The scene was so shocking that for a moment, she couldn’t breathe, think, or act.Her father wasn’t even wasting money on dressing and grooming his slaves now.Having been what amounted to a prisoner in the embassy herself, Karolina had always known her father’s captives suffered a far worse fate than she did, but she’d never seen an auction in progress.She didn’t hang around to watch this one.As one of the guards began to unchain the prisoners, she closed her fist around the grip of her pistol and ran.
The first group of older women had already been loaded into a coach by the ambassador’s men, who then covered them in blankets so they couldn’t be seen.Keeping them warm was purely coincidental.He and the team took the thugs out quietly and efficiently.No guns were involved to alert the ambassador, who was still conducting the auction.No weapons were needed.Surprise was their friend; silent combat their specialty.
Having rescued the women, they ushered them to safety.Reassuring them, he explained that they would be driven to a central London refuge where medics had been alerted and were on standby to make sure that they were all well cared for.His next task was to rescue the younger women, who were still inside, and in a state of such confusion he doubted they’d be able to walk unaided, let alone run.
Slipping inside the door of the warehouse, he was stopped in his tracks by the sight of a familiar figure shading her eyes as she stood boldly center stage in the glare of the spotlight.
Karolina!What the hell?
He pressed back into the shadows.Silently ordering his team to stay where they were, he remained tense and alert as Karolina addressed the shadowy forms conducting the auction behind windows on the mezzanine level.
“Aren’t you ashamed?”she yelled in fury.“Don’t you have any compassion?”Tugging off her jacket, she threw it around the shoulders of the nearest shaking form.“Get these women some clothes.Whatever depths you and your filthy business have sunk to, you surely don’t need to humiliate them any more than you already have.”
The ambassador’s voice boomed over the sound system.“Stop the auction.Get her out of there.Bring my daughter to me.”
“First some clothes,” Karolina insisted, holding her ground.“Blankets, at least, or I’m not moving.”
The first thug approached.Arms spread wide, as if apologizing for the action he must take against his boss’s daughter, he was unprepared for Karolina’s whirling roundhouse kick.Catching him on the chin, it floored him.A second thug approached, and at a run this time, but Karolina’s reflexes were whip fast.She lost no time taking him out too.
“Blankets and clothes.Now,” she stated in a clear voice.
The ambassador’s voice came over the loudspeaker.“You will suffer for this.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Standing in front of the women, arms outspread to protect them, Karolina was a magnificent sight, but she’d put herself in the most terrible danger.The ambassador wouldn’t balk at killing his daughter.He’d had no trouble disposing of Karolina’s mother, and Conor had no intention of hanging around to discover what the ambassador’s next move would be.
It felt like forever, but could only have been a few minutes since she’d entered the warehouse and made her demands clear.Her father wouldn’t want to have his auction delayed when his wealthy clients could so quickly become bored.To Karolina’s relief, a guard showed up with a bundle of clothes, which he tossed into the center of the group of shaking women.
“Free their chains and do it now,” she stated coldly.“Let them dress in the shadows and have some privacy.”Leveling her gun on the guard, she only hoped she’d have the courage to use it.
While the women quickly covered themselves, she glanced up the stairs toward the glass-fronted room where her father had been conducting the auction on a number of screens.
Just as all hell broke loose.
