Or at least she hoped so.

The hallway was dimly lit, with three sets of closed doors on either side, but the one at the end stood ajar. Strangled sobs poured out into the corridor from inside the room, and Alyssa ran the rest of the way, hesitating only long enough to make sure the room was clear of any threats before rushing forward to the young girl on the bed who she recognized immediately as Katelyn Phillipson.

‘Get her down!’ She ordered the officers flowing in behind her to assist the female suspended nude in some kind of contraption. All around her came the sound of whispered reassurances of safety, and Alyssa knew it would be a long time, if ever, before these girls would be able to believe them.

Careful not to further terrify either girl, she turned to the one the officers were frantically trying to get down.

‘Rachel Otis?’

Tears rushed down the girl’s cheeks as she confirmed her identity with a weak nod. Alyssa addressed both girls. ‘We’re going to get you help now, but we need to know if there are any other girls here. Can you tell me that?’

Mewling noises continued from Katelyn’s throat, but Rachel either nodded or her neck could no longer support her head as it flopped forward. At the same time, her knees buckled, and Alyssa yelled down the hall for someone to get the paramedics inside to help move the girls out of the room. She didn’t want them in there a second longer. Images of a battered and beaten Callie McCormick pushed their way into her mind, but she shoved them back. She might’ve been too late to save Callie, but she was determined these girls would live.

Four minutes later, the girls were being wheeled down the hall on stretchers. In the front room, amid the hustle of officers rushing around, she caught Cord’s eye, and the pale look on his face was replaced with one of fury as he spotted the girls.

Before the paramedics could take them outside, Alyssa approached Rachel, her voice filled with urgency. ‘Rachel, where are the others? We need to find them so we can help them. Where are they?’

Rachel pointed to a wall lined with shelves of books, but when her eyes landed on two of the men the officers had rounded up, they rolled to the back of her head, and she fainted.

One of the paramedics pushed Alyssa aside. ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. We need to get her to the hospital,’ and then they rushed her out.

At the same time, another hand, surprisingly strong in its grip, clutched at her wrist, jagged fingernails slicing lines into Alyssa’s skin. Katelyn Phillipson’s petite frame shuddered violently, and her teeth rattled as she tried to explain what Rachel had been pointing at. Throat hoarse and raspy from screaming, tears streaming down her pale face, she whispered, ‘The shelf moves. When we came upstairs, that wall of books was over there.’ Her eyes followed the paramedics carting Rachel outside. ‘The others are down there.’