Somehow in the past four days he had started to matter to her. Too much. And the thought of him getting hurt or killed was devastating.

He bent his head, his kiss settling over her like her favorite cashmere hoodie. An oasis of warmth, comfort, and safety on this cold, freaky night.

"Trust me," he whispered, sliding his nose against hers before kissing her again. "Let Derek and me do what we're good at, and everything will be fine."

She leaned her face in to his chest, breathing in his warm scent. It had been so long since she'd trusted anyone, depended on anyone for help.

But Ethan and his brothers were tough, determined, strong. If anyone could save Kara from a monster like Connors, they could. "I'll stay with Danny," she said.

He pushed away from her and opened the door, and she caught his arm as he stepped out into the hall. "Be careful."

He shot her that thigh-melting, toe-curling grin. "You're not getting rid of me anytime soon."

It was just getting light as Ethan and Derek made their approach. Coastal fog had settled along the ridge, sending fingers of mist winding through the canyon. Ben Moreno had done a quick a.s.sessment of the property. A keycode-accessible gate blocked the driveway entrance from the main road, and another gate, flanked by two men, guarded the main property.

Most of the twelve acres was dense redwood forest, undeveloped, easily accessible by foot. The main grounds were guarded by a state-of-the-art security system. But Ethan and Derek had yet to find a security system they couldn't bypa.s.s.

Right now his biggest concern was avoiding any early-morning hikers as he and Derek hoofed it up the trail. Sure, Northern California was known for its weirdos, but two heavily armed men dressed in camouflage running through the woods at five in the morning were bound to attract notice.

"Moreno, give me your position." Ben responded from the woods near the gate guarding the main house. "Take out the guards as quietly as you can," Ethan said, "and see if you can find a way into the main house. We'll enter from the northeast corner."

"Roger that."

They veered off the hiking trail, following a deer path that went up a steep slope. The sun was gaining strength, washing the fog in a yellowish gray light. They needed to hurry. Right now the fog was their friend, concealing them as they moved through the woods. Ethan wanted to get inside before it burned off.

He and Derek skirted the fenceline, picking their way carefully through the woods. There was a clearing several yards ahead. A gate had been installed where the road from the grounds met up with a path leading to the neighboring open-s.p.a.ce land. Derek got busy disabling the security system while Ethan stood guard. They slipped through the gate and Moreno's voice crackled over the radio.

"Guards are out. I'm approaching the main house. It looks pretty sealed up." He paused.

"What is it?" Ethan asked as he and Derek jogged up the fire road that took them past a dilapidated riding arena and run-down barn as they approached the main house.

"There's a vehicle approaching. A black Lexus sedan."

Connors slammed his phone down. f.u.c.king amateurs. Was no one capable of doing the job they were paid for anymore? First Metcalfe had failed to take care of Toni Crawford. Now he didn't return any of the calls Karl had placed to confirm he'd taken care of Kramer.

Kramer had to be dead. When they'd left him, Metcalfe had his gun to the man's head.

But with the way this week had gone, Connors wouldn't rest easy till he knew for sure.

And now this. His guests had just called him to inform him there was no one at the gate to let him in. Dodd and Anderson knew he was expecting people this morning, and they'd chosen the same exact moment to go have a p.i.s.s?

"Karl, go down and let them in. You," he said to Martinez, whose dark eyes glowed, piglike, in his pockmarked face, "go get the girls and bring them up here." A smile stretched his lips. "Tell them their new owners are here."

Kara jumped as the door banged open, and she huddled closer to Emily as weak light filtered through the doorway.

Crater Face came in and unlocked Jessica from her headboard, flipped her over, and cuffed her hands behind her back.

"What's going on?" Kara said as Emily started to whimper. Crater Face didn't answer as he half dragged Jessica out the door. She heard a car door slam and then he came back inside. "Wait! Where are you taking them?" she demanded when he unlocked Emily, cuffed her, and dragged her, kicking and struggling, out the door.

"You're all going," he said, his wet, fleshy lips spreading over nicotine-stained teeth. "Up to the big house. Your buyers are here."

"No! My dad is coming for me! He won't let this happen."

"Your daddy is dead, you little b.i.t.c.h. That's what happens when you f.u.c.k with Mr. Connors. You get a bullet through your brain."

Her father was dead? How? Didn't he give them what they wanted in exchange for getting her back?

Time froze as he reached up to unshackle her wrist from the bed. This was not how it was supposed to go. Kara's dad was going to get her out of here and then she was going to send help for the others. She had it all planned out.

The truth hit her with crushing force. They'd never intended to let her go. She'd seen all of them, including Mr. Connors-seen details of the property. She knew they had taken the other girls. Maybe they'd even planned on killing her dad from the very beginning.

She couldn't let this happen. She'd played along meekly, cooperated this entire time, doing what they said so they wouldn't hurt her. Now she had to fight. She didn't care if she was hurt, even if she was killed. Whatever happened couldn't be much worse than being raped and sold into prost.i.tution, as they planned for her, Jessica, and Emily.

She heard the metallic slide of the handcuff releasing from the metal headboard. She had only a split second to act. Her wrist slid free, and Crater Face moved to flip her on her stomach. But he was careless, had gotten used to her cooperation and wasn't expecting a fight.

Before he could flip her, she brought her knee up, nailing him in the jaw. He swore and fell off the bed. Kara scrambled out the door and over to the SUV parked outside the shack. Emily and Jessica stared wide-eyed out the window. Kara's sweaty fingers slipped on the door handle.

Locked!

She risked a glance over her shoulder, a short, sharp scream bursting from her throat when she saw Crater Face barreling out of the shack. "I'll get help," she promised, praying she could make good on it as she took off at a sprint.

"Get back here, you f.u.c.king c.u.n.t!"

The ground was damp and cool under her bare feet as she veered over into the brush that bordered the dirt road. If she could make it to the woods, she might be okay. She heard the SUV roar to life and ran harder, stumbling but not slowing her pace when something sharp stabbed the sole of her foot. The car was getting closer. Kara fled through the gra.s.sy clearing, and headed for the trees.

"What is taking so long?" Connors smiled at the speaker, who sat in the wingback chair flanking a low coffee table across from his desk. Distinguished-looking with his precisely barbered salt and pepper hair and exquisitely tailored suit, Kenneth Barnes looked like he was attending a high-powered business meeting.

Only the presence of two armed bodyguards gave any indication otherwise.

The man took a leisurely sip of his coffee and gave Connors an inquisitive look as he waited for the girls to arrive. He glanced meaningfully at his watch. "How much longer do you think this will take?"

Connors's cell phone rang.

"The Kramer girl, she got away," Martinez said, breathing fast like he'd been running hard. "Ran into the woods. I'll find her."

Connors didn't let his smile slip as he held the phone away from his face. "Will you excuse me a moment?" He walked into the hall where he could vent his rage in private. "You f.u.c.king idiot. How did this happen? No, never mind. Don't tell me. Bring the other two here. I'll send Dodd and Anderson after her. Do not f.u.c.k up again, or I will personally cut off your b.a.l.l.s, put them in a blender, and make you drink them through a straw! Are we clear?"

"I'll be right there."

Connors cursed as he dialed Dodd. These f.u.c.king amateurs were going to be his downfall.

He couldn't take the car in the woods.

The car stopped but Kara didn't, dodging between the trees, pulling up short as she ran into the six-foot-tall fence surrounding the property. She jumped up, grabbed the top, and tried to pull herself over, but she wasn't strong enough.

Frustrated sobs built in her chest as she tried again, sc.r.a.ping her knees and feet on the rough wood as she tried to scramble up the wall. She lost her grip and fell, tumbling to the ground. Sobbing, she waited for Crater Face to come charging at any second.

She heard the revving of the SUV's engine, then, like a miracle, the sound faded as Crater Face drove away.

Toni paced back and forth in the conference room. Ethan, Derek, and Ben had been silent since witnessing the black Lexus enter the property. Both she and Danny listened intently, but the only noise coming over the radio was the crunching of leaves as the men moved through the woods.

"Ethan, what is going on?" Toni muttered as she poured herself another cup of coffee. She took a sip without really tasting it.

Danny, who stood stock-still behind the leather chair at the head of the table, shot her an annoyed look. But Toni knew he didn't like being left behind any more than she did. She could tell from the way his ma.s.sive arms tensed and rippled under his skin that he wanted to be out there, in the thick of it, instead of stuck back in the office thanks to his injured shoulder.

Toni sat back down at her computer. Since Ethan and Derek had left, she'd distracted herself by finding out everything she could about William Connors and Whitepoint. So far she'd tied him to three previous aliases in four different countries, all of whom were wanted in connection with drug and human trafficking or money laundering.

He was a slippery fish, always managing to stay two steps ahead of Interpol and the FBI, going underground, consolidating his cash, and cropping up in a new city with a new ident.i.ty.

As Toni kept her ears tuned to the smallest sound from Ethan, Derek, and Ben, she continued tracing Connors's money trail. She might have been left out of the rescue mission, but at least she could do her best to make sure he didn't have access to his millions. By the time she was through, every law enforcement agency across the globe would have details on every penny she could find, every account would be flagged.

"What's that look for?" Danny asked, his voice harsh in the humming silence of the conference room.

"Just making sure Connors won't have the funds to set up shop again anytime soon."

Danny's gray eyes glittered as he bared his teeth in a nasty smile. "He won't get away." He reached one ma.s.sive hand up to rub his injured shoulder.

Toni jumped as his phone rang, her heart pounding in her chest. It couldn't be Ethan; she would have heard him on the radio. Still, she unabashedly eavesdropped on his side of the conversation.

"Why don't we wait a few days to see if it pans out," he said. A pause. "Because we didn't find anything in Bali, and Australia is a guaranteed dead end."

It was their father, had to be.

Danny's next words confirmed it. "Dad, this isn't a good time. We're right in the middle of something. Yeah, the Kramer girl. I'll talk to you later."

"Your father?" Toni asked.

Danny flipped his phone closed. "Yeah."

"Sorry about that," Toni said. At Danny's puzzled look she said, "About your mom, I mean, disappearing the way she did." When Danny didn't reply, she licked her dry lips and nervously met his inscrutable look. "I don't know if Ethan told you, but my sister ran away and was murdered. It was a long time before we knew what happened to her. So, um, anyway, I know what that's like."

"I got over it a long time ago," he said finally, but kept staring at her with that hard, metallic stare.

Toni squirmed in her seat and wished she'd stifled the urge to share with Ethan's scary big brother.

"He told you about our mother?" Danny asked a few minutes later. Toni looked up to find him studying her like she was a specimen under a microscope.

Toni nodded. "A couple of days ago. I'm sure it's no big deal," she said, wondering from Danny's reaction if Ethan had broken some brother-bond of silence.

Something resembling a smile pulled at the corners of his full lips. "He never talks to anyone about that. None of us does."

What was that supposed to mean? She could read everything and nothing into that tidbit. She was dying to ask Danny, but he didn't strike her as the type who'd be interested in dishing about what his brother's topics of conversation did or did not signify.

And Toni didn't have any more time to dwell on it herself, as the sound of a crash and a scuffle crackled over the radio.

There was the sound of branches breaking and a female scream cut short.

Toni locked eyes with Danny as her blood froze in her veins.

"Kara," Ethan's voice was low, steady, rea.s.suring. "Kara, it's okay. We're here to help you."

CHAPTER 16.

A T FIRST ETHAN had thought it was a deer crashing through the underbrush as he and Derek had skirted the perimeter of the main grounds, staying in the cover of the woods as much as they could as they headed toward the main house.

Then he caught a flash of white, a glimpse of dark hair, as someone darted between the trees. Someone running hard, running scared, snapping branches and crushing needles without a care for the noise.

Derek nodded at Ethan and they separated, moving swiftly and silently through the brush as they flanked the girl. Ethan approached from behind as Derek headed her off from the front. She stopped short when she saw Derek, her bare feet skidding in the leaves that covered the damp earth. Stumbling back, she let out a sobbing scream.

Ethan silenced her with a hand over her mouth. "Kara, it's okay," he whispered as he subdued her panicked struggles. Not an easy feat, even for a man of his size and strength. Kara was a tall girl, strong and athletic, with the added fuel of fear running wild inside her.

He clamped his arm around her waist and pulled her hard against him, murmuring in a low, steady voice, "Kara, it's okay. We're here to to help you."

Derek held his hands up and approached slowly, making shushing sounds. After a few seconds, Kara got it, and her struggles slowed, though she still held herself ramrod stiff against Ethan.

"I'm going to take my hand away," Ethan said, "and it's very important that you don't scream, okay? No one knows we're out here and we don't want to attract any attention."

She nodded against his hand. "Who are you?" she asked when he removed his palm.

He quickly introduced himself and Derek. "Your father hired us."

"Is he dead? The guy, he wants something from my father-a chip or something. There was supposed to be an exchange, but they said he was dead-"

Ethan held up a silencing hand. "Your father is fine," for now, "he's safe at our office. But we need to get you out of here."

"You said they're here," Derek said. "Who's here?"

"They're going to sell us," Kara said, her voice breaking. As she talked, Ethan and Derek directed her back toward the gate they had come in through.

Ethan's mouth pulled into a grim line. "Us? You're not the only one?"

"No. They brought two more girls yesterday. We're all part of this online community."

"The V-Club, yeah, we know all about it."

"So you know what they're planning to do to us?" she asked. Derek nodded and caught her arm as she stumbled on a root.

"You have to go back for them," she said. "Jessica and Emily-Emily's only, like, fourteen. We can't leave them."

"No one's leaving anyone," Ethan said. "Moreno," he said, voice sharpening. "Meet us at the northeast gate. I want you to take Kara back to Gemini headquarters. We're going after the other girls."