“Like?”
“Where they came from? How far widespread this is? What were they doing?”
It took a bit, and finally Jesse said, “A lot of their stories are just mixed. Some were at home. Some were shopping. Some were walking. They’re from all over. We’ve got two from Romania, one from Turkey, one from Mexico.”
“Mexico?” She turned and looked at her camera operator.
“Yes, but she was visiting in Italy.”
“Good Lord, so anywhere that they could separate off a female, the kidnappers did.”
“Yes,” Jessie said. “This is just a little too gross to even contemplate.”
“But we don’t have a choice now,” Brenna said. “We must face this to confront it.”
“I get that. It’s just …” And she stopped. She took a slow deep breath. “What are our options? Do you see any?”
“Not that many men are here. What’s the chance of overtaking them?”
Jessie spun around, scoping out her surroundings, then looked at Brenna and said, “I’ve seen at least twelve, and they’re all armed.”
“And there’s eight of us,” Brenna fired right back.
“So they kill us. That just means they’ll lose out on eight commissions.”
“And you know what? If it comes to that,” Brenna said, “I’m okay with that too.”
Jessie nodded slowly. “I get what you’re saying. Better to die trying than to be taken as a prisoner for whatever purposes they have.” She continued, “But, if you truly believe that somebody will be looking for us—given the fact that we’re public figures and that our bosses should have put out a cry for help—we have to give the SEALs as much time as they can to get here.”
“I know,” Brenna said, “but we also have to help ourselves to stay alive regardless.”
Just then a commotion was heard farther down. As they watched, another line of women came their way, moved at gunpoint.
“Crap,” Brenna said. “Here are more.”
After that, they just stayed quiet and watched as another group and then another group and then another group arrived. It disgusted Brenna. But it completely amazed her that so many women could go missing around the world, and seemingly nobody cared. And, of course, it didn’t mean that nobody cared. It just meant that, so far, nobody had mounted a defense to get the women back. If they even knew where they were.
Conversations were stilted, but one of the newcomers did speak English. She looked over, smiled weakly, and said, “I was in Tunisia. Visiting friends.”
“And your friends, are they okay?”
“I hope they rot in hell,” she said. “As they’re the ones behind what happened to me.”
Brenna stared at her in shock.
The woman nodded. “Apparently this friend of mine has been holding a grudge, and this was a perfect opportunity.”
“Wow, with friends like that,” she said, “who needs enemies?”
“I know,” she said. “But I’ll live, just so I can get back at them.”
“I hope you make it,” she said, “because that is unbelievable, to do this to somebody you actually know.”
“Not only just know,” she said, “we went to school together.”
“So why does she hate you so much?”
“Because she loves my husband.”
“Ah, so a spurned lover?”
“More or less,” she said, “and it’s still no excuse.” She leaned against the wood corral. “My understanding is we’re being sold, and they hold these auctions every few months. Some of us were held captive for a while before being moved, while they collected others,” she said. “I was just picked up a few days ago.”
“So were we,” Brenna said. She looked at her and asked, “Do you have any martial arts skills? Do you have any skills that will help get us out of here?”
The woman shook her head. “I’m a scholar,” she said, “an academic. The last thing anybody here cares about.”
“I hear you, she said, “but also, being American, you’ll have more value. At least that’s what I’m getting from some of them.”
“I don’t think it’s so much American as white women,” she said. “Besides I’m British.”
“Okay, that makes sense too,” Brenna murmured. “It’s sad, and it sucks, but I guess that’s where we are already. We’re journalists, came to cover what was happening in Libya.”
“That’s always fun,” the woman said in a snide tone. “I’m Annie, by the way.”
“Hi, Annie,” Brenna said. “We have to do something.” She looked at the other women.
Annie looked at her with a sarcastic smile. “You know that I’m totally okay for whatever gets me out of here. Particularly if I stay alive,” she said, “because now I have my own reason to live.”
“Absolutely,” she said. “I just want to get back home again.”
“Got it, but you got anything in mind? If you’re Americans, does anybody know you’re over here?”
“We’re media, so, yes and yes, there should be people coming,” she said. “But them finding us? That is another story.”
“I think this is a pretty hidden spot,” Annie said. “Most governments can’t condone this behavior.”
“Out here nobody gives a shit.”
“Exactly, but we’ll see.”
“Right.” As Brenna encircled the paddock, the head count was now thirty-eight women, counting her and Jessie, and she joined Jessie to share. “We’re up to thirty-eight now.”
“It’s still not good odds,” Jessie said.
Annie looked at Brenna. “What odds?”
Brenna shrugged. “Originally we had twelve armed men and only eight of us, but now we have thirty-eight women.”
“Some of the women came with more gunmen,” Jessie said.
Annie nodded. “I noticed.”
At that, Brenna didn’t even know what to say because more gunmen was the worst outcome possible.
“How much farther do you think we have to travel?” Jerricho studied his GPS and the sky, as they needed intel that would get them the closest to the suspected inland auction site, while they landed the boat and then proceeded on foot.
“I’d say another three miles up the coast,” Killian murmured.
Can we get some satellite images on this? Jerricho sent the message to Diesel.
On it.
“If they’re selling women at an auction,” Jerricho said, “and it’s in a few days, they must have a place big enough to hold them. I heard it could be held outside. It’s probably safer.”
“Only if they’re in a spot where they suspect nobody will ever trip over them,” he said.
They pondered the maps but found an awful lot of open space here. “They need to be near roads and close to the waterways.”
“Exactly,” Killian said, “everybody needs access. Everybody needs a way to get in with their goods, and the bidders and buyers need a way to get out.”