Shadow Storm (Shadow Riders 6)

Just as in the first case, her handler sat outside the bathroom with the door cracked, his voice soothing as he spoke to her as if he was trying to guide her through the upcoming ordeal. She appeared to be listening intently. Emmanuelle had ridden the shadow nearly right up to him and stood in the mouth of it so she could clearly hear every word he was saying. To her shock, it was nearly word for word what the first guard had said to his prisoner.

This was a script. The handlers were going off a script they fed to the young girls or boys. Obviously, during the time they had the teens, they broke them down by in turns being good to them or hurting them. The children had no one else and clung to the only one that fed them or took care of them in any way. Now the abuser was scaring them more by pretending to care, to warn them. At the same time, they were encouraging them to take their own life after a month, although this man specified six weeks. Why?

Emmanuelle turned that over in her mind. The bidding brought in as much as five hundred thousand or even more per virgin. There were fourteen girls and six boys in this group. That, apparently, was the usual number Tommaso auctioned off at a time. Not all the teens would kill themselves, but it was likely some of the younger ones would, especially if they did end up with a crueler buyer. There seemed to be some pretty depraved men bidding, although the majority of those accosting the waitresses were Tommaso’s mercenaries or his soldiers. He let them because he wanted a show for the audience.

Emmanuelle, Nicoletta and Mariko had the locations of all fourteen girls and six boys by the time the bidding had started. As each teen was brought back to their designated space, it was easy enough for them to ride the shadows and be there waiting.

“I’m so sorry,” the guard told the little sobbing thirteen-year-old. “You know what to do.” He patted her head. “He’ll be good to you that first month. You’ll see. Just hold on, and when you get your chance, take it.” He all but pushed her into the half bath and stepped away from the door after locking it.

As he turned, he died, his smirk still on his face. Emmanuelle and Nicoletta dragged his body out of the hall into the sitting room and closed the door, taking his keys. They couldn’t let the young teenager know she was going to be free until the last moment. They couldn’t take the chance she might make a sound or try to make a run for it. She wasn’t hurt and didn’t require medical attention, so they rode the shadows back to the auction.

As each young teen was brought out to be bid on, they followed him or her back with their handler to their assigned “cage.” It was very clear all of them had been given the same story—that they would be told if a cruel man had won the bid for them. Each had been informed they’d been bought by the worst man imaginable and their only out was to kill themself. Each had been given a specific time period to do so. Tommaso had certainly thought of everything to keep his business profitable.

Once all the teens’ handlers were taken down, Mariko and Emmanuelle reported they were ready to bring them out as soon as the streets were cleared and Valentino’s crew was ready to take over the estate.

Valentino gave the go-ahead to his army of men, reiterating that the Ferraro family members were part of their family and were wearing distinctive pinstriped suits. Under penalty of death, none of them were to be harmed. His men swept in through the back entrance, Dario, Severu, Levi and Axel surrounding Valentino along with Luca, Quintu, Romano and Tore, which Emmanuelle knew Val would detest. Those were the men that would no doubt put themselves in the path of a bullet for Valentino.

She hurried as fast as she could, taking her charges out to the van rigged with medical equipment to transport the young teens to the clinic Val had set up for them. There were doctors, nurses and counselors waiting. It hadn’t quite set in that they were actually rescued. The older teens were suspicious, not quite believing, the younger teens not comprehending, still terrified after what their handlers had told them.

The moment the vans had safely pulled away with their escort, Emmanuelle turned back to the house. She caught the largest shadow transporting her through the yard, which was completely clear of all of Tommaso’s mercenaries, to the inside of the mansion, where gunfire was erupting in a steady thunder that was terrifying to her.