“I’ve already got it making passes,” Linc said. “If they see anything suspicious, they’ll call it in.”
“So, we just stand here? Wait for the ship to come in?” He wiggled his fingers around the last question. “I’m not liking that plan.” He paced. “I want a boat. I want to be out there on the water.”
“You want to go search each ship, don’t you?”
“I do.” He slid a glance at Linc. “You do too, don’t you?”
“Of course. We need a search warrant.”
“We would. If we were searching.” He paused. “What if we just go knocking on doors, so to speak.”
Linc raised a brow. “I’m following you.”
Probably because he was thinking the same thing. “Good. I’ve got a picture of Rachel. We’ll approach each yacht as two officers looking for a runaway.” His frown deepened. “Some of those sailboats—in addition to the yachts—look big enough to hold a lot of people. I don’t want to skip them and miss her.”
“Let’s start with the yachts.” He paused. “And if you get weird vibes from anyone?”
“We play it cool and call in reinforcements.”
“Will you be able to do that if you think Rachel’s being held on one of those vessels?”
Blake rubbed his eyes. “I’ll have to, Linc. I’ll do whatever it takes to find her—including playing it cool and not attacking anyone I may think is involved.”
“Good enough for me.”
“Are you going to be able to play it cool if you think Chloe’s on one?”
“Guess we’ll find out.” Linc put in the call while Blake wondered if he believed his own words. If he thought Rachel and Chloe were on one of the yachts, he’d be hard pressed not to act immediately. “We’ll have a boat and a captain coming within the next fifteen minutes,” Linc said.
That was too long for his peace of mind, but he’d take it. “Fine.”
He’d put the wait time to good use. By praying. And calling in more reinforcements.
Chloe finally had a plan. A really bad, risky one, but at least it was a plan. Over the next few minutes, as she had the opportunity, she outlined it to Rachel under the pretext of helping Rachel with her pod. Thelma had turned away. “Leave your PDM hidden under something in the room,” Chloe whispered. “Tell them you have to get it before you leave.”
“What if you go first?”
Thelma looked at them, and Chloe raised her voice. “You got it, honey?” Thelma turned away once again and Chloe dropped her words back into a whisper. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. Pretty sure they’ll make us go last.” She glanced up at Rachel. “We’re the outliers.”
Rachel nodded.
“You about finished with that?” Thelma asked. “You need to sit down and shut up.”
“Almost finished,” Chloe said. Back to Rachel, she whispered, “You’ll have to tell me where the other girls are, so remember to wait until you find out.”
“I will.” The teen’s fingers shook and Chloe knew she was terrified.
“Shut up, you two,” Thelma said. “That’s enough. If it’s not fixed, it’s not fixed.”
Chloe closed her lips and patted Rachel on the arm while the girl pulled her shirt over the pod they’d done nothing with.
Louise busied herself with the last girl’s makeup. Megan. Chloe met her eyes in the mirror and winked.
Hope flared in Megan’s eyes before she lowered her gaze, but Chloe had a feeling she’d stay strong. And that the plan would work. Because she’d only get one chance.
And then it began.
Louise received a call and chose a girl. Over the next two hours, the woman removed each girl one at a time while Thelma stood guard. Louise would walk the girl from the room while the others waited in tense silence. Made up and dressed up, they looked as though they should be waiting for their prom dates.
Not their turn to be sold to the highest bidder.
No one spoke. No one cried. No one fought. Chloe almost wondered if that had been a mistake. A tip-off to their captors that something was up. Every fifteen minutes, the door opened and another girl disappeared. Chloe figured they were taking the ones sold to another location on the yacht.
She slid over to a shaking Megan. “Can you play sick when I nod at you?”
“Easily.”
Thelma shot her a look and Chloe walked away, not wanting to get Megan in any trouble.
And then it was just her, Rachel, and Megan in the room. When Louise returned, Chloe nodded.
Megan immediately bent over and retched. Louise shrieked. “Get in the bathroom before you puke on the carpet, you stupid girl!”
Megan bolted.
Chloe looked up and caught Rachel’s eye. In spite of being pale and scared, an underlying thread of steel emanated from her.
“I’ll help Megan,” Chloe said. “Does it matter if the girls go out of turn?”
Louise floundered for a moment. “No, I guess not.” She lifted her phone. “I’ll let Neal know what’s going on.” Her eyes hardened. “But get her ready. If she’s still puking, she’ll just have to go out there anyway.”
Chloe nodded and slipped into the bathroom while Rachel let the woman lead her away.
Oh, please, God, let this work.
Megan looked up as Chloe entered. She rinsed her mouth and shot Chloe an apologetic look. “I actually threw up.”
“I understand. You did great,” she whispered. “Now, we’re going to have to go back out there and you’re going to look shaky, but holding tight to your composure, okay?”
“Okay. The shaky part won’t be hard at all.”
“You can do this, Megan.”
“You promise you have a plan to get us out of here?”
“I promise I have a plan.” Whether it would work or not remained to be seen. Oh please, God, let this work.
“Then I can do this.”
“Think about what you’re going to do when you get home. What do you want to do more than anything?”
“Hug my little sister and tell her I love her. I was so mean to her the day they took me,” she whispered. “I don’t want those words to be the last thing I say to her.” Tears flooded her pretty eyes once more. She whisked them away and straightened her shoulders while she took a deep breath.
“Focus on that.”
Megan nodded. “Yeah.”
A hard fist knocked on the door. “It’s time, Megan. Pull it together and let’s get going.”
With one last steadying breath, Megan opened the door and stepped back into the room. Louise waited at the exit, door open. Megan walked over to her with a glance back at Chloe, who gave her a slight nod.
The two disappeared and the lock clicked back into place. Chloe browsed the food again, her knotted stomach rebelling at the thought of actually eating, but she was too restless to sit. And Thelma didn’t seem to mind her standing next to the food as long as she was putting something in her mouth. So, she chose a square of cheese and a cracker. Then another.
Every once in a while Thelma gave Chloe a sidelong glance. Each time their eyes met, Chloe forced herself to look away, as though afraid of her. And while she was concerned about the weapon in the woman’s right hand, she figured she could take it away from her if she had the chance. Which she planned to make happen very shortly.
“You’re last, sweetness,” Thelma told her.
Chloe stayed silent, working hard to keep her fear and nerves under control.
“You hear me?”
“I heard you.”
Thelma raked her eyes over Chloe with a frown. “Get in the chair. I want to pull your hair up. You’ll look younger.” She pursed her lips. “And the guys do like them young. Although some don’t care as long as they’re pretty.”
Again, Chloe bit her lip and said nothing. She walked to the chair and sat. The woman worked on her for the next few minutes, pulling her hair back in a juvenile ponytail, leaving a few strands curling around her ears. That was fine with Chloe. She usually wore it up anyway—and the style would keep it out of her face. She kicked the heels off and Thelma shot her a glare. “Come on,” Chloe said, “I never wear those things. My feet are killing me.”
Thelma rolled her eyes. “You better be able to move fast and get them back on before Louise gets here.”