Page 48 of Controlled Chaos

Chapter 26

The whimpering soundcoming from the hole had me moving with stealth, taking quiet, determined steps until I was standing behind him. I pressed the barrel of my gun to his head.

“How about not,” I said. I gleefully hit his temple with the butt of the gun. He collapsed to the ground.

“Who’s there?” a female voice asked from the darkness.

“Clara,” I answered, looking for something to cut the ties on Frankie’s and Debbie’s wrists.

“Why are you helping us?” Debbie asked, rubbing her wrists after I grabbed a screwdriver and snapped the bracelet free.

“She knows the truth.” Frankie answered for me as she slammed her tied wrists down on her legs and snapped the ties free. She picked up the guard’s gun and checked the clip.

Frankie’s skills were impressive, a little too impressive. She had training of some kind. I knew it just like I knew Porter was meant to be mine. Why hadn’t I picked up on it when we were on the other side of the fence line? Maybe because my focus had been on Porter and what else was going on. “Who are you working for?”

She glanced at me, mouth ajar in surprise. She shrugged before hurrying to the other side of the room where a ladder was leaning against the wall. “Help me.”

I didn’t move. Not yet, not until I had the answers I needed, but Debbie did. She hurried and grabbed the other side of the ladder and eased it down into the hole. Within seconds, girls emerged from the darkness. Their clothes were dark and dirty just like their faces and hands. They were skinny, and the clothes on their backs hung like curtains draped across their bodies. These were the girls from my vision. The ones I was meant to save.

“How long…”

One of the girls climbed out. Pure relief crossed her face as she looked at Debbie. They were identical twins. “There are two of you?”

“I was looking for answers on what happened to my sister. She told me she was coming here. When she hadn’t returned home or even called, we inquired about her, and they said there was no record of her ever showing up, but I knew better. My sister would never lie to me.”

They embraced as tears filled their eyes.

“And you?” I asked, turning my attention back to Frankie. “You’re Edward’s niece. How do you fit into all of this?”

“I don’t fit.” She smiled at me.

“And your training?” I asked as more girls climbed out of the holding cell.

“What training?” she asked with a grin.

A badge flashed in my head. One that I hadn’t been expecting to see. “You’re with the US Marshal’s Service. Witness Protection Division, I clarified.”

Her smile fell. “How the hell did you figure that one out?”

I shrugged. “So, what’s your story?”

“Edward is one of ours. He turned state’s evidence that led to the conviction of a Colombian drug king. So, my superiors figured the safest place for him was on this island and out of mainstream society.”

“But they were wrong,” I asked.

“You can say that again. Keeping an eye on him became difficult, but we’re thinking that Thaddeus’s father did his hypnosis on Edward, and that’s how he knew about what those damn seeds could do. Years ago, Edward turned state’s evidence on a Colombian drug lord who’s calling card and drug of choice to use was Devil’s breath. It’s how he rose quickly in the ranks. And I happen to fit the young woman profile that Thaddeus can never turn down, so that’s why they sent me in.”

“I still don’t understand what he was doing with these girls.” I said.

Frankie shrugged. “These are the ones that he couldn’t get to comply using hypnosis. They’re the ones that threaten his freedom if they were to tell.”

“But wouldn’t there be records of these girls showing up on the island.”

“One might think so.” Frankie said. “But with enough friends in high places, I guess you can make evidence just disappear.”

My heart clenched. The eight frightened women were huddled together. Thaddeus was planning to kill them. I knew it. These would join the other older bones already buried in the clearing. The entire island was built on bones.

She jogged to the hangar entrance. “We have to get these girls out of sight and into hiding.”

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