Page 75 of Red Hunt

46

MILLI

We carefully made our way down. There was another corridor at the end of the stairs, similar to the one upstairs, probably leading to the bar, as well.

There were lights on down there, and I immediately felt exposed. “This is not a good idea, Belinda. Let’s get back up and call Richard.”

Belinda looked at me, then nodded. “You stay here. I’ll just take a quick peek and be back in a second. Okay.”

I nodded, pressed myself against the wall on the bottom step, and waited, my muscles weak with relief. Finally, Belinda was listening to me.

I heard removed voices from the direction she went toward, though I couldn’t make out any specifics. But there was no music, so clearly something must be going on. But what?

Finally, Belinda came back, but her skin looked ashen. “They’re really auctioning off women.”

A heavy feeling settled in my stomach, and I covered my mouth with my palm. This couldn’t be true. Maybe Belinda had misinterpreted the situation. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “There’s a guy with a fucking gavel and a frightened, scantily-dressed woman next to him who does not look like she wants to be there. Let’s get upstairs. I need to call Travers.”

Somehow, I was glad I didn’t get to see any of that. I turned around to get upstairs, but right then, there were noises upstairs, steps when someone came barreling down the stairs, and I froze.

Belinda grabbed me and hauled me downstairs along the corridor, not the way she went, but to the other side where there were two doors. But Belinda headed for the one on the far end, and my heart raced until all I could hear was blood rushing in my ears.

Then finally we reached the end, a heavy door with a handle spanning the entire length. Belinda pushed down on the handle, and together we swooped inside, just to stop in our tracks when we stared into the faces of five women, their eyes huge, their stances ready to fight.

I was so shocked I couldn’t move. Only Belinda’s squeal next to me made me turn around. But it was too late. The door fell into place with a heavy thud. Belinda rocked on the handle, but nothing. The door wouldn’t budge. Caught.

47

MAX

“Execute, execute, execute,” Peaches shouted, and Goofy and I bolted as smooth and as fast as we could.

Somehow, we made it undetected into a scantily-lit corridor. Crates and boxes were stacked on both sides, so I followed Goofy until he made a left turn toward a staircase.

I looked up, then down, urgency making my skin crawl. “Down. Go.”

We went down. There was some commotion at the bottom of the stairs, so we stopped, but whoever had been there moments ago had cleared the staircase, so we could proceed.

“Max. Status?” This was Carter’s voice again.

“Made entry. Nothing yet.”

I nodded at Goofy, and we both checked the corridor. It was the same basic layout as the one above. We turned right, the lighting blindingly bright.

Too bright for my comfort.

We stopped at a doorway that led to the bar where we could see at least a slice of the room beyond without being out in the open. My muscles spasmed, then I froze. The room was dark, except for some sort of stage. On it, a balding guy in a very expensive suit stood behind a speaker’s desk but next to him cowered a young woman, half-naked except for her underwear. One look into her face told me how terrified she was, while she tried to cover herself with her hands. Somewhere inside my head, alarm bells went off, blocking everything else out, my area of sight becoming very narrow, focused only on the girl.

I heard Goofy grind his teeth. And crazy enough, that made me snap out of it. Those bastards really were auctioning off women. We needed to act now. I forced my muscles to relax, tapped Goofy’s shoulder, and we stepped back into the corridor until we were out of hearing range should the bartender come near the doorway. “Carter.”

“Come in.”

“Affirmed. Human auction. I say again. Human auction. Do you copy?”

“I read you, Lima Charlie,” Carter said loud and clear. Our job was done. Now the officials would take over. But where the hell was Milli?

“They’re on it. We gotta search the other rooms for the girls.”

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