Page 35 of Kyle

Damn, the man was too close to the door. I darted from my hidey-hole, not sure what I was going to do to stop him from entering the house. I was half a dozen steps from him when his attention came to me. The front door opened, a figure dressed in black stepped through and the next thing I knew the man in black lunged forward. His arm came up, and in one fluid motion came down, making contact with the would-be intruder’s throat.

I froze. One second my feet had been moving, the next they weren’t.

A set of very angry eyes came to mine and Kyle pulled his knife free, wiped the blade on his pants before he closed the knife and shoved it in his pocket. He did all of that without breaking eye contact.

Holy shit.

Something wholly sinister passed over Kyle’s features before he looked down at the man who was now sagging against his one-arm hold. With a shove, the man fell back and into the bushes that lined the porch.

“Get the fuck back into the truck,” Kyle growled.

Declan appeared behind him, three girls struggling as he herded them out the door.

Without thinking, I rushed forward—ignoring Kyle’s demand—and went to the girls.

“We’re here to help. You’re safe now.”

All three shook their heads and struggled.

“We’re Americans,” I told them in Tetum. “We’re going to take you away from here. You’re safe now.”

Relief was stark on two of their faces but the third was still struggling with her decision.

“Come on.” I gestured. “We have to hurry. She won’t hurt you again.”

I tugged on the girl’s hand and she reluctantly followed. Camilla was already out of the truck and waiting.

“How many more are in the house?” I asked, still speaking in Tetum.

“Six,” one of the girls whispered.

“And next door?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t been there in a long time.”

I rushed back to the house to help Declan and Kyle. There was no way they were getting six more scared girls out of the house.

Declan met me on the porch and yanked me to a stop.

“It’s not pretty in there.”

“I’m fine.”

He let me go and I finally got my first look inside of Amisha’s House of Horrors.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was enough to knock you on your ass. Next, there was no living room, it had been partitioned off. I didn’t want to think about why that was, why she needed the extra rooms. I didn’t want to think about anything that had gone on in this house.

I glanced to my right and Amisha lay dead next to two men. Blood surrounded the three on the already-stained floor. I wouldn’t say I was filled with joy seeing them dead, but I did feel the rightness of their deaths. She was gone. Amisha could never hurt a young girl again. Kyle and Declan had made sure of it and for that I was grateful.

To my left, six young girls huddled together. Kyle was standing behind them, anger rolling off him. It was no surprise the girls were scared of him.

I repeated the same speech to the girls and coaxed them out the door.

With the nine girls in the back of the box truck, Camilla had gone back to the cab. I was getting ready to climb in so Kyle could lock us in, when he stopped me and pulled me close.

His strong arms wrapped around me so tightly all the air in my lungs whooshed out. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Be safe, Anaya.”