Ridge City Recruits: The Full Seven-Book Collection

by Mazzy King

  The room is dark. I fumble along the wall for a switch.

  Soft murmurs and gasps fill the room as dozens of disoriented, terrified-looking women blink at us. They’re dressed in lingerie again, fully made up—sitting in the dark.

  “Jesus Christ,” I mutter. Immediately, I whip out my phone to text my contact, a special victims unit sergeant, and let her know where we are—and who we’ve found. She replies that she’ll be right there.

  “Lucy?” Sierra calls, her voice cracking as she scans the room. She reaches up to pull off the black wig, her long blonde hair tumbling free. “Lucy!”

  At the back of the room, a thin blonde woman in a black negligee rises from the floor on wobbly legs. “Sierra?” she gasps.

  Sobbing, Lucy rushes across the room to throw her arms around her sister. A lump forms in my throat, watching them, and my heart is both full of joy and sorrow. How could someone do this to other human beings?

  “You’re going to be all right,” Sierra promises her wailing sister, rocking her. She turns to the room. “You’re all going to be all right!”

  At that moment, the sergeant I texted arrives with a squad full of medics and a couple more detectives in tow. She informs us a raid has been conducted, and that all people on the premises have been arrested—including the Mortensons.

  At this news, the captive women burst into tears.

  The medics begin making the rounds. Sierra doesn’t leave her sister’s side.

  The sergeant wanders over to me. She was the one this morning in charge of organizing the strategy for today. She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever talked to, and passionate about rescuing these women.

  “Good work, Cavanaugh,” she says, shaking my hand. “You did an outstanding job, compiling the intel that allowed us to complete the mission.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” I say, “but I didn’t do it alone. I had help.”

  “Who’s that?”

  I glance across the room, where Sierra is wrapping a blanket around her sister’s shoulders. “An incredibly brave, strong woman.”

  The sergeant follows my gaze and smiles. “Well, I look forward to meeting her soon. I’d like to thank her in person.” She pats my arm, then begins making her way through the room to speak to the women as the medics tend to them.

  I watch Sierra but remain by the door. This is the moment she’s been waiting for since her sister went missing, and I don’t want to intrude.

  After all, she and I have all the time in the world.

  She catches my gaze from across the room.

  I love you, I mouth.

  She smiles. I love you.

  Epilogue

  Connor

  One year later

  I help my very pregnant wife up the stairs and into the Robinsons’ home, where Khalil and his wife Elodie are hosting a get-together. The only other person I know at this part is Tristan Black, the man who saved my life and who introduced me to the Program.

  “Hey, you two,” Khalil says with a grin, coming to greet us. “Sierra, how’s it going?”

  She huffs. “One more month to go. I’m trying not to kill anyone.”

  He laughs. “That’s the spirit.”

  We’ve gotten close with Khalil and Elodie. As it turns out, Elodie was Sierra’s contact the whole time. They’ve since retired the Harbinger network, now that they’re newlyweds and have a baby on the way too. But helping us break the trafficking case was a high note for Harbinger to go out on. They used their contacts to get Lucy an incredible lawyer to press charges against the Mortensons, and she’s doing fantastic. She’s in the best therapy available, and she’s pursuing her passions, including writing. To date, she’s now published half a dozen books, including an incredibly brave memoir about her experience being trafficked. She goes around the country for speaking engagements and is dedicated to working as an advocate for other survivors. Best of all, she and Sierra are closer than ever and see each other several times a week. Lucy’s going to be an amazing aunt to our daughter.

  There’s a bunch of other couples milling around the backyard. Khalil introduces us to them all. Tommy and Aggie O’Brien. Aidan and Stella Kelly. Colin and Hendrix Leary. Ryan and Gemma Walsh. Then I find out that in a very odd way, I do know these guys without actually knowing them. We’re brothers, in a way.

  We were all Recruits.

  All of us had a bad hand dealt to us in some way or another, whether it was of our own making and a result of our poor choices, or by circumstance. And we all got another chance.

  We’ve all moved on from the Program. Tommy, Aidan, and Colin ended up joining RCPD, and all graduated from the academy six months ago. Khalil is still kicking ass as a firefighter. Ryan and Tristan opted for a non-law enforcement lifestyle after their stint in the Program, working in their family auto—and motorcycle—repair business.

  As for me?

  I went back and finished the college degree I let linger from a couple of years ago. I majored in criminal justice back then, found it laughable, and dropped out.

  Now, it feels right. And I start the next RCPD academy class two months from now, in September. Yep, me, a former illegal street racer and general loser—going to take up the shield. Going to make a difference. Going to protect and serve.

  The bond between us seven former Recruits is instantaneous. I don’t have a lot of friends, and that’s okay. Now I have six brothers.

  Later, when Sierra and I return home, I help her sit down then make us a couple of bowls of ice cream. She smiles at me, licking Rocky Road off her spoon.

  “What?” I ask, smiling back.

  “I’m proud of you,” she says and leans across the table to kiss me.

  “Thank you, babe.” I stroke her cheek. “I couldn’t have done any of it without you, you know. And I think all the guys would agree—you ladies are the ones who keep us going. Who keep us strong.”

  “You know what they say,” she says, placing her foot in my lap and wiggling her toes. It’s her way of asking me for a foot massage. “Behind every strong man is a stronger woman, rolling her eyes.”

  I chuckle, rubbing the arch of her foot. “I couldn’t consider myself luckier. I love you.”

  She grins. “Do you love-love me like I love-love you?”

  I grin back. “Forever, beautiful.”

  The End

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