“My name is Anna. This is my sister, Una. We’re going to help you.”
Una grabs my arm and drags me to my feet. “This isn’t what we agreed.”
“We have to help them.”
“We have a plan. We ran through it. I told you, this is an assassination, not a rescue mission. There are still a lot of armed men in this house.”
“Exactly, we’ll be leaving her and god knows how many others to them. They’ll be sold and raped.” She closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath. “I won’t abandon them the same way I was.”
I know it’s a low blow that she’ll take personally, but I don’t care. She wanted me to have purpose—well this is it. If I can help these girls, that will be all the purpose I need. A fire, unlike any I’ve ever felt tears through my veins, giving me a steely determination.
“Fine. We take her.”
“No.” I help the girl to her feet. “We help them all.” Una spits a curse and paces the length of the room. “How many others are here?” I ask the girl in Romanian.
“Eight,” she says quietly.
With a resigned sigh, Una hands me back the gun as she takes her own gun in hand.
“You go for them, I’ll hold the guards off. You have less than five minutes, Anna.”
With that she disappears. The young girl helps me to the basement, a route I know like the back of my hand. It doesn’t take long to unlock the cages and free the girls there, the keys being hung on the wall. Some are obviously new and need very little persuasion, while others think it’s a trick. Eventually I wrangle them through the house.
The girls huddle together like a flock of sheep as they follow. All except one. The blonde. She hangs back, her shoulders just a little more upright, her head a little higher. Even here, in this place, a small smile touches my lips. She’s not broken. Collared, beaten, damaged maybe, but not shattered. She’s strong. And it’s that strength that drew him to her because Alexandru doesn’t like broken things. He likes to be the one that breaks them.
The distant sound of gunshots rings through the house as we move and my heart skitters in my chest as I imagine my sister being fired at, completely outnumbered. The hallways are quiet and littered with fallen men. We step over the felled bodies until we reach the front door. I jump at the sound of a gunshot nearby. I lift my gun, finger hovering over the trigger as I aim at a darkened doorway. My heart beats so hard it feels like it’ll tear out of my chest, and then Una appears from the shadows. I breathe a sigh of relief and lower the gun.
“You’re okay.”
She frowns as though my concern confounds her. “Of course.” She removes the clip from her gun, replacing it with another. “We’re going to have to shoot our way out.” Any premise of a subtle exit is long gone. The plan is out of the window, and now we’re just hoping for the best. “Cover me, Anna.”
And then she steps through the front door. The girls follow her, and I take up the rear. Bullets fly left and right. Una’s focused on two guys in front of her when I spot a guy aiming a pistol at her. I point my gun at his head and shoot. With that small pop, he drops and hits the ground. I have the briefest of moments to process, and then I’m running across the manicured lawn, chasing after Una as she acts like a one-man army. I’m out of breath by the time I catch up, but she isn’t. The girls are all breathing heavily, and Una is pacing, checking her watch every few seconds, occasionally shooting a straggler.
Finally, a black SUV pulls up to the gate, and the passenger window rolls down revealing Sasha’s stoic expression. “This isn’t the plan,” he says flatly.
“No. This is Anna’s plan.”
Sasha glances at me before giving a reluctant nod. I know this isn’t the way they work, but I’m grateful for them both right now. I’m grateful that they’re willing to do this for me because I know deep down that this is what I need. I need salvation every bit as much as these young girls. How can I possibly deny them that?
60
Anna
I pound my fists over the punchbag, and though it usually calms me, today it does nothing. My mind is consumed with thoughts of those girls, of what they’ve been through. They’re staying in one of Nero’s apartments, and we’re working on getting them back to their families, but some have no family. They’re just lost, abandoned. But I won’t abandon them. Rafael saved me, he loved me, and he taught me what it was to be valued. I want to do that for them. I want to heal them, hold them, take away the pain I know they feel. I wish I could shoulder it for them because I’m older, more accustomed to the feeling. They’re so young, and yet so strong.