“Where is Agent Mallory Burke?”
“What? Who?”
Gage jammed the gun deeper into Neil’s ear. His knees buckled and he whimpered.
“I don’t know!” he screamed. “I don’t know anything about any Agent Burke! I just get the girls for him! That’s all! I swear!”
It was clear Neil didn’t know anything about Mallory. “Who do you get the girls for?”
“He’ll kill me, man, if I tell you.”
His voice harsh and deadly, Gage said, “What do I think I’m going to do to you if you don’t?”
“Okay! Okay! It’s Manning! It’s Manning!”
Gage frowned. “Congressman Manning?”
“Yeah. I told you what you want to know. Now let me go. I gotta leave town. Leave the country or I’m a dead man.”
“Where’s Manning?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know!”
Gage rammed Neil’s head into the wall again. Neil’s eyes rolled white. Gage released him and Neil crumpled at Gage’s feet.
Manning. Gage recalled Billy Wilder’s notation on the backs of the photographs—the letters p.m. Pritchard Manning? He’d spearheaded the trafficking investigation and executed a perfect shell game. With the feds focused on Considine, it was business as usual for Manning.
As Gage took that in, he pulled out his cell phone. York would be the one to call. He had the full resources of the feds and would be able to act quickly on this information. But York was Manning’s FBI contact. Could he trust York or was York working with Manning? Gage didn’t know and until he did, he was on his own.
Snowbound: Chapter Twelve
Gage put Neil in the basement, cuffed to a support beam with his own restraints. He’d be taken into custody once Mallory was safe. Tracking Congressman Manning had been ridiculously easy. The congressman was at a hotel in Manhattan, attending a campaign fundraiser being held in his honor.
Gage joined the guests dressed in their finery in the lavish ballroom. Manning was at the podium. Gage had to fight back a rage to pull Manning off that stage and pound him into the floor.
Gage stepped onto the red carpet that covered the center aisle of the grand room and approached the podium. “Tell me, Congressman,” he called out, “how is the investigation into the human trafficking operation progressing?”
Manning drew back. Gage saw recognition in his eyes. Not surprising since Manning had been observing Mallory that he knew who Gage was. Game on.
Manning recovered his aplomb. The others in the room had no knowledge of the charade being played out before them. No doubt to maintain appearances to these constituents Manning said, “Unfortunately, there have been no new developments in the investigation.”
“Not since the murder of Billy Wilder.”
The congressman pressed his lips together hard enough that the corners of his mouth went white. “I’m not at liberty to divulge details of an ongoing investigation. If you’re here for the press conference, you’re one day early. Come back tomorrow and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.”
I bet you will. Gage continued to close the distance between them. He trained his gaze on Manning, eyeing the congressman as if he had him in his cross hairs. This man who had Mallory.
“What is being done about the disappearance of Agent Burke, taken by this so-called, self-proclaimed ‘Don’.”
Manning’s eyes bulged and his face reddened with barely contained anger. He appeared incapable of speech and when he finally did speak, his voice shook with rage. “We’re all praying for the safe return of Agent Burke. Again, I’m not at liberty to discuss the investigation. You’re delaying these proceedings. If you don’t leave, I’ll be forced to call for security.”
Gage was directly in front of the stage now. He pitched his voice low so only Manning could hear, his tone harsh and lethal. “That’s too bad. Then I’ll have to tell them what you’ll want to keep between us. Now, get off the stage. Unless you want me to tell everyone in here what I know about the leader of the trafficking ring.”
Manning seized the microphone in a white-knuckled grip. “Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me for a few moments.”
Gage jutted his thumb for the congressman to precede him into the hotel lobby. Two of Manning’s bodyguards strode toward them. The congressman sent them back with a quick swipe of his hand.
“You put on quite a show to get my attention, Broderick.” Though Manning’s voice was low, there was no mistaking his anger. “I hope your little dog and pony act was worth it.”
“I know you’re behind the trafficking operation not Considine.”
Manning didn’t bother to deny it. “If you could prove that we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You bore me.” He shot his cuffs and straightened diamond studded cuff links. “I have people waiting.” He turned away.
“Whether or not I can prove it in a court of law is irrelevant. I don’t plan to go to the Feds with what I know.”
“Money?” He threw back his head and laughed. “You think to extort money? From me? Are you nothing more than an opportunist?” Gage maintained eye contact and a silence. “Not money, then.” Manning scoffed. “If you defame my character, I promise you will regret it.”
Gage eyed Manning. “I’m going to Considine.”
Manning’s lips quivered. He paled and a fine sheen of sweat coated his face.
Gage’s voice harsh and lethal he said, “Considine is not going to care about bringing you to federal justice. You’re running a human trafficking ring in what he considers his territory. He’s going to put you in the ground somewhere. For that, and for all the heat you brought to bear on him with your so-called task force. And that’s after he’s taken you apart piece by piece.”
At his sides, Manning’s hands balled into fists. Gage believed if the congressman thought he stood a chance, he would pounce on Gage. Go for it.
But Manning wasn’t that brave or that stupid to take Gage on.
“What do you want?” Manning said.
“You and I are going on a road trip.”
Only to avoid attracting attention, did Gage quell the urge to seize the congressman by the throat and propel him to the exit.
Gage led Manning to the SUV, parked across the street from the hotel. When they were both inside the vehicle, he turned to the congressman. “Where is Mallory?”
“All this because of her?”
“Where is she?”
Manning gave Gage a venomous look. “I also have a cabin in those mountains.”
They made the drive in silence other than when necessary for Manning to provide directions. Once Gage was on the mountain’s access road, he no longer needed Manning to guide him. Despite the distance, he could see the cabin, bathed in the glow of a full moon. It was an impressive structure. Built near the edge of the mountain, the view of the snow-capped landscape below was spectacular.
Gage stopped the SUV on the access road. He wanted to drive up to the front door of the cabin. Fuck, he wanted to drive right into the cabin and get Mallory, but the snow in front was too deep for the vehicle.
Here was where things got tricky. Where Gage could be overpowered. He took out his gun and aimed at Manning. “Call the cabin. Put your phone on speaker. Tell them to bring Agent Burke out.”
“What about me?”
“Make the call.”
Manning did as Gage instructed. “This is the Don.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want you to bring Agent Burke out to the porch.”
“Sir, did I hear you right? You want me to take her outside?”
“Do it. Now.”
As Manning gave the order, Gage closed his eyes briefly in relief. She was alive.
Gage kept his gun trained on Manning and divided his gaze between Manning and the cabin’s front door. The temperature was near freezing but sweat broke out on his brow.
A light came on outside. The door opened. A burly man stepped onto the porch. An automatic weapon hung
from a shoulder strap and an arsenal was strapped to his chest. Two more men, both as heavily armed as the first, exited the cabin. Mallory came out last. Gage wanted to go to her, but held himself back.
He lowered the truck’s windows and put the gun to Manning’s head. “Tell them to ask Agent Burke to come to the truck. She comes alone. They wait on the porch.”
The congressman stuck his head out the window and relayed the order. The man who’d brought Mallory outside replied that she was injured. She wouldn’t be able to get to the vehicle on her own and Gage was forced to give the go ahead for her to be escorted.
Gage watched without blinking as Mallory staggered off the porch. She was leaning heavily on the man with her and Gage’s stomach clenched that she was hurt so badly, she was unable to walk unaided. His hand tightened on the grip of the gun he held on Manning, but he put the fear and rage that bubbled up inside him aside for the moment and focused on her halting progress. Come on, baby.
When Mallory and her escort were about half way between the porch and the SUV she struck the man and broke free. Her fingers closed around the automatic but her captor broke her grip. He snagged a fistful of her hair. Her head snapped back and she cried out with pain.
Gage saw red and was out of the SUV intent on doing grave bodily harm to the one who’d hurt her when Mallory managed to break free again. “Mallory!”
She turned to him and her eyes went wide. She mouthed his name. His throat tightened.
Gage still had the gun locked on the congressman. He glanced away from Mallory to Manning then back to Mallory. “Come to me. We’re getting out of here.”
As she started toward him, it was all he could do not to carry her out of there. But he forced himself to hold his ground and keep his gun trained on Manning.
She stepped into the beam from the SUV’s headlights. A few feet from Gage, her step faltered and her knees buckled. He moved then, and caught her against him, preventing her from landing face down in the snow. In that instant, Manning bolted out of the truck, taking cover below the passenger door.
“I’m out!” Manning shouted. Stop them! Don’t let them get away!”
Gage had just lost his leverage. He swept Mallory up in his arms.
She clung to him. “Gage! The women are here!”
He set her down on the front seat. “We’ll get them.”
He’d find a place to secure Mallory first, then come back for the women on his own. He gave Mallory a nudge and she crawled over the console. As she reached the passenger side, the man who’d led her from the porch reached in and hauled her out. Mallory landed a hit to the man’s face but he stood her against his body and pressed the barrel of a gun to her head.
“Drop your weapon, Broderick, and put your hands behind your head,” Manning shouted. “Or my man will drop her.”
To drive home Manning’s words, the man who held Mallory ground the gun against her temple. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep from crying out, Gage thought, but he didn’t need the added inducement. From the instant the man had Mallory, Gage’s course of action was set. He would not risk her life. He let his gun fall to the snow and linked his fingers behind his head.
Manning waved a hand at the two men on the porch and they ran toward him. The congressman was a tall, imposing man, but between the two other men he looked like a small child. Bolstered by his bodyguards he went to stand in front of Gage. His lip curled in a sneer and the look in his eyes was of pure malice.
“You dared to put your hands on me.” Manning’s eyes glittered with hatred. He turned to one of the giants beside him and nodded.
The man drove his ham-sized fist into Gage’s gut. Mallory screamed. Gage’s breath whooshed out. On the heels of that blow, another connected with Gage’s face. He staggered but glared at the man who’d hit him and remained on his feet.
Mallory screamed again. “No!”
If not for the gun to Mallory’s head, Gage would have given as well as he got, but his hands were tied, figuratively, if not literally, and everyone there knew that.
A third blow landed again on Gage’s face and this time he dropped to one knee. Eyeing Manning, he spat blood on the congressman’s polished shoe.
Manning’s face and neck turned crimson. A vein on his brow began to pulse. “Wrap this up. I need to get back to my party.”
Two blows hit Gage in rapid succession, then a third powerful hit struck the side of his head. Gage fell forward. He never knew when his face landed in the snow.
* * *
One of Manning’s men lifted Gage’s unconscious body from the snow and hoisted him over his shoulder. Gage didn’t even groan and Mallory’s heart lurched.
With one heavy hand on her shoulder and another squeezing her arm, Big Brute marched Mallory back to the cellar. Gage was dumped on the concrete floor.
Mallory kneeled beside him. Patting his cheeks, she called out his name, but he didn’t respond. She didn’t know what good being conscious would do him at the moment. No doubt he was better off not being awake to feel the pain of the beating he’d sustained. It was a purely selfish move on her part that she wanted him awake.
She wanted his head, at least, off the cold, damp floor. She sat against the wall and ignoring her own hurts, put her hands under his shoulders to lift him onto her lap. She heaved, but he was too heavy and fell back. She tried again with the same result.
“Let me help you.”
In the darkness, Mallory could not make out the features of the woman who came forward. She crouched beside Gage and added her strength to Mallory’s. Between the two of them, they lifted him.
“Thank you,” Mallory said.
“Who is he?”
The woman had a soft Caribbean accent.
“He’s—” The man I love. Mallory held the words back and said instead, “Police Captain Gage Broderick. We’ve been working together to find all of you.”
“It’s been so long since I was caught, I thought no one was still looking. That no one cared.”
Mallory clasped the other woman’s hand. “We care. What is your name?”
“Lucinda.”
“How long ago were you abducted, Lucinda?”
“I’ve lost count of the weeks.”
It sounded like Lucinda was among the first taken for this latest shipment and Manning had been keeping her while he took the necessary time to capture the others. “How did it happen?”
“I was on my way home from school. I attend evening classes at the university. I was studying to be a nurse.” Her voice broke. “A man asked me for the time. That was all. I looked to my watch and I don’t know what happened after that. When I woke up, I was in a moving vehicle.” Her voice trailed off.
One by one, the other women came forward and told their stories. Mallory’s heart wrenched as she listened but also, her anger built that these women had been torn from their lives at the whim of one man. Her anger built, and her resolve to see them home safely.
Gage groaned. “Mallory?”
She put her hand on his cheek. “I’m here. How are you feeling?”
“I’ll live.” He grunted. “Where are we?”
“Manning’s cabin. In the cellar. Not Considine.” She shook her head. “It’s been Manning all along. Now that I know that, it’s no mystery how my cover was blown.”
“Yeah. He covered his tracks.” Gage’s muscles tensed. “Who’s in here with us?”
“The women we’ve been looking for.”
“I am Lucinda, Captain Broderick.”
Gage turned his head in the direction of the voice coming out of the darkness. The others spoke their names. Their spirits had been battered but not broken.
“Ladies,” Gage said.
He raised his head from Mallory’s lap, groaned again, but didn’t lay back down. He turned to his side, went still for a moment, then braced his arms on the cement and pushed himself up off the floor.
“Easy.” Mallory put her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to steady
him “Take it slow.” She kept her hands on him until he sat back against the wall. “How did you find me?”
“We got a hit on one of your profiles. You were right about those dating sites.”
He filled in the details for her. Mallory told him what went down at her apartment on the day she was brought here.
“How badly did they hurt you?” Gage’s voice was low and harsh with concern.
“Not as badly as they hurt you.” She shook her head, though he couldn’t see that. “I’m so sorry, Gage.”
“For what?”
“If I had kept my feet under me, we would all have been long away from here.”
“Not your fault. That son of a bitch hurt you.” His voice was hard. “Will you be able to walk out of here?”
“This time I’ll do what needs doing.”
Gage raised his voice. “Ladies, are any of you hurt?”
All responded that they were not which made sense since Manning would not want them damaged for the sale.
“Manning is transporting the women in a few hours,” Mallory said.
Gage was silent for a moment then said, “I counted three men when we were outside. Are there more?”
“None that I saw. Gage, they’re mercenaries. They know how to fight and aren’t afraid to.”
“Yeah, and they’ll fight to the death since defeat would mean their death anyway. Were you conscious to see the cellar in the light?”
“Yes.”
“Where are the exits?”
“There’s only one,” Mallory said. “The door at the top of the stairs.”
“Okay. Then that’s going to have to be it. A few hours you said?”
“Yes.”
Gage addressed the women again. “Ladies, we’re getting out of here. When they come for you, we’ll make our move.”
* * *
Gage had been in tenuous situations in his years on the job. He’d known fear, certainly, but never the kind of fear that he was feeling now. They’d heard footsteps outside the cellar door a moment ago. The hour to transport the women was at hand. It was time they all got out of there.
The lives of the women Manning planned to sell depended on what he did in the next moments. Mallory’s life depended on it. A moment from his past flashed across his mind. Another setting. Another circumstance. Two precious others who’d depended on him.
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