She smoothly took over the briefing.Maps and satellite images flickered across the screen.Terrified children with huge eyes, alongside cowering men and women, devoid of hope.All were dressed in rags, though that would change at the auction.
The team remained grim faced throughout, though he knew from the restlessness around the table that they couldn’t wait to begin the rescue mission.
“We’re dealing with madmen,” Sable told them.
“As always,” Cesar observed.
Cesar was a little mad himself, but in a good way, not like this foul proof of evil.
“They’ll be hosed down in freezing water before the auction, then dressed up like K-Pop stars,” Dante, the guy they called the Romani chieftain, growled as silence fell over the meeting, heavy and dark.
“That’s the end of the presentation,” Sable announced, lifting the atmosphere with her positive attitude.“Questions?”
She fielded several technical queries.“Time to move,” she said then.“Let’s send these fuckers straight to hell.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
They used rubber raiding boats, Elijah’s preferred choice for silent insertions.The team slipped overboard the instant the engines cut.Weapons raised, they waded through the shallows, making swift progress toward a stony beach.
The sky was black overhead.No moon or stars lit their way.Silent offshore, theSeraphimwas invisible behind an outcrop of rock.
Night goggles let them spot the drainage tunnel they were heading for.Mica stayed with the boats to provide supporting fire if the mission went to hell.
Elijah led, his hands slicing through the dark to direct the team.Sable covered him, their old rhythm reinstated as if it had never paused.
The team froze in place when he raised a fist.
Elijah beckoned Sable forward, the two of them taking point as they moved down the dank, oppressive tunnel.It wasn’t long before they found the first cage.Conditioned to expect danger, the occupants shrank into each other.He reassured them with the universal sign for peace.Hands clawed through the bars, so he returned the first V-sign reversed with a fist to his heart in a pledge of support and rescue.
Retracing his steps while Sable, speaking several languages, reassured the captives, he waved the team on.The tunnel ended at the foot of a flight of stone steps.At the top was a torch-lit courtyard.Beyond it, a grand, if dilapidated, building glowed obscenely bright.
A stage dominated a room of well-dressed buyers sipping champagne.Barefoot girls dressed as biblical slaves in scratchy hessian robes served drinks to the leering punters.Chandeliers that had seen better days sparkled above them, casting a crazed light over threadbare red velvet seats, while their occupants laughed and gossiped as if the slaves they were waiting to see were merely another luxury item, like jewelry or designer clothes.
It was a sickening sight and a call to action, but he signaled to the team to stay in place for now.
* * *
Sable waited tensely for Elijah’s signal.The sale had begun, each precious life reduced to a number in a catalog.Stumbling onstage, shielding their eyes from the spotlight, the victims were mocked by the crowd, as a glitter-drenched viper served as auctioneer.
The only good thing about the escalating noise was that it served as a helpful distraction.At Elijah’s signal, Sable and the team mounted the roof and then climbed down to the upper gallery overlooking the scene.
Finding a place, she slipped into the shadows.Each crack of the gavel was like a blow that fueled her fury.Her jaw ached from clenching in impatience to begin.
“And now the star of tonight’s collection…”
The room fell silent as two burly guards dragged a young woman into the light.
Mara.
Dressed in silk and jewels, with golden shackles on her wrists and ankles, she had dark circles beneath beautiful eyes that burned with defiance.Proud, furious, and unbroken, her courage was plain to see.
“You can see her spirit,” the auctioneer crowed.“Imagine taming this one.”She paused for a sickening laugh.“Shall we say a hundred thousand to start?”
The first bid was a million.As the room erupted, Elijah took it as the signal to make his move.Weapon raised, body tense, only Sable’s hand on his arm stopped him.“No emotion,” she warned.“Wait for the gavel,” she added as the bidding for Mara continued.
A counterbid of one million five drew gasps from the audience, but with no further bids, the auctioneer paused to confirm.Big mistake.The clap of the gavel coincided with Elijah abseiling from the balcony, firing from the waist as he dropped.
The scene descended into chaos.Surprise had always been the team’s deadliest weapon.Mara had the good sense to dive for cover as black-clad Blood and Thunder operatives hit the ground like a plague of shadows.
