Free Focus by Annie Jocoby

said.
    I thought about it for a split second. Really, I didn’t have to think hard. This other girl was in there with CJ, and hopefully, she could give me some information about her. About how she was doing. How she was holding up. If she was mentally strong, or if she was breaking down. It would make me feel somewhat better to know that CJ was handling her captivity as well as could be expected. I also knew that I had to be prepared for the worst – that CJ was absolutely freaked out, terrified, and breaking down mentally.
    Nonetheless, I needed information about CJ.
    Also, this girl needed me. I didn’t know her, but what kind of a person would I be if I just left her there to be sold to some monster? Especially if I had the chance to prevent that from happening?
    “I’ll wire the money,” I said. “I’ll do it right now.”
    At that, I tapped onto my bank and wired the money to him, after he gave me the details on where I needed to transfer this money.
    “Very good,” he said. “I’ll get her.”
    “Please hurry,” I said. “I need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
    “I understand,” he said. “I’ll be right out with her.”
    Within a few minutes, he came back out with a young girl with him. The poor girl looked terrified. She was thin and blonde and had enormous blue eyes. I felt horrible seeing her, for she was shaking all over.
    I put my arms around her. “I’m Asher,” I said. “And you’re safe.”
    “I am?” she said. “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. Now, we have to leave. I hope you don’t mind.” I gestured to the helicopter. “Please get in.”
    She looked back at the house frantically. “What about CJ? We can’t just leave her there?”
    “We have to for now,” I said. “We have to leave. I have to get to my office so that I can find out who bought CJ. Then I’m going to make sure that I get her as well.”
    “You have to make sure you get her now,” she said. “She can’t just stay there all alone. I was in there all alone for over a day. It was the most terrifying time of my life. You can’t just leave her.”
    My heart was ripped out, but I knew that I had to do it this way. I could kill Yuri to free CJ, but that would cause a war to erupt between the Kazakovs and Pushkins, one that would no doubt result in bloodshed all around. I couldn’t just take out somebody as powerful as Yuri, without paying the price.
    But the bastard who bought CJ? Assuming that this man wasn’t also a member of the Mafia, then I could get away with killing him to free CJ. If it came to that. I hoped that it wouldn’t. I hoped that he could be reasoned with. But if he couldn’t?
    I would kill him.
    Literally.
    “We have to do it this way,” I said. “CJ was already sold. So, please, get in this helicopter. We have to get to my office. That’s where my most powerful computer is. I’m going to find Yuri’s records, and I’m going to find who bought CJ, and I’m going to rescue her. I promise you this. But every second we stand here is another second wasted. So, get in.”
    “No,” she said. “I won’t leave her behind. I won’t.”
    “You have to. Trust me when I tell you that I’m going to rescue her as well. You can stay here if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There’s nothing that can be done right at this moment. Please, get in this helicopter. Get in, or I’m going to have to leave you behind.”
    She shook her head. I gestured to Nikolai, and he got out of the helicopter. “Please,” he said. “Please get in the helicopter. We won’t hurt you.”
    She started to cry, and Nikolai picked her up and forcefully pushed her into the chopper. While she got more and more hysterical, he buckled her seatbelt and then got in next to me. “Punch it, Alexei,” he said as I got into the driver’s seat.
    And we were soon aloft. Me, Nikolai, and a very hysterical Marisa in the back.

Chapter 12
CJ
    T he man had left , and I was all alone. My mind wouldn’t accept