Finn added and opened the door. He stepped down and held his hand out for me to take.
I stood, on shaky legs. Cillian was close behind me with his big hands spanning my waist to make sure I didn’t fall. Their close attentiveness was reassuring, and I felt my strength returning.
Jamie was quick to help Sorenna from the van, and then assisted the other girls.
“What is this place?” Sorenna asked.
“We own it, it’s a safe place for women to work, heal, get themselves out of sticky situations.”
“Really?” She raised her dark glossy eyebrows. “That kind of place exists?”
“Yes, and you’ll be well cared for, I promise.” He pointed at her bare feet on the gravel. “Can you walk okay?”
“Yes, thank you.” She managed a tiny smile. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’m just glad we did.”
Dalton and Phil were quick to help the other two girls who followed Sorenna, their feet sinking into the tiny stones as they clung to one another.
“What is happening?” A girl in a bright-purple dress exclaimed when we all piled into the kitchen.
I remembered her name was Trixie.
“You’re back, thank fuck.” Mitch stood and stared at me. “You okay?”
“I’m okay.” I managed a weak smile and sat at the bench, leaned my back to the wall. “Just.”
“You sort the motherfucker out?” Mitch looked at Finn and then Cillian.
“Hell yeah.” Finn’s jaw tensed, and a tendon flexed in his cheek. “And a few bonus bad guys thrown in for good measure.”
Mitch frowned, and his attention slipped to the three Romanian ladies who were being given steaming mugs of coffee by Trixie. “What was going down?”
“Human trading. We took them off the shelf. Sick fucks were running quite the business.”
Mitch rubbed his fingers over his temples. “You get any intel? We might be able to find other girls, ones who weren’t so lucky.”
“Yeah, I picked up the top dog’s phone. Bateman or something.” Jamie produced an iPhone.
“Good, I’ll get my tech guy to unlock it.”
“No need.” Jamie tapped the screen. “I thought of that. New passcode is ‘asshole.’”
Mitch chuckled. “Knew there was a reason I liked you.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Your pal, Amy, is going to be really happy to know you’re safe.”
“Gosh, poor Amy, she must have been so worried.” I pressed my hand to my chest. Amy didn’t have many people in her life, I knew how much she valued me. “I should call her.”
“No, you let Dalton check you out,” Mitch said. “I’ll drop her a message.”
“You will?” I raised my eyebrows. “You have her number?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I took it so I could stay in touch about what was going on with you.”
“Oh, okay, thanks.” As soon as I had my strength back I’d go and see her. Give her a hug and get one in return. I loved my best friend dearly.
“Hold out your arm.” Dalton was at my side with a blood pressure machine.
I presented my right arm.
“Do you want food?” Trixie asked Sorenna. “I have chicken in the fridge, bread and cheese, too.”
“Yes, please.” Sorenna placed her hands on her flat belly. “They fed us very little, said that our buyers wanted skinny girls.”
“Real men like healthy strong women,” Trixie said with a tut. “Ain’t that right, fellas?”
There was a rumble of agreement.
“That’s all good.” Dalton removed the blood pressure cuff then flashed the torch in my eyes, his face close to mine. He had deep-blue eyes with a darker blue circle around the irises.
He appeared happy with my pupils and took my pulse. After that he rummaged in a cupboard and pulled out a syringe and vial. “Can I take blood for a toxicology screen?”
“Sure.” I was grateful for all he was doing. I didn’t have the emotional energy for a hospital visit and was still thinking longingly of a shower.
“Sit, sit,” Trixie said to the girls and gestured to the large table.
Sorenna sat with her attention on the bank of screens the guys used to keep a watch over the women in Rose Cottage. “You are police?” she asked.
“I’m not.” Phil shrugged his wide shoulders and bit into a banana. “But he is.” He pointed at Mitch. “Mainly we’re just a group of blokes who hate seeing women taken advantage of.”
“This is big house,” she said. “Must be a lot of money.”
“Sure, but money is just money, women, life…that is something else.” Jamie sipped from a mug of coffee. “And what we all have in common is a very strong sense of justice.”
“And you came looking for…” She looked at me. “Rebecca. Bateman had taken her and you knew where she was so you came.”
“Not Bateman, one of his asshole pals,” Cillian said, pulling his gun out and checking the safety. “But yeah, we managed to follow him, just as well we did.”
Sorenna smiled at Trixie as a big plate of food was placed down. “Thank you.”
“When you have all eaten,” Trixie said, “I will show you where to shower, get you clean clothes and you can rest.”
Sorenna relayed this to the other two women who sat close together with wide eyes.
“Eat.” Jamie pointed at the food. “You need to get your strength up.”
“You are very kind.” Sorenna took some bread and cheese. “Jamie.”
He smiled at her.
“Are you done with Rebecca?” Cillian asked Dalton.
“Yeah, one down, three to go.” He tucked the small vial of my blood into his bag. “Make sure you drink plenty,” he said to me. “Wash whatever this was through your system. And eat something, your blood sugar is bound to be low.”
“We’ll care for her,” Finn said and took my hand. “Come on, let’s get you in that shower.”