Page 43 of Rusty's Command

Rusty shot her a warning glance, his finger pressed to his lips to indicate silence.

She mouthed a silent, “Every month! What the fuck?” to Rusty.

Rusty wriggled his fingers as if typing, silently urging her to hurry. Sienna’s gaze snapped back to the screen, and her heart galloped with urgency.

On the monitors, the images of the women appeared, and Sienna’s heart nearly stopped when the camera zoomed in on the woman who had saved Pickle.

The dog wasn’t in her arms.

Oh God! Where’s Pickle?

“Let’s get the show on the road,” Viktor said. “Who wants to start the bidding?”

Sienna’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and as she forced her focus on the screens in front of her, Viktor’s voice echoed through the speakers, dripping with sickening pleasure.

“Bidding starts at fifty thousand,” he announced with a voice that made her stomach churn.

Sienna’s hands trembled on the keyboard as she worked, her mind racing with the horror of what was happening. The first girl was being auctioned off, and Viktor’s casual description of her made Sienna’s skin crawl. He was talking about her like she was a car, not a human being.

The multiple screens in front of Sienna showed the hungry bidders, their faces twisted with greed and lust. The numbers climbed higher and higher, and bile rose in Sienna’s throat.

I’m going to be sick.

One of the monitors showed the stage in the center of the room, and she caught glimpses of the men in the shadows beyond the stage. Armed guards. Six of them. Maybe more. Their faces were obscured by the darkness, but their weapons were on full display.

Oh God, how will we get out of here? How can we save these women?

A surge of panic raced through her. They were surrounded by armed guards, and they had no idea where the exit was.

As Viktor moved to the next woman in line, a wave of revulsion washed over Sienna. The young woman was barely an adult.

“Next up is our Chinese beauty.” Viktor curled his hand over her cheek, and the woman shuddered like her skin crawled.

Sienna’s anxiety spiked.

Shit! We’re running out of time.

“Rusty!” She waved him over, willing him to see the number of armed men out there.

Rusty shook his head and air-typed again, his fingers flying across an invisible keyboard. “Hurry,” he mouthed.

The bidding jumped to twenty thousand. Thirty. One hundred. Two. The numbers grew bigger and bigger.

“Sold!” Viktor’s voice boomed through the speakers. “Six hundred and eighty thousand. Congratulations, BidderSixtyNine. I’m sure you will be very happy with your Chinese Princess.” Viktor’s voice made her shudder as the guards stood by the stage, watching the half-naked women tremble with fear.

“Next up we have our prized possession. What a delight this Colombian beauty turned out to be.” His gaze fixed on the woman who saved Pickle. “Our little heroine has spirit, doesn’t she?”

Oh God. Oh God.

Sienna’s fingers flew faster, her mind racing with the need to stop this. She couldn’t let it happen, couldn’t let these women be sold like cattle.

Heartless bastards. She fought the tears welling in her eyes. She fought the knot swelling in her throat.

Okay, okay. Come on, Sienna . . . focus. You got this.

Her mind raced as she navigated the layout of the system.

I need to get to the root directory, then navigate to the security protocols . . . find the firewall . . . bypass it . . . and then . . . yes, okay, now the emergency shutdown should be in the sysadmin folder . . . come on, come on, come on . . .

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