Page 136 of Drowning in Darkness

We’re out of the van in a flash, and I beeline for the back of the house to the basement entrance along with four other guys. Camryn takes the front, leaving two outside the door with four more heading in with her. Agent Thompson flanks off with two of the guys heading to the rear of the building with me, heading for the back door.

The basement entrance is locked, and we communicate as such, confirming over the comms that all the doors are. It doesn’t take long for the hired men with us to pick them. We lock eyes, silently counting down from three as we hear Camryn do it over the earpiece. On one, we all burst in.

I yank open the basement door and descend into darkness with two lethal mercenaries behind me. We raise our guns, tracking the shadows in front of us, but I don’t risk putting on a light. I don’t want to give away our position. The place has been renovated, and as we pass through the wider chamber we entered through, there’s a long hallway with doors on either side.

We check them, finding rooms with what can only be described as torture toys laid out on a table, a clean room which still has bloody water drying on the floor, and a room with security cameras.

I rush to the screen, scanning it for any sign of Christopher or Stephanie.

“Fuck.”

My backup slides up next to me, seeing what I’m seeing.

There’s a room somewhere deeper in the basement with six cells made of glass. I can see three girls in various states of destruction on one side, hardly moving, and then one in a cell on the other, a woman in a tattered pink dress.

“Stephanie.”

I’m moving before my brain catches up, sprinting down the hallway, hoping to find the room with the cells up ahead. My luck is good enough right now that I find it behind a solid metal door that has a small window in the center, allowing me to peek inside.

Christopher is somewhere in the house, but I can’t be concerned about that right now.

“Get this fucking door open,” I bark out.

The guy who’s clearly handy with locks jumps into action, but it takes too long, and several minutes pass before the goddamn door finally opens. I shove past him and right to the cell where Stephanie is slumped in a corner.

“Stephanie! Stephanie!”

I pound my fists on the glass, begging to see her move, and when she does, the relief that washes over me is almost enough to make me pass out. But she’s in rough shape. Her dress is torn, her face battered and bruised, and her wrists are bleeding, something I attribute to the cuffs I mounted on the inside of the cell.

When she focuses on me, something that looks physically difficult, Stephanie’s swollen face lights up, and I want to scream.

“That fucking monster. I swear to God I’ll tear him to pieces for touching you.”

“James!” she cries, the sound broken and weak.

I’ve lost track of what the men with me are doing, and a low groan forces me to turn my head. They’ve messed with the electric boxes near the door to the other cells, getting the other girls out. The three of them can barely stand, one not at all, and they slump against the outside of the cell nearest the door as one of the guys turns around and starts fiddling with Stephanie’s lock.

“I’m getting you out of here. We’re leaving. You hear me?”

Stephanie nods, sobs breaking free. She breathes through them, staring straight into my eyes. She didn’t let him break her. She held on, and I love her more than words can say.

“I really hadn’t planned for company.” Shit. I snap my attention to the door. “It’s quite rude to just drop by without an invitation.”

Christopher stands with a knife to Camryn’s throat as he steps into the wide chamber. She glares at me, her fingers digging into the fucker’s arm.

“Let her go. You’re outnumbered. You can’t win this.” I stand between Christopher and the man working to unlock Stephanie’s cell.

“I don’t need to. I just need to hurt you, and now I know exactly how to do that.”

He reaches into his pocket while pressing the knife into Camryn’s throat, a trickle of blood appearing. He lifts a tiny black box and presses a button. Stephanie screams and collapses to the floor, her body writhing and twitching. The bastard’s shocking her.

I rush toward him, and Camryn hisses as he sinks the knife in deeper, making me stop short. But then I hear the click. Stephanie’s cell is open. I can go to her, or I can focus on Christopher. I can tackle the fucker to the ground and hope Camryn is alright, or I can get Stephanie out of that damn cell and into my arms.

I don’t miss the poetic similarity to how I first met her.

The decision takes less than a second because I know what I’ll always choose. Her. I will always choose Stephanie.

Grabbing hold of the man who just unlocked her cell, I shove him toward Christopher and whisper, “Take him the fuck down.” I step into the cell and grit my teeth against the agonizing currents running up my legs. I drag Stephanie into my arms and pull her out of the cell, where she slumps against me, clutching me with the pitiful strength she has left.