Chapter Twenty-Three
JACKSON
We had lost communication with the girls for a couple of hours while we positioned ourselves in the Duck Boat, but when dark fell we were finally in the water and our audio and video was working. I had heard bits and pieces of their dinner earlier in the evening and I was more than impressed with how PJ and Roxanne were handling things.
The two of them worked really well together and I couldn’t have asked for a better team. As our video and sound came back, it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. The video was dark, but I could hear a man’s voice that I assumed was Stephano’s.
“What is going on? Can you guys hear what’s happening?” I asked as I turned the volume up and unplugged my headset so the guys could hear, as well.
It sounded like the audio was muffled or something. I couldn’t figure out what exactly was going on.
“Is he drunk?” Nate asked.
“Maybe, I haven’t been able to understand a thing he has said, though.”
“Why is it dark?” Chase asked.
“I don’t know. I know just as much as you do.”
“Well, should we go in? Do we need to move in?” Chase asked as he was all excited to raid the house.
“No, we aren’t going in until we see some sort of signal. We have to let the ladies do their jobs first,” I said as I held my finger up so the guys would be quiet.
“You’re soooo beautiful,” Stephano said.
“I’m going to tie you up now,” PJ’s voice said.
“Why is she talking to him?” Nate yelled.
“He sounds drunk, or drugged or something,” Chase added.
PJ flipped a light on and we were able to see that she was in bed with Stephano. He looked like he was two seconds away from passing out and he didn’t seem to care at all that she had just spoken to him in English and was using one of his ties to secure him to the bed.
We watched in disbelief as she tied him up and then slipped out of his bedroom. She moved slowly and took her time as she looked around each of the corners before she moved to the next section of the house. It appeared that she was trying to make her way back down the stairs.
Once she reached the stairs to the basement, PJ slowed down and moved less deliberately. She kept her head down and we saw as she walked past a security guard at the bottom of the steps.
PJ made her way down a dimly lit hallway and went right into Roxanne’s room. Roxanne was awake and waiting for her when she got there.
It was very exciting to watch the girls from PJ’s glasses. I felt like we hardly had to be there at all. PJ and Roxanne seemed to have everything taken care of. There was only one guard left to deal with. I hadn’t seen the other one at all when PJ walked through the main living area of the basement.
“He’s out. There’s a guard at the bottom of the stairs, I think if you went to him and said you thought I told you something was wrong with Stephano, then he would follow you upstairs and I could get the rest of the girls out of the house,” PJ said in a whisper.
“Oh, shit, they are doing this now. We need to get to the shore. George, quietly get us over there,” I said as I pointed to the spot next to Stephano’s house that I wanted him to park us at.
There was a dock in front of his house that had a boat attached to it, but we could slide right up to the end of it and tie ourselves off. It was dark out, but there was plenty of lighting on the grounds so we would still need to be careful.
We had no idea if Stephano had any other guys outside the house at all. For all we knew, he could have had pit bulls out there ready to eat us alive. We needed to be prepared for anything that might go down.
“Yes, I can distract him and get him upstairs, I think,” Roxanne said as she made her way out of the room.
“Wait,” PJ said as she jumped up off the floor and handed Roxanne her glasses. “Wear these, you will be upstairs and Jackson will need to see what is going on. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to start getting the girls out the back door as soon as you get up the stairs.”
Roxanne grabbed the glasses from PJ and put them on her face as she made her way out to the security guard. Roxanne glanced behind her and I could see PJ there, too.
“I think something might have happened to Stephano. Ilsa doesn’t speak English, but she keeps doing this,” Roxanne said as she made some sort of movement.
“Did he die?” the guard asked PJ.
“She doesn’t speak English. I think one of us should go check on him.”
The guard looked at Roxanne and then at PJ as he tried to decide what he should do. Stephano was his boss and if something was wrong with him, then he needed to get help for the man. But he also didn’t want to leave the girls alone, either.
“I can stay here with the girls, if you’d like,” Roxanne said. “Or I can go check on Stephano, whatever you’d like.”
“You go check on him, but I’m coming to the top of the stairs with you. I don’t want any funny business going on,” the guard said.
The three of us looked at each other as we watched the monitor. We were almost to the dock and we prepared to make our way up to the house so we could do our part in getting the girls out.
“That sounds fine with me. We better hurry, though. I’m really worried about him,” Roxanne said.
As the boat pulled up to the dock, Chase, Nate, and I ran up the grass toward the house. We moved quickly and didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary. There were a couple motion sensor lights that flipped on, but other than that, we were in the clear.
I stood outside the glass doors to the basement and watched as Roxanne walked up the stairs with the security guard right behind her. PJ looked over at me, but she didn’t move until she saw that the pair had made it all the way up the stairs.
Then she ran as fast as she could to the back room, I gently tried to open the back door, but it was locked. Within a few seconds, PJ was standing at the back door with one of the girls. She unlocked it and opened it.
“Where’s Ana?” I asked.
“She won’t wake up. These girls are all drugged up and passed out,” PJ said.
“It’s all right. I’ll get her,” Nate said as he moved into the building.
I stood guard at the door as Nate came out carried Ana in his arms. She looked so frail. She certainly didn’t look like a grown woman; instead, she looked like a fragile child in his arms.
“We will each need to just grab the girls. If they can walk let them walk, otherwise just carry them,” I told the guys. “You stand guard at the stairs,” I said quietly to PJ.
She grabbed my gun from me and moved over toward the stairs, just out of sight if someone looked down them. Chase, Nate, and I each grabbed a girl and took her out to the boat where George was left to try and care for them.
Most of the girls just went right back to sleep, but a few of them woke up and seemed disoriented. I hated to leave George out there all by himself, but we needed to get the girls out of the house as fast as possible.
“What’s going on up there, is he all right?” the guard yelled up at Roxanne.
We couldn’t see the video of what was going on, so I had no idea what she was doing or how she was stalling him so well. But she was doing a great job. Within the span of about five minutes, we had almost all of the girls out.
I carried my third girl to the boat and then took a minute to look at the monitor to see what was going on. I heard Roxanne talking and stopped dead in my tracks.
“He’s fine. You don’t need to go in there,” she said as she stood in front of Stephano’s door and talked to the guard.
I didn’t wait to see what was said next and started to sprint up to the house.
“This is the last girl,” Chase said as he helped a wobbly girl down the grass toward the boat.
“Get PJ and get out,” I said to Nate as he ran up behind me after dropping off the girl he had been carrying.
“I’m not leaving without Roxanne,” PJ said.
“Get the fuck down stairs. I don’t know what the hell the two of you are up to, but I’m not going to have any more of this,” the guard said as he led Roxanne back down the stairs with the gun held to her back.
Nate and I ducked down behind the couch as PJ stood by the kitchen and waited for them.
“What are you doing? Why are you out here?” the guard said as he looked at PJ.
Then out of the blue, Roxanne ducked down and PJ swung her leg in the air and landed her foot right square on the jaw of the guard. I expected him to go down to the ground after a hit like that, but he didn’t. Instead, he raised his gun and shot PJ.
I hesitated as I watched the scene, but luckily, Nate didn’t hesitate at all. He shot the security guard in the head. We both moved quickly over to PJ to assess what had happened.
“Where did it hit you?” I asked.
“Shoulder, I’m good. Is Roxanne okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“We need to get out of here,” I said as I looked at Nate. “I’ve got her. You check the rooms to make sure we didn’t miss anyone.”
I wrapped PJ’s arm around my shoulder and Roxanne held onto her other side as we made our way down to the boat. I could feel PJ’s blood as it poured from her body onto mine and I knew we needed to get her medical attention right away.
“What’s your gunshot protocol? Where can we take you?” I asked.
“Anywhere is fine, we will figure out the logistics of it later,” she said with a smile.
We were getting ready to leave when we saw Nate carrying another girl down the grass toward the boat.
“She was hiding under a bed,” he said.
The girl was crying uncontrollably. As Nate set the girl down in the boat, Ana went over to her and tried to calm the girl. Then, Roxanne joined her as they both tried to calm the girl and soothe her crying.
“Let’s get out of here, George,” I said as I placed my hand on his shoulder. “I’m damn glad you were here.”
“Best night of my life. I can’t wait to explain to my partners why there is blood all over our boat.”
“You can’t tell them the truth,” I said.
“Oh, don’t worry, they wouldn’t believe me if I did tell them the truth. I think of some outlandish story to tell them.”