I would have given just about anything to be that key.

Gage had special earrings for her. One of the earrings was a tracker. The other was a microphone. That way, we could hear if anything went wrong, and we would be able to find her within seconds if she started to move.

Of course, we would be watching the house the entire time, anyway, so we would be on top of the situation within seconds.

She practiced her candy selling routine with Damian. He was convinced. She did a great job of being innocently seductive.

Rainey grabbed a little purse that she would carry with her. We expected it would be confiscated as soon as she got into the house. She had some money in there ‘from her other candy sales.’ It also had a microphone carefully hidden in the lining of the purse so that anything the guards would say out of Rainey’s hearing would be picked up by us.

We were ready to get started. Okay, to be honest, they were ready to get started. I wasn’t so much. I was scared to death that something would happen to Rainey. However, I knew enough not to open my mouth another time.

We drove our rented van to a nearby parking lot. We would be able to monitor the situation from there. It was close enough that we could swoop in if needed. It was also close enough for the kids to reach it that night.

Now, we just had to wait, which was the hardest part of any mission.

9

Rainey

My heart was beating a million times an hour as I exited the van. I was afraid that my knees would go full jello on me as soon as I tried to stand on them. However, they didn’t. They held me.

I was so grateful. I wouldn’t want to appear weak in front of the guys, especially Lucian, for anything in the world. One tiny show of weakness, and they would yank me out of the situation, regardless of how much Gage stood up for me against Lucian’s protests.

Taking a deep breath, I started walking toward the house. The journey seemed like it was miles and miles, but in reality, it was only two blocks. I ran more than that each day.

As the house came into sight, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my pounding heart. I could hear its thudding in my ears.

The man sitting on the porch stood up and walked toward me when he saw me opening the gate to the front yard.

“Hi. My name is Rachel. I am a cheerleader at Jefferson High School.” I held up the flyer that Jared had printed out. “Our old uniforms are worn out. We really need new ones.”

I held up the box of candy for him to see. “We are selling candy for a dollar. We get to keep half of the proceeds. It would really help us out a lot if you bought some.”

I smiled my sweetest smile and twirled one of my thick braids.

About that time, the front door opened. A huge man came out, tucking something in the back of his pants.

“Hey Joe, what’s going on out here?” he asked, ogling me.

“Rachel here is a cheerleader. She is selling candy so they can buy new uniforms.”

The man, called Joe, looked me up and down as though I was a steak and he hadn’t eaten in a month.

He smiled at me, showing me a row of rotten teeth. His breath smelled as though something had crawled into his mouth and died. His hair was greasy, and he smelled as though he hadn’t showered in a month.

It was all I could do not to shudder when he grabbed my arm.

“Don’t you think the guys inside might like some of her candy?” Joe asked.

The other guy, who stank like stale cigarettes and beer, answered, “I think they would.”

“Awesome,” I said, forcing myself to sound excited. “It would be so great if we could get the outfits before basketball season,” I exclaimed.

The sound of the door closing and the deadbolts being engaged in the door sounded like doom. At this point, there was no escape without putting myself or the kids in more danger.

Joe grabbed a couple of candy bars and headed toward the door. “We should be able to get several thousand off of this one,” he chuckled as he went back to his post.

The man who had come out to see what was going on grabbed my purse. He pulled out twenty-three dollars.