“Once dark hits, we’ll make our move,” Troy “Lucky” Schmidt, continued. “Chances are, by then, the guards who are off duty will be asleep, along with everyone else in the mansion. We take out the guards doing the perimeter checks silently, and we can make it inside before anyone even knows we’re here. Then all we have to do is find your girl and get her out.”
It vaguely crossed his mind to mention that Ally wasn't his girl, but that would be a lie. She’d always been his. He’d picked the wrong path in his attempt to protect her, chosen secrecy when he should have chosen honesty, but that didn't change the facts. When he got her back, he’d do whatever it took to earn at the very least her forgiveness. Even if she could no longer love him after what she’d been through because of him, he wasn't walking away again.
Made that mistake once before, and he had no intention of repeating it.
In whatever capacity she’d let him, he was staying in her life. If it had to be as friends, then he’d respect that, but he loved her and wanted to find a way to get back what they’d shared before he’d messed everything up. Somehow, he’d find a way to protect her in the future, balance his job with a relationship with her.
“Place is remote, so he probably won't be able to get in more guards if anything goes wrong and they’re alerted to our presence,” Craig “Doc” Wagner said. “So whoever is here is all that we have to deal with.”
“Remoteness probably also means that the guards don’t go home when they’re not on duty,” Fred “Grover” Groves added.“The location has made him complacent. He thinks that he’s too far away from the cities, from law enforcement, that no one is going to know what he’s doing out here. Now that’s going to work against him. There are five villages within a twenty-mile radius. Doubt they have the means to come and defend Koa Rolland even if they wanted to, which I'm guessing they don’t.”
“Most of them probably enjoy the employment opportunities here, though, so we shouldn’t count on the fact that there’s no loyalty there,” Trigger reminded them.
In the end, it didn't matter to Mateo how many people he had to kill to get to his girl. He’d flatten the earth to save her, whatever it took.
“I don’t see any outbuildings so far other than the main house,” Doc piped up. “Means wherever he houses staff is far removed from the mansion.”
“Maybe some make the journey home. Even if they all stay, there won't be more than we can?—”
“Look,” Mateo said, cutting Brain off as he noticed something he didn't like in the least.
“More cars are arriving,” Trigger said from beside him.
“Guests, not staff,” Lefty added. “Because that was a limo.”
“Think he’s throwing a party?” Grover asked. “To show off his new acquisition?”
If Koa Rolland was throwing a party to show off the woman he’d just bought, he doubted he was just going to stand her on a pedestal and have everyone look at her and congratulate him on his purchase. If he was throwing a party to show her off, that meant she was going to be the star attraction, which would likely involve, at the very least, Koa Rolland touching her during the party. What exactly that looked like, he had no idea, but the man would want to put on a show.
The worst-case scenario was that she was the entertainment for the evening.
If she was …
“I think I have an idea, but I'm pretty sure that you're not going to think it’s a good one,” he warned the others.
Chapter
Fourteen
August 20th
5:02 P.M.
Any sleep she’d gotten had been fitful, but the long soak in the bathtub filled to the brim with soapy bubbles and steaming hot water had been good for her, and Ally was sure she could handle whatever was coming next.
Fairly sure anyway.
Since she didn’t really have a choice, she was going to have to handle it.
Glancing out the window, she saw it was still light out, so it couldn’t be too late. She was expecting that the team Mateo’s boss was sending in to rescue her would come after dark.
Were they already out there?
Maybe she’d have to wait a whole other day before they got here. Mateo hadn't been clear on a time frame, although he’d implied she wouldn't have to wait long after being sold to be rescued. From her point of view, this house should be easy enough to break into to get her out. Miles and miles of junglesurrounded them, but what did she know about rescuing people who had been sold?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.