Page 27 of Rescuing Brinley

There was shouting and more gunshots from the opposite side of the building, but they still didn’t sound as if they were coming any closer to where she and Dash were huddled.

“Fuck.”

The word was nothing more than a breath of air, but it had Brinley lifting her head to see what made Dash sound so pissed and worried at the same time. She stood and cautiously leaned forward, to peek around the corner.

She saw several men wearing the same black hoodies and pants as the one who’d chained the side doors shut. They were each carrying a woman out the side door of the building. None of them fought or struggled, were simply lying limp in the men’s arms. She hoped like hell they were simply unconscious and not dead. There was a pickup truck parked near the door, and they were dumping the women into the bed as if they were nothing but sacks of flour or something. Literally stacking them up, one atop the other, as if they were inanimate objects and not human beings.

Brinley sucked in a horrified breath, but she didn’t need Dash’s quick look to warn her to stay quiet. She felt sick as she watched the men put eight women in the back of the pickup, before two went back inside and two climbed into the front cab.

If Brinley thought they’d drive off, she was wrong. Instead, the truck bounced a short distance past the hotel and down the now-deserted beach—all the tourists had obviously fled when the gunshots started—in the direction of the long wooden docks.

“Fuck,” Dash repeated. “We need to go.”

She didn’t know where Dash planned to go, but she wasn’t going to be left behind. No way.

It was harder to stay under cover as they got near the beach and followed the tracks the truck had made in the sand toward the piers, but it seemed speed was Dash’s goal right now, not stealth.

They jogged toward the bench where they’d sat and talked, and Dash crouched behind a few tropical plants that bloomed nearby.

The truck had backed onto one of the piers, and one man had gotten into the float plane that was still parked there, while the other guy began transporting the still-unconscious women from the truck bed and putting them into the plane.

She gasped. “Is he…are they going to take those women somewhere?”

It was a stupid question, because that’s obviously what was happening. It just seemed so unbelievable. She recognized some of the women. Not too long ago, they were talking and smiling and strutting their stuff onstage. None were the Vice President’s daughter, or her sister, or any of her clients, but they were still human beings that were being treated like cattle. And Dash had told his friend on the phone earlier that the men who’d taken over the conference center were involved in human trafficking. If that plane took off, those women would probably disappear forever.

The shots and shouting continued behind them, but Dash was wholly focused on the pier.

“What can we do?” Brinley asked.

She could see Dash’s gaze going from the truck, to the center, then back to the truck.

“Stay here. I’m going to go out there and take care of those two men.”

“But what if more come?”

His lips flattened. “You stay hidden, no matter what happens. Understand?”

She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t hide in the bushes and watch while this man got hurt or killed. She wasn’t some badass military operative…but she did have one skill that would be useful right about now.

“I can fly it.”

His head whipped around. “What?”

“The plane. I can fly it. I mean, I think I can. I took lessons when I first moved to Alaska. It seemed like a good thing to learn at the time. It gave me something to do and I’d always heard that so many places in Alaska were only accessible by plane.” Realizing she was babbling and should get to the point, that it didn’t matter why she’d taken those flight lessons, she finished with, “I can fly that plane and get the women to safety. The water is calm, perfect conditions for taking off and landing. I don’t know where to take them, but if I can at least get the women out of here, they can’t do anything bad to them.”

She was scared to death. It had been months since she’d flown, but at the moment, she wasn’t sure what other chance those women had.

“Fuck.” Dash looked behind him at the building once more, then pinned her in place with his gaze. “I don’t like this. But I’m thinking this could’ve been their plan all along. They’re distracting the Fiji police force and the Secret Service at the conference center while they move the girls.”

Brinley nodded, feeling sick.

“We aren’t going to have much time. They have radios, all I’ve got is my cell phone and no time to get backup over here. And I’m sure my team has their hands full with protecting the VP and his family. We’re on our own right now. And the second those assholes see us, they’ll call for help. Will you be able to power up the plane and get it ready to go before any more terrorists can make it out here to us?”

Brinley looked back at the plane—and saw the propellers were very slowly starting to rotate. She met Dash’s eyes. “Yes. He’s already started the engine. Getting it ready.”

“You’ll stay at the end of the dock. Out of sight. Do not move until I’ve neutralized the threat. Only then should you run to the plane. Understand?”

Brinley nodded. She had no problem with that. She didn’t want to die and she didn’t want to kill anyone, didn’t even have a weapon. The last thing she wanted was to get in the middle of a shootout.