“Shouldn’t be too hard if we can pick up the radio waves.”
Fergus grunted. “I’ll see what I can do.” He fiddled with his laptop. Seconds later, a screen with the radio frequency appeared.
“I don’t know what you need me for, Fergus.” Isabelle feigned a pout.
“Because there are still some things you’re a tad better at than I.” He gave her a bow.
“Aw shucks.” Isabelle smiled. “Let’s have a look.” She studied the patterns and opened her laptop.
A hush fell over the group as they each studied the footage of the grounds and the location of the residents. Isabelle worked on a strategy to disarm the security system. She looked up. “It’s a bit tricky. I’ll be able to disarm it, but for only a short time. Twenty minutes tops. After that, it will recalibrate and reset itself.”
“Okay, everyone. Let’s put on our thinking caps and figure out a plan,” Annie started. “Once we’re in, we split up. Kathryn, you and Yoko should take Ruffing. The rest of us will round up the girls.”
“What about the staff?” Alexis asked over the secure phone line.
“If the timing is right, we get everyone out who needs to be out, then trip the alarm,” Charles stated.
“Why on earth would we want to trip the alarm?” Myra asked with a stunned look.
“So whoever is still in the house will totally freak out!”
Annie chuckled. “Let them poop in their trousers ... if they’re wearing any.” Everyone hooted at Annie’s remark.
An hour later, they had constructed a plan to rescue the women at 19 Yellow Moon Road and contacted Pearl Barnes. Pearl’s special skill was relocating people. But it wasn’t the same kind of relocation that Simone and Noah would experience. No, Pearl’s relocation was far worse. More akin to relocating to hell.
Chapter Thirty-five
Tuesday
Off the Coast of Cuba
Nikki, Kathryn, and Alexis had arrived Monday night on the La Mancha and anchored near the Bella Grande. In the morning, they joined the others. Everyone was bustling about, discussing the plans and getting their gear together.
Isabelle had been able to cobble together a rough schematic based on the video from the drone. They each had their instructions and were patiently waiting for day’s end.
Maggie paced the second deck. “I hate waiting around.”
“Yes, dear, we know.” Myra smiled at her. “Perhaps you’d like something to eat?”
“Hah. When don’t I want something to eat?” Maggie grinned. “I miss Charles’s cooking. Don’t get me wrong. The food has been incredible. But there is something about the food Charles prepares that is, well, just different.”
“Perhaps it’s because he’s preparing it for very special friends.” Myra beamed.
Maggie put her arm around Myra and gave her a squeeze. “I can’t thank everyone enough for helping me find Gabby.”
“And to think, it turned out to be much, much more,” Myra said.
“I remember in the beginning you said something about ‘woo-woo.’ I really believe we were guided to this mission.” Maggie spoke with reverence. “Not that we aren’t at any other time. But, this. This was simply looking for Gabby and we uncovered so many horrendous things. Things that may have been going on for who knows how long.”
Myra put her hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “We’re always given clues. Signs. It’s up to us to pay attention. You could have simply taken Gabby’s first call as something odd but not terribly important. But you had a gut feeling.”
“Yes, I did.” Maggie stared out to the horizon. “And I am so glad you backed me up.”
“We wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Myra gave Maggie a squeeze.
*
Daniel J. Ruffing greeted his guests in the foyer. Three US senators and the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company. Not counting Ruffing, that would make a two-to-one ratio between the women and the men. It would be an early evening. His biggest concern was if any of these men had a heart condition. If they wanted their ménage-à-trois fantasy, their health was their problem. I should have had them sign a waiver He smirked to himself. The big-pharma guy was slightly younger, but he still looked like he could use a transfusion.
The men were shown to their rooms and given massages before the dinner party was to begin. That should make the evening even shorter. While he enjoyed taking their money, he was also very bored with the routine. Everyone pretended to like the others and to be interested in what they had to say. In reality, all they wanted was a fabulous dinner, fine wine and cigars, and a roll in the hay with two beautiful women. It was almost nauseating, but he was used to it.
Each of the men was flanked on either side by a beautiful young woman. Ruffing was quite happy with himself that he was able to accommodate their wish list. The evening progressed as usual, ending with each guest being accompanied by “the hostesses.”
*
Not far from the shoreline, the sisters waited in the dinghies, and Pearl Barnes, who had arrived late that afternoon, was only a few hundred feet offshore in a cigarette boat.
Fergus launched the drone and began to navigate it around the exterior of the premises, using the thermal imaging. As expected, the four guests had shown up earlier and there were now three people per room—four guests and the eight women. There were two more figures moving about from the dining area to the kitchen. One single figure was stationary in the area of Ruffing’s suite.
They had cut the engines long before anyone could hear them approach and paddled their way toward the rocks, one on each side of the beachfront.
Yoko slipped out of one dinghy and carefully moved toward the guard. Kathryn had landed on the other side of the small beach area, waiting for Yoko’s signal. Like lightning, Yoko took out the first guard, knocking him unconscious. Before anyone could take notice, Kathryn had her target in a choke hold. Each of the guards was given a shot of propofol, the same drug used for short-term anesthesia. It can take effect within fifteen seconds and last for over two hours. Yoko and Kathryn gave each other a thumbs-up and signaled the rest of the sisters, and Isabelle sent a frequency that would disable the security system.
Dressed in their black ninja suits, the sisters and Gabby stealthily climbed over the rocks, Maggie giving Gabby hand signals. Even though Gabby had never been on a mission with them, they needed her to identify Rachel and the other women from The Haven. They certainly weren’t leaving without all the women, but the action had to be swift and carried out with as little hysteria as possible.
They split into four teams, with Yoko designated to capture Ruffing. On Annie’s signal, the women stormed the mansion. Ruffing barely had time to take a breath before he was out cold. He was dragged to the beach, where Pearl and one of her associates, who had landed, took custody of him while another moved the cigarette boat closer to the shore.