Maddie pulled to a stop a block from the warehouse, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her breathing grew more rapid and shallow. This was it. She couldn’t turn back now. And she didn’t have anyone backing her up.

She squared her shoulders. Her sister was inside that building. Maddie was getting her out, one way or another.

She got out of her vehicle and moved toward her rendezvous site, hugging the shadows on the sides of the buildings. She patted the .40 caliber H&K handgun beneath her jacket and felt for her knife in the scabbard on her belt. The weapons were there, if she needed them, to save her sister. Maddie wore dark jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, a black leather jacket and a black hat.

She turned into an alley and hid in the shadow of an industrial-sized trash bin. From where she stood, she could see the warehouse ahead.

A dark figure moved at the end of the alley.

Maddie swallowed a gasp and ducked back behind the corner of the bin. She took a deep breath and eased her head around.

The guy closest to her waved a gun at another who had just exited the door of the warehouse. He wore dark clothing and a clear mask that disguised his facial features.

Her jaw clenched, Maddie left the shelter of the trash bin, slipped through the alley and approached the man from behind. She swung her leg to catch the man behind the knees, bringing him down. Using the butt of her gun, she hit him over the head with a move her Dad had taught her to incapacitate her foe. She dragged the man by his jacket behind the trash bin and pulled zip-ties from her pocket to bind his hands and feet together. From her other pocket, she removed a small roll of duct tape and slapped a piece across the dude’s mouth. Her father had always taught the girls to come prepared.

Her heart pounding, Maddie glanced back at the warehouse.

The man at the entrance leaned against the wall beside the door and lit a cigarette.

Maddie let go of the breath she’d been holding, thankful he apparently hadn’t heard her taking out his cohort.

She circled the structure and came out a couple of buildings down the street.

The guard at the door turned away, giving her the chance she needed to cross the street in the open. Moving as quickly as possible, she rounded the back of a warehouse and slipped up the alley beside her target. She peered around the corner.

The guard leaned against the building, speaking into a walkie-talkie. “No sign of her, yet.”

A staticky voice said, “Notify us, as soon as she shows.”

“Yeah, okay.” The guard hooked the radio on his belt and took a drag on his cigarette.

Maddie found a small piece of a brick and flung it past the guard.

He jerked to attention, his gaze following the noise.

Maddie sprinted along the wall, praying he wouldn’t turn back around before she reached his position.

The guard took a step toward the brick.

Maddie’s foot slipped on gravel.

As the guard turned toward her, she hit him like linebacker, going in for the tackle, knocking him to the ground.

His head hit the concrete with a loud crack, and he lay still.

Her pulse pounding, Maddie leaped to her feet, flipped him onto his belly and secured his hands with a zip-tie. After she stuck a strip of duct tape over his mouth, she straightened.

Two down.

Easing the door open, she looked inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the interior darkness. The warehouse floor was strewn with a few broken crates and discarded pallets. At the far side of the warehouse, a narrow band of light shone from a half-opened door. Nothing moved between her and that door. She slipped into the building and moved from crate to crate, across the open warehouse floor

Making sure to stay in the shadows, she thought of Derek and the men who would come to help her and her sister. As she neared the open door, she heard voices.

She hunkered low and listened.

“Once we get the other chick, we’ll move all the women to a new location, so that we can get them ready for sale.”

A different voice said, “After this sale, the Mayor wants us to lay low for a while, and then he’ll have us set up operations in a different town.”

As Maddie moved past the door and further into the warehouse, the voices faded. On the other side of the lit office, she found another door and pressed her ear to the panel. The sound of hushed voices and faint sobs drifted through the cracks.

Maddie’s heart sped up. She’d found the women. Maddie tried to turn the nob, but the door was locked. Another fun thing her Dad had taught her was how to pick a lock.

“Never know when this will come in handy,” her Dad had said when she’d been a young girl.

The voices inside the room quieted.

Maddie pulled out the lock-picking kit her father had made for her. She slipped a narrow piece of metal into the lock and wiggled it around until she felt a soft click. When she tried again, the door knob turned, and she slipped quietly into the room.

Maddie flipped the switch on her tactical flashlight and a red beam lit the room.

Six women huddled onto small cots throughout the room. Another woman lay on a cot in the back, against the wall, her long, golden-brown hair tangled around her shoulders with blood caked on one side. The women on the cots swarmed around Maddie and, in hushed excited voices, all asked her questions at once.

A short woman with long blond hair said, “Who are you?”

“Did they get you, too?” said a woman taller than Maddie with short curly black hair.

A very thin, dark skinned woman with short black hair touched her arm. “Do you know what’s happening?”

Maddie put her finger to her lips and motioned for them to be quiet. “I’m here to help you escape. We have to keep it down, so they don’t know what’s going on,” she whispered.

All the woman glanced toward the door and hushed.

The blonde said, “What can we do to help?”

Maddie crossed to the woman lying on the cot in the back of the room, knowing deep down that this was her sister, Janie. She swallowed hard on the lump lodged in her throat and looked down on her sister, praying she was still alive. She felt for a pulse at the base of her throat and shined her flashlight at her sister and waited for the tell-tale sign of breathing.

Janie’s chest rose and fell at a slow, steady pace, and her pulse thrummed against Maddie’s fingertips. Though she was as pale as death, she was alive.

Grateful tears stung Maddie’s eyes. She blinked them back and straightened.

The woman with the short dark hair approached Maddie. “When they brought her in, she was unconscious. When she came to, we had her stay awake for a while to make sure she didn’t have a concussion. Now, she fades in and out, complaining of a headache. She’s been sleeping a lot over the last few hours.” She held out her hand. “My name is Lori. They took me from the university. I’m studying to be a nurse.”

Maddie took the woman’s hand and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you so much for taking care of my sister.” When she set Lori at arm’s length, she faced the other women. “There’s a team of men coming to help us, but I’m afraid to wait in case they don’t arrive on time. We need to rescue ourselves. Can you ladies help me get my sister out?”

All the women nodded.

Maddie gently shook Janie’s shoulder and leaned close to whisper in her ear, “Janie, sweetie, wake up.”

Janie came to, blinking up at the light shining into her eyes. She shook her head gently, winced and placed her hand to her temple. “Maddie?”

“Yeah, sweetie, it’s me.” Maddie choked back a sob.

“What happened? Where are we?” Janie squinted, glancing past Maddie to the women gathered around, her eyes rounding. She grabbed her sister’s hand. “Oh, no, Maddie. Did they get you, too?”

Maddie smiled. “No, sweetie, I’m here to get you out of here.”

Janie closed her eyes for a moment, and then reopened them. “Oh Maddie, am I glad to see you.”

Maddie hugged Janie then helped her to sit up.

Janie swayed, but remained upright.

Though she was anxious to get out of there before they were discovered, Maddie couldn’t rush her sister. She waited a moment, and then helped Janie to her feet and slung one of Janie’s arms over her shoulder.

Janie leaned heavily on her.

Maddie told Janie what she had told the other women. “We have to get out of here. Can you make it?”

Janie nodded. “I’m ready.”

With her arm around Janie’s waist, Maddie led her toward the door.

Lori went to Janie’s other side to help.

“Hold her, while I check to see if we’re clear.” Maddie turned off her flashlight, handed off Janie to Lori, and stuck her head around the door.

No one moved in the darkness of the warehouse. She could still hear voices coming from the office. Since they hadn’t come looking for the women, the kidnappers probably didn’t know their guards had been rendered useless.

Maddie ducked back inside the room. “The coast is clear. Let’s go.”

She hooked Janie’s arm around her shoulder again and guided her through the door, turning away from the office to cross the warehouse toward the front of the building. She hadn’t had time to check the back of the building for guards, but the ones in front wouldn’t be able to stop them.

As Maddie and the seven women neared the front entrance, a man shouted and sharp popping sounds echoed through the building, making Maddie and Janie freeze. They knew the sound of gunfire.

“Get down!” Maddie cried. She and Janie dropped to the floor.

The others followed suit.

“Don’t stop,” Maddie urged. “Crawl for the door.” She herded the girls toward the front entrance, half-dragging Janie along beside her. Once there, Maddie reached up and opened the door. “Go. And stay low.”

The girls exited on their hands and knees, one-by-one until the only ones remaining were Maddie, Janie and Lori.

Janie lay against the floor, her body shaking. “I can’t move.”

“You have to,” Maddie said.

“Save yourself,” she said.

“I’m not leaving without you,” Maddie said.