Page 4 of Redemption

As silence envelopes the building, I open the door to a set of stairs leading to a long, dark corridor. We pass several more rooms, each with a metal door and a bolt, but all empty.

The door to the final room at the far end is slightly ajar and sounds of a struggle can be heard from inside. As we reach the door, shouting and loud footsteps can be heard from upstairs, and it seems as though there are more men here than we thought. Confident that Richard and his men can deal with it, I move to push the door open.

Richard’s voice in my ear, halts my movements.

“Rick, I need another man up here.”

Scott catches my eye, and I nod, holding two fingers up, and he taps Drew on the shoulder before they both head upstairs to help Richard. Turning back to the door in front of me, I push it open with the palm of my right hand.

The body of a young woman lies on the floor, clothing torn and covered in blood.Charlotte Harris. As the door opens further, the full scene is revealed.

Another body on the floor, that of a man who has blood pouring from a large gash to his head but appears to still be alive, and behind him is a man standing over a woman, Jessica Fisher.

Pointing a hand over my head, I signal Ryder to the guy on the floor and Seb and Jamie to Charlotte, and I move toward the remaining target. He still hasn’t noticed us, too busy attempting to undo his trousers and with no other thoughts but raping the woman lain at his feet, who is barely conscious.

I hear him mumbling curse words in what sounds like Spanish as Jessica begins to stir, and he finally gets his jeans undone, a groan leaving his lips.

That’s it. Lights out time. I raise my glock ready to drop this fucker when voices behind me have the guy turning my way. His eyes widen in surprise when he sees us all there. He reaches behind his back but doesn’t find what he was looking for. The reason for that becomes obvious as Jessica lurches forward, slashing the backs of his ankles with his own blade.

Blood spurts from the wounds to his Achilles, and he drops to his knees, screaming and cursing, and promising death to us all.

She dives forward again, hoping to finish the job, but I stop her, gripping her wrist before she reaches him.

Her head snaps round to me, piercing blue eyes, wild with anger and fear, pin me to the spot. For several seconds, there is just the two of us. Everything else fades into the background. I see the exact moment she realises we are not a threat, immediately dropping the knife to the floor.

I release her wrist and drop to my knees in front of her. “Jessica, I’m Rick. Are you hurt?” I ask.

She watches me for a few seconds before shaking her head. “No,” she whispers as her eyes return to the man still writhing in agony on the floor behind me. Something catches her attention over to the left, and the blank look in her eyes slowly dissolves to become hard and dark.

Before I can stop her, she’s up on her feet, though a little unsteady, and trying to walk towards where Jamie and Seb are with Charlotte. She’s halted by the chains still at her wrists, and a growl rumbles up her throat as she yanks at them.

“Hold on,” I tell her, and pull a set of lock picks from my belt. Quickly releasing her restraints, she looks up at me thankfully, and I offer her a nod before she stumbles to Lottie.

“Lottie. Lottie, it’s Jess,” she says, dropping down beside her and stroking a hand over her head. “It’s going to be okay. You’re safe now.” I watch as tears well in her eyes, but she holds them in, taking a deep breath as if reinforcing her resolve and refusing to let them drop.

Charlotte stirs at the sound of Jessica’s voice, groaning and gripping her stomach as she curls herself into a ball.

I’m no doctor, but I don’t need to be to know the hell this girl has endured.

Jamie has her medical kit bag, which we put together for her, open on the floor beside her. The look on her face tells me there isn’t a thing in there that’s going to help Charlotte.

As if she heard my thoughts, she looks up at me. “We need to get her to hospital now, Rick.” Her eyes widen, brows rising in emphasis.

Richard, obviously having heard Jamie, tells me the nearest hospital is an hour’s drive away. Jamie gives a small shake of her head telling me Charlotte won’t make it that long.

Turning away from them, I pull my earpiece out, yanking my cell from my pocket and dialling Tobias.

Tobias is in his helicopter before I’ve even finished speaking, and to be honest, had it not been for Richard, Tobias would have been here whether I wanted him to be or not.

I’m brought back to what’s happening in the room by the soft whisperings of Jessica in Charlotte’s ear.

“I’m here, Lottie. Just listen to my voice, it will be okay.” I hear the desperation, the want in her voice to believe her own words, but I know she knows that it’s going to be far from okay for Charlotte.

Jamie manages to get an IV set up and give Charlotte some pain relief before she begins to clean the wounds on Charlotte’s face and legs. Once she’s satisfied Charlotte is at least mildly comfortable, she rises to her feet and comes over.

“We’re going to need something to carry her on. There’s no way we can move her any other way, Rick. I’m certain she has internal bleeding and carrying her might cause further damage.”

“Okay, I’ll see what we can find. We’re in an old hospital, right? So, there’s got to be a stretcher here somewhere.” Jamie nods before walking back to Charlotte, and I send Dean off to see what he can find.

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