“The lambs will have a five-minute head start,” Aria repeats. She turns toward her victims. “I recommend using every second of it.”
“I’m going to kill you,” the confident woman from before promises, her tone a dark threat. She has long black hair and dark skin. She appears middle-aged, though there’s a youthfulness to her face that suggests she once was full of life and smiles.
Not anymore.
Aria ignores the threat and says, “Your five minutes start now.”
The crying girl breaks into a run, holding her breasts with one arm, as if to shield them from prying eyes. Two of the naked men break into a run after her.
Reece doesn’t immediately leave.
Neither does the woman.
“I’m not playing your game,” she says, hefting her chin imperiously in the air.
Go,I wordlessly beg her.Please, just go.
It’s your only chance.
She doesn’t turn to stare at me, butReecedoes, his eyebrows pinching together.
“Go,” I mouth. “I’ll find you.”
He hesitates, still appearing unsure, before breaking into a run, his gait slightly uneven from his injuries.
The woman remains, strong and proud, her hands fisted on her hips.
“My name is Kaila Raven.” She turns to address the room as a whole. “I’m a detective with the Grove Oak Police Department.” Murmurs reverberate through the room, but she doesn’t wait for her declaration to settle in before continuing. “I was investigating a few strange disappearances and deaths. My search led me here.” A scowl distorts her beautiful face. “If you do this, there will be no coming back. I won’t be able to help any of you.” Her eyes drift over the sea of masked faces before stopping on my unmasked one. She does a double take, her eyes widening comically. “You all can still make this right.”
“Three minutes left,” Aria says.
Kaila doesn’t look away from me as she speaks, as if she’s trying to beseech me. Doesn’t she understand I’m on her side? That I’m trying to save her and the others?
“Go,” I mouth. “Go now.”
She remains there. “We can work something out. I promise you. Just let me go.”
“Two minutes,” Aria says.
The crowd shuffles from foot to foot, but no one says anything. No one steps forward.
Kaila remains standing there, fearless.
The next two minutes are the longest in my life. I plead wordlessly for Kaila to run—then I do it verbally when it’s apparent she isn’t going to listen to me.
“You need to run! Now!” I tell her, causing her eyes to flick in my direction.
And when the two minutes come to an end…
I have to give Kaila credit.
She fights back. She truly does. I even think she even manages to incapacitate a few of the members.
But one person against twenty-five men and women with knives isn’t enough.
I lunge forward, a scream lodging in my throat, but Dominic holds me back. “We can’t. I’m sorry, Ellie, but we can’t.”
I know he’s right, I do, but his words don’t stop me from thrashing and clawing, trying desperately to get to her.
