Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Gina glanced over her shoulder, getting one last long look at the parking lot before she was shoved through the door into a warehouse space.
There were boxes, lots of boxes, and an office on the wall to her left.
There were lights, but they only illuminated about fifteen feet of space.
Anything thirty feet or more away from her was shrouded in darkness.
She looked for words on the boxes or anything to give her any indication where they were, but there was nothing to tell her where they had taken her.
They could be in the city where she lived, or they could have driven elsewhere.
Bouncing around in the back of a truck had left her disoriented.
She didn’t even know how long the drive had taken.
How could she figure out where they were, and if she did figure it out, what could she do with that information?
The idea of running grew but was dashed when they shoved her into a closet with no windows and a door with a hefty lock. The sound of the door locking took away the last of her hope. There was no way she would escape this hell.
Wave turned down the offer for the police to drive them home. Cass had stopped asking questions after she got a look at his text exchange with Thario, which was right after he’d gotten off the phone with Tex.
One of the officers walked them to the front of the theme park but didn’t traipse out into the parking lot with them. When they reached the car, Cass turned to him, her eyebrows raised.
“When are we going to get her?”
The last thing he wanted was her being put in the line of fire. His sister had heart, but she had no training. “We’re not doing anything. Like I said, Caroline and Fiona will stay with you. Once Wolf and Cookie get here, we’ll figure out the best course of action.”
“But you know where she is, right?”
“We have possible locations. We’ll need to figure out exactly which location they took her to. If we go in and it’s not the place where she is, they might move her. We have to be certain we know where she is before we make a move.”
Cass was quiet for a moment before she asked her next question, which hit him almost too hard.
“Do you think she’ll be sold to some human trafficker?”
When he first joined the Navy, trafficking was a thing, but few people outside of the military or law enforcement knew anything about it. That his eighteen-year-old sister knew people got sold into what amounted to slavery was terrible.
And it wasn’t only women who were sold into sexual services.
There were people who were forced to work in horrible conditions.
Many of those people died or were left with severe injuries in a country they had never been to before.
If they ever escaped, they weren’t in any condition to find their way home.
“I don’t know. She told me she doesn’t have what he wants. He may just get angry and do something awful.”
He glanced over and saw Cass swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. His heart squeezed, hoping his sister didn’t have to deal with more bad news so soon after their mother’s death.
One thing he learned as a SEAL was that people were unpredictable. They trained for anything because sometimes the people they were after did really dumb stuff. He hoped the guy who took Gina didn’t want her dead once he realized she really didn’t have what he wanted.
As he pulled onto the street where his mother’s house was, he saw the car parked out front. When he turned into the driveway, the doors opened, and two men got out, followed by two women.
Relief filled him as he recognized Wolf and Cookie. Caroline and Fiona were good people, and they would help his sister cope with her emotions.
He stepped from the car and moved to Wolf and Cookie, giving them a handshake and a quick hug before turning to Caroline and Fiona and introducing everyone to Cass.
“Thank you for taking the time to come here and help.”
Wolf lifted his chin. “We were close and wanted to help once Tex told us what happened.”
“I’m not even sure who has her. It’s a guess at best.”
Wolf nodded. “We’ll figure it out.”
Caroline had her arm around Cass’s shoulder as they headed inside. He watched until the women were inside the house before turning to Wolf.
“I’m glad Fiona and Caroline are here for Cass. She’s been through a lot.”
“Sorry about your mother. I understand she had been sick for a while but didn’t tell anyone.”
“Yeah. Cass handled it well. I’m not sure I handled it as well as she did.”
“From what I’ve heard, you did okay,” Wolf said.
“Thank you. I’m worried about Cass and how she’ll deal with moving. I’d intended to ask Caroline for help, but I guess now they’ve met, and Caroline is the kind of person who will help out now that she knows Cass.”
Wolf’s lips tipped up. “She is that kind of woman. Now then, about Gina. Do you have any more information? Tex gave us a rundown of everything he knows.”
“Thario just got in contact with me. With everything Tex has found out and the stuff Thario sent over, I think we have a good handle on probable locations. I know this jerk could kill her, but I don’t think he will yet. He really believes Gina has something he wants.”
Cookie raised his eyebrows. “Does she?”
Wave shook his head. “I don’t think so. Her reaction was real. She hasn’t shown any signs that she’s lying about it.”
Cookie nodded. “So she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Yes. I don’t know who the woman was that she saved from this Pete guy.”
“Tex is working on it,” Wolf said.
Cookie lifted his chin. “That’s good.”
Wave grunted. “If we find her, we might know what Pete wants, and then we can get him to stop coming after Gina.”
They headed inside and found Caroline, Fiona, and Cass in the kitchen laughing at something Fiona said. It was good that the women were keeping Cass occupied. He didn’t want her to think about the danger he would be in once they left to rescue Gina.
“Hey, we’re making food,” Caroline called out.
Fiona stepped into the living room where Wave had his computer set up. “When you’re hungry, you can grab a plate.”
Cookie moved to Fiona and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”
Wave moved to Cass and gave her a hug, then met Caroline's and Fiona’s gaze. “Thank you for helping out. I really appreciate it.”
“Any time. And Cass told us she’s moving back with you. We exchanged numbers so we can get together when she is in California.”
“That’s great. Thank you.”
They needed to get to work, so they stepped into the living room and started looking for information.
They were in a group chat with Tex and Thario, going through the key points when Foster sent a text, saying that the guys thought they’d found her.
The guys on his team had found traffic footage of the delivery truck and had a good idea where she was being held.
“We should go,” Wolf said.
Wave knew he was right. Leaving Cass, though she wasn’t the target, felt wrong. Wolf stepped closer to him, holding his gaze.
“Caroline and Fiona will keep Cass safe.”
He hated being pulled in different directions. On a mission, he had one objective. Here, he needed to keep Cass safe, and he had to rescue Gina. The objectives pulled him in separate ways. But he had to believe that Cass would be safe with Caroline and Fiona.
“Okay, let’s head out. We need to get her back.”
Luckily, Wolf and Cookie had weapons. They were headed into the unknown, and maybe they should call the police, but he didn’t want the rescue to be delayed. If something happened, they would figure out how to mitigate the circumstances.