Page 49 of Playing For Keeps
Desperation fills my lungs, and I suck in a breath. “Find me, Jami, and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Chains rattle next to me.
I roll that way. “Sasha, are you still here?”
She moans. They must have drugged her too.
I force myself up. My wrists throb as the skin beneath my shackles flame with irritation. I should be scared and fighting to escape, but my strength is shot.
I rest my head on the top of my bent knees and pray for something to go my way. A long stretch of time crawls toward morning. My room grows lighter as the sun comes up.
Gravel crunching under tires comes and goes sporadically. As my head clears, I figure we must be in a warehouse somewhere off the beaten path because the cars are rarely heard.
I try to stand, but I’m a wet noodle. I close my eyes, drifting into the darkness.
“Time to wake up, Red.” Xander’s accent-free voice startles me.
I lift my head to meet his gaze. He’s standing in theopening of my space. I’m on my side, waking from a dream-free slumber.
“Xander, what day is it?” I shift, but it’s like moving in drying concrete.
“The day of the auction.” He peers down at me with an apologetic frown. “You have about ten minutes before it takes place. We’re just waiting for the buyers to get settled.”
Panic fires in my chest. “You can’t let them sell us.”
“I have no other choice.”
“You do. Leave and get your contact to send someone.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
I try to stand, but my knees buckle. “You have to help us.”
He groans out a painful sigh. “I can’t.”
“But why? There’s no way the FBI would be okay with letting us disappear in the hands of traffickers.”
He stalks over to me and kneels. “The case I’m building isn’t against Mort and his crew. We’re aiming for the big players. If I get them involved on this level, we’ll never have a chance of stopping these sick fucks.”
I stare into his troubled gaze. My body hollows out. I knew things like this were part of taking a criminal organization down but never imagined the authorities would let terrible things happen before they could do something about it.
How could I be so naïve?
Xander’s brows pinch together. “The best I can do is stop Mort from touching you.”
I whimper in resignation. “And how are you going to do that?”
Xander sits back on his heels and considers that for a beat. “I’ll stall him so there’s no time. But if something goes wrong, tell him you have an incurable STD. Maybe that will stop him.”
My dream or my memory springs to life an idea, a sliver of hope. “What if you told him I was pregnant? Would he still try to sell me?”
Xander’s expression grows pained as his gaze drops to my stomach. “Are you?”
“Yes,” I lie.
It’s my only hope because something tells me the guys they’re selling me to won’t care about an STD. They don’t have to tell anyone who wants to buy me for sex because it comes with the territory.
“Fuck!” Xander rises to his feet and paces the small area. “This is so fucked up.”
