Page 64 of Diagnosis Attraction

She’d gotten this far without any problems. Now came the actual test.

Cautiously, she tiptoed to the window beside the back door and looked in. A man, probably one of the security staff, was in the kitchen helping himself to food from the refrigerator, and she waited with her heart pounding while he loaded a plate.

Don’t sit down at the kitchen table,she told him repeatedly.Take the food where you’ll be more comfortable.

Her breath was shallow as she waited to see what he would do. He stood in the kitchen for endless seconds, holding the plate, before finally leaving the room with the food.

When he was gone, she remembered to breathe again. She wanted to get this over with; and at the same time, she was glad that she’d had a little more time before she had to go in there.

She turned the knob and pushed the door open, then stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind her.

Taking a few steps forward, she looked for the back stairs that Sabrina had told her about. She also saw a short hallway and knew it led to the guard station.

“Get it over with,” she ordered herself, then crossed to the hallway and tiptoed farther into the house. At the end of the hall, she could see a small room with monitors flickering. The man who’d gotten the food was sitting with his back to her, looking at screens showing various views of the grounds. The plate was on a table beside him. Apparently, he’d left his post and hadn’t been looking at the monitors when she’d crossed the lawn. That was one stroke of luck. Hopefully, her luck would hold.

Gathering her power, she sent a beam of energy to the back of his head, holding it as long as she could, hoping she’d put him in a coma.

Because tying him up would be too suspicious, she left him slumped in the chair and headed back toward the steps, which she climbed rapidly. At the top, she paused, getting her bearings.

From the shadows where she stood, she saw a middle-aged man and a young brunette woman step out of a bedroom, and Elizabeth pressed herself against the wall. But the guy didn’t even notice her. All his attention was focused on his companion.

He gave her a familiar pat on the rear, then strode to the front steps. The brunette was achingly young-looking, and Elizabeth could only imagine what she’d been through since leaving her own country.

She stood staring after him, a resigned expression on her face, then glanced up as Elizabeth hurried toward her.

Surprise flooded her face as she stared at the woman who had materialized in the hallway.

“Who are you? Are you new here? Did you come in with another shipment?” she asked in heavily accented English.

“No. I’m helping Sabrina. I’m a social worker from Baltimore, and I met her there. I told her I’d return here for the rest of you.”

The statement was met with astonishment. “We haven’t seen Sabrina in months.”

“She’s fine.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. She and I worked out a plan to get the rest of you out of this place.”

Fear and uncertainty flooded the woman’s face. “You can’t get us out of the house; we’re guarded.”

“Sabrina got out. You can, too,” she answered, silently projecting that escape from this hellhole was possible. “What’s your name?”

“Maria.”

“I’m Elizabeth.”

“You’re sure we can get away? And they won’t kill us?” she asked in a shaky voice, her accent thickening with her mixed emotions.

“Yes. Do you know how many … guests are in the house.”

“Not many. It’s still early.”

“I need your help, Maria,” Elizabeth said, projecting calm and certainty. “We need to get the other girls together.”

Hope warred with fear on the woman’s face. “Yes, all right. But some of them are downstairs, waiting for patrons.”

“Get the ones up here together,” Elizabeth said, knowing that they would have to wait for Matt to arrive to complete the mission.

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