“Please don’t leave me down there alone,” Tiana begged.
Kailani turned her toward the window. “Trust me. The last thing I want is to be up here when they find you gone.” That was putting it lightly.
Once Tiana was over the ledge, Kailani checked the app once again, her hand going to her throat when the image in the dining room showed her an empty table save for some plates and bottles. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” she swore, hurrying to the window ledge and looking down. Tiana was almost to the ground. The weight limit on the ropes said two hundred pounds. If she and the other girl were both to be on it at the same time, she feared their combined weight would be too much, but if she didn’t get out now, she had a sneaking intuition her window of opportunity would be closed. With one last glance toward her own closed door, she slid her leg over the windowsill, sent up another prayer, and hoped her mother was watching down on her.
The last five feet seemed to take forever, and in her life, forever was long. Tiana stood with her back against the house, her hands in small fists at her sides, sweat dripping down her forehead, but she didn’t mutter a word.
Kailani dropped down the last foot, her breath coming in and out in harsh pants like she’d just run a five mile marathon. “Come on, stay behind me and don’t make a sound. They’re not in the dining room, which could mean my brother is on his way up to see you, or he’s with my father. I don’t really know, but we don’t have time to fuck around.”
Tiana only nodded, her taller frame straight and sure.
“ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I’m seeing?” Traeger asked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Surely he didn’t just watch two women scale their way down the side of the mansion. Well, small in the sense it wasn’t a Kennedy size mansion. Fuck, this mission just became a little more complicated.
“The first girl looked like the one Keys gave us information on. The other one, I didn’t recognize. What do we do with her, boys?” Digger asked.
Traeger looked at the other man. “We grab ‘em both and figure out the what the fucks after.”
They’d driven down with Digger and Coal, both men driving their cage vehicles. While the MC preferred their bikes, when they went on a mission, they used what they needed, and a cage or a vehicle on four wheels was usually needed. Digger drove the lead SUV, a tricked out armored Escalade that fit eight, while Coal drove a van that could hold a dozen, and also housed a state of the art computer system.
“Sounds solid to me,” Duke agreed.
“My facial recognition program says one of the females is the sister of the fuck who took the girl we’re here to rescue, which by the way, it appears she’s helping our target escape,” Keys explained through the speaker system of their vehicle, letting them all in on what he’d found.
“We better move. I see movement on the upper floors. I think the fucks in question know their girl is missing.” Traeger opened the door, moving before he’d finished speaking, blending into the waning night. There were a few things he was excellent at—fucking, shooting any type of weapon with accuracy, and blending into his surroundings. Even at over six feet two, he knew how to find the shadows and become one with them. He made sure his rifle was close just in case he needed it as he moved toward his targets, keeping his ears peeled for any indication that the men from inside had come out. Thanks to Keys, they had already disabled all the alarms inside and out, so even if the women inadvertently would’ve triggered one, none would go off.
He and King moved like a team, both silent and deadly when needed, each of them taking a route toward the women that was sure to intercept wherever they planned to go, before they had a chance to get there. King motioned for him to stay closer to the house, while he moved farther ahead in case there was trouble waiting in front of the women. From the intel they’d gotten on the drive down, there shouldn’t be, but Traeger knew it only took a moment for shit to hit the fan. In cases of human trafficking, none of them liked to gamble with the lives of women or children, or in this case a teen girl.
Flood lights began lighting up the front yard, making it nearly impossible for him to find his shadowy spots, but he didn’t change his course, staying low, picking up his pace until he finally reached the two women at the same time as King. His arms came up and around the older of the two, his hand clamping over her mouth, silencing her scream. “Sssh, I’m not here to hurt you. Well, that is unless you’re part of your brother’s shit, then all bets are off,” he growled.
Traeger held her slender body against his, feeling her instant surrender against his chest.
She shook in his arms for a moment, then relaxed as if all the fight went out of her.
“We need to move. Keys says there’s movement inside and lots of it,” King said, his deep voice barely above a whisper.
Both girls whimpered but between the both of them, neither could say anything.
“Your sister’s looking for you. If you’re a good girl, I’ll have you back with her by sunup,” King assured the young girl.
Traeger’s woman stiffened in his arms. “What’s the matter, you upset we’re taking away your money maker?” he asked, venom lacing his words.
The younger female in King’s arms squirmed, trying to get away. “She saved me, you asshat,” she muttered out between King’s fingers.
Traeger raised his brows but didn’t say a word. “We need to move. You got your target under control Pres, or you need a little assistance?”
King raised one brow, his eyes, from what Traeger could see reflected from the moonlight, clearly telling him his friend, and President of the Royal Sons, would be paying him back for that remark. Traeger gave a low chuckle, figuring they’d both need to blow off some steam when they got back to the club, unless they found another way to expend the pent up energy. The woman he held moved against him, reminding him of another way he could blow off steam, a much more pleasurable way for sure. However, fucking a woman who had clear ties to one of the largest drug cartels on the west coast, one that also dabbled in human trafficking, was a sure way to wind up dead, or in jail. Neither option held much appeal.
“You two done playing? ‘Cause you got about ten fuckers coming in hot right behind you. I can give you a distraction, but you’re not gonna make it back to us the same way you went in. Find another way, and we’ll meet you at plan B.” Keys rattled off the coordinates for the rendezvous location, his fingers, which never seemed to stop tapping on a keyboard, were even louder through their earpieces.
The woman he held shook her head. Her fingers dug into his hands. “We can take my car, that’s where we were heading before you so rudely dropped in on us.”
Traeger grunted. “I’m supposed to trust you?”
“Hello, did you not find us shimmying out of a third story window? If we were part of whatever you think we were, or rather I was, do you honestly think I’d have risked breaking my damn neck?” she asked, her whisper yell making him grin.
“We ain’t got all night, Trigger. I’m leaning toward believing her since she did technically break herself and this one out. Besides, our options are limited. Let’s roll, and if she’s lying, we’ll just shoot her.” King shrugged.