The Naughty Nine: Where Danger and Passion Collide

by Nina Bruhns

  They cleared a stand of Evergreens. A large cement fountain rose up out of a small clearing. It was dry, turned off for the winter. A wooden bench sat a few feet in front of six statues of ducks swimming in a row.

  They hung back, under the cover of the trees, taking in their surroundings. There wasn’t anyone in the clearing and if the guy they were after was in the dense trees behind the fountain, it was impossible to tell. The upside to that was he couldn’t see them either.

  Mallory slid her hand from Gage’s. “I can’t stand here and wait for him to show first. I need to act like a woman hot for this date. I’m going ahead.”

  She could see from his expression that Gage didn’t like it, but that was the reason they were in this park, freezing their assess off and he nodded. As she stepped away from him, he held her arm. “Take no chances.”

  Mallory nodded and entered the clearing. Her hand was in her coat pocket, gripping her gun.

  The wind toyed with her hair, blowing it across her eyes, but she resisted the urge to loop it behind her ears and bare her face. She didn’t want whoever was coming to realize she didn’t look like the photograph she’d posted until it was too late.

  She checked her watch. It was a couple of minutes before four. A few more minutes passed, then she heard a rustling sound and a man appeared on the path. He was dressed in a hoodie that was pulled over his head with a ball cap beneath. The brim cast his face in shadow and she couldn’t make out his features. Whoever this was, he’d lied on his profile that he was a body builder. The guy was thin as a bean pole. Not that his appearance was of any concern at this point, once he’d lured his prey. He was also carrying a six pack of beer.

  The guy breezed past where Gage was hiding in the trees and toward her, his stride long and lanky. He stopped in front of her and Mallory got her first look at his face. He’d claimed to be twenty one in his email message and looked like he’d reached that age about five minutes ago. He had an unfortunate beak nose and a severe case of acne that he tried to cover up by not shaving. As a result, whiskers had sprouted and formed patches on his face that looked like weeds.

  He smiled. “Hey, I’m Kyle.”

  She gave him a show of teeth in return. “Hey, Kyle.”

  On the surface it appeared this kid really was expecting to meet a date, but Mallory knew appearances could deceive and she made a decision to play this out a little longer. She wanted to make sure this wasn’t a slick set up before she cut the kid loose, that this boy wasn’t a front for someone else who would swoop in like a vulture and nab an unsuspecting girl.

  “Brought the beer.” Kyle held up the pack. “Let’s party.”

  He went to the wooden bench, brushed off the snow on the seat with the beer cans, then slumped against the back, trying to look cool, it appeared to Mallory. He slid on the bench, ruining the pose. Some heat crept into his cheeks and he tried again. This time he got it down.

  “Come and sit.” He held out his hand in invitation.

  When she didn’t comply, he added, ‘please’ in a voice that squeaked.

  Mallory lowered herself onto the bench. Kyle popped the tops off two cans of beer, placed one on the seat beside her, then draped his arm along the back of the bench. The smell of beer mingled with whatever cologne he’d liberally used and underlying perspiration.

  He took a long swig. “Drink up. Got plenty more.”

  The snow started. A few flakes landed on her eyelashes. Ignoring them, she trained her gaze on the boy. “How long have you been on that dating site?”

  “Not long. Won’t be going back now that I met you.”

  Mallory refrained from rolling her eyes. Could this be as innocent as it looked? Some kid looking to make out with a girl who was agreeable? She cautioned herself again that this could all be a ruse. That someone sinister could be waiting in the wings.

  “You meet many girls there?”

  The kid’s arm landed on her shoulders. “None that mattered before you, babe.”

  Mallory shrugged his arm off of her. “How’d you find out about that site?”

  His expression fell at her subtle rebuff with the shoulder. He took another swallow of beer. “Don’t know. Around.”

  Kyle gave Mallory his version of a mega watt smile. “Enough talk. How ‘bout we get busy?”

  “Got anyone else coming?”

  The kid’s lips turned down at the corners in a pout. “No worries, babe. I’m more than enough man for you.”

  He leaned in for a kiss and Mallory slapped her palm on the kid’s chest, pushing him back. “I’m out of here.”

  She stood, but didn’t walk away. This would be the point where Kyle would signal to someone else for help to detain her, but, in truth, she wasn’t expecting it. Nor was she expecting Kyle to suggest moving on to another location to save the evening, or to make some move on his own to detain her forcefully now that his attempt at seduction had gone south. And she was right, the kid flopped back against the seat as docile as a puppy.

  “But I bought beer?” he murmured.

  Mallory glanced back over her shoulder. “Consider it a bad investment.”

  “Strike one,” Gage said when she joined him in the trees.

  Snowbound: Chapter Nine

  Mallory unlocked the door to her apartment. When she was about to step inside, Gage placed a hand on her arm.

  She should have been used to this routine of checking out the place by now. They’d performed it each time they returned to her apartment, but this time it grated as no time before had. After they were sure they were alone, Mallory scrolled through her phone messages. None from York. She released a quick, tense breath. Next she checked her profile pages for any other hits. Nothing. She closed the lid of her laptop with a snap so loud it brought Gage’s head around.

  “You okay?” he said.

  “Fine.”

  Gage rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m going to hit the shower, then we’ll do something about dinner.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “Mallory?”

  She looked up at him and nodded.

  He watched her a moment longer, then left the living room.

  Waiting for York to pick up Billy was going nowhere. In the meantime, Considine was free to conduct his business as usual. She felt as if the women were slipping away. So much time had passed and still, they had nothing. It was time she turned nothing into something.

  Gage.

  She listened for the sound of the shower then penned a note to him.

  Went out.

  * * *

  Paul Considine owned a couple of night clubs in Manhattan. Clubs that were completely legitimate. Mallory had never been to one of Considine’s clubs but as she went through the double glass doors, she saw that the hype hadn’t exaggerated. The decor was posh with glittering chandeliers and expensive rugs over marble floors.

  The club boasted upscale entertainment with shows that featured top dancers, singers, and comedians where it was rumored even top government officials had been known to bring their spouses.

  One more thing the club had, and the thing Mallory was most interested in, were the security cameras. They were everywhere and though discreet so as not to be eye sores, they were visible. Mallory went to the bar in one of several restaurants that made up a part of this club. Spotting one of the cameras, she went to stand beneath it. She tilted her head back so her full face was exposed. Smile.

  Three hours later, she’d made the rounds of both of Considine’s clubs, always sure to stroll beneath the eyes of the lens. Satisfied that she’d splashed her face around enough, she went home.

  As soon as she inserted her key in the lock, Gage pulled the door open so abruptly she grabbed the wall to regain her balance.

  She returned her arm to her side. “Hello.”

  His gaze sharpened as he looked at her, taking her in. His face was stark with worry. “Are you all right?”

  She felt a stab of guilt at that, but she didn’t regret what she’d done. “I’m sorr
y if I worried you.”

  “If you worried me?”

  “That I worried you,” she amended.

  He rubbed a hand down his face and blew out a long breath. “Where did you go? And why did you go without me?”

  Mallory closed the door slowly. The soft thud hung in the air as she took a moment to respond. “I went to Considine’s clubs.”

  “You went where?” Gage shook his head as if he hadn’t heard her right or comprehended the words.

  “Paul Considine has two clubs in the city. I went to both of them.”

  Gage’s eyes slitted. “We’ve been doing all we can to keep you safe from Considine and you’re telling me that tonight you went to him?”

  His tone had Mallory straightening her spine. “Not to him. To his places of business.”

  Gage clenched his jaw. “What—to flaunt yourself under his nose?”

  She crossed her arms. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Wasn’t it? Then why didn’t you take me with you?”

  Mallory lifted her chin but remained silent.

  Gage grasped her shoulders. “I’ll tell you why, because you wanted him to focus solely on you.”

  “I want Considine to feel heat. He’s not getting enough of that. If he starts to feel pressured, he’ll make a mistake. Maybe one we can use to find the women.”

  Gage’s grip on her tightened. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a trained agent.”

  “Is that what the feds teach? To pull stunts like this one?”

  Mallory glared at him. “I know what I’m doing.”

  His eyes went so dark, she saw her own reflection. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you take unnecessary risks.”

  “That’s not what I’m doing.”

  “The hell it’s not. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  She could feel heat coming off him, a combination of anger and frustration. She was feeling the same, though in her case, anger won out. “That’s not going to happen.”

  His body tensed. The muscles in his shoulders and arms strained. “No, it’s not. Not on my watch.”

  She leaned toward him and tilted her head all the way back to look up at him. With the significant differences in their height, it was the closest she could come to getting in his face. “We’re no longer at the cabin. I’m not on your watch.”

  She shoved his shoulder. He stepped back.

  * * *

  Mallory spent the time since her fight with Gage in her bedroom with her laptop. Angry. Sulking. No, not sulking. Well, maybe. Gage had inadvertently struck a nerve.

  With a long, drawn out sigh, she set the laptop onto her nightstand and went to find him.

  He was at the window. The snow had stopped and outside the sky was dark but for the city lights twinkling.

  “You were right before,” she said.

  He turned and faced her. “Right?”

  “When you said that I deliberately didn’t take you with me to Considine’s clubs. I did want him to see just me rather than both of us. I wanted to show him that he hadn’t intimidated me. That I would not allow him to intimidate me. To control me. I needed to prove that to myself.”

  Gage put his arms tight around her and drew her up onto her toes. “You don’t have anything to prove to anyone.” He kissed her as if it had been years rather than hours. Mallory clutched his wrists, feeling the same.

  A thud came from outside in the hall. Gage pushed her behind him and removed his gun from the small of his back. Mallory’s purse was on the table and she withdrew her own gun. Gage took up a position to one side of the door. Sound carried from the hallway. A woman’s voice then another.

  “Here let me help you, Mary.”

  “Thanks.”

  Not the sound of assassins, Mallory thought.

  “I don’t know why they don’t double bag the heavy stuff. This always happens.”

  Gage peered out through the peep hole, then turned away from the door and returned his gun to the back of his jeans. “Two women. Crouched over an assortment of cans and jars on the carpeting.”

  “Just a woman who dropped her groceries.” Mallory felt relief at that and then anger. “I hate this. I hate jumping at every sound. What did I tell you about not wanting to let Considine intimidate me.” She set her weapon on the coffee table, then pushed her now slightly damp bangs off her brow. “If he could see me now.”

  Gage went to her and took one of her hands in his own. “You’d be an idiot not to be afraid. Not to be on your guard.”

  “This is personal between me and Considine.”

  “Personal, how?”

  Mallory drew a deep breath. “The summer I graduated from high school, I took a five day trip to Manhattan. Me and Cassie, my best friend.” Mallory shook her head slowly. “Best friends doesn’t adequately describe how we felt about each other. Cassie and I weren’t related by blood but she was my sister in every way that mattered. We were done with finals and wanted to blow off steam. We were set to start college a couple of months later and wanted to kick up our heels before we had to buckle down.” Mallory paused. “The night before we were due to go home, Cassie disappeared.”

  Gage squeezed her hand. “What happened?”

  “We were doing the club thing. Having a good time going from club to club. We wanted to hit as many as we could in the time we were in New York. So we could say, hey, we’d been there. We weren’t drinking heavily. We both knew to keep our wits about us and we weren’t looking to pick up anyone for more than just a dance or two. It was fun. Harmless. Before we’d gone out that night, as we had on the previous nights, we’d said that we wouldn’t separate.” Mallory lowered her head. “But we did get separated. The crowd thickened and I lost sight of her. I didn’t think much of it at first. I figured she was somewhere in the club. I took out my cell phone and called her. Her cell went to voice mail. Not surprising if she couldn’t hear her phone ringing with all the noise. I began making my way through the mob, looking for her. But an hour later, I couldn’t find her.”

  Mallory’s throat closed as memories of that night returned and emotion swamped her. “I checked the restrooms and then went to check outside the club, in case for some reason she’d stepped out there. When I didn’t find her, I waited. Eventually, she would need to leave there. I kept trying her cell. She never picked up. The crowd eventually thinned as the night wore on and I checked inside the club again. At that point, it wasn’t hard to see that Cassie wasn’t in there.”

  Mallory swiped a tear that fell onto her cheek. “The cop who took my frantic call told me that unless I had evidence of foul play, he couldn’t file a missing persons report for forty eight hours. Cassie was nineteen. An adult. She could come and go as she pleased. He suggested that she’d met someone and would return soon. He asked me if I’d been back to our hotel. I hadn’t and he suggested I check back there. She wasn’t at the hotel.”

  Mallory’s voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “I called home. Cassie’s parents and my parents flew in from Chicago. An investigation began, but Cassie wasn’t found.

  “Months went by without any word. I missed that year of college. After she disappeared, each time the phone rang or a car pulled into our driveway, I was terrified that her body had been found. I know most people want to know what happened when a loved one disappears, but for me as long as no body turned up, I could hold onto the hope that she’d be found and brought home.

  “And then one day the call I’d been fearing came. Cassie’s body had been discovered. Her identity confirmed. She was found in a city in Asia. In a Dumpster.”

  Gage brought her against his chest. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  Mallory put her arms around Gage’s waist. Her eyes welled with tears, soaking into his shirt. “Cassie had been a victim of human traffickers and sold into slavery.”

  “Were her traffickers ever caught?”

  Mallory
swallowed to clear the tears that clogged her throat. “To this day, we don’t know who trafficked her or who she was sold to. Her killer was never found.”

  “That’s why you’ve been tracking the disappearances of young women all these years,” Gage said gently. “You’re trying to find the people who sold Cassie.”

  She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. He knew that he’d drawn the correct conclusion.

  She raised her head from his chest and looked up at him. “And now, I finally have a lead to a human trafficking operation.”

  “You think Considine is the one who abducted Cassie.” Gage said it as a statement not a question.

  “Yes. I can’t let him do the same to those twelve women. I won’t.”

  Gage took her face gently between his broad palms. “You’re doing all that can be done. Wilder will be apprehended and through him, Considine. Because of you, Considine’s operation will be shut down.”

  Mallory swallowed the last of the tears and straightened her spine. “It has to go down that way, Gage. He has to be made to pay for what he did to Cassie. I have to give that closure to her parents. I need it for myself.”

  His eyes became shadowed. “I hope having that gives you what you need.”

  She sensed they were no longer talking about her. “Why were you at the cabin, Gage?”

  He lowered his arms, releasing her. “Let it go, Mallory.”

  “I would, if you could.”

  He was silent for so long, Mallory was afraid he would remain so, but he began to speak. “Six months ago, I was working on a case involving a drug cartel. The bust was big and we arrested several top people including the guy who ran the operation. During his arrest, the leader opened fire. Took down a couple of our guys. I took him out.

  “It was a clean kill. Internal Affairs cleared me. Used necessary force, etcetera. The guy I shot had a brother who was his second in command. The brother got away before we could arrest him. We couldn’t find any trace of him and with his business severely crippled, if not entirely wiped out, we believed he’d left the country for parts unknown. I believed that.”