Page 23 of The Dragon's Dream Mate (Savage Shifters Special Ops 3)

The other man proved to be the voice of reason. “First, the bosses likely already know. Joe calls in a report every hour. He would have told them about her arrival. Second, having a pretty young girl like that, especially if she is a virgin, will mean a huge cash bonus for us. Then, you can go get ten girls off the street who will do anything you want, and you will still have money left over.” He paused, and I could hear him slurping a drink. “Use your brain instead of your pecker,” he said.

The group rotated after four hours. The two men who had been sitting on the couch went outside, one to the backyard and the other to the front yard. Then the outside guards came in.

Knowing the transition time would make our plan even better. Catching the guards after they had been on duty for about three hours would be best. They would still have an hour before the transition so that they wouldn’t be moving around or carrying their guns. They would be tired and not paying as much attention to what was going on around them.

We heard Joe filling the backyard guard in about Rachel. He apparently went to look at her, because we heard the door unlocking, opening for a few minutes, and then closing again.

“She is a beauty. We should definitely make a few grand from that one,” he said.

Then, apparently, he was more interested in his stomach, because we heard him ask whether Rachel had any snickers in her box of candy.

The rest of the day dragged on. The kidnappers seemed to really enjoy reality shows because we heard episodes ofStorage WarsandPawn Stars.They were loudly discussing the merits of the show and whether they were staged. They decided that in the end, it didn’t matter, because they were still entertaining to watch. One of them wondered what it would take to be a contestant onStorage Wars.

The other guy told him that he should just keep his money because he would likely end up with someone’s pet rock collection.

“Knowing my luck, you’re right,” the man said, sounding a little depressed about the idea.

I could tell that they weren’t discussing any of the plans for the kids or talking about how they were going to deliver them and to whom, so I turned my focus to Rainey. We could hear everything coming through on the earpiece our team had stuck to my other ear. I had a great talent for tuning some people out and not others. It used to get me in a lot of trouble with my folks when I was a kid.

Listening to Rainey try to entertain a bunch of kids locked in a room was definitely more interesting.

Rainey was doing her best to keep the kids entertained. They must have been scared out of their minds but also bored. I doubt if the kidnappers thought to bring the kids’ favorite toys with them.

First, they talked about their favorite cartoons. I already knew that Rainey lovedScooby-Doo. I would bet that she still watched it as an adult. Then, they talked about their favorite cartoon characters. Rainey said that she always wanted to be just like Velma.

She got the kids talking about superheroes. One of the kids melted my heart when he said that his superhero was his Daddy because his Daddy was in the Army.

I wondered why Rainey had never married and had kids. She would have been a wonderful mother based on how she was dealing with these kids. Some of them were even giggling because of their little word games, rock, paper, scissors, and thumb wars.

Then, the guilt crept up from the back of my neck and filled my brain. I knew exactly why she had never married and had children. It was because of me. I had hurt her, and I was sure that at least a part of her still loved me. As long as she did, she would never compromise and marry someone else, knowing that she couldn’t give another man a hundred percent of her heart.

I was saved from having to think more about that by some commotion going on outside of the house. One of the inside men had walked outside. He was stretching and yawning.

After the next changing of the guards, I heard one of the inside guards tell the other that he was going to get some sleep for a couple of hours.

That let us know that they weren’t planning on taking the kids - or Rainey - anywhere for awhile. Although I hated to leave, I went back to the van so that we could get ready for the rescue.

It seemed that the inside guards weren’t going to be much of an issue because we heard snoring coming through the microphone loud and clear. Apparently, the guy on the couch decided that he was going to take a nap as well.

That made things a lot easier. Most people find it very difficult to come out of sleep to be instantly fully awake unless they have had military or similar training. These men did not seem to be the type to have been in the military. They would be very easy to catch off guard.

The man in the backyard would also likely be easy to distract.

It was time to go over the specific plan, stage our rescue, and catch us some bad guys.

11

Rainey

The kids were terrified. Some of them had been there longer than others. Simone was the last one to be brought in along with the baby.

My heart broke when I saw the kids.

I don’t even want to think about how they felt before Simone arrived.

As stubborn as she was, she had a good head on her shoulders and a great heart. She would have assessed the situation immediately and taken charge.

Simone wasn’t the only person who thought that I wasn’t who I was pretending to be. The three older kids whispered, “Are you here to save us?”

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