“Wait. How did he communicate with all of you?” asked Wes.
“He sent messengers. Very old fashioned, and I imagine expensive but he never sent anything electronically. He always said he was afraid that someone would take his discoveries or ideas. Obviously, now I know that it was something else.”
“Maybe,” said Patrick, “or maybe he was onto something. If he used a messenger service, they would have had to pickup the information from him and then deliver. We could get addresses of the other students.”
“I can tell you the name of the messenger service. Cape Fear Delivery. They have a small office off Blackwood Avenue,” said Marissa.
“Looks like we have an assignment,” said Ham nodding at Wes. The two men left the building and Marissa looked at the others.
“What should I do?” she asked.
“You’re going to go through every note you created everything you have and tell us what your thinking was,” said Paige.
“Aunt Paige, I don’t have my laptop. It was in my apartment. When Joey and the others took me out of the club, I never went back.”
“Looks like we have an assignment,” smirked Bullett. Gator nodded at the men.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he said staring at the three men. “I know you’re Rangers, but that doesn’t mean you won’t do something stupid.”
The others laughed and nodded.
“We promise, sir,” said Red. “Don’t suppose you have a key, Marissa?”
“No.Sorry.”
“Okie dokie. Time to get creative,” laughed Red.
Red, Bullett, and Bo parked a mile away and walked through the woods to get to the back side of the club. It should be closed, with no one around, but they couldn’t be sure.
“They made sure these apartments were out of sight,” whispered Bo. “Surrounded by trees, no lighting, I’m going to bet these girls were terrified.”
“Where are they?” asked Red. His teammates looked at him. “The other girls. Where are they? We didn’t have time to come back for them.”
“Shit,” muttered Bullett.
He shot a text to Gator who immediately replied to search for the girls. When they were certain that no one from Giamanco’s team was anywhere near the site, they walked up to the apartments, knocking on the doors. When no one answered, Red nodded.
“Stand back. If it’s wired, we’re gonna feel this.”
He tested the doorknob first and nodded. It was unlocked and easily opened for him. Using the lights from their cellphones, they searched for possible trip wires, not seeing anything.
There was one bed in the room, a small dresser, and a few articles of women’s clothing but nothing else. They continued searching until they got to the room that belonged to Marissa.
Inside they found her laptop and some clothing but nothing else.
“I guess this is it,” said Red. He heard a soft knock and stopped in his tracks holding a finger to his lips. The other two listened, hearing the knock again.
“Is there a second floor?” asked Bullett. Red shook his head. Then the tapping was heard again.
The men walked quietly around the room, touching the walls to see if they could feel a vibration. As Bullett reached the back wall near the bathroom, he felt it again.
“Here. It’s a hidden wall,” he frowned. Not sure what was behind the wall, he took out his knife, slicing it through the drywall. As they pulled back the thin pieces, they were shocked.
A small space, no bigger than six feet by six feet, emerged. Seven women were huddled on the floor in barely any clothing, with one blanket to share.
“Holy fuck,” muttered Red.
The stench of body odor, urine, and excrement assaulted them all and they stepped back. He dialed the number and immediately heard Christopher’s voice.
