“Can you tell them how you found out about the party?” he asked. I shook my head. That wasn’t an option. Will was my connection to the party. I wasn’t about to hand him over to the police. So far Will had managed to escape this persecution. I didn’t want him and Jane to have to go through this. He was a prick and she was dumber than dirt, so it was a good chance they would both end up in jail.
“I can’t.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Tom, I found out through a friend who has nothing to do with this. He has a similar situation as mine. I won’t get him involved.”
“Liam, telling them about the party isn’t enough. They need a bigger fish to fry or you are going down.” I nodded because I understood. But it didn’t change my mind. I couldn’t give up Will. Will wasn’t a master mind human trafficker. He was a sick fuck who went to an illegal auction knowingly and bought his girlfriend. But I was actually proud to say he had learned the error of his ways and was done with that world now, or at least the illegal part. I wasn’t about to have the authorities hunting down all the women he had purchased just so they could disrupt their lives.
Handing Will to the police wasn’t going to help them.
“Let’s go talk to them. See what it is they want from you. But please Liam let me do the talking. Don’t let them rattle you. They are going to try to bait you by using Norah against you. Please, I’m begging you, try to control yourself.”
We were led into another room and left to wait. A young man came in and offered us some water and said the officer would be in in a minute.
“Where is Norah?” I asked. Tom looked over at me.
“She’s in another room. She’s fine.”
“She better be,” I said just as the same man that had taken Norah from our home walked in followed by a woman.
“Mr. Hastings, I’m sure your attorney has explained to you our deal. In exchange for your help with some bigger players, we will strike a deal with you,” he paused and they both took seats in front of us.
“I want to see my wife,” I said bluntly.
“Your wife is fine. You can see her when we are done here.” This man wasn’t making a great first impression nor was he making me want to help him.
“Now, Mr. Hastings before we get to how you can help us. I have a few questions for you.” He wrote something on a piece of paper in the file he laid on the table. “Can you tell me how you met your wife?” he asked and then looked right at me.
I didn’t like him. Not his tone, not his demeanor and certainly not his questions. He was the kind of man that asked a question even though he already had the answer. He just wanted me to hang myself.
“We were set up on a blind date through mutual friends,” I said. He gave me a look that suggested he didn’t believe me.
“We met in an online chat room,” I joked again.
“We were introduced through a Single Christian Church group.” I could do this all day.
“Her mother and my mother were in the same knitting group.”
“Mr. Hastings,” he finally relented.
“Detective, please. He isn’t going to answer any questions about his relationship with his wife until we know the deal you want to make.” I tried to contain myself. Having someone question my relationship with Norah was not the way to get on my good side.
“Fine. Fair enough.” He slid some pictures across the table.
“This is Randall Emerson. He is a minor player in a sex trafficking ring. He’s fairly new and not well trusted in the community. He owns casinos, brothels and sex clubs all over Europe. We have made contact with him before, usually for loan sharking or illegal drugs. Not until the party did we know he was involved in the buying and selling of women. Now we need whatever information you can provide to us about him.”
I proceeded to explain that a mutual friend whom I would not name had been approached by Randall and invited to the party. I told them Randall had heard about my situation and wanted me to come to the party too. I told him that my friend didn’t want to get involved until he found out that there was going to be an auction at this party too.
“So this friend you don’t want to name told you about the party?” he asked. I nodded. “Why?” he shrugged his shoulders.
“Because he knows that I have a lot of money and he thought maybe I could do something to help the girls being sold,” I crossed my ankle over my knee.
“Help the girls being sold?” he sounded smug. “Like you helped your wife?” he asked. I didn’t move. I didn’t blink. I simply cleared my throat.
“Detective, I am going to say this one time and one time only. People tell me that on my happiest of days I am no joy to be around. So how do you think I am going to be if you keep trying to drag my wife into this? I suggest that you keep my family out of this. For both our sakes,” I said.
“Are you threatening me, Mr. Hastings?” he asked.
“No sir I am not.” I was not threatening him. I was very serious.
“Mr. Hastings, you can sit there and play the hard ass all you want. But the bottom line is if you don’t cooperate with us, we are going to charge you with human trafficking, kidnapping, rape and forced prostitution.” I still didn’t budge. “We can also charge your wife with prostitution.” I blinked when he said that. Not that I gave in, I actually blinked.
“How can you charge me with forced prostitution and her with prostitution? If I am forcing her then she isn’t doing it willingly,” I said. He started to say something but Tom wouldn’t let him.
“Detective, please get to your point. My client is willing to cooperate but he isn’t going to talk about his relationship with his wife or the person who told him about the party. If those things were all you were interested in you would have charged my client already. Please tell us what you want?” Tom said.
“I want Abdul Amir and Rashad Salam.” He slid the pictures of the men across the table.
“I don’t know them,” I slid them back.
“I know. But you are going to get to know them.” It was starting to make sense.
“We have information from a man we have working on the inside that there is going to be another auction. An auction much like the one you attended 2 years ago and don’t want to talk about now.” He paused and I didn’t blink.
“These men were responsible for that auction.” I looked closer at the pictures. “Yes, Mr. Hastings, these men are the men that sold you your wife,” I didn’t like the smug way he spoke. It reminded me too much of myself.
“We want you to go to Paris, meet with Amir and Salam, and wear a wire.”
“And for that my client gets immunity?” Tom asked.
“For that, your client will get a suspended sentence and a hefty fine.” I nodded in agreement.
“There is one other thing,” he said. I raised my eyebrow to him.
“Do you know a man by the name of Nick Meyers?” just the sound of his name made my skin crawl.
Chapter One
Norah
“You made a deal?” I asked. Liam was sitting at his desk in the study typing away on his laptop and shuffling papers.
“Yes,” he said but didn’t look up.
“When do you leave?” I asked.
“Four days.”
“What do you have to do?” I couldn’t believe after what we had both been through over the last 12 hours he was just sitting at his desk typing. He hadn’t said much since leaving the station. Besides our quickie in the car on the way home he had said very little.
“I have to meet their guy, who will introduce me to the bad guys. I’ll then try to become friends with them while wearing a recording device in the hopes they will incriminate themselves.” He still wasn’t looking at me but wrote something on a piece of paper, shuffled more papers and kept typing.
“You’re telling me that they have been investigating these men for years and they still can’t prove human trafficking?”
“Apparently not.” He looked up at me
briefly. “They can prove other crimes and I’m certain they will arrest them for those crimes if they can’t prove the trafficking. But they really want the sex crimes charge.” He went back to his work.
“Why do they need you if they have a guy on the inside?” It didn’t make sense to me. If they had a guy on the inside then why did they need Liam? I wasn’t as trusting of the detectives as Liam seemed to be.
“Their guy hasn’t been trusted in the backroom meetings or even been able to score an invite to an auction. I guess this is a very hard club to join.”
“But they think you will be trusted?” I asked.
“Yes. Given my history,” he paused and looked up at me again, “our history,” he corrected. “They think I will be accepted.”
“Is this going to be dangerous?” I already knew the answer but I wanted to hear his words anyway.
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate.
“Well…”
“Norah, please. I have all this work to do. Can we please talk about this later?” He stopped typing and took off his glasses.
“We only have 4 days. There isn’t time for later.” I paused.
“What are you going to do about the Nick situation?” I asked as he ran his hands over his face.
In our very brief discussion in the car Liam informed me that Nick had been the one to rat out the party. They assumed he received an invitation as well but instead of attending he decided to turn it in. Liam informed them of our history with him and that he felt Nick had informed them of the party because of him. Nick hated Liam and wanted what Liam had. It made sense to me.
He went back to typing.
“I will handle Nick Meyers after the authorities are off my back.”
“What does that mean?” I stood up.
“Norah,” he sighed.
“So let me get this straight, you are going on this undercover, covert mission for the UNDC, then you’re coming back here and going after Nick?” He didn’t say anything.
“Let me handle Nick while you do your thing,” I put my hands on my hips.
“You handle Nick?” he asked. Again he took off his glasses.
“Yes.”
“You handle Nick and sex auctions are my thing?” he didn’t look happy.
“Don’t get upset,” I held my hands out but he stood up anyway.
“Oh, it’s too late for that, little one. I will address these subjects separately because they both upset me but in different ways.” He breathed hot air on his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt.
“First, having you handle Nick is out of the question. He wants you Norah! Has that fact escaped your attention?” he paused briefly. He wasn’t raising his voice but Liam had a way of speaking at a regular tone and still making my knees knock together.
“Any situation that requires you talking or being near Nick is absolutely out of the question! That is the end of that discussion.” He cleared his throat and stepped around the desk.
“Second, do not ever refer to a human auction as my thing! It isn’t my thing. Both auctions I have been involved in made my skin crawl. I loathe these people. They disgust me. I am only making a deal with the UNDC to get them off our backs!” He raised his voice in the end.
“Liam, I…” I started.
“Norah, this conversation is over. I have to leave in 4 days and will be gone for who knows how long. My Senior Assistant is about to go out on maternity leave, Will is still on fucking vacation, and I have to get all this work done before I can leave! Now please,” he grabbed my shoulders, “I have enough on my mind with my work, my problems with the UNDC, bringing down 2 major players in a human trafficking ring and my assistant having her baby before I get back! I don’t need to worry about my wife confronting her former kidnapper and getting hurt!”
I started to say something to make my point but the doorbell rang. He kissed my forehead and walked to the front door.
I could tell there was a tall blonde man with a young girl about my age and height with long blonde hair standing at the door. They spoke for a few seconds and then Liam invited them inside. As I started toward the parlor Liam turned toward me so I stopped. Liam entered the study with his two guests right behind him.
“Norah, this is Marcus Williams, we met at the party. He assisted me in my cover. And this is,” but before he could finish she spoke to me.
“Norah? Norah from Las Vegas?” she asked. I looked at her. Her eyes looked familiar.
“It’s me, Candy,” she pointed at herself. Her voice came back to me, her face came back to me, and then everything came back to me.
“Candy Kelly?” I gasped. She nodded. She looked older and had light brown bags under her eyes, but other than that she was the same. Her eyes were still beautifully blue and her hair was long and golden. Her curves and pale skin were the things that women sought after. She was wearing low cut jeans and white short sleeve button up shirt.
I stepped forward and we embraced.
“Oh my goodness!” I gasped again. “Kelly, I worried about you so much! I wondered what had happened to you, where you were and what they had done to you.” I started crying and could feel what I guessed was a frog in my throat. We pulled away and I touched her face.
“I never thought I would see you again. What in the world are you doing here?” she asked. Liam cleared his throat.
“I don’t mean to break this up,” he said. I stepped back from her and looked over at him and Marcus. They were both standing with open mouths watching us.
“May I ask how in the world you two know each other?” it was a reasonable question. I wiped my face and laughed a little. It wasn’t a funny situation but it was very ironic.
“Liam, you’re never going to believe this,” I said.
“Try me?” he didn’t look amused.
“Kelly and I were held together in Paris. We shared a cell. She had been there for two days when I was thrown in with her.” I cleared my throat and added the most ironic part.
“Kelly was in the same auction I was in in Paris.” I shook my head and looked at the floor.
“That is very unbelievable,” Liam said. Marcus just covered his mouth. I took her hand and we went to the sofa and sat down. The men followed us and sat across from us on the other sofa. I looked over at Liam and started explaining.
“When they first threw me in the cell with Kelly I wasn’t even sure what was going on. They had drugged me, examined me and just thrown me in this dark place. Not too many of them were speaking English so I was very confused.” I motioned to Kelly.
“We didn’t speak for about an hour.” I touched her hand. “Then she finally asked me if I was ok,” I chuckled and she smiled. “We were there for what seemed like forever, but I guess it was only a few weeks. We bonded and hoped whatever happened to us that we would be together.” I took a breath. “I thought I could get through anything if we were together.” I looked down at my hand in hers.
“What in the world are you doing here Norah? How did you get away?” she asked. I looked back up at her. She had tears in her eyes. How could I explain this? How could I explain what I had been through, not knowing what she had been through?
“Liam bought me from the auction in Paris,” I took a breath not wanting to relive those days. But here she was right in my den. A life size reminder of what those days were like.
“He bought you in Paris? From our auction? This guy?” She looked over at him and then back at me. “What in the world are you still doing here?” she asked. I gave her a small smile. How could I make this not sound as weird as it was?
“Liam is my husband. We’re married.”
I went on to explain the entire situation to them. How he didn’t know what to do with me once he found out what he had really done. How we started to like each other and eventually fell in love. I told them how I left him and he came after me, which made Marcus cry.
“That is so romantic!” he gasped.
“Get ahold of yourself,” Liam said to hi
m. “I didn’t ride up on a white horse or anything.”
I continued telling them how he left me in the United States because he didn’t want to take me away from my family or have this horrible situation hanging over us forever. I told them about our reunion in Texas, our two weddings in September and now this. Liam interrupted.
“Ok, this is all fine and good. But I am still floored at the fact that you two know each other?” he said. I looked over at him. “How is that possible? I mean, I know how it is possible but the chances are,” he paused and ran his hand over his face. “Those chances are remarkable,” he had lowered his voice like he was speaking to himself. “The statistics are,” he paused.
“The statistics are remarkable,” Marcus added.
“Yes, remarkable,” Liam said again.
“Hello? Do we want to sit here and do the math on how remarkable this is or can we actually have a conversation?” I snapped my fingers to try to get them out of their trances.
We talked a little about how they didn’t say anything to make Liam look bad to the police. Kelly said she didn’t know enough about him to implicate him at all. She had tried her best not look at him when he was examining her. Liam looked a little panicked when she said the word ‘examine’. She said she didn’t know what the other girl had said, but when they let them go she went straight to the airport and left town.
“They told me to stay in touch and made me give them contact information. I think they have someone watching me. But it could be just paranoia.”
“Why didn’t you leave? Don’t you want to go home?” I asked Kelly.
“I don’t have a home to go too. I’ve been a slave for 2 years. I don’t know where to go,” she said. I grabbed her hand again. She had tears in her eyes and shook her head like she didn’t want to talk about it so I didn’t ask.
“When you’re ready, Kelly. When you’re ready you can tell me,” I said. She nodded and took her hands away from me to wipe her face.
“I met Marcus in the lobby of the police station. Marcus explained that he had been working for Randall for a few years as well. He said he didn’t know where to go. Over lunch he told me that he,” she pointed at Liam, “was trying to save me. I got the impression you were different from our brief encounter in the backroom, so I believed him.” She chuckled but it wasn’t a funny laugh. “I guess I just needed to trust someone,” Marcus took her hand and kissed it.
Surrender: Keeping Her in the Dark Vol. 4 Page 2
