In reading up on trafficking to verify what Jocelyn had told him, Zachary had come across an article that said that each person being trafficked earned their pimp in the neighborhood of three hundred thousand dollars per year. If Noah was turning tricks and bringing in two new kids each year, then he was bringing in almost a million dollars a year for his boss. And if each of those two new kids stayed in the business and also started targeting a couple of new girls—or boys—each year… it was no wonder traffickers were bringing in billions of dollars across the country every year.
And no wonder they didn’t want to lose any of the victims to do-gooders like Zachary or police stings and would fight to get them back, forcing them to keep earning money until they were worn out and useless.
Or dead.
“Who’s over you?” Madison asked. “Is it someone I’ve met?”
Noah nodded.
“Who is he?”
“She,” Noah corrected. “Peggy Ann.”
Madison’s jaw dropped. Her eyes could not get any wider. She shuddered. “I knew… she was scary. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. Just that she was… not someone to cross, I guess.”
Noah nodded. His right hand went to his opposite shoulder, rubbing his bicep. Madison pushed the sleeve of his t-shirt up, revealing puckered burn marks. She smoothed them gently with her finger.
“Did she do that? Peggy Ann?”
Noah’s eyes were far away. “I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember? How can you not remember who did that to you?”
Noah looked down at the scars. “There have been a lot of people. A lot of punishments. It’s best… not to think about it.”
Madison leaned into him, resting her forehead against his shoulder. Noah rested his cheek on the top of her head and he stroked her back gently.
“You do care,” Madison said, slightly accusing.
“Of course I care,” he murmured. “That’s why I get in trouble. That’s why he’s here.” Noah nodded to Zachary.
“So you want me to… take Madison away. Is that it?”
“Yes. Take her away. Make her parents go away with her. And if they won’t go away, then she has to go by herself. She can’t stay around here.”
“My sis—my friend says that she’ll have to change her name and move out of state to keep them from finding her.”
“Yes. Do that.” He held the back of Madison’s head, pressing her against himself. “Get far away from here so Gordo can’t find you.”
Madison sniffled. “Who is Gordo?”
“He’s… the top boss around here. I don’t know if there’s anyone above him, but I don’t think so. I think everything goes back to Gordo. All of the money flows up to him. And… all of the information.”
“You need to get out too,” Zachary pointed out. “If you don’t, they’ll just come after you. Peggy Ann and Gordo and all of their enforcers. You’ll be killed.”
Noah nodded tiredly. “Yes.”
“So you need to get out,” Zachary repeated. “You can’t just stay here and wait for them to find out.”
“It won’t take them long.” Letting go of Madison, Noah rubbed his eyes and then pulled out his phone to look at it. “You need to get her out of here. Before they come looking.”
Zachary’s heart started pounding faster again. He had settled down, listening to Noah and realizing that he wasn’t the enemy. He wasn’t there to shoot Zachary or kidnap Rhys. He wanted Madison to be safe. After all of the boys and girls that he had turned out in the past five or six years, he couldn’t do it again, and he wanted Zachary to take Madison somewhere safe.
But the fact that Noah wanted to help didn’t mean that the danger was gone. It had just transformed into a different shape. Into Peggy Ann, who Zachary pictured as a tall, Amazon-like redhead, and Gordo, an enormous Mexican man, both of whom would do whatever they had to in order to keep their hooks in Madison, and would torture and kill Noah for letting her escape.
They were both out there, getting closer. Maybe looking in through the windows of Zachary’s car, parked down on the dark street, seeing Rhys there waiting.
Zachary stood up, shaking off the inertia. They had to move. Sitting there talking about it wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
“Come with me. Both of you.”
Madison looked at Noah, waiting for him to agree. Noah shook his head.
“Yes,” Zachary said firmly. He gestured for Madison to get up. A snappy, brisk command. She got to her feet. Zachary reached for Noah’s arm and gave it a little tug. “Come on. You’re coming with us.”
“No. I don’t want to. You go ahead.”
“We’re not leaving you here.”
“I’m tired. I just want it all to be over.”
Zachary pulled harder. “I know what it’s like to be depressed,” he said. “I know what it’s like not to want to put in the effort to survive.”
Noah nodded. “Then leave me alone.”
“No. Other people pulled me through. Just because you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, or imagine ever having enough energy to live again, that doesn’t mean it’s the end. Things can change. Now come on.”
One more insistent pull. Madison grabbed Noah’s other arm and, between the two of them, they got him to his feet.
Zachary juggled his phone out and messaged Rhys. Coming now.
He and Madison walked Noah to the door. Once they got him moving, the momentum seemed to keep him going. They didn’t have to force him, but both still held on, guiding him, unwilling to release him and take the chance that they wouldn’t be able to get him moving again. He wasn’t big or heavily-built, but Zachary suspected that he and Madison did not have the strength it would take to move him if he were a dead weight.
Out of the apartment. They shut the door, but no one bothered to lock it. Down the hall. To the stairs. Zachary felt his phone vibrate. They coaxed Noah down the stairs. Zachary’s heart was pounding.
When they reached the bottom, he pulled his phone out again. It was a stupid thing to do. He needed to get Madison and Noah out to the car without being distracted by whatever else happened to be going on.
Rhys, of course. Zachary stopped in his tracks.
A gif of a rotating red light.
Madison looked at him, still pulling Noah forward, but now Zachary was anchoring him on one side instead of helping to direct him and keep him moving. “What is it?”
Zachary turned the phone around to show her.
Madison scowled. “Dammit, Rhys, use words!”
Zachary felt the same way. Clearly, Rhys meant there was an emergency. But did he mean that the police were there? That someone was hurt? That the bad guys were there? Zachary didn’t know whether to keep going, to hide, or to go back up the stairs.
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When he looked at the stairs, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. There was no way that he and Madison would be able to get Noah back up the stairs again. And it was probably the worst thing they could do. Going back up to the apartment would just mean that they were cornered. Unless they went up farther, to another floor, in the hopes that whoever was coming after them wouldn’t expect them to be higher up in the apartment building.
But they couldn’t make it.
Zachary looked out the narrow window in the door between the stairway and the lobby. There were no flashing lights out on the street. No police out there, waiting for them. At least, not police with a car with its lights on.
“This way.” He jerked his head, and he and Madison hustled Noah through to the hallway Zachary had taken the first day. The domain of the man with the bathrobe. Zachary hoped not to run into him again.
Anyone who saw them in the hallway would think that Noah was drunk. Maybe they were trying to take him home. Though anyone who lived in the building would know that they were on the wrong floor. Zachary tried to think of a way to explain that, but couldn’t come up with anything. Too many scenarios were running through
his head and he couldn’t find one that worked.
When they were on the other side of the lobby door, Zachary stopped and looked back. He stayed as far to the side as he could, so they wouldn’t see his face blocking the window if they looked in his direction.
The lobby remained empty. He stayed there, watching, waiting for someone to enter the building. Maybe it was a false alarm. Maybe Rhys had been wrong. Worried by something that wasn’t anything to do with Madison and Noah.
The inner lobby door opened, and a man and woman walked through. Zachary studied them. The woman was not the tall, well-built redhead that he had envisioned. She was rather petite, with dark hair, probably in her forties. Her face was not unattractive, but was hard. Sneering. She wore fashionable clothes with a red leather jacket.
Was she Peggy Ann? The woman who had scared Madison so badly? Who had burned Noah? Noah wasn’t a big guy, and Zachary couldn’t see the small woman being able to overcome him by physical force.
But maybe she hadn’t needed to. There had been other threats, other ways to coerce him. And she didn’t need to be strong to punish him for his failings.
The man was not big either. Nor fat. Probably not Gordo. Which made sense, because why would Gordo, the top boss in Vermont, or maybe in all of New England, be there to see Madison and Noah? Zachary backed away from the window. He looked at Madison and Noah.
“Is that her? Or someone looking for you?”
Noah didn’t move. Madison moved in close to Zachary and peeked out. “That’s Peggy Ann. I don’t know who the guy is.” She turned to look at Noah. “Is he one of your friends? I mean…” She had to shift her thinking, “One of your clients or bosses?”
Noah didn’t move. Zachary took a step back so that they weren’t all crowding around the door. Madison put her hand on Noah’s arm to encourage him forward. Noah reluctantly looked through the window. He withdrew, pressing himself against the wall so he couldn’t be seen through the door.
“Jorge,” he said. “He’s…” Noah hesitated, searching for a word. “A troubleshooter. He must have heard about you.” His eyes met Zachary’s. “Or about the police coming. He’s come to… take care of things.” Noah’s eyes darted back and forth, worried. “Sort out any problems.”
Goosebumps rose on Zachary’s neck and arms. He looked through the narrow window, a quick peek to map the progress of the couple across the lobby to the stairs. As soon as they were on their way up the stairs, Zachary, Madison, and Noah would need to get across the lobby and outside. They could get to the car and get out of there before Peggy Ann and Jorge knew that Madison and Noah were missing. If they would even know there was something wrong. Maybe they would think that the two had just gone out for food or to see to a client.
Except that they’d left the door unlocked. Did they usually lock it when they left? They might not have a lot of money in the apartment, but Madison’s clothes were pricey.
He waited a few more seconds, then took another peek through the window. They were disappearing through the door to the stairs. Zachary watched through the sliver of window, waiting for them to mount the stairs. That would be his signal to move. He didn’t see them on the stairs, and wondered if he’d missed it. They might have been too far to one side and he just hadn’t been able to see them. His heart was jumping all over the place, telling him that it was time to move, but he hesitated, wanting the confirmation that they were on their way up to the apartment. It wouldn’t make more than a few seconds’ difference one way or the other, but he wanted to be sure.
Still nothing.
Zachary put his hand on the doorknob, getting ready to lead the others into the lobby. Clearly, he had missed the couple climbing the stairs, and to wait any longer would be detrimental to their chances of making it out of there in one piece.
Then the door to the stairs opened. Zachary froze. Jorge, the troubleshooter, stood in the doorway. He looked around the lobby, eyes sharp. Zachary moved slowly to the side. Any sudden movement would attract attention, even if Jorge hadn’t been specifically looking at the door to the ground floor apartments. He hoped that by fading gradually to the side, Jorge wouldn’t see him, and they would avoid detection. He waited, frozen, not even able to breathe. He didn’t hear footsteps walking toward them, and in a moment heard the snick of the other door closing again. He was afraid to look. Afraid that as soon as he put his face to the window again, he would see Jorge looking straight back at him, just waiting for him to make a mistake.
But if Jorge had gone on, they needed to get out. Zachary moved over again, very slowly, looking past the edge of the window with one eye, exposing no more of himself than absolutely necessary.
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He did not see Jorge. There was no one in the lobby. He didn’t want to see them going up the stairs this time. He’d been hiding for too long. Either they would go up or they would not, and Zachary believed that the last look around the lobby was Jorge’s final look. He wouldn’t stay down any longer after that.
“Let’s go.”
Madison stuck close to him. Noah was looking dazed. Zachary wondered for a moment if he were dissociating. Not even consciously with them any longer. He nudged Noah’s shoulder, and the three of them moved through the lobby. Madison was dragging back, looking around, too worried that there might be someone hiding there. But if there were, it was too late. They were going to get caught. There was no way to avoid it once they were out of the hallway.
“Come on, keep moving. We need to get out of here.”
“It’s not going to work,” Noah intoned. “We’re never going to be able to get away from them together. You should go ahead. I’ll stay back, try to convince them that I’ve moved Mad somewhere safe. I can keep them distracted, give you a chance to get away.”
“You’re coming with us,” Zachary said firmly.
Madison looked at him, nodding her gratitude. She still had feelings for Noah, even if he had betrayed her. She hadn’t had enough time to reconsider the impact of what he had told them. She kept operating on the same level, as if he were her boyfriend and she needed to protect him.
Zachary hit the release for the inner lobby door and hustled Madison and Noah through it. He followed them through and out the second door to the front of the building. They turned toward him, not sure which way to go.
“My car is down there,” Zachary gestured toward it, in too much of a hurry to sort out his left from his right. They kept moving. They looked around the neighborhood with bright eyes, as if they had been released from a long prison term. The cold air and the darkness were startling after having been inside.
Zachary hurried, trying to press Madison and Noah forward faster. They still had time. Peggy Ann and Jorge wouldn’t have figured out that they had run yet. They weren’t yet in pursuit. But it wouldn’t be much longer. They would arrive at the apartment and find the door open. They would look around, but it would be immediately obvious that Madison and Noah were not there. They wouldn’t know how long it had been since they left, but they would run down the stairs anyway, they would look up and down the street trying to spot them.
“Come on. Come on.”
Zachary could see, as they approached, that there was a cop standing beside his car. His heart sank.
Dealing with the police force was never quick. And if he didn’t get out of there right away, Peggy Ann and Jorge were going to see them all together, and they would know who was behind Madison’s and Noah’s disappearance.
Madison and Noah stopped stock-still at the sight of the police officer. As if he might not see them if they didn’t move and didn’t get any closer. Maybe just because they didn’t know what to do. Retreat? Run? Wait?
Zachary forced a friendly smile at the officer, getting closer and studying his face in the dim streetlight to see if it were someone he had worked with before. But it was just a beat cop or someone on traffic, not a detective that he had worked with. Not one of the administrative positions that Zachary might have had the opportun
ity to meet with and talk with before.
“Hi. Is there a problem, officer?”
The policeman looked Zachary over. He had a notepad and pen in his hand. Writing a ticket? It didn’t look like a ticket clipboard to Zachary. Just a regular notepad.
“Is this your car, sir?”
“Yes.” Zachary scanned the signs along the street for one that said he wasn’t allowed to stop or park there. He didn’t see any. The curb wasn’t painted a different color. There was no fire hydrant close by. He couldn’t see any reason the cop should be there making inquiries. Nothing that would have tipped him off that Zachary’s car didn’t belong to a resident. “Is there a problem?”
“Is this… your son?” The cop looked mildly uncomfortable asking the question. Zachary was clearly white and Rhys was not. Even darker in the shadows of the car. But there was no reason that a white man couldn’t be the father of a black boy or responsible for him by some other relationship.
“No.” Zachary gave Rhys a little wave, trying to look casual and unconcerned. So that Rhys wouldn’t be anxious and the policeman would see that there was nothing wrong and would let Zachary drive away before Peggy Ann and Jorge came back out of the building. “Just a friend. I was just running inside to get the others.” He indicated Madison and Noah. “I hope you weren’t waiting long. You know how long kids can take to get ready sometimes.” He smiled, inviting the cop to agree. To laugh about how long it took his kids to get ready. Though he didn’t look old enough to have teenagers. Maybe he had younger siblings or cousins or could remember the days when he would take hours to get ready for a date or a dance or even just to go out to hang with other guys.
The cop didn’t look too sure of this. He didn’t laugh or give Zachary a knowing look. “I’d like you to open the car, sir.”
“Of course.” Zachary’s key fob didn’t always work, and he didn’t want the car to flash its lights when he unlocked it, advertising his presence. So he walked around to his door and unlocked it manually. He hit the switch to unlock the rest of the doors.
She Told a Lie Page 17
