Chapter 13
Sirens wailing and lights flashing, Reese and Kelley tore through Prescott in his truck. She clenched and unclenched her hands, praying that Zip had given her the right information and that they’d get there before Rocha’s shipment of women and girls left town.
Shipment. A part of her couldn’t believe that this was going on in their town. It seemed almost inconceivable. Bad things went on everywhere, but slavery was something that just didn’t happen in this area.
Hadn’t happened, she corrected herself. With this news, everything had changed.
That bastard, Johnny Rocha, had brought bad things to Prescott. Seriously bad things, worse than what they’d been facing before.
Reese cut the sirens when they closed in on the location Zip had given them. They pulled onto the street, not too far from where a semi truck was parked in front of an old condemned building. The ground around the building was barren with sporadic patches of weeds and yellowed grass.
He parked his truck and climbed out at the same time Kelley did. From behind the front seat, he brought out a bulletproof vest and his raid jacket with POLICE across the back. He was all business now. Gone was the friend and lover, something she appreciated even if she didn’t appreciate his over-concern.
“I don’t have a vest small enough to fit you.” He frowned. “You need to stay with the truck.”
She clenched her jaw, giving him a stubborn look. “I’m in on this, Reese. It’s my informant, my tip.”
“Damn it.” He looked away as two police cruisers came down the street. When he returned his gaze to her, he said, “Wear my jacket.”
She would have laughed if the situation weren’t so dire. She shook her head. “It’ll go down to my knees.”
Police cruisers arrived from both sides of the street, blocking incoming and outgoing traffic. Officers also went around the back so that both entrances to the building were covered.
Just as the team started to approach the semi and the building, the big rig roared to life. A man appeared in the driver’s seat, as if he’d been lying down and was now straightening behind the wheel. Kelley saw his arm move and heard gears grinding.
Officers in front of the truck positioned themselves so that their vehicles shielded them. Their guns were trained on the driver.
“The girls could be in the back of that truck.” Kelley narrowed her gaze as she looked at the vehicle then glanced at Reese. “If we’re going to take him out, we’ve got to do it now, before that truck starts moving.”
Reese gave a nod. He spoke into his radio and divided his team into three. One team to penetrate from the back of the building, one team to enter through the front entrance, and a team for the truck.
On Reese’s signal, the teams went into action. Shouts of “Police!” rang through the air along with gunfire the moment the two teams entered the house.
Reese and Kelley were with the team that was prepared to take the truck. Reese had his weapon ready. Like Reese, Kelley had her gun trained on the truck driver. The man’s window was open, so Kelley knew he had to hear every word they said.
“Step out now with your hands up,” Reese shouted as he eased closer to the driver’s side door. “We will shoot.”
The truck motor roared. Kelley saw the fierceness in the driver’s eyes and in his expression.
“He’s not going to surrender,” Kelley said.
Reese gave a nod to one of the snipers. “Take him out.”
The truck vibrated as if the driver was shifting into gear.
A crack from a rifle. A hole appeared in the driver’s forehead and his eyes went blank. He slumped over the wheel.
The rig started to roll.
Reese bolted the few feet to the truck. He jumped onto the running board and wrenched open the door of the cab.
The truck crept slowly forward as he hung on with the three fingers of his left hand and grabbed the dead man by his collar with his opposite hand. He pulled the man’s body out of the cab and it tumbled to the ground.
Kelley’s heart beat faster as the semi slowly picked up speed, heading toward the line of vehicles in front of it.
Reese swung inside the cab. He wrangled for control of the truck as it got closer and closer to the police cruisers. Officers jumped clear as the huge semi plowed into the vehicles.
Metal crunched. Glass shattered. Brakes screeched.
And then moments later, the truck came to a shuddering stop. Reese killed the engine and the rumble died away.
Even though she’d been concentrating on the semi, she’d also been aware of what was apparently going on in the building. Whoever had been inside had put up a fight, but now the teams that had taken the building were marching cuffed men outside.
Reese and Kelley both ran to the back of the semi trailer. A large padlock was on the back, locking the doors tightly. Reese called out for bolt cutters.
Kelley’s heartbeat was erratic as she waited to see what was in the back of that trailer. Would Belle be there? What about the women Zip had claimed were in the back of a semi? Was this the right one?
In moments, an officer had returned with bolt cutters. John came up beside Reese and Kelley as they waited for the lock to be cut. The lock dropped to the ground and both Reese and John climbed up and opened the trailer’s doors.
Kelley’s breath stuck in her throat as she saw eight women and girls bound and gagged. They looked terrified, as if suffering from heat exhaustion, and faint with hunger, even as they blinked away the sudden brightness from outside.
“We’re the police.” Reese walked into the trailer. “You’re all safe now.”
Looks of relief crossed some faces, disbelief on others. Tears rolled down many of the women’s and girls’ cheeks.
Kelley climbed inside. The hot interior reeked with smells of sweat and unwashed bodies. She recognized several from pictures that had been circulated of each missing woman or girl from missing persons cases. How long had some of them been gone from their families?
While she walked through the back, stepping over many of the occupants, all appearing to be blonde and blue-eyed, Kelley made reassuring comments as she went. With single-minded determinedness, she searched for Belle.
“I can’t find her.” Kelley fought to keep her voice calm. “I can’t find Belle.”
“I don’t see her, either,” Reese said as he knelt and began freeing the occupants by cutting their bonds and then removing their gags.
Louder sobs and whimpers could be heard now that gags were being removed. Officers helped women out of the back of the trailer. Grateful words were being said by many of the women while others looked too shell-shocked to speak.
Sirens approached, no doubt ambulances. Some of these women could be transported in available vehicles to the hospital, but others needed immediate care.
Kelley still kept her eyes open in case Belle was here, but her heart sank even further when she didn’t see the girl anywhere.
“Petrova.” John’s voice had Kelley turning to face the truck’s opening. “You need to see this.”
Kelley finished freeing a girl then helped her to the back of the truck. When they reached it, Kelley handed off the girl to a paramedic.
“What do you have?” Kelley asked John.
John inclined his head to where Reese was now standing and holding a blood-splattered document. Kelley felt a renewed pounding in her chest.
“What is it?” Kelley asked as she reached him.
He raised his head. “John took this off the dead driver. It’s a bill of sale to someone named Ortega.” He handed the papers to Kelley, his features hard. “These women were being sold like cattle.”
Her stomach churned and bile rose in her throat. “We’ve got to get to Johnny Rocha.” The paper wrinkled in her hand as she clenched it. “I’ll kill him myself.”
“If I don’t get to him first,” Reese said in a growl.