Winter's Rescue (Winter Black FBI Mystery Series Book 20) by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

21

Strips of sunlight landed on Harper’s face, waking her from a restless sleep. She batted at the intrusion and opened her eyes, her head still foggy. Muscles trembling, she sat up and peered around. Perched on a cracked and rotted wood floor, Harper discovered she and Bridget had been moved from the cell made of cinder blocks to a crumbling room with peeling paint on the walls and a reek of urine.

They weren’t alone in the room. Others were there—whether sleeping or drugged, she couldn’t tell. They were all women. Pretty, young, bruised, and emaciated, left sprawled on the floor, as if they’d been tossed in like ragdolls. They wore anything from sweats to leggings to fancy dresses. A wave of nausea overtook Harper as she counted twelve women who didn’t look older than twenty. And there were three girls…

They’re just children.

One of the youngest couldn’t have been more than ten. Harper’s heart ached as she took in her school uniform. The pricey private school was outside of Austin. That meant the women were local, like her.

The pieces quickly fell into place. She clenched her fist, pushing back against whatever drug had infiltrated her system.

Think. Find a way out.

A moan to her right had her searching a tangle of legs and arms. Bridget, the pretty brunette who’d shared her cell during the past few days, struggled to raise her head.

Harper helped her into a sitting position, patting her cheeks to rouse her. Which was when she realized she was no longer bound. Neither was anyone else. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

It was good because she had more freedom of movement. But she wouldn’t have this freedom if her captors weren’t sure she couldn’t escape.

Focus on one thing at a time.

“Wake up, Bridget.”

The other woman wiped her eyes. “Where are we?”

Harper let her go. “My guess? Next stop on whatever pipeline we’re on.”

Bridget blinked, as if trying to rouse herself. “Pipeline? What are you talking about?” Her mouth slipped open when she spotted the youngest captive. “She’s just a little girl.”

Harper wiped the sweat from her brow. “And worth more to sex traffickers. Everything makes sense now. We’ve been sold. I’ve heard trafficking is big in the area.”

She closed her eyes, overcome by a wave of nausea. Harper remembered her brutal capture and how the woman who took her tempted her with a drink of water, only to drive a needle into her neck. “What do you last remember?”

Bridget shook her head. “We were in that room, and the woman came back. She shot us up with something, and then we passed out.”

Harper’s last vision had been of the cruel bitch injecting a weak Bridget with a syringe. The poor woman had been too frail to fight back.

“So why are we awake and the others still asleep?” Harper asked, thinking out loud.

Bridget rubbed her temples. “Maybe we’re meant to be awake to see what happens to us. It’s payback for the bad I’ve done.”

Harper examined her companion, remembering the strange things she’d talked about in the dark.

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