Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Pen heard a car approaching. Willa stiffened beside her. “You heard it, too?” Pen whispered. She wasn’t sure why she was whispering. Whoever was in that car couldn’t hear them.
She prayed it was her father. At least she knew he wouldn’t kill her right away. If he had someone with him, they might kill one of them, but if was just him, that meant they had another day to figure out how to escape.
The vehicle came closer and was almost at the building where they’d been dumped when she heard another noise like a stick breaking then scuffling of feet.
Pen turned her head and whispered in Willa’s ear. “What is that?”
“What?”
“I heard a noise outside the building.”
Willa cocked her head to the side and then shook it. “I don’t hear anything.”
Pen was sure she’d heard someone outside the building walking past. They were being quiet, but she swore she heard someone moving outside.
Were they friendly or foes? What if someone came here to attack her father?
They would never escape if that was the case.
She didn’t want to starve to death here in this place.
The car door slammed shut, and she heard her father whistling. She hated whistling all because of him. The sound creeped her out.
“What do we do?” Pen asked.
“I don’t know. We weren’t able to get our legs free. We can’t rush him.”
“Shit. I hate this.”
Anguish filled Pen. She didn’t want Willa to suffer. “I’m so sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. You did nothing wrong. We’ll face this together.”
Pen scooted closer to her friend, praying they could both escape. If she couldn’t get out, she at least wanted Willa to get free.
The whistling stopped, and she heard someone speaking, but couldn’t hear exactly what was said.
“Is that someone else?” Willa asked.
“I think so.”
They both stilled and though it was awkward, she reached for Willa’s hand. They couldn’t really hold hands, but they tried.
Pen was having trouble getting enough air in and she felt like she might pass out.
“Willa, you have to survive. If someone else other than my dad comes through that door, get behind me.”
“No, Pen. We’re both surviving. We’re both going to get out of this.”
“You deserve to live.”
“So do you. You deserve to have happiness. I swear, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we both live.”
Pen didn’t know how. They were in one of the worst situations ever. They might not survive, but she would die trying to keep Willa safe.
Foster followed Wave and Jump out from the corner of the building. It was just one guy holding a bag of chips. The dude hadn’t expected them if the look of shock on his face was any indication. At first, he tried speaking in terrible Spanish, but Wave told him to shut the fuck up.
“I don’t have anything. Wait, you’re Americans. I’m one of you. I’m not who you want.”
Jump had moved in fast and had the bastard turned and his face down on the hood of the car. The man was sputtering, and trying to fight, but he was no match for Jump. Foster would give him credit for holding on tight to the bag of chips.
“Where are they?” Wave asked.
“Who?”
The man was acting like he had no idea what they were talking about. Jump dug into the guy’s pants and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them to Bang.
“Open the door but be careful. This bastard looks like the type that would set a trap,” Jump said before he kicked the jerk in the back of the legs, causing him to drop to his knees. Now the bag of chips was loose on the hood of the car.
“What are you doing? You can’t go in there.” Wave hit the guy with the butt of his gun, causing the jerk to go limp.
Cy was right behind Bang. The door swung open and Bang checked the opening for trip wires.
“It’s all clear,” Bang called out.
“Don’t go in there. You can’t,” Pen’s father called out.
Foster resisted the urge to turn back and beat the shit out of the guy. He could save that for later. First, he wanted to find Pen.
Bang moved slowly with Cy behind them. They found lights and flipped them on, checking for any traps set up. The building didn’t even have an alarm.
“I don’t see anyone,” Cy said, defeat filling his voice.
Foster didn’t see anyone either. Maybe the women weren’t here. He’d had so much hope before, but what if they’d already been taken by someone else? Would they ever find them if they’d been tossed into the trafficking pipeline?