The Naughty Nine: Where Danger and Passion Collide

by Nina Bruhns

  She heard squeaking. A rodent of some kind was in this space with her. Mallory shivered and huddled into herself at the thought of rats.

  She squinted in the darkness and as her eyes adjusted, she made out small details. A large tank of some kind butted up against a wall. A staircase lay beyond that. And in the darkness beyond the stairs something moved. Something too big to be a mouse. Mallory swallowed a scream. She wasn’t in here alone. Something else was in here with her.

  * * *

  Gage left the FBI building. Mitch’s truck was struggling. Gage didn’t want to risk breaking down. He went back to the car rental agency, got an SUV, and left the old truck parked on the long-term lot next door. At a local electronics chain, he bought a cell phone and a laptop then checked into a hotel.

  He didn’t have the envelope he and Mallory had found in Wilder’s locker. Either York or Considine had it now. But Gage and Mallory had been on the internet sites listed enough times for him to recall them. He logged onto where Mallory had posted profiles. If he could find the guy who was trolling these sites, he’d have a link to the traffickers. He went to all the sites. No one had made contact.

  Billy Wilder was the only link they’d had to the traffickers and his death had effectively severed that link. He needed to find another one.

  He logged onto the Washington PD data base. Two hours later, he’d gone over all the data gathered on Paul Considine. The man was scum and had ties to organized crime, but there was nothing to connect Considine with Billy Wilder.

  Fuck. He was missing something.

  Mallory’s abductors had been instructed to take her to a mountain cabin when the accident occurred and she landed on Gage’s doorstep. Billy Wilder’s cabin, specifically. Could they be holding her there now?

  The location to the cabin had been among the personal papers they’d found in Wilder’s locker. Gage knew where the place was. He grabbed his coat and keys and charged out of the hotel room, praying that when he reached the cabin, he would find her and, find her alive.

  He abandoned the vehicle a distance from the cabin and crept over the snow covered landscape. It was still afternoon and he kept to the trees and out of the sunlight where he would be exposed to anyone who happened to glance out of Billy’s windows.

  The cabin was small. No vehicles were parked in the vicinity. No smoke rose from the chimney. No foot prints in the snow led to the cabin’s front door.

  The place appeared unoccupied. Still, he moved closer. He wouldn’t turn around until he’d made sure that Mallory wasn’t being held inside.

  He went around the back and found another entrance. Standing beneath an overhang, he used his flashlight to smash a window in that door, then went inside. Moving carefully, he blended into the shadows, making his way through each room of the cabin. It was as cold as a freezer, reinforcing Gage’s impression that there wasn’t anyone there. He finished searching the place. Mallory wasn’t there.

  * * *

  Mallory fought back dizziness and got to her feet. She had to know what was in here with her. She braced to fight should she need to defend herself, the effort pathetic. But as she drew closer, she realized it was a person. A woman. No, not one woman, several women. Her breath caught. Twelve women.

  Her pulse raced as she limped to them. As one, they shrank back. One whimpered. Another wrapped her arms around her knees and made a low, keening sound. Their fear was palpable and Mallory’s heart broke.

  “Please don’t be afraid of me.” It hurt to talk and she was thirsty. Her voice cracked. She needed to do better than that if she was going to reassure them. She swallowed a couple of times. “My name is Mallory Burke. I’m a federal agent. I’ve been looking for you.”

  “You’ve been looking for us?”

  The voice that came out of the darkness was weak and thin. Concern for the woman had Mallory increasing her pace as much as she was able. “Yes and I’m going to get all of you out of here, I promise you.”

  “But how? You’re caught too.”

  “I will find a way. Please trust me.”

  The sound of footfalls drawing nearer drew her attention away from the women. The steps stopped at the top of the stairs. Someone was out there. An instant later the door swung wide.

  A light appeared at the top of the stairs and a hulking figure filled the doorway. He stood in silhouette for an instant, back lit by a bare bulb in the ceiling, then a flashlight winked on and he began his descent. Some light filtered down and showed they were in a cellar. Mallory recognized the man on the stairs as the big brute from her apartment and felt a rush of anger. Automatic weapons were strapped to his chest. He held a tray laden with sandwiches and bottles of water. Mallory’s stomach was roiling like a storm tossed sea from the pain in her head and from fear. She didn’t think she’d keep food down, but she curled her fingers into her palm to keep from showing him how badly she wanted the water.

  Big Brute reached Mallory and the other women. They huddled together trying to make themselves as small as possible. Again, Mallory assumed a fighting stance, drawing on her badly depleted physical resources, and placed herself between them and him.

  He aimed the light in her eyes. She raised a hand to deflect the piercing glare and he laughed.

  “How do you like your digs?” he said.

  “Where is this place?”

  “You don’t need to be worrying about that.”

  “How long have I been here?”

  “You’re just full of questions aren’t you? I might be willing to answer some of them for you.” He stroked his chin as he looked her up and down. “What’s it worth to you?”

  Mallory tasted bile.

  Another man appeared at the steps. The other man who’d helped Big Brute abduct her. Automatic weapons were strapped to his chest as well and she got the sinking sensation that these men were mercenaries.

  “Hey, quit jabbering,” Big Brute’s partner said. “Give them the food then get back here. I need your help up here.”

  Big Brute plopped the tray onto the concrete floor. He leered at Mallory. “Later, when it’s just you here, I’ll be back.”

  “Just me?”

  “These girls are going on a long boat ride in the morning. Hear that, girls. You’re getting picked up from here in just about ten hours.” He leaned toward Mallory and whispered, “Like I said, later.”

  A couple of the women were sobbing now. Mallory had promised to get them all out of here but how was she going to do that? She had no plan. And only until morning to come up with one.

  * * *

  Gage returned to the hotel after leaving Billy’s cabin. He logged onto the dating sites again. He found nothing and his desperation mounted. He called York for an update on the search. York had nothing new to add. Gage longed for ten minutes alone with Considine.

  Gage checked his watch. Again. Three minutes since the last time he’d looked. Twelve minutes since he’d checked the dating sites. The window in his hotel room overlooked a busy street. It was only six p.m. but dark due to the season and the streetlights glowed. People in coats with thick wool scarves wrapped around their faces hurried down the sidewalks, likely on their way home to dinner.

  Gage didn’t want to think of Mallory hurt and afraid, but he could think of nothing else. He clutched the window sill and leaned his brow against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut, riding out a fear for her that threatened to derail him.

  He straightened away from the window for another check of the sites. Someone had left a response.

  He scanned the message. The guy signed the email as “Neil”. The tone of the note was light and friendly. Gage’s heart raced. He recalled Kyle from the park. Could be nothing more than that—some pimply kid wanting a hook up. But even as he thought that, he was considering how to respond. He sent back a reply. Whoever had gotten in touch was online because a message appeared almost at once.

  The exchange of emails went on for some time. Gage held himself in check, barely. He could not blow
this. It may be his only lead to getting Mallory back.

  At last, he received the message he’d been waiting for—a request to meet. He sat tense waiting for the location. It came in the form of an invitation to a house party at nine o’clock that evening. He replied with a yes, and an address was provided.

  As he and Mallory had done with the meeting in the park, Gage arrived at the destination early. He parked one block away from the street, then hoofed it to the house.

  The address belonged to a tidy bungalow that had been built around the time of the second world war. The house looked well maintained with a pink tricycle on a small porch. Could be camouflage but it gave him pause. Regardless, he pressed on, praying this wasn’t another dead end.

  He took up a position across the road from the house and away from the streetlights. There’d been no activity since he’d moved into this position. No guests arrived. No one left the house.

  It was time for a closer look. He crossed the street to the bungalow, listened for barking. Nothing. No dog then.

  He scaled the fence around the property then circled the building, peering into the side and back windows. All were blocked with blinds until he came to a small window in the kitchen door. No loud music penetrated to the outside that would suggest a party was underway. He peered through the glass. No one was in the kitchen or in the portion of the hall he was able to see. But on the table were restraints and a syringe.

  As he had at Billy’s cabin, he used his flashlight and broke the window. Moving quickly in case anyone had heard the glass break, he let himself into the house. Footsteps padded on the stairs. A man came up from the basement. Thirty something with a diamond stud in one ear lobe and an Italian suit over his tall, toned frame.

  Gage grabbed him by the neck.

  The guy cried out. “What the fuck!”

  “Are you Neil?”

  “Yeah! Yeah!”

  Gage slammed Neil into a wall. Blood spurted from Neil’s now broken nose and flowed from his split lips. A photograph of a boat hung on that same wall. The picture shook then struck the floor, shattering the glass frame.

  Gage kept Neil’s face squashed against the plaster and stuck the barrel of the gun into his ear.

  “Man, you don’t know who you’re messing with.” Neil was lisping. He’d broken a tooth when his face hit the wall. “Hope you said your prayers last night. Cause you’re about to meet your maker.”

  “That so?” Gage ground the gun into Neil’s ear and received the satisfaction of hearing him shriek.

  Panting from the pain, Neil yelled, “You are going to pray for death before I’m through with you!”

  “Big talk. I’m not some young girl you can put a scare into.”

  Neil went still.

  Gage sneered. “Yeah. You’re finally getting it. I’m here about your invite to a house party here tonight.”

  “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I have your emails setting this whole thing up, man. You’re going down for this.”

  Damp circles appeared on Neil’s fine suit and Gage smelled the rank odor of perspiration.

  “I wasn’t gonna do nothing to that chick tonight,” Neil said.

  “I saw the restraints and the syringe.”

  “How much you want? I got money. Name your price.” Neil’s words came out in a rush.

  “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.”

  M
anning 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.”