Defending Bridget - P.J. Fiala Page 0,25

mom would be so worried.

Jennie Lee then whispered. "I heard them say something about those ghost bastards paying for this. I don't know what that means."

"Did you hear anything else about them? Maybe we can figure out who they mean."

Sydney spat out. "Why should we care about anyone else? They're going to sell us off to be fucking sex slaves."

Bridget inhaled deeply and let her breath out slowly, she needed to think that there was a way out, a way to escape. And, if there was one small chance of it, she was damned sure going to take it. Now that her mind was clearing, and her thoughts were turning to survival, she remembered Sophie was sending someone to come and escort her and her family to Lynyrd Station to keep them safe. That thought raised two others. First, they'd reached her mom and Aidyn and taken them away. Second, maybe Gaige's team was ghost. Since she knew that Yvette had a friend go missing and so did Skye and Megan, it seemed likely that was why she was targeted, a friend of Sophie's. So, they were targeting women who had anything to do with Gaige's group.

Then, Axel's face flashed before her eyes. Axel was part of that group. And, though no one knew it except Sophie, Axel was Aidyn's father. Closing her eyes, she sent up a silent prayer that the connection wouldn't be made, and Aidyn wouldn't pay for being Axel’s son.

"Whatever we have to do, we're getting out of here."

Jennie Lee's voice held some hope when she responded. "Now you're talking. Let's figure this bullshit out and go home."

Bridget nodded. "That sounds like a plan. You need to tell me anything else you may have heard. How many other women have you seen and were they all drugged like we were? Were they kept in here with you or somewhere else? Did they keep them drugged? Do you have any idea what type of drug they're using? How many men are there? Tell me everything."

Sydney straightened up and angrily swiped at the tears in her eyes.

"There were three of them that I saw. When I tried escaping, I ran into another room in the cabin. I was disoriented and thought it was the front door. But, it was another room; there was no furniture in it. But there were four women in it. Each of them chained to a wall, the middle of the wall so they couldn't touch each other or help each other out. Two of them looked drugged, their heads were bent down, and they were leaning over. Two of them were awake it seemed. One of them looked frightened when I burst through the door and she shrieked. The other one just stared at me, almost hopeful. But then one of the men grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the room and that’s when he hit me."

"Do you know if all four of the women were removed from the shack today?"

Jennie Lee then answered. "I think they only took two of them because one of the men was left behind. The only reason for that would be to guard the women."

"Could be. Are there two of them driving this van?"

18

The shiny object he held in his hand was a broken needle. It looked like it had been dropped and it broke. There was a small amount of substance dripping from it, but hopefully enough to know what drug was used.

Josh looked at the small object and his jaw tightened.

"So, they're sneaking up on the women and drugging them. That takes the fight out of them and the bastards can whisk them away without a scene being made."

"That's my guess." His jaw tightened as well. This whole thing has been too personal. Too targeted and too smarmy. Plus, by not aiming at the teams’ women but rather females the GHOST women knew, it was impossible to predict who’d they select next. There was no way they could protect everyone associated with their wives.

Axel's brows scrunched together. "Also, the fact that in the past, when Yvette's ex, Caulfield took women to sell, he took much younger women. Now they're targeting women in their thirties and forties. Another change in pattern. We have to find out who Caulfield was selling to and whether who’s running the operation has added any sellers who prefer older women. Right now, we have to go check on Bridget's mom and this Aidyn fella."

Josh pulled his phone