Chapter 32

Alex and Dawn waited until Maddie texted that Melissa and her employees were on their way to the church. He messaged Janice and Sheriff Conly that they were a go. Dawn drove to where he’d been let out before; Alex got out and started his half-mile hike to the brothel.

He checked his phone when he got close and saw he was a little ahead of schedule. He double-checked his bag to make sure he had everything he would need. After a thorough check, it was time.

Alex had met with everyone two nights before and laid out his plan for the day. Janice had only partially gotten the FBI on board; they would be holed up at the Conclave sheriff’s department in case evidence of trafficking was found. Sheriff Conly had eventually agreed that they would use the state police to arrest the gun-toting Russians.

Alex sent another message, and three state troopers rushed into the parking lot. The roving guard came around the corner of the house to find guns trained on him.

“Drop your weapon!”

For a moment, Alex thought the Russian would open up on the troopers, but the man dropped his automatic rifle and raised his hands. The guard inside the barn pointed his gun out the door and fired off three quick rounds, causing the state guys to hit the ground. The first Russian picked up his rifle and emptied a clip into the cruisers.

“Shots fired! Shots fired!” Alex said over the phone.

He didn’t hesitate but ran to the back door, set down his bag, and got out his lockpick. His nervous energy made his hands shake. Alex heard the two groups firing at each other and, in the distance, sirens from cruisers rushing to the scene. That would be the local county guys, who were acting as backup.

He stopped, took two deep breaths, and returned his focus to his task, even as the doorframe exploded over his head, showering him with wood chips and splinters. The lock finally opened, and he peeked through the door. Inside, a Russian was busy firing on the police, so he didn’t notice Alex as the young man crouched and ran to the stairs as quietly as he could. At the top, Alex found another locked metal door.

“Dang it,” he grumbled under his breath.

They’d apparently skimped on this lock because he was able to pop it open with a bump key. He was almost inside the room when someone fired bullets up the stairwell. Alex slammed the metal door shut and locked it just in time; he heard bullets spray the door. He thanked every god he could think of that they hadn’t punched through.

Alex opened his bag, pulled out two metal shims, and grabbed his hammer. He wedged the shims between the door and the frame to make it almost impossible for the bad guy shooting at him to get in. Thirteen girls were screaming the whole time, thinking they would all die.

“Quiet!” Alex yelled.

That reduced the screams to whimpers. By now, more squad cars had rushed to the scene. The Russian guards must have been ex-military because they were more than holding their own. Alex rushed to the back window and looked out, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

Five men, all dressed in black, armed to the teeth, and wearing body armor, were steadily approaching the farm. They appeared cautious but weren’t hiding. As they approached the house, the men raised their weapons.

“Five hostiles behind the barn in the woods!” Alex called out.

His warning probably saved all the police officers’ lives. They all jumped behind their cars just as the five men began to rain hell on them. Alex knew there was a good chance the police wouldn’t survive, so he focused on freeing the girls.

Sheriff Conly had given him a ring of cuff keys. The first three didn’t work, but magic number four unlocked the first girl. He handed her the key.

“Help them,” Alex said, then turned and ran to get his bag.

From inside it, he pulled out a rope with a pulley system he planned to use to lower the girls out the window. He also retrieved half of a doorway pull-up bar gadget meant to be hung on a doorframe. Alex then grabbed the harness and attached it to the rope.

Alex took his hammer and broke the window. With all the noise from the gunfire, the Russians didn’t notice. He next installed the partial pull-up gadget on the window frame and hooked his pulley system onto it.

He looked down and saw two Russians were down while the other three slowly approached where the police were pinned down.

All the girls were free and huddled together, still whimpering. They all screamed when a large-caliber round tore through the wall above their heads.

Alex swore under his breath before turning back to the girls.

“I know what I’m going to ask you is going to scare the crap out of you, but we have to get out of here in case the police lose this battle. If that happens, you don’t want to be here because these guys will simply put a bullet in your head so you can never talk.”

Alex closed his eyes for a moment; it seemed that hadn’t helped team morale one bit. They all looked scared out of their minds.

“I’m going to lower you down one at a time. As soon as you’re down, free yourself from the harness and run that way where my friend will take you to safety,” Alex said, pointing to where Dawn was parked.

He’d asked her not to bring her clown car, so she’d driven her dad’s pickup truck instead. If she had to, she could get all the girls into it.

Alex got the first girl ready. He used his hammer to knock out as much of the remaining glass as he could and threw a blanket over the window ledge so they wouldn’t get cut. Alex was easing the first girl out the window when an explosion shook everything. Either the Russians had blown something up, or one of the patrol cars’ gas tanks had been hit and gone up.

“The first girl is in the woods, headed your way. Twelve more to come,” Alex announced to everyone listening on their phones.

That motivated the girls to hustle their butts. In the distance, more sirens could be heard. It sounded like every cop in a five-county area was converging on their location. That was fine in the long run, but Alex felt this might be all over before they arrived.

As he lowered the girls, the last three Russians who’d come through the woods went down.

“At least five hostiles down,” Alex said into his phone.

On the other end were Dawn and Sheriff Conly, who was directing the police response.

The last girl was going down the rope when the door exploded open, and the Russian who’d shot from the barn rushed in with his rifle raised. He pointed the gun at Alex’s head but apparently caught the movement of the girl Alex had just freed as she ran toward the woods. The Russian’s aim shifted toward the open window to take her down. Alex rushed forward and was able to push the barrel up as the man fired.

Alex knew the girl would die if he didn’t fight the man. The two of them wrestled for control of the gun. Alex was shocked when the Russian let the rifle go but quickly figured out why: the man had drawn his sidearm and pressed it to Alex’s chest.

“Say goodbye,” the Russian said, and a shot rang out.

Alex blinked when the Russian teetered over and dropped to the floor. He looked through the door and saw one of the state troopers lowering his sidearm; he’d shot the guard. The trooper then shifted to point his gun at Alex.

“On the ground!”

Alex did as he was told and was quickly cuffed.

His phone was on the floor, so he heard Dawn call out, “I have them all, and we’re on our way to Conclave.”

Welp, that plan could have gone better. But at least he and the girls were all alive.

What followed was organized chaos as ambulances and more police poured in. Alex got a front-row seat in the back of one of the state troopers’ cruisers.

He was later told that all seven Russians, two state troopers, and a county sheriff’s deputy were all declared dead on arrival. Three other county boys were hauled off with gunshot wounds.