Virgin Bride(106)

“I understand, Logan. You can’t leave those other girls there.”

“I could,” he says fiercely. “If my orders were just to save you, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“I wouldn’t let you, not now,” I say, smiling. “We can do this. Right?”

“Of course,” he says, softening.

“Come on. Let’s go for a walk then head back.”

“Okay then. But listen. I think Anton might have seen through me. I’m going to order an attack on the compound in the next few days, so please, be careful. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say, taking his hand. “Now let’s walk and pretend like we’re normal people for a little while.”

“Sounds good to me.”

We walk down along the beach, and although my head is swirling with the truth and my heart is full of joy, I try and put that all out of my mind. I just want to focus on this moment, on the walk in front of me.

Logan is going to save me. I thought he might, I hoped he might, but now I know he will. My father sent him, but my father is a bastard. It’s Logan that’s going to take me away from this place. It’s Logan that I owe my life to.

I squeeze his hand. He squeezes mine back. The moon drifts behind some wispy clouds and the water keeps lapping at the sand.





24





Logan





It’s like a fucking weight has been lifted from my chest.

Telling Riley the truth probably wasn’t the best idea. If I really wanted to continue keeping operational integrity, I would have kept that from her until the very end.

But fuck the operation. Things are getting too hot and dangerous for her, and I can’t keep putting it off. She’s at risk enough as it is, especially because she’s now associated with me. If something goes wrong. I know Anton is going to come down on her hard.

There are stories around the compound, whispers between guards. I don’t know how much of it is true, and frankly I don’t want to know.

But they’re disturbing. I heard of one girl that refused to break, even after doing some pretty heinous shit to her. Eventually, Anton got so fed up with her that he started clipping body parts. He cut off all her fingers, toes, hands, feet, and finally she died of a blood infection.

That’s a bad story, but there are worse. Stories of girls that didn’t do what they were told or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. These guards are mostly bad men, very bad men, plucked from the countryside and put in charge of these American women. Sometimes, they take their poverty and anger out on them. They beat them, spit on them, degrade them, and very often it goes too far. Girls end up dead all the time. They just chalk it up to the cost of doing business and they move on.

It’s horrible. Human life is meaningless to them, or at least it is with these women. They’re cattle in the eyes of Anton and his men, and they’ll do anything they want with cattle.

I feel the sand beneath my toes as I walk across the beach. The sun is high and hot today, beating down on my back. I try not to leave the compound in the middle of the day, but I had to risk it this afternoon. I missed my normal report time last night and command is likely worried about me. I need to let them know that I’m okay and to send back my recommendation for how we proceed.

For the last few days, they’ve been coming back with one excuse after the next. They need details of weapons, now they need information on body armor, now they need to know how many provisions they have, now they need information on local politics. I know command can be very conservative about sending operatives into the field, especially when it comes to a dangerous and violent mission like this one, but they know why we’re doing it. They know it’s a big deal. Besides, Riley’s father is bankrolling the whole fucking thing.

We’ll lose guys. No doubt about it. Some guys will die when they take this place. Maybe not, it’s possible they can do it clean, but it’s more likely that someone will get killed. Command doesn’t like sending units into a battle where someone might die.

Which is why they’re pushing back against this. Or at least that’s my guess. They can’t keep delaying any longer, though. They sent me in here with the promise that the cavalry was coming, and I’m ready to hear some fucking backup is on the way right about now. Not just for my safety, but for every single girl in this place.

Last night, after coming back from the beach with Riley, we couldn’t get back in the compound. Not right away, at least.

There was a group of men in the courtyard. I couldn’t tell what they were doing at first, but soon it became clear.

They were punishing one of the girls. They were whipping her right there out in the open. She was screaming, but she was gagged, so her screams were more like muffled grunts at best.