Page 78 of Embedded
I quietly opened the door a little, reached around blindly, and grabbed whatever I could from inside the purse. I saw it was a plastic bag with stuff inside it. I wrapped it up as tightly as I could and raced off with it toward the barn while the rain pelted painfully against my bare skin. I heard some people yell, and I picked up the pace and flung myself around the corner and tore open the door.
Once inside, I dropped to my knees to catch my breath, but it was short lived when I heard voices outside. I scrambled to my feet again and moved toward some horse stalls and hid behind a stack of hay. Peeling my wet dress from my legs, I hiked it up and tucked the stuff from Esmeralda’s purse into the corset part of the dress.
“You go that way, I’ll check here!” a man yelled, and a tremor started in my fingers and traveled through my body. There was no way out that I could see, and chances were he’d check every inch of the place before he’d move on. I needed a weapon, but before I could find anything, the door opened, and with that suction of air, I heard a rattle from behind me. I turned and felt along the panel next to me. It was loose. Someone was watching over me. With a look at the man who slowly moved past a small pen of bleating goats, I took a deep breath and pushed the panel back and ducked outside. I shut it behind me, thankful for the sound of the rain. I remembered what the older man said and headed what I hoped was southeast toward the open forest.
Everywhere was Cartel territory, and it went against my instincts to simply run blind, but there was nothing I could do but go for it.
Someone shouted, “There she is!” just as I slipped into some dense terrain. I gasped for air as my chest pounded in terror. My head screamed at me to run, but my body felt like lead as I squeezed my eyes shut like a child playing hide and seek. I knew someone was behind me. I could feel him. Then a hand latched onto my shoulder and yanked me off my feet, and I was tossed against a tree. His dark eyes glinted, and I knew exactly what he wanted to do to me.
“I haven’t been with a woman in years.” He grinned, and I saw his black tooth. Holy shit, it was the same guy from the car when I was brought here. “You got my brother Nando killed, and for that, chica, you’ll pay.” His rough hand shoved up my wet dress as I clawed at his chest, but he was too strong.
“No!” I hissed. The fear of adding more men to the moment was enough for me to hold back any screams. “Get off of me!”
He hooked his nasty fingers into my panties, and I had to turn my head to the side as his nasty breath found me. My mind started to shut down as he pressed his disgusting body against mine. He ran his tongue down my cheek, and I kicked into survival mode. I tore at him like a wild thing. Tears of terror burned down my cheeks and mixed with the rain. This isn’t happening, I won’t be a victim, I can’t do this.
Suddenly, the weight of the man left me as a pair of hands wrapped around his neck, and a loud snap made me stop fighting as he was flung to the side. I desperately pulled my dress down and scrambled back to see Paul standing in front of me in his fatigues.
“Paul?”
NINETEEN
Forty Minutes Earlier
PAUL
“Anything?” Chili switched his polo and reached for a dress shirt. He was about to get dressed in the clothes he often wore when he played the part of a high-class businessman in the horrific world of human trafficking.
I leaned over the steering wheel to get a better look at the house. We’d spent the night in the woods after we left Bruno’s property. We’d been escorted for several miles, but once they turned away, we doubled back. “Nothing yet.” I blinked to clear my vision and spotted Nicole going back into the house. Her dark hair was heightened by the stark white dress she wore. “Just got a visual on Nicole.”
“Does she look all right?”
“Yeah.”
Bruno had called a meeting with Chili that morning, and every red flag was raised. Why wasn’t Eric included?
We’d known something wasn’t right. It was confirmed when my phone buzzed, and I got a text.
Daniel: Thought you might want to hear this. We’ll talk about what was said when you get back. For the record, I’m not pleased, but it will stay between us for now.
I had pressed on the attachment and played it for Chili to hear as well.
“Daniel, it’s Nicole.” My gaze swung to Chili’s face. The reception was spotty and there was a sentence missing. “Don’t send Chili-plan-kill-him.” I knew it. “Eric-alive—” My stomach sank when I realized she’d friggin’ seen me at the house. “-meralda- in the States.” Then there were some muffled sounds like someone talking to her, but she didn’t seem scared. Nothing could be understood.
“Oh, shit, Chili,” I looked at him, “they’ve got company!”
“Plan B, it is.” He threw the business shirt in the back and began to pull on his fatigues as I started the engine. I drove down the mountain to get a better view of who was there.
Five minutes later, Chili held up the binoculars from where he lay next to me behind a rock and gave a grunt. “Fuck. It’s Esmeralda.”
“We need to get Nicole out. This is getting worse by the second.” I fought the rough terrain as we drove and hoped we wouldn’t get hung up on an axel.
“There’s a good spot.” Chili pointed just as a loud crack of thunder shook the area around us. “At least if the rain comes,” just as he said it, the heavens opened and the rain poured so hard it almost deafened us, “they won’t hear us coming,” he shouted.
“Look.” I saw a flash of white from behind the SUV Esmeralda had been in. “That Nicole?”
Chili rolled his window down to get a better look. “What the hell is she doing?”
“Only one way to find out.” I grabbed my weapon. “I’ll head southeast, see if I can intercept her. I’ll radio you my coordinates. Stand by.”
