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This will be different.

“Help me.”

The dark-haired girl moves first.

“What do you need?”

“Keys.”

She takes them from the guard.

I grab his restraints and secure his wrists behind his back.

“What's your name?”

“Jasmine.”

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

I point toward the others.

“Names.”

Jasmine understands immediately.

“Lily is thirteen. Marissa is fifteen. Zoe is sixteen. That’s Kayla. She’s fourteen.”

Five girls.

Five children.

I look at them.

“I need all of you to listen to me.”

They gather closer.

“We are getting out.”

Lily looks toward the hallway.

“There are men out there.”

“I know.”

“They’ll shoot us.”

“Not if we’re smarter than they are.”

I hope.

God, I hope.

I take the guard’s radio.

Voices crackle through it.