His gaze kept swiveling around, but whoever he thought was there hadn’t made their presence known. “Look, there are things that you need to stay out of and this is one of them. You’ll never get your daughter back because it’s very likely she’s already in the hands of very powerful people.”
“What do they want with her?” My eyes were filling with tears as I thought about all the different things that could be happening to her. “Please,” I begged. “Please, I need to know what’s happened to her.”
Arnold looked at me, his eyes filling with sympathy and his face hard. His eyes flicked to Maggie once again and then he sighed, finally relenting to my pleas. When he spoke, he was quiet and talked quickly.
“There have been children from different cities disappearing all over the country. With most abduction cases, there’s some kind of evidence. You have fingerprints, even if they can’t be matched. Or someone ends up dead while trying to take the child. There are suspects that the police investigate and that usually leads to more suspects or at least points them in another direction.
“The difference with the abductions of these children, like your daughter, is that there are no leads. Someone may witness the actual abduction, but no one ever sees faces or finds any evidence of the child actually being taken, like hair or fibers. The children are just gone. These people are professionals and they don’t make any mistakes.”
“Why are they being taken?” Maggie asked.
“No one knows. I have my suspicions, but nothing concrete. From what I’ve been able to piece together, they’re flown out of the country.”
“But someone would be able to track them. You have to be listed on a flight manifest.”
“Not these people,” he shook his head. “Whoever these people are have so much power that they can make anything happen, anyone disappear without a trace of evidence.”
“But why my daughter? What’s so special about her that someone would take her?”
“The children that are taken come from single parent households that don’t have the resources to dig too deeply into the child’s disappearance.”
“They aren’t worried about the other parent trying to figure out what’s going on?” Maggie asked. Arnold looked at me questioningly.
“Payton’s father never wanted to be part of her life. I contacted him several times over the years, but he always pretended like he wasn’t the father and had no interest in taking a paternity test.”
“But the police are still involved and usually the FBI at such a young age,” Maggie insisted. “It’s not like they could keep the FBI from digging into these abductions. Surely, they can connect the dots and figure out there’s a pattern or a connection between these children at the very least.”
“The FBI is well aware of the connection, but they also can’t find anything to track this trafficking ring. Either that or they’re being bought off.”
“Wait, there’s still one problem, a mother that’s desperate enough will continue to search for her child,” Maggie said. “Obviously, they know this considering that Morgan did just that. I’m sure she’s not the only mother to take matters into her own hands. So, what are we missing?”
Arnold looked nervous, like he didn’t want to reveal the last bit of information. “The mothers have disappeared also, along with a few fathers that were the single parent. Usually, the parent doesn’t have any family around to raise any questions about his or her disappearance.”
“The trafficking ring at the club,” I surmised. “There were plenty of single mothers there, trying to put enough food on the table for their kids.”
“But you were the exception,” Arnold admitted. “You need to find out why he spared your life. The Broker has something else in store for you, and if I had to guess, I would assume that he wants you for himself. That you’ve caught his eye.”
“But he had his chance,” I argued. “He had me and drugged me. He could have taken me at any time.”
“True, but his focus that night obviously wasn’t you.”
“He didn’t want you taken into the trafficking ring,” Maggie concluded. “But maybe he wasn’t ready to take you yet. Maybe he needed more time.”
“This is insane,” I cut in. “This sounds like a bunch of guessing. You’re not showing me any proof. You’re just guessing here.”
“Morgan, he’s the best. I swear-”
“No! There’s no proof, nothing suggesting that my child was taken into this elusive trafficking ring or that I would be taken by The Broker. He’s not even the one running all this.”
“He’s trying to tell you-”
Her voice was cut off by the sound of something sharp hitting the tree just inches from us. We all dropped to the ground and Maggie shoved me deeper into the trees. I crawled on my belly, trying to find some cover. Every few seconds, bullets pinged off trees and hit the ground close by. My heart was beating out of control and I was shaking so bad that I could hardly crawl. I glanced back and noticed that I was the only one crawling away. Maggie was leaning behind a tree on her butt, loading a weapon. Arnold was nowhere to be seen.
Maggie looked up at me and waved me on, but she was pregnant and there was no way I was leaving her behind. She turned and shot several times before taking cover again. I realized then that she wasn’t the only one firing from this side. I could hear shots coming from all around us, but I couldn’t see anyone. Suddenly, I was hoisted up from the ground and flung over a shoulder. I wanted to scream, but Maggie motioned for me to be quiet. Whoever was carrying me was running deeper into the trees, so fast, it was as if I weighed nothing at all. I saw another man pick up Maggie, carrying her differently since she was pregnant and hauled ass in the same direction we were headed. I wanted to slap whoever had me and tell them to put me back down, but the man’s shoulder was bulky and poking me hard in the stomach, making it difficult to speak. Before I knew it, we were at a dirt road and I was being thrown into the back of an SUV.
I scrambled to sit up and find out who had taken me and where we were going. I didn’t recognize the person in the back seat with me and I pushed back further against the door. He didn’t look at all worried that I would jump from the vehicle. I gripped onto the handle, but the door didn’t budge. It must have been a childproof lock because the man just laughed when he saw me try the handle out of the corner of his eye.
“Who are you?” I asked with more courage than I felt. Inside I was shaking like a leaf. There were two people sitting in the front seat and one turned around and smiled at me. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was Gabe. The man in the driver’s seat looked vaguely familiar. I dug through my memories and had a faint vision of his face above mine, but it almost felt like a dream.
“I’m Rocco. Not sure if you remember me, but I was the one that took care of you when your boy found you at the well and then again back at the safe house.”
“My boy?” I asked. He couldn’t possibly mean Chance. He wasn’t mine in any way.
“Chance would be here, but he’s out there trying to take out some of those assholes that were shooting at you.”
“Why? Why would he be the one to stay behind?”
“Sniper, you’ve heard the nickname from Chief, his former superior. He was a sniper in the military,” Gabe said.
That sounded familiar. Hadn’t Chance already told me that? Everything seemed to be running together until nothing really fit together in my mind. I felt like I needed a mental recharge.
“Um…so, who were those people shooting at us?”
“I would assume someone who wants to kill you,” the guy beside me said. “I’m Chris, by the way. I work with a different team, but since Freckles decided to go rogue, we had to scramble to get some guys together to come save your ass.”
I flushed bright red, feeling terrible for causing so much trouble. “I’m sorry. I didn’t-”
“Don’t worry about it, darlin’. You’re not the first or last woman that will be a pain in the ass. In
fact, if you stick around, I’m sure you’ll fit in quite nicely with the rest of the women.”
“Don’t mention that he said that to any of the ladies,” Gabe said quickly. He glared at Chris. “I just got out of the doghouse with Isa. No need to send me back there so soon.”
“So, where are we going? And why was I grabbed before Maggie? She’s pregnant. Shouldn’t she have been taken out first?”
Chris snorted beside me. “Good luck with that one. Freckles can take care of herself, for the most part. She’d never let one of us drag her out of a gun fight, except, maybe Sinner.”
“What about Sebastian? He’s her husband, right?”
“That’s why he wouldn’t try to get her out. Those two are like oil and water. Maggie would stay just to spite him.”
“So, he’d just leave her there? In the middle of a gunfight?”
“It’s not like he’d allow her to get hit. He made sure to start moving the fight away from her. That way she doesn’t realize that he’s protecting her.”
This was the weirdest group of people I had ever met. A pregnant woman in a gunfight and men that were worried about getting in trouble with their wives, all looking out for each other so none of them got in too deep. I’d never met a group of people that were so close, yet so weird.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sniper
I SLAMMED THE door to the SUV as I got out and stomped toward the elevator. I had my bag for my sniper rifle slung over my shoulder and if it weren’t for the fact that I promised to help Morgan find her daughter, I might point the rifle at her and tell her to run. What the hell had she been thinking, running off with Maggie to get information about her daughter? It was reckless and stupid. She could have been killed.
I put my rifle away and was just about to head upstairs when I ran into Knight. He eyed me, always assessing and reading each of us like we were open books. The man had a talent for picking up on cues better than most. Anyone could tell when someone was angry or happy, but he seemed to see through all of that and know exactly what was wrong and how to help with whatever we needed. It was one of the reasons he was so good at his job.
“Follow me,” he said as we stepped onto the elevator. I didn’t argue with him because there really wasn’t any point. If I tried to walk away, he would just beat the shit out of me until I chose to follow him.
We got out on the floor with the training center and made our way over to the ring. He tossed me a pair of boxing gloves and got out the tape. After he wrapped my hands, I slipped on my gloves and got in the ring with him. I loosened up, hopping from foot to foot as I felt the tension still humming through my body.
Knight nodded to me and seconds later he was coming at me, his fist flying through the air toward my face. I ducked and threw a jab of my own at his ribs, but he dropped his elbow. I pulled back just before I would have hit his elbow and broke my hand. I was swinging like I was in an actual boxing match because I was so angry, but that was a good way to get injured and I didn’t want to be taken out of the work rotation because I was stupid enough to get injured.
We continued to spar, both of us taking hits from time to time. Mostly me though. Knight was one hell of a boxer and rarely lost a match with one of us. I was running out of steam after what felt like ten rounds and made the mistake of letting my guard down. One heavy swing had me falling to the ground, smacking my head on the ground with a swollen eye. Knight leaned over me, barely looking winded, his eyebrow raised as if he was asking me if I’d had enough.
He helped me to my feet and we bumped fists before I left the ring and went to take a shower. I was considerably less angry now that my energy reserves had been significantly depleted. When I was dressed, I went upstairs to see Morgan. She was sitting in the conference room with Maggie. Both of them looked pissed and I could only guess that Cap had already had a talk with them.
“Maggie, can you give me a few minutes with Morgan?” My eyes didn’t leave Morgan as I spoke to Maggie. This wasn’t her fault, well, not all her fault. Morgan was an adult and had chosen to follow Maggie without asking if it was safe to do so. Maggie slipped from the room, shutting the door behind her. I took a seat across from Morgan, not wanting to sit too close.
“Do you realize how dangerous it was to run off like that without telling anyone?”
“You can save it. I’ve already gotten yelled at from Sebastian,” she said angrily.
“Well, now you’re gonna hear it from me. I swore that I would help you find your daughter. Why the hell would you run off without telling me?”
“We had Sinner with us.”
I slammed my fist on the table, my anger rising once again. “It doesn’t fucking matter. If we hadn’t shown up, you could have been killed. Sinner’s a good shot and he’s damn good at his job, but he can’t defend two women against several men, especially when one of those women is pregnant.”
“It was my choice to make. I told you that I would do anything to find my daughter and I meant it!”
“And it was Maggie’s choice to take you, but Maggie has always acted without thinking. She’s pregnant and Cap would be devastated if something happened to Maggie or his unborn child. You should have stopped her and told her it was a bad idea.”
“Sinner didn’t think it was a problem,” she shot back.
“Hell yes he did! The problem is that when Maggie makes up her mind about something, she follows through because she’s stubborn. Sinner knows that Maggie will do whatever the hell she wants, no matter what anyone else says.”
“Then why the hell did it matter if I went along or not?”
“Because you could have been killed! I told you that you were a target. Maggie was put in danger because of you. You should have come to talk to me first. Hell, talk to anyone about it.”
She stood, her fists going to her hips. “Listen, I didn’t ask you to look out for me. You made me a promise that I didn’t ask for. I have never let anyone else stop me from going after my daughter and I never will. She’s my baby and she’s all I have left. I can’t give up and I won’t sit by while someone else decides what we will or won’t look into.”
“I’m not saying you have to, but fuck, let me in on things. Let me help you!”
“You told me you would help this morning and then you disappeared. You were gone for like, an hour. How long was I supposed to sit around and wait for you to decide to discuss things with me?”
This was going nowhere. We were just going round and round with all this shit. If I continued to try and make her see things my way, it would only push her further away. She would make some stupid mistake and end up dead. Though, in the back of my mind, I was wondering why I cared. She was just someone I slept with. If she wanted to go off on her own, I should let her. But no matter how much I told myself that’s what I should do, I just couldn’t follow through on that. I needed to help her and I knew there was no way I could just walk away.
“Look, I get it and I promise that won’t happen again. But I can’t let you go off and do this on your own. It’s dangerous and you’re already a target. Please, let me and the rest of Reed Security help you. We’re good at our jobs.”
She looked like she wanted to argue some more, but pursed her lips and gave a swift nod. “Maggie was filling Becky in on what we found out. I guess we’re waiting to hear what she finds.”
“Good. How about we head home and get some takeout. You can tell me what you learned over dinner.”
“Alright.”
We left the building, but something I had said kept running through my mind. I had said we would go home. Not my home. Why I had said that could be as simple as a slip of the tongue, but somehow it didn’t feel that way. I couldn’t start thinking of us as being a pair, even if this was just as a partnership. I would start to feel attached and that was something I just didn’t want to do again. I’d have to really watch how I handled things from here on out or I’d find myself slipping into old habits that I’d had with my ex, and nothing
good came out of that relationship.
✯✯✯✯✯
“So, this guy thinks that Payton was taken by some really powerful people, but he didn’t say where she would be taken or for what reason?”
We were sitting in the living room eating Chinese food and she was telling me about her talk with Arnold.
“He didn’t specify. He basically just told me that I should stop looking because there was no way I would ever see her again. I can’t give up though. There has to be a way to find her.”
“You don’t know for sure that this guy’s information is correct. We don’t run off half-cocked without proven information. That’s dangerous and will get people killed,” I said, wanting her to understand that none of us would follow up on leads that weren’t corroborated in some way.
“He…he also said that if The Broker left me alive, it was for a reason.”
“What reason?”
She shrugged as she toyed with her food, but the slump of her shoulders said that she had a pretty good idea.
“He put you in a well. There was no way that we could know for sure that we would find you. I would guess that he did want you dead.”
“Arnold said that The Broker makes sure a body is never found when he wants to get rid of someone. He said that he would have put a bullet in my head immediately.” She looked up at me, biting her lip nervously. “If he just wanted me out of the way so I wasn’t taken with the other strippers, that means that….that-”
“That he wants you for himself,” I finished, understanding exactly what she was trying to get at. “You said that he said he would come back for you. And that night, he requested you to join him in one of the rooms.” She nodded. “Has he ever given you any other impression that he wants you for himself?”
“He…uh…the first time I saw him, he touched me while I was on stage.”
I tried to keep a reign on my anger, but I had already heard this from Storm and if anything, I was more pissed now than I was before. “Storm told me about that.”
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