by Brook Greene
Roman chews the bite of food in his mouth as he mulls over my question, then clears his throat. “Well, a person can be tracked by their social security number a whole lot easier than through a birth certificate.”
I shrug. “But I’ve never used my number, I’ve never needed to. The two jobs I’ve had in my life were at the strip club, and now working with Emily, which are both cash paying jobs. I have zero work history, so it makes no sense to change my social and leave my birth certificate.”
He smiles at me and holds up one finger. “But they didn’t know you were never going to use that social security number when they changed it, but your mother did. She filed taxes. They could’ve very well tracked you that way.”
I lay my fork down, placing my elbows on the table to rest my head in my hands. “And now we’re just talking in circles.”
He pulls my hand away from face, tugging me over to him so I can sit in his lap. I snuggle back into his hard chest, laying my head on his shoulder.
“Do you know where that lady was from? The one they stole the number from?” I knew my mother was a sick, twisted bitch, but this just reaffirms the fucked up levels she would go to.
He kisses the side of my face. “Not yet, but we have a few calls in. But I have to ask, do you remember anything from before you moved here?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not really. I was Caden’s age when we moved here, remember?” I look at him a little doubtful.
“Caden can GPS her back yard, so that’s not a good comparison.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, well, my father wasn’t a paranoid DEA biker.”
He laughs. “Hell, ya never know.” I can’t help but think of what he said we might find if we pursue this, and I fall silent. “Okay, sorry. Bad joke.”
I stand. “No, it’s not a bad joke, it’s the fucking truth. I don’t know. I don’t know who my father is or was, and obviously, I never knew who my mother really was either.”
I turn to pace, but when I turn back, he’s standing and catches me up in his arms. “Hey.”
I lay my hands on his chest. “Don’t remind me. I know I was the one who asked for this.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.” He squeezes me. “What I was going to say is that it’s actually good we know now, instead of being tangled up in an investigation when we try to get married.” He begins to rock us back and forth. “Tomorrow I’m going to report the number to the Inspector General’s office and get them involved in the investigation.”
“So that’s the plan?” I ask him, not doubting him or his brother’s abilities, but feeling the hopelessness slip in nonetheless.
“It’s the only one we’ve got right now, Hollis, and whatever we find we’ll take it from there.” He sounds so sure of this plan, and I’ll have to mask any doubts at the sake of seeming ungrateful for all his efforts.
~~~~~~
Roman
She tries to hide it, but I can see the hesitation written all over her face. It doesn’t bother me that she has reservations about how we’re going to go about this. Hell, I have them. But I want more than anything to get this done and over with so I can take that unsure look in her eyes away and replace it with self-confidence.
~~~~~~
I lie awake in the dark with Hollis curled up against me and her head lying on my chest. My mind’s going over all the things we could possibly find out about her past and her. I always thought I knew everything about her, it’s what I don’t know that scares the hell out of me.
My next step, while Leo tracks down other information, is to go to Ima. I need answers to questions, even though it’ll be digging up painful memories for the both of us. But, unfortunately, it has to be done to get to the bottom of who Hollis really is, and why someone went to the lengths they did to hide her true identity.
Only a very influential man would have the connections needed to put in place the documents contained in her files. I’m ready to get this behind us so we can move on and create a future full of memories of a life worth living.
I look down at the woman lying in my arms and lean in to kiss her, making her a silent promise to always protect her from everything, even her past.
My phone buzzing on the nightstand pulls me from the thoughts of having to kill a man with my bare hands if I ever needed to for her. A call at this hour can only mean one thing, something we haven’t had to do in a while, and I feel my adrenaline begin to race through my body with the excitement.
I reach for the phone, running my thumb across the screen and putting it to my ear. “Yeah?”
“Clubhouse, twenty minutes,” Leo barks at me before ending the call.
I suck in a deep breath, then give Hollis a gentle shake. “Hollis, baby, I’ve gotta go to work.” She mumbles something but that’s it, so I give her a less gentle shake. “Hollis.”
Her eyes fly open. “What?”
“Gotta go to work.” She sits straight up in the bed, looking bewildered. She wipes the sleep from her eyes and works to focus on me.
“Go to work? At this hour?” She sits back on her heels, my overly large tee hanging off her body.
I slide off the bed but place both hands back, leaning into her. “Not that kind of work, baby. The other kind.”
“Oh, did Leo call?” she asks, falling back onto the bed with a huff.
“Yup.” I turn and head for our closet. When I’m finished getting ready, I cross to the bed where she’s still lying. “Go back to sleep, Hollis, I’ll be home in a little while.”
“Are you out of your damned mind?” She crawls off the bed to stand in front of me. “Like I could sleep with you ‘working.’” She peels my tee over her head, revealing her naked body.
I watch her as she moves to get dressed and smile. “Well, at least if something does happen to me tonight, I’ll die with your perfect naked body fresh on my mind.”
She turns, throwing the balled-up tee at me. “Shut up and stop talking like that. Nothing’s happening to you tonight or any other night.” Her eyes start to glass over.
I gather her in my arms and watch as her bare breasts press against my chest, feeling as my dick gets hard at the sight. “Oh, don’t worry about me, Hollis. I’ll shove Leo in the way if it comes down to it.” I knock her nose with mine and smile, getting a giggle from her. I take her ass in both hands and bring her tighter into me. It’s been a long fucking time since I’ve left her for an Op, and each time I find it gets harder and harder. “I’ll be back, I promise.”
She lays her forehead on my chest. “You better come back to me, Roman Isaac Jefferys.”
~~~~~~
“It should be a quick in and out. Surveillance has been sitting on the house for a month and reported the traffic to be increasing.” I study the schematics of the small house we’ll be raiding tonight, listening to Leo’s every word. “So watch your asses. We’ll be going in hot in an hour.” He looks around the table at each of us. “Any questions?”
Kent had taken retirement a few months ago, and Leo was promoted to be our CO. Can’t say I’m surprised.
“What is it we’re going in after?” Cowboy asks, adjusting his big body in his chair.
“The CI bought meth and crack cocaine from a seller two days ago. Its uncut and some of the purest the lab has seen come through this area in a long time.” He runs his fingers through his thick black hair, sitting back in his chair. “They’re well-armed, so let’s not lose our damned heads in there. This is routine for us, boys. So, if that’s all, keep it tight, make it clean, and watch your fucking asses.” He stands and crosses over to the bar, pouring us each a drink. We stand and take our glasses, holding them up in the air. “One more for the road.” He salutes us and we return the gesture, slamming back the Jack in our glasses.
Chapter Seven
Roman
Leo, Cowboy, and Matty take the front door, while me, Dalton, and Eno go around back. The music coming from inside the rundown house is so loud, we could probably walk through the fro
nt door unnoticed. A car turns down the street, the headlights flashing past the side of the house, making all three of us hunker down until it passes.
Dalton taps my back when it’s safe to move, so I continue around to the back porch. The door’s open, and I direct Eno to take a look. Eno darts up the steps, so silent, I swear the man glides over the ground. He lays his back flat against the wall, and I nod for him to go ahead. He darts his head around the corner then back. He holds up two fingers and points to the right, then holds up another two, pointing to the left.
I reach for the small radio on my shoulder. “We have four in the kitchen,” I tell Leo.
“We have five in the front.” He radios back through the earpiece.
“Should we wait for back up?” I ask him, motioning for Eno to stand down for the moment.
He sighs heavily. “There is no back up, we’re it.”
“What? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” I hear Dalton huff behind me.
“If my math is correct, gentlemen, we’re outnumbered by three,” Cowboy informs us.
“You’re a fucking mathematical genius, man,” Eno adds with a laugh.
“Shut up, you bunch of pussies. Listen, we’re it, and this has to be done tonight,” Leo barks out quietly.
“Why tonight? They’ve sat on this house for over a month,” Dalton questions.
“I didn’t question the orders. I was told to take the house regardless,” Leo replies.
“This is bullshit, man.” Matty and I will have to agree with him.
“Okay, let’s just get on with this shit. Dalton, cut the power,” Cowboy orders. I check my gun one more time. Clicking the clip back in place, I nod for Dalton, flipping down my night vision scope attached to my helmet. The house goes dark and we enter the premises. A man to my right draws on me and fires, but I move just in time and the bullet grazes my shoulder. I pop off two rounds into his gut, making him slump to the floor.
“Son of a bitch.” I reach up for my shoulder as I turn to watch Dalton fire, dropping another one as Eno charges the third man, knocking him down and landing on top of him, delivering several punches to his face. The fourth man raises his weapon on me, but Dalton shoots him in the knee, buckling it, making him drop to the ground like a stone.
“Get on the ground!” Leo yells from the other room. “Get on the ground!” He yells again, right before guns are fired and bodies drop.
“Clear back here. You whole up front?” I radio.
“Three down. You?” Leo replies.
“Same.” I bend and begin to pat down the man who shot at me and find another gun still in a double holster around his shoulders. “Check ’em,” I tell Eno. “Dalton, get the power back on.” Dalton ducks back out the door, and within minutes, the lights flicker and nearly blind me before I can remove my night vision. “Son of a bitch.”
“You told him to turn the power back on.” Eno laughs as he lays the guns he took from the men on the table.
“Shut up,” I snap as I make my way through the mess in the floor to the front room. I point to the man Eno knocked unconscious. “What the fuck was that shit?” He just smiles and shrugs at me.
Looking around, I scratch my chin. “Was that a little too easy?”
Cowboy comes to stand beside me. “My thoughts exactly.”
Two hours later, after we’ve tossed the house, all we found was a bag of weed and a few ecstasy pills. Not enough to even consider this a run through house for drug trafficking. “I thought you said they were dealing drugs out of this house?” I ask Leo, who looks just as confused as the rest of us.
“That’s what the intel pointed to.” Leo takes his phone out of his pocket and dials before placing it to his ear.
I walk back through the house to the kitchen, where Eno is standing watch over the men on the floor. “Get them out of here.” Matty and Dalton lift the men to their knees and lead them out to the living room with the rest.
As I walk around the table, the floorboards under my feet give in an unnatural way. I rock back and forth on them, testing their looseness.
“Hey, Eno, give me a hand with this table.” I begin to move the table off the overly large, worn out area rug covering the floor. “Now the rug.” We jerk it back and uncover a roughly cut hatch door that’s padlocked.
“What the fuck?” Eno huffs as he kicks the lock.
“Hello?” A soft voice asks from the other side.
“Son of a bitch, there’s a girl down there,” I say as I begin to look around for something to pry the hinges off the door. “Help me, find something to get the fucker open,” I shout at Eno, who’s looking around, just as panicked as I am.
He ducks out the back door, then reenters with a crowbar in his hand. “Move.” I step back as he snaps the lock loose, then bends to throw the door back. The light floods the little space and my heart sinks to the pits of my stomach.
“Holy motherfucking shit, man.” Eno and I look down at seven pairs of scared eyes staring back at us.
“Leo, you might want to get the fuck back here, man,” I call out, making the women flinch away with my tone.
Eno stoops down, holding out his hands. “It’s okay, ladies. We’re here to help you.”
I feel the rest come up behind me. “Oh my God.” We all stand there, stunned.
“Call every-fucking-body you know now, Leo,” Cowboy snaps. “Let’s get them out of the goddamn hole.”
I take the rug and lay it over the edge of the wood. “Give me your hands,” I tell the first girl. She cautiously raises them up to me. “Don’t worry, darlin’, we’re the good guys.”
“Dalton, go and find some blankets or something,” I tell him as I help Cowboy lift the first girl out of the hole. She’s completely naked, and her young skin is marked and pitted with cuts and bruises. She’s shivering, and when we get her up, she falls into my arms and begins to sob uncontrollably. “Shh, I’ve got you.” Dalton rushes in with an arm load of old blankets. I hold out my hand for one and wrap it around the frightened girl.
Just as we pull the last girl out of the hole, the place is swarmed. A suit I don’t recognize walks through the door. “Leo Tucker?”
“That’d be me.” Leo steps to him.
“John Spencer,” the man says, holding his hand out for Leo to shake. Leo reluctantly takes it, giving it a firm shake.
“Wanna tell me what the fuck this is?” Leo jerks his hand away, the anger radiating off of him.
Spencer clears his throat and straightens the lapels on his three-piece suit. “Mr. Tucker, I’ve heard you can be quite straight forward.”
“And I hate being jerked around, so if you don’t mind, Mr. Spencer, tell me what the fuck is going on around here? Because I was told this was a drug house, not a hit for an underground human trafficking ring.”
Spencer clears his throat again and looks around at all the agents mulling around the house. “This isn’t the place to discuss the sensitivity of this matter.”
Leo takes a step in the man’s direction. “Listen, John, you sent me and my men in here cold with the wrong intel. We discuss this now.”
He gives Leo and the rest of us a sleazy smile. “Who do you think is in charge here, Mr. Tucker? When I say we discuss this elsewhere, we discuss this elsewhere.” Driving home the point we’re the grunts in this situation. Leo storms past him and out the front door.
I hold up my arm for John to go. “By all means, after you.” Letting him go first, I watch as the slime of a man walks past me, the rest of us following after them.
“You need to get that looked at,” Cowboy advises, eyeing my shoulder.
I wipe at it. The adrenaline still running through my body is masking the pain. “It’s fine,” I tell him as we join the heated discussion going on between Leo and Spencer.
“If we would’ve sent you in there knowing what you were going in after, you would have went in half-cocked, guns a blazing and fucked up all the work we’ve done so far.” Spencer tries his best to expl
ain to us why he sent us in cold, but is failing miserably.
“And exactly what kind of work have you done?” Cowboy storms up to Spencer, looks back at the house, and then to the man who has enough brains to step back from him. “Because from what I’ve seen in there, you haven’t done shit.” Cowboy’s feeling the anger all of us are.
“We now have leads, names, and routes.” Spencer turns, opening up the back door of the blacked-out SUV.
Eno pushes past me to get in Spencer’s face. “We just pulled seven girls out of a goddamn hole in the floor with nothing on but their bras and panties. Forgive me if I’m the kind of man who would go in after that, guns a blazin’ as you say.”
Spencer pinches his lips into a fine line. “You will all be debriefed tomorrow morning at zero nine hundred hours. Be there, all of you,” he says before sliding into the back seat.
He goes to close the door, but I catch it. “Why us?”
He scoffs. “You’re the best fucking team we’ve got and we need the connections you’ve made with certain individuals.” He looks at my hand then back to me, prompting me to let him close the door. I back away and he slams it in our faces.
Eno steps up, kicking his boot into the door Spencer’s just disappeared behind, denting it, before the vehicle drives away. “Son of a bitch!” he yells into the air.
~~~~~~
“Can you fucking believe that shit? They’ve been sitting on that house for a month and did nothing. Nothing!” Leo screams. “How many went through there that are now lost forever? They could’ve saved all those girls.” We’re all just as disgusted as Leo is, and just as pissed. He punches the dash, cracking it.
“But we did save those seven girls tonight,” I say, looking out the window, unable to get the looks on all their faces out of my head. They were so scared, not one of them over the age of twenty-one.
“Yeah, seven out of how many hundreds?” Leo scoffs.
“What connections do you think they want to use?” Cowboy asks Leo.
