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“Lily?”

“Safe.”

The girl begins crying.

Taylor crouches beside me.

“All fourteen girls at the mine are with law enforcement.”

“Fourteen?” another girl whispers.

“Yes.”

The red-haired girl covers her face.

I reach for the restraint around her wrists.

She jerks away.

I stop.

“I’m not going to touch you unless you say it’s okay.”

Her eyes meet mine.

After a few seconds, she holds out her hands.

I cut the plastic.

Taylor starts with the girl beside her.

Deputies arrive.

One of them is a woman.

Good.

I stand.

“Seven hostages. Two visibly injured. No one appears critical, but they all need medical evaluation.”

“We've got them.”

I step aside.

The red-haired girl grabs my sleeve.

“Wait.”

I turn.

“There was another man.”

“The driver?”

“No.”

“Who?”