When everyone seemed to have an assignment, Ragu turned toward her. “Leo texted. They’re boarding the plane and bringing back more guests. Julio ordered me to drag you down to the basement.”
She pulled her gun, pointed it at him, and then lowered it. “Now you can say I held you at gunpoint. This happened to me, and I’ll not cower down below when I’ve gone through training for this, and we’re outnumbered.”
“Good enough for me,” Ragu said. “We need to find the trackers. I don’t have a scanner and I don’t want to offend you.”
“You mean you don’t want to touch me,” she corrected him. “I don’t understand. How could we miss it on all of us?”
“It’s undetectable unless it’s sending a signal. It must be someplace not easily seen,” he said, gazing down her body.
Even knowing Ragu, his actions made her uncomfortable. “I’ll ask Annabelle to check again. Will Mac retrieve me if you see anything?”
“I give you my word,” Mac said solemnly. “Once you discover it, check the others.”
Returning to the basement, she took in the scene of the women and children. Their faces appeared haunted by the memories of the too-recent past. “Annabelle, I need help,” Rebecca announced.
“Did someone get hurt?” she asked.
“No. We need assistance with locating something,” she informed Annabelle.
“I’m coming, too,” Rachel insisted. “Matthew and Delaney taught me how to shoot, and I’ll be damned if I get stuck down there with crying kids and scared women. I understand they went through something terrible, but I didn’t. I’ll be one more person protecting them.”
Rebecca didn’t have time to argue. If they found the trackers, it might save them all. “Fine, they placed trackers on us. We don’t know all the details, but they shut them off. I need you to inspect every inch of me. If we’re lucky, they put them all in the same place.”
“We’ll have to go upstairs. The men have taken up positions downstairs and toward the front. Mac and a couple of others took the back positions,” Rebecca said, racing toward the stairs.
Entering one of the bedrooms, Rebecca sat on the bed, shrugging off her boots. Her hands went to her shirt and she hesitated.
Annabelle knelt beside her. “I’ll try to do it as fast as I can.”
“For Pete’s sake, we don’t have time to coddle you. Do you want us to find it or not?” Rachel said, appearing annoyed. “We still have to locate it on the others. You keep saying you did your job. Keep the attitude until we finish.”
Rebecca took a deep breath before nodding and hastily removing her shirt and pants.
“Leave your undies and bra on, and hopefully we’ll find it,” Annabelle suggested.
Rebecca lay on the bed as Annabelle started at her feet and worked her way up, checking between her toes and gliding her fingers across Rebecca’s skin, searching for any tiny bump.
Rachel held her hand as Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Fuck, the assholes branded you,” Rachel whispered in shock.
“Rachel,” Annabelle chastised.
“I didn’t mean to sound insensitive. It must’ve hurt like a bitch,” Rachel said, staring at it.
Rebecca opened her eyes in time to see the wave of pity cross Rachel’s face. The one look she detested the most. Then, Rachel scowled and her mouth firmed into a thin line. “If I get the opportunity, I’m aiming for certain body parts. It might not kill them, but they’ll never hurt anyone again.” She squeezed Rebecca’s hand tighter in a firm alliance.
“I don’t feel or see anything,” Annabelle announced. “Turn over.”
Rebecca flipped on her stomach as Annabelle inspected her skin. Rachel narrowed her eyes. “I’m not in law enforcement, but if you needed to hide something secretly and you didn’t want it to show, I can only think of four places.”
Annabelle paused, considering Rachel’s idea.
“It seems to me I’d hide it in my hair, near my private parts, under my boobs and butt cheeks,” Rachel said out loud.
“Kassie inspected me from head to toe,” Rebecca replied.
Rachel stared at the long mass of hair. “I’m guessing it’s there,” she said, pointing to Rebecca’s scalp.
