“No!” She shrieked as the buyer took her in his arms.
I came to in an instant. “Fight him!” I screamed, struggling to get to my feet. The Scarecrow tried to stop me, leaning down, pushing me to the floor. I took a piece of my own advice and punched him in the balls. He cried out, falling back onto the bed.
I jumped to my feet to find the buyer opening the door. Gigi screamed and kicked, clawing at him. It made no difference. She was too small. I lunged for him, pulling him back by the greasy collar of his jacket.
“Fuck!” He choked, falling back a step or two. It was enough for me to grab for Gigi, sliding my hand between her body and his. With my other hand, I clawed at his face in desperation.
“Let go of me, you bitch!” His scream mingled with ours, the three of us struggling. Gigi kicked, pummeling him, but it didn’t seem to matter. I had one arm around her, pulling her to me. He wouldn’t let go, his arms like steel.
“Let her go! Give her to me!” I shrieked, going for his eyes with my nails. He roared in fury.
I had her. He loosened his grip to reach for his eyes. For a split second, I was victorious. I felt her moving toward me as he let go.
Then, everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lance
“What are we doing?” Flash asked, waiting for my word. He sounded tense. I knew how he felt—I thought my heart might explode from the tension. I was stiff from waiting behind the car, too.
I looked from one side to the other to be sure everybody was in place. They waited for my word to charge the room. Slate gave me the thumbs-up from his position. I could hear him breathing in my ear. He was excited, ready for action, just like everybody else.
I wondered if any of them felt as desperate as I did.
“We can’t wait anymore,” I said. “This is crazy. We have to go in.”
“What about the people he’s waiting for?”
“I want at least three people on both sides watching out for anybody coming in. I want you to fire off a single shot when you see anybody, and I mean anybody, approaching. It shouldn’t take long to get the girls from him if he’s alone. I think he is. I haven’t seen anybody else.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going in first, though.”
“I don’t want you going in there alone,” Flash warned.
“It doesn’t matter. I go in first.”
“You need backup.”
“Then you’ll need to be fast, won’t you? I’m gonna kick the door in and hope I take him by surprise. That’s all we have right now. Surprise. Okay?”
Silence.
“I said, okay?”
“Okay,” Flash said. He didn’t want to agree, but he didn’t have a choice.
“Good. I’m going in.” I took two, maybe three steps toward the room when a car pulled into the parking lot. Its headlights lit up the lot as it got closer.
“Shit!” I scrambled off to the side of Jamie’s car, leaving it between the new car and me. I hoped the driver pulled up on the other side, or I was fucked.
“We waited too long,” I muttered.
“No, we didn’t. Now we know who we’re dealing with. Just wait for them to come outta the car.”
I waited, and was relieved when the new car pulled up on the other side of Jamie’s. I ducked, going to the back of the car again. Waiting for the driver to get out.
“Who is that?” Slate muttered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But it’s just him. He’s the only person in the car.” We watched as a short little guy got out of the car, looking like he just rolled in a pile of shit. My nose wrinkled. He’d better not try to touch either of them.
“He looks like the type who would sell women, doesn’t he? Probably couldn’t pay a woman to touch him,” Slate muttered under his breath.
“What are we doing?” Flash asked again. He sounded more panicked this time. The short guy waited outside the room after knocking on the door.
“We’re waiting to see what he does,” I said.
“We know what he’s gonna do, damn it. He’s gonna take them.”
“Right, and The Scarecrow probably has a gun. We gotta be careful.” That wasn’t like me. The old me wouldn’t have waited. If it was somebody else’s kid, somebody else’s woman, I wouldn’t have stood there, watching. I would’ve rushed the room, gun in hand, ready to blow somebody’s brains out. My priority was making sure neither of them got hurt. We could take that little shit with no problem, but I didn’t want The Scarecrow holed up with the two of them and a gun. If he knew we were waiting, he’d keep them both, if he didn’t shoot them right away.