by Nikki Rose
I leaned down, making sure that from his angle it would look like we were kissing. I wrapped my hands around Angela’s bony frame and ran my hands down to her ass. I hated it. Just doing that made me feel sick, but I had to make it look real for T. I watched her leave then went back into the room. I gathered up my bugs, straightened myself up and headed to check out.
“Checking out so soon? It’s only been an hour and a half. I don’t give refunds.”
“You can keep it.”
“Enjoy your stay?” His smug look made me want to punch him.
“Yeah, sure.” I handed him the key and turned to walk out.
“Have a nice night. Come again,” he called and I let the door shut behind me. I just wanted to get out of there and back to Rachel. The whole evening felt wrong.
The bell on the coffee shop door jingled and pulled me out of my thoughts. Rachel was walking through the room. I wanted to run to her, to wrap her in my arms and never let her go. She looked frail and her skin was lacking its usual healthy glow. She looked like she had lost weight, even though it had only been a week. I wondered if she’d been eating or if she’d been sick. Did my actions lead to her letting her health go this badly? I wanted to punch myself for putting her through any sort of pain. The look on her face when her eyes met mine was more than I could take. The pain behind those beautiful blues gutted me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rachel
Leave it to Anthony to pick the coffee shop we’d always gone to when we were younger. The memories that flooded my mind as I walked to the door overpowered my anger for an instant. I couldn’t help but smile. But the moment I laid eyes on him, my heart sank. The image of him kissing that woman flashed in my mind. I didn’t know if I could ever get those pictures out of my head.
I battled the tears that stormed in my eyes. I needed to be strong, no matter how much I wanted to simply run into his arms and feel his warm embrace again. I missed him so much. The past week had been torture, but nothing could have prepared me for the pain I felt when I looked at him and knew that everything had changed.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, afraid that if I blinked, he might disappear. My legs moved of their own accord, and before I knew it, I found myself standing in front of the table, frozen in place.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi.” I didn’t know what more to say without breaking down into tears.
Anthony blinked quickly, snapping out of whatever spell we’d both been under. He stood from his seat. “Sit, please?”
“Thank you.” I moved to the chair and he pulled it out for me before sitting back down.
Things felt awkward. I hated this new dynamic. I wanted things to be the way they had been before my world turned upside down.
“Rach, I— I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. But, Anthony—”
“Just let me explain, please?”
“I’m not sure what you could possibly say to make things okay again.”
“Rachel, I didn’t sleep with that girl. I didn’t even kiss her.”
“Anthony, I saw the pictures.”
“It was the angle. We weren’t actually kissing.”
“Even if you weren’t, there was no denying your hands grabbing her ass.”
A clearing throat made me jump and I cowered with embarrassment at the waiter who was standing at the table. He looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt. “May I take your order?”
“We’ll have two cups of your hazelnut Colombian roast,” Anthony placed the order we’d made several times over the years. I craved the familiar taste, but then remembered the baby who I wasn’t ready to tell him about. I needed time to make my own plan before I told him and he tried to make the plan for us.
“Actually”—I stopped the waiter as he turned to leave us—“I’ll have a cup of your lavender mint tea instead, please.”
“Of course, ma’am.” The waiter hurried away.
“Not drinking your usual?” Anthony raised his eyebrow curiously and, in that moment, I hated that he knew me so well.
“Their lavender mint stress relief tea seemed more appropriate after the last week.”
“Oh.” He looked down and I felt a pang of guilt for leading him to think it was all his fault.
“So, you wanted to talk?” I looked at him expectantly. I wanted to know what possible excuse he had for being in a motel with another girl. Part of me prayed he’d have a good excuse so I could forgive him and we could go back to our normal lives together.
“We weren’t kissing.”
“So you said, but that doesn’t explain the rest.” I took a deep breath and crossed my arms, hoping to protect myself from what was coming.
“Angela was a prostitute who—”
“A prosti— Oh my God…” I hid my face in my hands, willing away the wave of nausea that hit.
“No, no, no. Rach, I didn’t sleep with her. I didn’t hire her. I mean, I did but—”
I tried to control my reactions. I tried to remain calm, but it was hard, considering what I was hearing. “You hired a prostitute?” My voice cracked.
Before he could answer, Anthony’s phone went off. He silenced it but it began again. He looked torn but then finally spoke. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. It could be an emergency.”
“Go ahead.” I knew it could really be a matter of life or death with his work, and I’d never demand him to put me before the life of someone. Besides, I could use a moment to pull myself together. So far, Anthony wasn’t doing very well convincing me that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
“Hello? What? Wait. Slow down. I thought you were leaving town… That was a week ago. Where are you now? Okay, Angela, you have to calm down. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Anthony hung up and I sat slack-jawed, unable to even think of what to say. Angela. The prostitute? He’ll be there as soon as he can? What the hell is going on? Is he really going to leave to go see her while we’re trying to talk things out?
“That was Angela?”
“Rach, I know this couldn’t be worse timing, but I have to go.”
“Go? You’re leaving me here while you rush off to…her?” Hurt laced my words. My heart sank. Anthony had failed miserably at making me feel any better about the situation. Instead, he’d let me know once and for all who ranked where on his list of priorities.
“I’m sorry, Rach. You know I wouldn’t leave like this unless it was important.”
“Sure, yeah, go.” I tried to stay strong, not wanting to cause a scene.
“I’m sorry. I love you.” His words were like a knife twisting in my heart. He jumped up from his seat, fished out a wad of cash and tossed it onto the table.
“I’ll call and explain everything when there’s time. I promise.”
I sat staring at my hands on the table as he walked out of the door. I couldn’t help but glance up as the door shut, wiping out the last glimpse of him. There was something so final about it all—the closing of a door.
I dug out my phone and called Sarah. She answered on the second ring.
“Hey, is everything going okay?”
“Not exactly. I’m going to catch a cab back to your place.”
“That was fast…and no need for a cab. I’ll pick you up.”
“He got a call from that girl and had to run.”
“You have got to be freaking kidding me.”
“I wish I was. You sure you can pick me up? I can take a cab back to your place if I need to.”
“I’ll be right there. I’m just down the street getting my nails done. I figured I’d hang close for a bit in case you needed me.”
“Thanks, Sarah. I’ll see you soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Anthony
The call from Angela couldn’t have come at a worse time. Why hadn’t I talked faster? I’d been distracted by seeing Rachel again after a week apart. I’d wanted to savor the time together in case she didn’t understand.
Instead, I was pretty sure I’d made things worse.
I ran to my truck and had it started before my door even shut. I was usually more careful not to bring added attention to myself, but time didn’t allow that. My tires squealed as I peeled out of the parking lot.
Angela had sounded terrified. Apparently, T had caught her trying to leave with the money I’d given her. Angela said he took her phone and she’d been locked up for trying to escape. He’d only let her out long enough to bathe for the next client. One of the other girls had left her phone in the bathroom. Angela had memorized my number in case of an emergency, so she’d called me.
I wasn’t sure how many men T had, but I sure as hell wasn’t going in alone or empty-handed. I pulled out my phone and dialed Ryan.
“Hey, man, how’d things go with Rachel? Already done groveling at her feet?”
Leave it to Ryan to always make jokes.
“Nah, we got interrupted. Listen… I’ve got a situation and I need some unofficial backup.” I explained what was going on and Ryan made a few calls while I stopped by my place to pick up some gear. Before long, we pulled up at the meeting site within walking distance of T’s place.
The area was rundown, filled with dilapidated houses, and his was no different. The large two-story was plenty big enough for several girls to be kept. I needed to find a soft entry point to sneak in and try to get Angela out first without a full assault, but we were ready for that should the need arise.
“Okay, surround the house and look for entry points.”
“Roger that,” Ryan’s voice crackled through the two-way.
I watched as Ryan’s team rounded the back of the property before leading my team in the opposite direction. The place was big. I imagined it had once been an impressive property for the area.
T knew my voice. I couldn’t just show up at his door, pretending to be a client. I doubt that was how he worked anyway, but I worried about going in too hard with so many innocent girls inside who he could use as human shields.
I wasn’t sure about the type of guy who would want to pay to have sex with a woman to start with, much less an unwilling one. The thought made me want to go in and wipe out the entire operation.
There was a crackling over my headset, followed by Ryan’s voice. “That’s a negative on entry.”
“Roger that. Let’s fall back and regroup.” Shit. Well, this wasn’t going to be as easy as I had hoped.
I signaled my team. We met up in the wooded area just behind an old garden shed that provided us with great cover. I had to think of another way in that didn’t involve storming into a house full of innocents with guns blazing. This would take finesse.
“People can’t ever make things simple, can they? All we needed was one window and we could have made things so easy.” Ryan crouched down to stretch his legs. “So, what’s the plan, bossman?”
“I’m thinking. We need to get eyes inside so we know where all the girls are and how many hostiles we’re looking at.”
“Can’t one of us just go in, pretending to be a john?” one of the guys asked.
“I doubt T welcomes walk-ins, and even if he did on a usual day, he’s going to be on higher alert after catching Angela trying to run away.”
“We need a way in that won’t set off any alarms,” Ryan mused.
A motion on the driveway caught my eye and I crouched down to get a better look without being seen. A shiny silver sedan had pulled up and a lanky man in an expensive gray suit had stepped out and was looking around with eyes as big as saucers. He was paranoid, and if I had to guess, he was new at this. I motioned to the others then snuck over to him without being detected. It only took a blink of an eye to snatch him and pull him into the bushes. Once I’d got him back to our hiding spot, I thought the guy might piss himself. He was shaking all over like one of those yappy little chihuahuas my aunt used to have.
“I’m going to uncover your mouth, but you do anything to draw attention to yourself and I will make sure you regret it. Is that clear?”
He nodded and I moved my hand away. “Wh—Who are you? What do you want?”
“I’m just a man on a mission to get inside that house and I’m willing to do anything to make that happen.” I held my large survival knife to his throat to make a point. “I’m assuming you have an appointment there?”
“Y-y-yes. T doesn’t allow people to show up without appointments.”
“Have you been here before?” I let the blade lower just a bit from his throat and he relaxed enough to calm his stuttering.
“Once.”
“So, T already knows you,” I said, more to myself than him. “Okay… If you want to live and not end up in prison, you’re going to help us.”
“Please, T will kill me if he finds out I helped you.”
“You don’t help us and T will be the least of your problems. Do you understand me?” My grip tightened on the hilt of the knife and he had to stand on his toes to keep the blade from touching his neck.
“Okay, okay. I’ll do whatever you want. Please, just don’t hurt me.”
“You’re going to take one of my guys. Tell T he’s with you, that you want to have him included in your session today.”
“I don’t think T will buy that. You guys don’t exactly look like the type I’d be acquainted with. No offense.”
This guy had a point. The story had to seem feasible. “Cody, come up here,” I called to one of my guys. “Take off your tactical gear.”
Cody stepped forward and immediately removed his helmet, vest and camo gear to reveal a baby-faced twenty-one-year-old who could pass for seventeen in his jeans and tee. He was one of the best on my team and his young appearance had come in handy more than once.
“Cody, I want you to meet your uncle…?” I looked at the man expectantly.
“Frank.” He blurted out nervously.
“Frank,” I repeated. “Okay, Frank, before you came here, you took your favorite nephew out for lunch for his eighteenth birthday. That’s when he let it slip that he’s still a virgin. Being the good uncle you are, you decided to change things up today and bring him along with you as a special birthday present.”
“Genius,” Ryan exclaimed.
“You think that will work?” Frank said with a trembling voice.
“If you can pull yourself together and make it convincing.”
“But what if we get caught?”
“Frank, what do you do for a living?”
“I— I’m an investment banker.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t make all your money completely on the up and up. Maybe smudged a few numbers? Tweaked a few facts to your clients?”
“I…uh—”
“Relax, I’m not here to bust you on that. I just want you to pretend this is any other sale. You are trying to sell this story to T. When talking to him, put yourself in the new reality. Cody is your nephew. Act that way.”
“I’ll try.”
“Just stay calm and know that if anything goes down, you have a team of six highly trained individuals ready to take down any threat. As long as you are working with us and not against us, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay.” He seemed to relax a bit, which was what I needed for the mission to work.
I turned to Cody. “Get in there, try to note all exits, hostiles, bystanders and try to see where Angela is while you’re in there as well. You’re a curious eighteen-year-old boy who’s just been brought into a brothel. They are going to expect you to be looking around a lot and even make mistakes like wandering off. Don’t push it, but you have more leeway than if you were an experienced client. This is not a sanctioned mission. It’s purely voluntary. So, it’s your right to walk away. Can you do this?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“Good. Note everything. As soon as you’re in the room with the girl, find a way to contact me inconspicuously. Remember… Privacy isn’t expected there. They could have bugs or cameras in the room, so be careful.”
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“Roger that.”
“You two better hurry. You’re already running late.”
“Oh, right,” Frank said.
I let go of him and straightened out his shirt and coat before giving Cody a warning glance. “Be careful. You know how unreliable forced informants can be.”
“I got this, boss.” He followed Frank and I could immediately see the shift in his character. He went from a confident soldier to a timid kid following his uncle. I had to admit that Cody was good.
“Keep your sights on them as long as you can. I don’t trust this clown as far as I can throw him.”
“Roger that.”
I held my breath as they were greeted and questioned at the door. Cody’s earpiece was able to pick up everything, which helped me feel better about sending him in alone—but not much.
“Frank, who’s the kid?”
“I—uh…” Come on, Frank. Don’t screw us. “This is my brother’s boy. We were having lunch for his birthday today and I decided to bring him along. I wanted to see if T had any open girls for him.” He leaned in closer to the guy and whispered, but the mic still picked up his voice. “It’s his eighteenth birthday and he’s never been with a woman.”
“Let me talk to T. You two come sit in the parlor while you wait.”
Frank had sold him.
They walked inside and I turned my focus to the windows and my earpiece.
“I really appreciate this. Cody’s a good kid, but it’s time he became a man, you know?”
“I hear ya. We’ll see what T has available.”
There was a moment of silence before Cody started alternating between talking to Frank and whispering to us. “Wow, Uncle Frank, this is a real brothel? Two windows in the parlor just to the right of the front door. Another door to what looks like the kitchen off to the left.”
“Yeah, but remember this has to be our little secret. Your dad would kill me.”
“You got it. Long center hallway. two confirmed hostiles.”
“Franky!” A loud, jovial voice I recognized blared through my earpiece.
