Race Against Time

“I can’t,” Star whispered. “I don’t want them to see me cry.”

“Who? You don’t want who to see you cry?” Lacey asked.

“The guards. They’ll tell Anton.”

“But Mr. Baba adores you,” Lacey said. “I see the way he treats you.”

Star shook her head.

“Not anymore. He’s going to sell me, just like he sells the others,” she whispered and then gasped at what she’d done. “No, I didn’t mean that. I just—”

Lacey’s heart leaped, but she kept playing along.

“Sell you? But what about Sammy?”

And that’s when Star’s last defenses fell, and she took a chance.

“He’ll keep Sammy. Sammy is his son, but he’ll sell me to someone else, and I’ll never see Sammy again. Please don’t tell. Pretend you never saw me getting food. Just let me walk out of here. I have to get away before this happens. He’ll be at his club tonight. It’s the only chance I’ll have to make a run for it. I can’t lose my baby. I’d rather be dead.”

“I’ll help you,” Lacey said.

Star’s heart skipped a beat.

“How?”

“I have a friend here in the city. He’ll help.”

Star frowned.

“I don’t believe you. You’ll just tell Anton and then I’m done. If you do I’ll swear you lied, and believe me, I’m good at lying. I’ve been doing it for seven years without getting caught.”

Star made a grab for the food and was about to bolt when Lacey grabbed her hand.

“Stop,” she whispered and pulled her back into the pantry, then leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “I’m with the FBI. Will you testify against him if I help you and Sammy escape?”

Star gasped, then stared at the woman, looking for the lie on her face, but she didn’t flinch.

“You’re serious?”

Lacey nodded.

“What do I do?” Star asked.

“Be ready to run. It’ll be after dark.”

“After Anton leaves,” Star said.

Lacey nodded. “Go pack what you need for the baby and just be ready.”

“Thank you,” Star murmured. “Thank you.”

“Go,” Lacey said, and the moment the woman was out of the kitchen, she sent Ryker, her outside contact, a text.

We have ourselves a witness who’ll testify. She’s running tonight with a toddler. Pick us up at the back gate of the property.

She hit Send and then waited.

Drug the kid to keep it quiet. I’ll have to disarm the alarm at the gate. I’ll text you when it’s done.

She sent back a thumbs-up emoji and stowed the cell back in her pocket beneath the chef’s jacket and went back to prepping vegetables, but her thoughts were already locked into what she needed to do to get them off premises. She’d need to put the silencer on her weapon. There were at least three guards at all times between the house and the back of the property. She would have to take them out just to reach the gate.

* * *

Anton left to go to his casino just before 7:00 p.m., which was his habit. Since it was the Fourth of July, Las Vegas was packed with people on holidays. He got all the way to his office before it dawned on him that he hadn’t told Star or Sammy goodbye, and then dismissed it as of no concern. It wouldn’t be long before she would be gone, Sammy would be with a live-in nanny, and he would be giving full attention to the business of making money, again.

An hour passed and then another before the fireworks began. He got up and walked to the windows overlooking Vegas just as a shower of fireworks spread across the sky.

Entertainment.

That’s what Vegas was all about.

He was still watching when his cell phone rang. He went back to the desk to get it.

“Hello.”

“Boss, this is Ian. The security alarm just went off at the house. We found three guards dead in the back garden, and Star and the baby are gone.”

Anton staggered.

“Gone? How? Who was supposed to be watching them?”

“I don’t know, but it wasn’t me.”

“You and Dev know how to track runaways. Star has a chip as well and doesn’t know it. Send out as many men as you need. I’m on my way home.”

“Yes, sir,” Ian said and disconnected.

Anton rang for his driver and then took the back way out of Lucky Joe’s. He rode home in silence, mentally going over everything Star had said and done over the past week. He couldn’t find one instance where he’d doubted he had lost control. He had enemies. It occurred to him that this might be the case, but whatever the reason, he wasn’t too worried about getting her back. All of the procurers who worked for him, including Darren Vail, had one last duty before they turned the girls over to the men who took them out of state. They shot a tiny tracking chip just under the skin on the back of every girl’s neck. It was done while they were unconscious, and they didn’t even know it was there. It’s also why no one ever got away.

Two (#uff7fe1cd-e1d2-5e62-86e8-dd1b93512c2b)

Boom!

Fire exploded in the night sky over the alley behind Pizza Rock, momentarily revealing the trio running through it. If someone had aimed a spotlight at them they couldn’t have been more vulnerable. The car he’d picked them up in—the one he’d planned to make their getaway in—was stuck in traffic on a side street waiting for a parade to pass. Forced to abandon it so they wouldn’t get caught, they were now afoot and running toward the backup plan—a second vehicle parked a few blocks away.

“Damn it all to hell,” Ryker muttered and tightened his grip on the gun in his hand. “Fourth of July. This had to go down in Las Vegas on the Fourth of July? Keep moving. Whatever you do, keep moving.”

Twenty-four-year-old Star Davis was behind him with her two-year-old toddler clutched tight against her chest.