I shake my head. I wonder whose ego is bigger, his or mine. When we get to the top of the stairs, I say, “Let’s find Marina first. She’ll know where the safe is, and she may even know the combination. Could save us a lot of time.”
Just then, Ice’s phone beeps. He takes it out of his pocket and looks at it. “Just got a text from Rebel; the outer perimeter has been neutralized. No casualties on our end.”
“Thank fuck,” I say.
We approach a set of double doors, which I am assuming is the master bedroom and hopefully the place where we will find Marina. We open the doors and find a woman lying on the bed in a fetal position, crying.What the fuck?
She glances up at us as I approach, and I am appalled by what I see. Her face has been badly beaten. She has two black eyes and blood running down the side of her head.Holy shit, that SOB beat her!
“Marina, we mean you no harm.” I quickly try to reassure her as she inches her way up the bed in an effort to get away from us. She winces as she moves, which makes me realize there is more damage to her than what I see on her face. “It’s okay, sweetheart, we’ve come to save you from this hellhole.”
She looks at me curiously and then toward Ice. She’s scared, but when she speaks, I’m surprised to find out that when she speaks, it’s in English.
“Who are you?” From the looks of it, she desperately wants to believe us, but there is hesitation, and I think it is fair to assume she isn’t used to trusting many people. I can’t say I really blame her. We’re a couple of big scary dudes, not to mention the guns we are carrying.
“My name is Sainte, and this here is Ice. We’re Americans. We’ve come to take down Romeo, but our first mission is to get you and the young girl safely out of here.”
She eyes me warily as she sits up to get a better look at us. “How do I know what you are telling me is true?”
“You don’t. You have two choices. You either trust me or you remain here and suffer Romeo’s wrath when he returns.”
She looks around the room as if she is saying good-bye to her surroundings.
She slowly gets up from the bed and says, “Get me and Katie the fuck out of here.” She may or may not trust us, but if there is any glimmer of hope for her to get away, she’s obviously at the point where she wants to take it.
“Where can we find Katie?” I reach for her hand to steady her when she stumbles a little.
She looks up at me with gratitude in her eyes. “She’s in the next room. I’ll take you there.”
“Before we get Katie, we need one more thing from you, Marina.”
“Anything,” she replies.
“Can you get us into Romeo’s safe? We’re cleaning him out.”
She smiles. “With pleasure. Follow me.”
She leads us to a huge closet. We step inside, and the fucking thing is as big as my living room. Nobody needs this many clothes and things. Nobody. In the back corner is a separate closet. She opens the door, and standing before us is a huge floor-to-ceiling safe.
“Do you know the combination?” I ask.
“Yes, it’s my wedding anniversary. Nine, nineteen, twelve.”
Perfect. “Ice, you got this. I’m gonna take Marina and go get Katie. Meet you at the top of the stairs.”
“Got it.”
Marina and I leave the room and head toward Katie’s room. “Let me go in first,” Marina says. “Can you wait out here?”
I look at her warily but agree. I quickly see by the look in her eyes that she’s on our side. She’s tired of being Romeo’s punching bag, and right now, I’m her salvation.
A few minutes later, Marina comes out with Katie. I’m horrified when I see the young girl. Her bruises mirror Marina’s. It makes my stomach turn to see how this fucking pig treats the women in his life. It’s bad enough he beats on his wife, but Katie is a child.
Fucking cocksucker. All I have to say is he’s lucky he’s not here ’cause fuck what Michael said. He would die tonight. I have no patience for men who beat on women and children.
We walk out into the hallway as Ice is leaving Romeo’s bedroom. He’s got both oversized duffels full, and the zippers are pulling at the seams.
“Holy shit, Ice, that bag is stuffed.”
