by Dale Mayer
“Well, the only way anybody would know I’m here is if they followed us.”
“Unless your apartment was bugged.”
She stared at him as her jaw dropped. In a strangled voice, she said, “I didn’t think about that.”
“No, but we did. We didn’t have anything with us to check the apartment, and honestly we didn’t think they’d be that fast. But we have no way to know for sure.”
“But they don’t know what hotel we are in, and they don’t know what room.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I know all that. I understand all the reasoning. My mind is completely on board with all the logical answers. However, my instincts can’t be ignored.”
She considered that for a long moment, thinking of all the times she’d returned to a patient’s room because she’d felt like they were either in distress or heading into a major issue she could stave off. She stepped forward and said in a low voice, “I’m prepared to listen to that. I’m okay to sit in the vehicle the whole time.”
“You have to do exactly what we tell you when we tell you. No hesitation.”
And with that, her eyebrows rose. “I do work in a hospital,” she said to make him feel better. “I do follow orders and deal with emergencies.”
He studied her carefully.
When he relaxed, she realized she had passed some sort of test. “Good.” She led the way to the door. “What route do we take, and when can we have lunch?”
He laughed. “You should have had more than two pieces of pizza for breakfast.”
“I’ve been trying to lose ten pounds,” she confessed.
“You’ve been what?”
At the shock in his tone, she turned to face him. “My last boyfriend said I wasn’t slim enough. I guess I hung on to some of that.”
With the door locked, they stood in front of the elevator as Logan viciously punched the button to call it. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “If you lose any more weight, you’ll disappear on us.” And then his voice turned crafty as he gave her a sideways glance. “Just think, if you lose it, you could be kidnapped and stuffed into a smaller suitcase.”
“That’s not funny,” she snapped, as they both got on the elevator.
“No, it’s not. But now you can think about that if you try to take off more weight. You’re perfect as you are, so leave it alone.” Logan shook his head. “What is it about women and weight anyway?”
“You don’t understand. I like to eat. I really like to.”
Logan stared at her and shook his head. “The universe is laughing at me right now.”
She stared at him in confusion as the elevator landed and the double doors opened. “Why? Because you don’t like to see women eat?” she challenged.
He grabbed her arm, pulled it through his and led her to the vehicle out front. “No,” he said with a chuckle. “The exact opposite. I am suddenly surrounded by tiny women who can eat like crazy. I swear they outeat all my male friends.”
Harrison twisted around in the driver’s seat as they both got in the car. “Hi. Are you okay to come with us today?”
“I was actually quite lost in the room and wondered what the hell I was doing there.”
He nodded. “We’re still not sure this is the right thing to do, but it seemed wrong to leave you.”
“I’m good with that,” she said.
They drove away, and she sat in the back with her tablet. She’d be fine to sit here and watch. She was safe; she had the men with her. Although they were strangers in many ways, she knew who they were inside. Heroes.
As she listened, she could hear the men discussing every detail. With the first address up on the GPS, they followed the directions, taking them to an old residential area, with money from the looks of it.
“Wow, look at some of these houses,” she whispered. She didn’t know if this counted as big money anymore with all the billionaires in the world, but it certainly counted as it in hers.
“They are something.” Logan tapped the GPS. “It’s the right address.” Harrison slowed, and they drove past a big-gated property. It was a majestic brick-and-stone house. A mixed siding that should’ve been at odds with each other, but somehow it all pulled together into a beautiful facade with even rooftop decks all the way around.
Harrison pulled the vehicle past the house, made a U-turn at the next intersection when traffic allowed and slowly drove past again. “I guess these places have no alleyway?”
She stared at the huge circular driveway in the front yard but also saw an entrance toward the rear. “How do they even get municipal service here? Garbage pickup, all that stuff. Surely that’s at the back. I can’t imagine anything this gorgeous having anything so disgusting in front,” she said with a laugh.
Harrison turned left at the next street and went around the block. “No alleyway but a road.” Interesting. And because the house appeared to take up the block, it didn’t abut another house but a back entrance used for servicing.
At the front, Harrison parked and hopped out. “Back in a moment.”
They watched as he strode up to the security gates. Instantly a uniformed guard stepped out to meet him. Harrison spoke with him for a moment, then was ushered toward the car.
“That’s what I expected,” he said when back inside. “No information and no leeway. Security is tight.”
“It’s owned by an Italian company. The owner is Dorian Mutually,” Logan said.
“I don’t know that name.” Harrison glanced at Logan. “And this one we’ll give the cops to check out. Otherwise, we’ll need to make a night trip to check it out.”
Alina could see the two men taking notes, texting information back and forth with someone. They must have quite the headquarters they sent details to. It was a fascinating concept to think of the type of work they did.
When they drove past the block and didn’t turn around again, she asked, “Aren’t you going to check this place out?”
“There is security front and back. We have no reason to approach. But if we wanted to get inside, we would, just not during daylight.”
Her eyes widened as she considered them breaking and entering a property like that. But then she remembered them doing the same where she’d been held. “If you had probable cause? Then we can call the cops.”
Logan turned and flashed her a smile. “Like we did with you.”
“You didn’t have that with me.” She sank back in her seat. “I just realized how much of a risk you took, breaking and entering into that place, and how damned grateful I am you listened to your instincts.”
“In our business instincts are very important,” Harrison said quietly. “We don’t take anything like that lightly.” He pulled out into the main traffic and headed toward an intersection. He took a left onto a main road, and they drove around for another twenty minutes.
She realized they were heading to the next address. “What exactly are you looking for here?”
“Anything and everything.” Logan settled back against the seat. “We’re after information.”
She digested that slowly. “Is that the work you do?”
“Not often,” he said cheerfully. “But I’m not against this type.”
“And these addresses?”
“Supplied by a street informant. We’ve been asked to check them out.”
“Wow, and you found me at one of them.” She stared out the window. “So the big fancy house we just saw would have enough room to house the other women.”
“Possibly. I’ve got an email in to Detective Easterly to check it out. He has more police resources now that the priorities have changed. We need to find the three women. They can get a warrant to check out this house based on what we have so far.”
*
Harrison spoke up. “We’ll be at the next address in another couple blocks. Look lively, people.”
Logan settled back in, understanding exactly what Harrison meant. It had nothing to do with glancing around as much as it did with
being alert and listening to his instincts. If they had gotten Colin to talk, they might have had something more to go on. That reminded Logan to check in with the police in the next couple hours. Detective Easterly hadn’t been in this morning when Logan had called. And he could use an update on the case.
At this point, they came up to a series of townhouses and a large family-oriented complex of at least eighty units. It was one of those subdivisions where every house was a cookie cutter of the next. About ten were sandwiched together in a single block.
“Looking for number fourteen,” he said.
Harrison slowed ever-so-slightly as they drove past the fourth house on the first block. It faced the main street and was scrunched in the middle of several others. The only thing different was the curtains were closed upstairs. He drove to the back, finding more complexes. Finally, he went around to the beginning and entered through the main entranceway. No security gate was here; he drove in and past number fourteen. On the side was a single carport, empty. Harrison pulled into the guest parking space. The guys looked at each other.
“We can take a walk,” Harrison said.
From the back Alina said, “Let me go with Logan to make it look like we’re a couple thinking about buying, and you sit here.”
Logan looked at her. “It’s a good idea.”
When she stepped from the vehicle, he reached for her hand. When she placed hers in it, they walked together around the complex. Alina talked about the nice playground for children and the common building in the center for birthday parties and meeting rooms.
He looked at the security—or complete lack of it. Although a lot of people and families were here, too much coming and going would be ignored. Unless they found a talkative nosy neighbor who kept watch. Still, number fourteen looked innocuous and innocent. Back at the car Logan asked Harrison, “You want to knock?”
Harrison nodded. He walked straight through the carport to the back door. At the kitchen, he knocked several times.
When he did it again, Logan watched if anybody peered through the windows to see who was at the door. But there was no answer or movement inside. The place appeared to be empty.
Harrison turned to Logan, making a hand motion. Harrison grabbed the knob and turned it. The door opened. Seconds later Harrison grimaced, and he hurriedly closed the door again.
Logan turned to Alina. “I want you to sit in the back of the vehicle and lock the door behind you. Do not get out of the car, and do not come into the condo.”
She glanced at him with worry. “What is it? What’s wrong? Are the women in there?”
Unable to help himself, he gave her a kiss on the temple. “I’m not sure yet. I have to go look.”
He led her to the vehicle and unlocked it. Before she sat, she asked, “Somebody’s dead inside that house, aren’t they?”
He stared at her in surprise. “I don’t know, but from the look on Harrison’s face, maybe.” He shut the door, heard the lock click and walked over to Harrison.
Harrison was on the phone with Levi. He opened the door again and stepped inside.
Logan followed. The smell of decay was rampant. Not only did it smell of death, but it was one that had been here for a while. Whoever or whatever had died had been so for a couple of days.
They did a quick search of the downstairs—small, cramped rooms, nice enough for maybe two people though not Logan’s style at all—but it was empty. They did a quick dash up the stairs, calling out in case anybody was still here. They did a walk-through of the first bedroom and headed to the master. At the door, Logan nudged it open with his boot, just in case. There on the bed lay a dead man.
More to the point, it was one of the four missing human traffickers—Jason Markham. Logan turned to look at Harrison. “And once again things have gone to shit.”
Chapter 8
Alina sat in the car, her body twisted so she could look out the rear window. It seemed forever before Logan and Harrison reappeared. She wasn’t sure what to make of that. They stood outside, their faces grim, and she knew it was worse than they had expected. She felt sorry for whoever was in the house. Hopefully only one dead body was involved. Still, as a reminder of how grim her own reality was, it was effective.
She didn’t know if this was connected with her abduction, but she did know Logan had saved her. She wanted to get out and put her arms around him, as much for her own security as to give him comfort. He was a good man.
Logan walked toward her, his steps measured, quick, and determined. So much power radiated from him right now, but anger was also there, like a red wave washed ahead of him as he strode toward her. Harrison was on the phone. She could imagine the calls that had to be made now. The two men who came to only check out some places found a whole lot more than they were looking for. On the other hand, she couldn’t imagine what life would have been like if they hadn’t come on this fact-finding mission.
She rolled down the window and looked up at him. He crouched down beside her. She said in a low voice, “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “It’s one of the four human traffickers who disappeared. But no women.”
She cupped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, my God!”
“Murdered,” he added gently. “This changes things again.”
She shook her head. “Does it really? You already knew this was a bad deal when you found me, and this is only the fourth address. You still have one more to check.”
He took her hand. “After the ambulance took you to the hospital, a sniper took out Colin on the front yard, standing among all those policemen.”
Her mouth trembled, slightly opened.
“So this is now the second murder.” He gauged her expression, watching for shock or denial to set in. He patted her hand again. “The police are on the way,” he said. “We’ll wait here for them. I’ll try to keep you out of the report as much as possible.”
She frowned at him, her gaze a little distant. “I didn’t have anything to do with it. Why would I be in the report?”
He gave her a sideways glance. “You came with us, and we drove here. So I would have to explain why we came here, therefore, anybody with us will be a part of it.”
She sagged back and winced. “The last thing I want to do is see any cops right now.”
“Understood. Just not an option. However, you didn’t go into the house. You haven’t seen anything. You don’t know anything. You’re sticking close to me because I’m the one who rescued you.”
She brightened. “Now that much I can do. And you should get a medal for saving me from that asshole, Colin.”
She was back to bloodthirsty, so he was glad about that. “Like an Alina medal?”
She wrinkled up her face, then she realized what this would mean. “I guess lunch is delayed?”
He chuckled. “Not so much. Harrison and I will search the house, see if we can find out anything before the police get here. You have to stay here out of sight and don’t leave the vehicle. Otherwise, I’ll have to explain what you were doing.”
“I’m totally fine here.” She shook her head. “I’m playing games on my tablet,” she confessed. “Anything to pass the time and take my mind off…life.”
He leaned in and gave her a hard kiss on the top of her head. “Understood.” And he turned and walked away.
She wondered how the hell their relationship had progressed to him feeling comfortable enough to kiss her like that and her to accept it. Not only that, but hate the fact he was walking away without having pulled her into his arms and given her a hug first. She’d started to really crave those. She never thought of herself as much of a hugger. She’d always been more physically distant with people, but with him, all she wanted was to stay in his arms.
She leaned her head back and let her thoughts run free. She was sorry for the murdered man in the house. That added another nasty element to this whole scenario, but he was a trafficker and maybe got his just desserts.
Those missing bad guys ha
d a lot to answer for. She understood the men would turn over every rock to get to the bottom of this mess. She wished now she could get her hands on them. But she wanted to find the missing women first—before it was too late.
But surely the Boston police were already on that aspect. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard the arrival of the police cruisers without sirens. She sat up straight and watched as three pulled in. One parked beside the car she sat in; another in the carport of the house, and the last behind him. The officers got out and headed to the house.
She hoped Logan and Harrison were aware of the cops’ arrival, as they’d been inside for a good twenty minutes. Then both stepped out on the small deck and spoke with the officers. She watched nervously until Logan and Harrison walked toward the car.
“It’s all good,” Logan said. “We gave the cops our names, numbers, and the boss’s contact info, as well as a statement for why we were checking here. And when the door opened, we could smell something wrong inside. We do have a solid history and a background for stuff like this, so when we walked in and took a quick look, it wasn’t out of the ordinary.”
She leaned forward and said, “Do they still need to talk to you two? Or to me?”
Both men shook their heads, and Logan said, “If they want to, they’ll call us.”
“And me?”
Harrison chuckled. “Nope, you’re off the hook too.”
She sat back with relief. “Thank heavens for that. Personally, I’ve had more than enough of the police in the last day.”
On that note, Harrison started the vehicle and slowly drove out of the driveway.
As they left, Alina saw the coroner’s vehicle drive in and was reminded that somebody had lost their life here. And, although she might not be delighted to be called to deal with the police, somebody else would love that opportunity, if it meant he was still alive.
“Where to now?” she asked quietly.
Harrison answered, “As much as I would like to finish for the day, we still have one more address to drive by. Then we need to check in with the police.”
