“I thought I recognized you even though you had a disguise. You were here the other day,” the woman accused, although her voice was not angry.
“Yes,” Charlie answered, too preoccupied to care that she was found out as her gaze assessed the dark street. “I need to get inside.”
Xia’s face contorted, her eyes giving away her indecision. Charlie decided to press her. “I don’t know if you know what’s going on, but there’s a girl trapped in here who wants out. I’ve come to get her. I can easily call the police right now, or you can let me in to get her.” Trying to lock her knees to keep them from knocking together, Charlie kept her expression impassive, hoping to bluster her way inside.
“I don’t know what’s going on inside,” Xia said. “I only work the front reception desk.”
“And take certain homeless persons to the back if they have a card, right?”
Swallowing deeply, Xia said, “Those are my instructions. They get special treatment.”
“That may be true, but I’ll warrant there are more sinister things going on inside. Do you want to be a part of that?”
“I…I…”
Charlie nodded to the door. “Can you get me in? If so, just get the door unlocked and I’ll take it from there.”
Xia looked around, her gaze indecisive. Finally, she turned back to Charlie and said, “Fine.” She darted around and headed to the door. Her key fit the lock and she swung the door open. “I’m not going in…but I won’t keep you out.”
With that Charlie slipped by the woman and, with a nod of thanks, headed into the dark hallway.
*
Penny followed the woman down the underground hallway, her hands clutched at her sides, fingernails biting into her palms. Where is Charlotte? She was supposed to be here by now. Unable to wait any longer, she had no choice but to follow the woman back into the tunnels, heading to where she would wait for David when he came out of surgery.
At a metal door, she turned and looked at the woman behind her. A man appeared and unlocked it.
“Is this where I’ll wait for David?” Penny asked nervously, her eyes focused on the dragon tattoo on the woman’s wrist. Why would I wait down here?
With a slow smile, the woman simply nodded as the door swung open. Penny’s arm was grabbed by the man standing by her side and she was shoved unceremoniously inside before the door slammed shut.
“Noooo!” she screamed, her fists pounding on the door. Hearing a noise from behind her, she whirled in fright. A group of women stood huddled toward the back, staring at her with a mixture of pity and understanding. Recognizing most of them from the dorms, she stared dumbfounded. “Why are you here?”
“We…it’s…,” one of the women whispered, “it’s where they bring us…before they send us somewhere else.”
Penny’s mind scrambled to make sense of what the woman was saying. “Somewhere else? Where?”
The woman who had spoken simply shrugged, her eyes slightly glazed over. “Who knows? The highest bidder probably.”
The reality of the situation slowly dawned on Penny as her heart pounded in her chest. “They…they’re not here to help us, are they?”
The other women in the room held her gaze sadly as one answered, “No. We’re the forgotten ones.”
Penny turned back to the door, her eyes prickling with tears, realizing she would never see David again.
Chapter 29
Opening the door to the stairs, Charlie jogged up two flights. Not knowing where to look, she was grateful for the empty halls. With most doors closed, it appeared that everyone had retired for the evening; there was virtually no staff in sight. Curious, she peeked into one room with a window in the door and saw four beds, each empty.
Checking three other rooms, she found them all empty. Penny had indicated that there were others in the dorm-like rooms with her…so where could they all be?
Entering the staircase again, she went up one more flight. Rounding the corner, Charlie quickly walked to a door across the hall and opened it. This room was different. Set up like a hospital room, she stared at an empty bed, the sheets gone, leaving the mattress bare.
Charlie’s breath left her in a whoosh as she took in the rest of the small, neat room containing not only the bed, but a plastic chair and a door leading to a small bathroom as well.
“Are you looking for someone?” a woman’s voice sounded behind her.
Charlie whirled around, her eyes landing on the petite Asian woman facing her with a gun in her hand. She immediately took a defensive stance, her eyes not leaving the weapon.
“Tsk, tsk. Such unfounded heroics, Ms. Trivett.”
At hearing her name, Charlie’s gaze moved from the gun up to the woman’s face and back down again. The head of a dragon tattoo snaked along the woman’s wrist. The memory slammed back into her at having seen the tattoo before. Oh, my God, how could I have forgotten that? Eli’s killer. Oh, Jesus, Eli’s killer! “You!” she panted, eyes wide as her focus dropped from the woman’s face back to the gun being held.
“Ah, so you did see me?”
Licking her lips, Charlie wondered what to say, but the woman gave her little time to process the situation.
With a sly smile that did not reach her eyes, she jerked the gun. “Let’s go. Walk.”
Charlie, her body shaking, shuffled in front of the woman as they moved back into the hall. Reaching her hand up to the St. Luke medallion around her neck, she grasped it, hoping one of the Saints would discover her.
*
They parked the van near the alley toward the back of the clinic. Nick had chosen to ride with them, deciding to take his chances not following procedures. While he, Monty, and Luke stayed in the vehicle, keeping an eye on the monitoring equipment, Bart and Cam alighted from the van.
Luke smiled as another van pulled up in front of him, knowing Nick was in for a surprise. Jude, Patrick, and Chad exited the vehicle, all but Jude dressed similarly to Bart and Cam.
“What the hell is going on?” Nick asked, twisting his head around to stare at Luke.
“The Saints have stepped up the game. Jack got the okay to send in the full group. They go in, gather intelligence, and then come back out to report to you. Depending on what they find, you can get the necessary warrants to take these guys down. And, if Lin Wang is involved, you get her at the same time. Jack and Blaise are at the Bureau headquarters waiting to see what evidence we find.”
Luke checked his phone, the last message coming from Charlie saying she was stuck in traffic. He had sent her a message telling her to keep away and that they would look for Penny, but had not received one back. Glancing up at the building, he hoped she was still in traffic and not traipsing around somewhere.
Chad and Jude jogged over and smiled at Luke. “Okay man, Jude will monitor the equipment. You get to go in on this one.”
Grinning, Luke jumped in the back, quickly suiting up before joining the others as they entered the back of the building after Cam disabled the alarm system. Bart turned toward him and said, “We’re following the tunnels from your diagram.”
This time Bart and Cam avoided the clinic and entered from the alley where they knew from Luke’s building plans they would be able to enter one of the tunnels. As the men descended into the dark and dank tunnel, they moved stealthily toward the back, looking for the way up into the area where Penny had indicated she was staying.
Hearing a loud rattling, they slipped unnoticed behind some crates, waiting to see who was coming. Luke steadied his breathing, his heart pounding with adrenaline. Used to being back in the van with the computers and monitors, he hoped he had the experience to work in the field. Too late to have those doubts now! As the noise of footsteps, voices, and the squeaky wheels of a cart sounded louder, he pressed back into the shadows even more. From his vantage point, he was able to see a woman pushing a large cart, escorted by a man. Both wearing scrubs, they stopped outside a large metal door.
The man opened the door with a
key and the woman entered. “Here. Eat.” Rattling sounds emanated and the couple retraced their steps back down the hall after the man shut and locked the door behind him.
As soon as they disappeared, the Saints looked at each other, questions in their eyes. Luke nodded toward the door and Cam moved into position in front of it with Bart and Patrick on either side, weapons ready. Cam, using a variety of instruments, quickly unlocked the door. Giving the signal, he swung it open with Bart and Patrick darting inside, their weapons now drawn and pointing in.
“Fuck,” Bart breathed as Luke entered the room right behind him.
“Oh, Jesus,” Luke said, as Bart and Patrick lowered their weapons.
The inhabitants of the room, all women, were huddled against the back wall, their haunted eyes wide. Luke immediately threw his hands up in front of him and said, “Easy, easy. We’re here to help.”
A toilet was in the corner of the room and the food remnants were near the door. Several mattresses were on the other side of the room, pushed together to form a large bed. One young woman, her dark hair matted but her eyes clear and hard, stepped forward. “Can you get us out of here?”
“Absolutely,” Bart said, as Luke immediately radioed Monty.
“Get Nick in here now,” he barked. “Seems like Charlie’s supposed connection with human trafficking was right. There’s a roomful of women imprisoned here.”
“Charlie?” whispered one young girl, her eyes wide. “You’re Charlie’s friends?”
Luke stared at the girl, her blue eyes brighter and blonde hair cleaner than the other women inside the room. “Penny?”
“Yes!” she cried out, racing forward to slam into him. He caught her slight weight before pushing her back gently to look into her face.
“I thought Charlie came earlier to get you,” he asked, forcing his voice to steady.
“She was supposed to but they took me before she got here. Please, you’ve got to help me find David.”
While Luke questioned Penny about Charlie’s possible whereabouts, Bart and Patrick carefully attended the women, who appeared to be in good, although unkempt, shape.
“How long have you been here?” Cam asked the woman he was squatting next to.
“Three days,” she said, her voice shaky. “They were going to ship us out tomorrow.”
“Did they say where?”
Before she could answer, Monty and Nick entered, both men’s faces tight with anger. Nick, surveying the situation, pulled out his phone and called his supervisor. Giving a terse explanation, he arranged for the FBI to get to the facility immediately.
Luke, still holding onto Penny’s shoulders, asked, “David?”
“My friend. The one Charlotte was going to help me get out of here. He agreed to give up his kidney for money and they’re going to do the surgery tonight.”
Luke’s gaze swung around to the Saints, landing on Nick’s wide-eyes. “Fuckin’ hell, Charlie was right. This place is a front for organ harvesting as well as human trafficking.”
*
Leaving some to stay with the women, Luke prepared to lead the others and Nick to the stairwell. He halted his instruction as Jude spoke in his earpiece. Eyes wide, he cursed, “Shit!” Quickly looking at the others, he said, “Jude’s just gotten an alarm from Charlie’s medallion. She’s here…in this building…right now!”
His mind racing, “She must have gone inside or was taken inside.” His gaze moved back toward the horror they had just discovered and he choked out, “Find her. Priority One.”
“Me too!” shouted Penny as the men left the room. They appeared to ignore her, but she followed them nonetheless.
The Saints, immediately flying into action, jogged up the stairs and out onto the first floor. Spreading out, they searched the rooms before clearing the area. Rounding the corner, heading back to the stairwell, they ran right into a petite woman, her dark bob swinging as she came to a halt, her gun held firmly in her hand.
“Agent Wang!” Luke growled, his eyes pinned on her.
Nick rounded the corner, his weapon drawn, facing her. “Put down your weapon, Agent Wang,” he ordered.
Penny heard the name Wang and peeked around the large man standing in her line of vision. Fuming at the woman who had thrust her into the dungeon, she was stunned to see a different woman standing there.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Lin bit out, her dark eyes narrowed in anger. “You’re going to ruin everything!”
“I said put it down!” Nick repeated.
“Where’s Charlie?” Luke interrupted.
Lin’s eyes jumped from Nick’s to Luke’s. “Who the hell is Charlie?”
“Charlotte Trivett,” he yelled. “Where do you have her? With the others you keep downstairs?”
“What others?” she asked, her voice hard.
“That’s not her,” Penny said, jumping back a step as the men angrily turned toward her. “There’s another woman named Wang…the one who put me in the room, but it’s not her. The other woman has a dragon tattoo on her wrist.”
“Damnit, we’ve had the wrong L. Wang!” Luke swore.
Lowering her gun, Lin grimaced. “No shit. It’s like Smith or Johnson…you think there’s only one Chinese woman with the last name Wang?”
A side door opened and Xia Wu popped out, her face stunned as she realized she had stumbled into a guns drawn standoff. Her eyes sought Lin’s, but she said nothing.
“Is he still there?” Lin asked.
Xia, nervously shaking her head, said, “No, his room is empty. They’re all empty upstairs.”
“What the hell is going on?” Nick asked, his eyes never leaving the other agent’s face.
“I’ve been investigating this clinic for almost five months,” Lin answered tersely. “And you and your band of Merry Men are about to fuck my whole investigation up!”
“I don’t know what your game is, but Charlie is in this building and I want to know where,” Luke barked.
“I saw her,” Xia answered quickly. “She came in the back, from the side door. But I haven’t seen her since.”
“And who the fuck are you?” Luke asked, his gaze moving between Lin and the other woman.
“She’s mine,” Lin stated, her voice as hard as her expression. “I’ve had her on the inside reporting to me.”
Nick, his focus still on Lin, said, “You’ve been investigating? Why didn’t anyone at the Bureau know about it? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
Lin pinched her lips together, lowering her weapon. “Because I was working on my own, trying to see what I’d missed.”
“Missed?”
“Yes!” she shouted. “Eli Frederick was my case. He was given to me and I didn’t give it enough credence. I was working other cases, stretched too thin, and thought he was one of a million other conspiracy theorists out there. I set up the meeting, but I wasn’t careful and someone got to him. He’s dead and I vowed to figure out who the hell set us both up!”
“Fuckin’ hell, you went rogue,” Nick accused. “Miss Do-it-by-the-book went fuckin’ rogue!”
While the two agents squared off, Luke listened to his earpiece and then turned to shout at Bart. “Jude’s got Charlie on the move. Get back downstairs.”
“Not that way!” Xia shouted. Seeing the incredulous expressions, she said, “This building has lots of secrets. I’m only supposed to be in the front clinic and not back here, but I’ve noticed things when I’ve brought people back. There’s a separate staircase that leads to a different part of the building. I don’t know what’s there but I’ve seen Lisa Wang and Dr. Cheung come from there.”
“Bart, you and the others head back the way we came in case they’re heading that way. I’ll go with this woman.”
The Saints split up, Nick standing for a moment of indecision, still glaring at Lin, before turning and following Luke, Lin hard on his heels.
Chapter 30
Charlie banged on the door of the room she was in, but to no avail
. Fighting the panic, she tried to think logically. Glancing down at the St. Luke medallion around her neck she hoped the tracer worked. But what if it can’t reach through walls? Or no one knows to look for me? Jerking her head, she forced those negative thoughts from her mind. Sucking in a deep cleansing breath, she stepped back, realizing that if someone came into the room she needed to give them time to enter before she tried to take them down.
Marc’s instructions ran over and over in her mind. Keep your opponent off balance. Try to get behind them. Go for the weapon arm if possible. Go for behind the knees. Hanging her head, she grimaced. Somehow practicing with Luke and Marc when she knew they would never hurt her was a poor substitute for the fear she felt as the gun had been pointed at her. Looking behind her, she saw another door, leading to what she assumed was a closet. Maybe, just maybe that’s a way out.
Striding over, she pulled the door open only to find another room similar to the one she was in. A rolling stretcher was in the middle of the room, a body covered in a bloody sheet lying there. Heart pounding, she continued in, her steady legs now rubbery. Only the top of the head was visible, short brown hair sticking out. Her eyes roamed down the entirety of the sheet, soaked with red.
Swallowing hard, she reached her hand out slowly, as though in a trance, to lift the sheet ever so slightly—just enough to make sure the person was truly dead. Her mind was unable to comprehend what her eyes saw as a bloodcurdling scream shook the room.
Dropping the sheet, she scrambled backward until she slammed into a wall. Unable to stop, she bent forward and retched, dropping to her knees with the force of her stomach emptying its contents. Gagging over and over, she finally raised herself to a standing position, her eyes still staring at the floor. Her right hand slid along the wall searching for the door as she stumbled back into the room she had come from, closing the door behind her. All of her former bravado gone, she slumped to the floor, silent tears sliding down her face.
Discover Love: Saints Protection & Investigations Page 23