Page 9 of Redemption

CHAPTER FOUR

One Month Later

Ryder glanced over his shoulder at the woman tucked soundly asleep on the safe house couch. Delta team had not pulled much information out of her since they rescued her from the trafficking ring in Russia, and she was the last victim left. All Ryder knew was that her name was Victoria, and every other girl that had been subject to the Mikhailov sex trafficking ring held her in high esteem. She had protected them, reportedly stepped in their places in some cases, defended them, and made sure they had food, and she had held her own when Delta raided the billionaire sex trafficker’s businesses.

Apparently, she had been holding it all together and was now taking a mental break. From the moment Ryder had pulled her out of Mikhailov’s basement and torn away the gun she’d had trained on Ivan’s head—thereby also saving one of his teammates—she hadn’t said much.

“What are we gonna do about her?” Ryder asked his boss.

Brock shook his head. “We can’t just turn her out to the world. There are people who can help her.”

Ryder knew all about the organizations, rehab groups, and victim-assistance programs. She had done so much for other people, and he hated simply turning her over to strangers. It was as if he owed her something more. He didn’t, but still, guilt lodged in his chest. He’d talked her out of shooting her rapist. Ryder might never forgive himself for that, but he’d also saved Locke’s life. The survival of one of his teammates was more important than a victim murdering her perpetrator. Ryder had to remember that. Still, they had a connection that he couldn’t explain, and he didn’t want to turn her over to some faceless organization because the woman had gone into a catatonic state in which she refused to divulge who she was beyond a first name.

“What if…” Hell, he didn’t even know how to suggest the idea that was never too far from the tip of his tongue. They could bring Victoria back toward HQ with them, where he knew the therapist and trusted the surroundings.

Brock gave him a side-eye. “I had a feeling you were going there. And I already talked to Winters.”

“Yeah?” There was no one better than Mia Winters to help, and he liked the idea of Victoria staying where he knew every square inch of the property.

“You say the word, we’ll let her rehab and pull her shit together with them.”

“I’m saying the word,” Ryder said, without even thinking twice.

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“I can feel you staring,” Victoria said with her head buried in the pillow.

Ryder had been across the room, posted in an uncomfortable chair he’d grabbed from the safe house’s kitchen for the last couple hours, keeping an eye on her and thinking about their options. Not that he needed to, but Ryder had called Mia to pick her brain. It was nice to have a pseudo-shrink on Titan Group’s payroll. Almost. Since she was Colby’s wife, she knew a lot of what Delta team did through Titan, and since she already worked as a military therapist, he didn’t have to hold back. She got it. Mia’s advice had been simple: feel the girl out, and listen to his gut.

Ryder’s gut said Victoria wasn’t ready to share where she came from or who she was and would balk at the suggestion she stay with them in Virginia, but in the end choose to go with Delta because she wouldn’t end up with some nameless, faceless rescue group.

“Wasn’t staring.” He stood up, dragging his chair closer to the couch. “I wanted to be around when you woke up.”

She sat up on the couch and tucked the blankets and pillow around her as if she was building a fabric barrier between her and the world. After running her fingers through her hair and underneath her eyes, Victoria turned her attention to him. “I guess now’s the time that I say thanks and go about my business, huh?”

“Are you headed home?” he asked for what felt like the thousandth time, and he could predict the answer.

She lifted her shoulders but stared straight through him. “Yeah, sure, maybe.”

“That’s awfully noncommittal, sweetheart. You know we’ll take you there.”

“When I’m ready, I’ll go back home.”

She still didn’t want to go home, and he wasn’t going to try again to ask what her last name was. They could easily enough figure out who she was. They could track down her home life—or criminal life, who or what she was running from or avoiding. Facial recognition was easy enough. They could lift fingerprints. There were any number of ways the Delta team, by using Titan Group’s resources, could figure out who Victoria No Name was. But she didn’t want to tell, and sometimes, people who were that victimized deserved to hide in their silence for as long as they wanted to.At least for now.

“Fair enough.”

Finally, her eyes made contact with his, and Ryder knew that what he was going to offer was the right decision.

“Am I the last one?”

He nodded. “You are. And we can take you anywhere in the world.”

Her eyes shifted down as she tucked the blankets around her. What he wouldn’t give to get into her head and figure out her thought processes right then. What was she so worried about? Or who? So often, the people they saved wanted to get home and run into the arms of the people they loved, but not this woman.

“Look, Victoria. There are people who can help you.”

Before he could continue and explain about Winters’s place, her eyes widened, and she shook her head.

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