Page 37 of Deliverance

“Not asking permission,” I retorted. “You can draw their attention, and I can deal with them without the girls getting hurt.”

“Absolutely not,” Marcus said. “I can go up onto the roof.”

“You’ll be too loud,” I said. “Besides, I’ve done this before.”

“Can confirm,” Izzy said, listening in on our conversation. “Although I’ll point out it was through a ceiling tile and not a boxcar.”

“Whose side are you on?” I asked.

“The side that ends with everyone okay. Which right now means you going up on the roof. I’ll meet you there.”

“Do not get hurt,” Alexander demanded.

“Same,” I said, holstering my gun.

Adrian boosted me up the ladder, and I scrambled up. On light feet, I made my way across the first car’s roof. Izzy appeared on the roof about five cars away. We crept across the roof, each step carefully placed so as to not announce our presence. I gingerly stepped onto the roof of the boxcar holding the girls. Adrian and Marcus crept alongside the boxcar as Izzy and I hovered over the boxcar’s roof hatch. It was a two-by-two-foot hatch and would put us at a distinct disadvantage when entering, so Adrian and the others would need to provide a good distraction.

The train’s horn pierced the night, and I used the loud noise to unlatch the roof hatch quickly. Izzy and I held it down to prevent it from opening fully. A loud banging sounded at the doors of the car.

“Federal Investigative Agency,” Dominic shouted. “Open the doors and come out with your hands up!”

I could hear the girls crying inside as two male voices cursed. I shimmied onto my belly and peeked into the car. Two men stood with AK-47s by the door of the car, and they whispered furiously to each other.

Dominic banged on the door again. “FIA, open the doors and come out with your hands up! You are surrounded.”

With the men distracted, I eased the roof hatch open. The girls were huddled in the corner, and one of them looked up at the roof. I placed a finger to my lips, and she nodded, her tear-stained face filling with hope as I rose to my feet. Izzy counted me down, her hand over the side of the car so the guys could see her fingers. When her hand closed into a fist, I dropped into the car as the doors swung open.

I rushed the guys, whose attention was split between the open doors and me. I crashed into the first one, sending him tumbling out the open doors and into Marcus and Adrian’s arms. Focusing on the second guy, I kicked the gun out of his grip, tossing it to the side. He drew a knife from his belt and lunged at me. The girls screamed as I brought my forearms up, deflecting his hand and punching him in the throat. He gasped for air, swinging the knife at me wildly.

Izzy dropped down behind me, and I could hear her murmur comforting words to the girls while urging them deeper into the corner so they wouldn’t get caught in the fight. I landed a hard kick to his side, and he cursed, lunging at me again. I caught his arm holding the knife and bent it back over my shoulder unnaturally. He yelped and dropped the knife, and I kicked it away. I released him and punched him in the nose, enjoying the crack beneath my knuckles. He staggered away, and I let him, wanting to drag out his pain.

“Stop playing with your food,” Izzy said wryly. “We don’t have all night.”

I rolled my eyes. “You ruin all my fun.” But the train would only wait so long before the engineer would call the authorities, so I roundhouse kicked the man in the head. He crumpled to the floor.

“Well, that was hot as fuck,” Sebastian whistled, leaning his elbows on the floor of the train car. He climbed into the car, careful to keep his distance from the girls huddled in the corner. He secured the guy. “What do you want to do with them?” he asked, motioning between the man at his feet and the one outside.

“Drag them in here,” I said, pointing to the corner farthest from the girls. Sebastian nodded, and Marcus and Adrian dragged the second guy into the car.

I approached the girls carefully. “You’re safe now,” I said softly. “My name is Evelyn, and we’re going to get you out of here.”

“Liam’s sending Imani and Patty with more SUVs,” Izzy said softly over my shoulder. “We’ll take you to a safe house, and then we can contact your families.”

One of the younger girls, who couldn’t be more than fifteen whimpered. “No, you can’t,” she wailed. “I don’t want to go back to them.”

“Hey, hey,” I crooned, my hands open and nonthreatening. “You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. No one is going to force you,” I reassured her. “We’ll help you.” I knew some of them didn’t have safe families to return to, and she was likely one of them from her reaction.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Izzy said. “The train is going to start moving soon.”

She held her hand out for one of them, and the girl accepted, rising to her feet. There were about ten girls in total. Some of the older ones wrapped their arms around the younger ones, and Izzy and I helped them down from the boxcar. They were in various stages of dress, and all were barefoot. The guys wisely backed off, giving Izzy and me space to move. The SUVs rolled to a stop behind us, and Imani and Patty hopped out.

The girls stiffened, and I quickly reassured them. “That’s Imani and Patty. They’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

“Are you coming with us?” the younger girl, who didn’t want to go back to her family, asked. Her dark hair was messy and stuck to her forehead. Her dark brown eyes stared at me pleadingly.

“Not right now,” I said gently. “I have to find the people responsible for this, but Imani and Patty are part of my team, and they’ll take good care of you.”

She nodded but didn’t look convinced. Izzy and I guided them to the SUVs, where Imani and Patty wrapped blankets around their shoulders and got them settled in the vehicles. Once the last girl was in the vehicle and the SUVs were pulling away, I turned back to the guys.