Defending Bridget - P.J. Fiala Page 0,24

"Do you have another pair of gloves in your kit?"

"Yes, sir." She turned and pulled two pair of gloves from her kit, handing them to Axel and Josh.

Pushing his right hand into a glove, he reached under the vehicle and pulled the object out. Bringing it into the sunlight, he looked at it closely, then looked up at Josh. "You thinking, what I'm thinking?"

17

Her mouth was as dry as cotton. She moved her tongue around in her mouth in an attempt to wet her teeth and get her saliva working. It seemed just that much effort was tiring. A feeling of floating washed over her; a sense of slight rocking back and forth threatened to lull her back to sleep. Oh, it would be so easy to let sleep overtake her again. Clearly she needed more sleep, or she wouldn't be so damned tired. Hopefully, Aidyn would sleep for a while longer.

Aidyn? The soft sounds of crying reached her ears. It sounded more like whimpering but muffled.

"Shh, be quiet or they'll come back here again." Someone whispered. A woman's voice. Not Aidyn's sweet little voice.

Trying to open her eyes, which felt heavy as if they were full of sand , she concentrated on lifting her lids. It was dark, and blurry. Nothing came into focus.

"Bridget?" the woman's voice whispered to her. Her voice was familiar.

Softly the voice once again addressed her in a whispered tone.

"Bridget, please wake up, but don't make any noise."

Her brows pinched together, her mouth began to moisten, and her eyes started to focus somewhat. Training her eyes on the wall before her, it took her a moment to realize the small square across from her was a window with a black covering over it. Slowly she tried to sit up which was more of an exertion than it should be. Making it to a sitting position, she pushed herself back to lean against a wall she felt behind her. Reaching up with her right hand to rub her eyes, the rope around her wrist sent a jolt of pain through her body. Glancing down at the rope, she saw blood smeared on her skin and her heart raced and her spine tingled with fear.

Looking in the direction of the woman who spoke to her, she saw Sydney and Jennie Lee. Both women were dirty, tied up just as she was, and it appeared as though Sydney had a badly bruised face.

Jennie Lee spoke softly to her, "They took us as we left the bar last night. We stopped for one drink after class. There was a guy hanging out by the bar watching us. We were both creeped out by him, so we decided to leave. As we approached our cars, it must have been two men who jumped out from behind us and stuck needles in our necks. Next thing we knew we were in a van tied up and blindfolded. We must not have been given as much of whatever drug was in the needles as you were. We were taken to this place on the outskirts of town, as best we can tell."

Raising her left hand, she felt where the side of her neck stung and slowly she remembered starting to leave her range, a sharp pain in her neck and a man to the side of her moved in front of her, and then everything went dark.

Her eyes shifted to Sydney's. She'd been crying and she had a large dark spot on her cheek, where she'd likely been hit.

"What happened to you, Sydney?"

"I fought one of them when I tried to escape. Tried to run. Scratched him. He punched me in the face and rang my bell good. I've had a pounding headache since." Sydney sniffed. "Then he was chastised by one of the others for hitting me. Something that sounded like merchandise."

Bridget swallowed. "What do they sound like?"

"Ukrainian, most likely, I'd say based on the accents of my grandparent’s generation," Jennie Lee responded. "They mostly whisper. There were other women in this cabin or shack. They took some of them out early this morning. I heard something about a flight somewhere."

She'd heard about sex trafficking rings. This certainly sounded like that. She swallowed the bile that threatened to rise further in her throat. Now more than ever she needed to keep her wits about her and not crack under the pressure. Thoughts of Aidyn and her mom ran through her head and she blinked rapidly to stave off the tears. Her