Chapter Three
Hammer crouched in the darkness, watching.
He took a deep breath and listened. When it all seemed quiet he motioned to the men behind him and moved.
With careful, silent steps he made his way around the outer walls to the front gate.
Expecting a guard, he was surprised to find the only thing keeping him out to be a worn keypad.
He’d already disabled the cameras. If anyone checked them later, all they would find would be snow.
A digital security system was child’s play for him.
He’d come prepared and he and his men were inside in seconds.
Inside, they separated. Sparrow went with Vicious and Goliath stayed with him.
They’d been over the blueprints of the place on the three-hour drive and everyone knew where they were going.
Sparrow and Vicious were to look for Brittney.
They were headed for what they’d all believed to be the most likely place she was being kept.
Hammer and Goliath were going to get answers and eliminate one of the perpetrators of the trafficking Hammer was determined to stop.
He knew it likely wouldn’t be pretty, but it wouldn’t be the first time things had gotten bloody.
He just had to find Montoya. He needed to find out what he was doing with the girls he’d bought.
From the records he’d been able to find from Dwyer and a few of his contacts, Montoya had purchased several women over the last five years.
They were likely long gone, or at least most of them, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get answers and maybe a little justice for them.
The main suite was empty. Hammer had found that Montoya only spent a couple of days a week here, but his intelligence had told him he was here—at least he had been when they’d left the compound.
He bit back the growl fighting to escape.
If Bulldog hadn’t kept him from leaving when he’d wanted to, he could have caught the fucker.
Determined this wouldn’t be a wasted trip, he checked the other rooms on the floor.
Nothing. Not until he reached the last bedroom.
There, he found a woman curled on one side, asleep.
He couldn’t see much, not with the dim light coming in the window from the moon, but he could tell this wasn’t Brittney.
From everything he’d found about the girl they’d come after, she was blonde.
Her driver’s license had listed her at 5’9” and 180lbs.
The weight could, and probably had, changed but there was no way the tiny girl in the bed was that tall.
So, unless the bastard Montoya had done something even crueler than Hammer could have imagined, there was no way this was her.
After hearing about Miranda’s condition when they’d found her, he would have been shocked if Brittney were in a bedroom like this. He wasn’t sure who this was but there was no way he would leave her to the mercy of a man who, from everything Hammer had been able to find on him, had none.
He stared at the woman for several seconds, deciding how to proceed. If he wasn’t careful, she’d scream and alert anyone who was in the house of their presence. Making a decision, he crouched beside the bed and covered her mouth with one gloved hand.
Her eyes sprang open, and he wished there was enough light he could see her more clearly.
“?Hablas inglés?” Hammer asked in a whisper.
She nodded.
“I’m going to uncover your mouth. I don’t want to hurt you. I will if I have to, though. If you scream or make any noise, I’ll knock you out. Got me?”
She nodded again.
He eased his hand away from her mouth slowly, so he could cover it again if she’d lied about yelling.
“Do you know who is in the house?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Who?”
“Me, the housekeeper, Maria, and a couple of my father’s men. If they haven’t gone into town for a drink.”
“Your father? Alejandro Montoya Mendoza?”
The woman still lying in bed nodded.
“Where is he?”
“He left after breakfast. Said he had to be in Juarez by morning for a meeting.”
Hammer took a deep breath and forced himself to let it out slowly, so he wouldn’t lose his shit at being so close, but so far from what he needed.
“The rooms are empty. No sign of recent occupation. Directions?” Vicious’s voice came through the com unit in Hammer’s ear.
“Head for the entrance, watch for men returning from town. Do what you need to. We’ll be down in a few.
” Hammer gave the other men instructions then turned his attention back to the girl in front of him.
None of his research had told him that Montoya had a daughter, yet here was a woman claiming him as her father.
Was it another girl he’d purchased and trained to tell people that?
Was that his kink? It didn’t matter. He’d take the woman with them and sort it out later.
“Get up. You’re going with us.”
“Excuse me?” she tugged the blanket higher on her chest.
“You heard me. Get up. Get dressed or I’ll carry you out like that.”
She flung the blanket back and sat up. She reached out and Hammer tensed, but she only hit the switch on the light beside the bed.
“Where are we going?”
Hammer didn’t answer but stood and stepped back as she swung her legs over the edge and got out of bed.
“Can I have some privacy to change?”
“Sorry. No can do. I can’t let you grab a weapon or hit an alarm. I will have Goliath turn around, though.”
“But not you?” she asked.
Hammer just shook his head.
“Can I turn my back?”
“That’s fine.”
She went to a dresser against one wall, pulled out several items and set them on top before pulling open the neck of her nightgown and letting it fall to the floor.
Hammer blinked. She had a mass of bruises and possibly welts from her waist to below her underwear as well as several dark bruises on both upper arms. He wondered what had happened but didn’t want to ask, not now.
Every second they were in the house clicked in his mind as if it were the countdown on a bomb that would destroy them all.
Questions could wait until they were back on US soil and safe.