Now, she was confused.
And sick.
Was he up to his neck in something? Could he be hurt? The last thing she wanted was Rogue getting killed.
She wanted to puke thinking about that.
The thought of that made her edgy, and for only one reason.
Rogue had gotten through.
For some reason, the man, his big, stupid house, and his reputation were going to be the end of her.
She knew it.
Only, now, she didn’t know what to do.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
When Dakota arrived back at the house, Rogue and Zayn were already there.
Who wasn’t there?
Sarah.
His heart sank a little more, knowing she was never coming back. That was his sign.
By that time of the day, she should be back from her time away from him. If she went to get her nails done, or shopping, she would have returned, right?
At that moment, his heart was feeling empty, and he knew it was over. She was done with him. This was his proof. If she wasn’t back in time to go out to the drop site, he knew his relationship with Sarah was done.
He was done.
“What did you find?” Dakota asked as he handed the team coffee. “You can have mine,” he said to Rogue. The man looked like shit too.
“Thanks,” he offered. “Did you spit in it or poison it?” he asked.
“Neither.”
Funny.
Rogue wasn’t sure he believed him.
“We have another name on our list,” Rogue said, taking a sip of the coffee. When he didn’t die immediately, he had hope that maybe the man would forgive him.
“Who?” Dakota asked, debating on whether to tell him about the detective in the park, or not.
“Jasper Hutchinson. Isn’t Jasper one of the names that Storm gave us?” Zayn asked.
“Yeah. I doubt it’s a coincidence,” he said. “It’s not a common name. How about you, Merry? Did you find anything else in the carbon?”
Oh, she wished.
“I have some address portions done, but tomorrow, I should have the remainder cleaned off. You’ll have another name or three. Right now, it’s mostly dirty deeds done not so dirt cheap,” she said, holding the delicate book in her hands.
“Like?”
“Whoever this book belonged to liked running numbers, and she was covering cargo.”
“Pardon?” Rogue asked.
“Well, after seeing some of these numbers, I can tell a few things. The Alcohol Control Board in this city fined the owner of this book. I found a notation of bribery. So she was having to ship liquor on the DL.”
They all listened.
“She had a big run to dry counties a couple states over.”
No one was shocked.
“ONLY, and here’s the dirty deeds part, there’s no way she was shipping alcohol by private boat. Something had to be on those boats. Alcohol is normally measured in liters, right?”
“Bottles have both.”
“Well, look at the weight of the cargos. She was tricky, but she wasn’t ex-FBI smart. Shit like this is what gets you caught by people like me.”
Boone handed Dakota a pair of gloves, and he pulled them on. Then he read the scorched paper.
It was in pounds.
“It’s not going to be drugs. That’s measured in kilos and grams. Pounds makes me think…”
“People,” Rogue stated. “She was shipping girls out on her booze cruise she helped found. Those trips went up the Mississippi to other states and drop off ports.”
They were all sick.
Rogue especially.
“It’s like the same one we were on. Those men were buyers. How did she get pulled into this? Charlotte, the woman I once cared about, didn’t come across as someone who would transport human beings.”
Zayn felt for him. It was a kick to the gut.
“Maybe she was trying to protect her child. She sent that text before she died, didn’t she?” Boone asked.
They all looked at Stella.
“What? He asks really good questions! I didn’t even know I was spilling anything!”
“It’s okay,” Rogue stated. “Charlotte had my child, and I didn’t know. It’s logical that Chesky found out.”
Boone knew they were trying to do good. He pulled out his phone and showed him what they had.
They checked out the picture of Charlotte’s last message.
“I’d bet Chesky found out about Peony,” Dakota stated. “She hid her, and then got her out. Charlotte, from what I knew of her, didn’t seem like a skin peddler. I’d bet she had no choice.”
“I want all those men on those cruises to die,” Zayn stated. “I want to feed them to gators for raping women. Then I want Chesky to die too.”
“I’m with Hulk,” Merry stated.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” he muttered.
She laughed.
That gave Dakota an idea. They did have one thing in their favor, and it might pay off.
“Do we still have the video surveillance from our undercover mission?” Dakota asked.
“Yes,” Rogue stated. “Why?”
“Well, if the men on that cruise were buying women, and Charlotte was transporting, then they are all guilty too. Can we run it through facial recognition on the FBI database?”
Merry grinned.
“I can do it. I happen to be excellent as a tech,” she said, winking at her husband.
“I vouch for her.”
Dakota held out his hand and took hers. “Thank you for this. You’ve helped a great deal. You gave us the booze cruise angle. We can take it from there.”
“Can I come back tomorrow and do it again?” she asked hopefully.
“We can pay you,” Dakota offered.
“No, I’ll do it for the cause. Stella told me all about it. I want to help. If my skills are needed, then I’ll do it. Even when this is over, you can just call me,” she said, scribbling hers and Boone’s number down on a piece of paper. “We’ll help. He may be a cop, and I may be an ex-Fed, but we believe in justice. It’s not black and white. There is gray.”
Dakota took the paper.
“Thank you, Meredith Savage. You are an amazing ex-tech. You have a wicked case of science smarts. It’s been our pleasure.”
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t kill me?” she asked Zayn.
He laughed, caught off guard.
“So far. Your husband…it’s still in the air.”
“Is he kidding?” Boone asked.
They all looked at him.
The thing was, with Zayn, you never could tell. He was one hell of an enigma.
“We have a little tête-à-tête planned for this evening with some not so nice people,” he stated. “You should head home, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
Merry didn’t question them, even if she was curious as hell. She knew that the men wouldn't spill the beans. Instead, she gathered her things and cleaned up her space.
“Detective, thank you for your help,” Dakota stated.
“It’s my pleasure. If you’d like, I can do some research,” he offered. “You have that new name. Want to let me borrow your FBI hardware and I’ll do it?” Boone offered, knowing he needed to get their trust.
His wife did.
It was his turn.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Dakota stated. “Jasper Hutchinson,” he said again.
“I’ll work on it tonight. We’ll be back in the morning.” Boone tucked the tablet into his wife’s bag, and they headed out.
“I like them,” Stella stated.
“Me too,” Dakota offered, and she still wouldn’t look at him. That said it all.
Only, she couldn’t hate him as much as he hated himself.
“Are you ready?” Zayn offered, as his wife wrapped her arm around his waist. “We have to get there a little earlier. I want to make sure we have the place under surveillance before the shit hits the fan.
”
“I’m ready,” Rogue stated. “I just need to change.”
“Is Sarah joining us?” Dakota asked.
“She’s not,” Rogue stated. “She texted me that she’s not going to be available. Something has come up.”
Yeah, her hate of him.
“I see.”
“Give her time,” Rogue stated. “She’s upset, hurt, and angry.”
Yeah, he knew the feeling. He’d been abandoned over a fight. If she did come back, he’d always fear this. This had put a dent in their relationship.
A huge one.
“I’ll get into my gear,” Dakota stated, heading upstairs to their shared room. He couldn’t deal with the pain right now. They had to do this job.
They had to find this asshole and end this mess.
Upstairs, in their room, Dakota took another hit to his heart. On their shared bed, he found her pajamas neatly folded.
“I hope you come home,” he whispered. “Please don’t abandon me. I can’t lose you too.”
Picking them up, he placed them on the dresser. Before getting changed, he laid her engagement ring on them, perhaps as some enticement.
He didn’t know why.
All hope was already gone.
Then he got ready to do the job.
Alone.
Like always.
It was the story of his life.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
Tuesday
Nine P.M.
Drop Site
It was dark, swampy, and they were in place.
The team, consisting of Zayn, Dakota, and Rogue had arrived ninety minutes earlier, and they’d gone over the site with a fine-tooth comb.
They wanted to make sure they had all of their bases covered. There was not going to be a second chance with this one, and they knew it.
The location screamed sleazy, sex-slave drop-off. It was an old, rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere—outside the city limits.
It was the perfect place for a sex trafficking swap. There were dense trees above, and the whole area was pitch black.
They were spread out at three different points in which someone could enter the area.
Zayn was up in a tree, hiding among the branches to be their car lookout. He was the point man since anyone entering the drop site would likely come in from the main road.
UNLESS they really liked gators and snakes.
It was the perfect spot for him since people seldom looked up when they were expecting an ambush.
What kind of nut would hide in a tree?
Zayn Thundercloud—that’s who.
The Marine was all about advantage. The other two lookout points were only accessible if someone was on foot.
“It’s clear,” Rogue said into his com. He was near the base of the cabin, in case someone got past the first two men. While he was decent with a gun, he wasn’t a sharpshooter like Zayn or a trained ex-Fed, like Dakota.
“Copy,” Zayn said, watching the road. “What do you have on your side, Dakota?”
“A whole lot of nothing. I can’t see five feet in front of my face,” he admitted. “Maybe we should have taken Gamble with us. A fourth person…”
Zayn cut him off.
“Not happening. He’ll sell us out. I don’t trust him, and when can’t we handle something with all three of us? Just stay on your toes and focus.”
“You don’t trust anyone,” Rogue said over the earpiece. “You have trust issues.”
“They keep me alive. I want to get home to my sweet Stella.”
He had a point.
They all had dangerous jobs now that it appeared that New Orleans was turning on them. Who knew going good would be so damn bad?
“I can’t believe Sarah didn’t show,” Zayn stated. “That’s not like her.”
Oh, they were aware.
Rogue had already told them about the text. He didn’t feel there was a need to mention anything else. Well, for now. Family was family, and business was business. At that point, Sarah fell into both, so he’d keep it private.
Dakota was curious.
“Have you actually spoken to her?”
“Yes,” he answered, “I called to make sure she really wanted to skip this op and bow out,” he whispered over his com. “I tried, Dakota. I really did.”
Yeah, he didn’t doubt that.
Only, that wasn’t what he was focused on.
Bow out?
He hoped that wasn’t the way she phrased it. How did one bow out on this kind of obligation? Then again, she bowed out on their relationship. That should have been his cue. Maybe letting her stay when she showed up here was a bad idea.
It wasn’t going as planned.
He’d thought he was in the clear. That wasn’t the case. Yeah, well, their team was fucked.
Here was the proof.
They were bailing left and right. Dakota didn’t doubt that Rogue definitely would be next.
Terrific.
“I see lights,” came Zayn’s voice over the com. “One set of headlights and they’re about a quarter mile out.”
“Alone?” Dakota asked, still thinking about Sarah, and how she should be there with them.
“Affirmative. One set.”
No one moved from their spots. Zayn was in the tree, Rogue was next to the cabin, and Dakota was hidden in the surrounding area near the swamp.
“You should have visual in five, four, three…”
They braced for it, and there it was.
As the vehicle pulled up, they watched as the headlights of the luxury vehicle illuminated the cabin.
“We have a big spender,” Zayn stated.
“Copy,” Dakota stated.
Before he could say anything else, Zayn caught the flash of light off Rogue’s watch face. It was shit like that, which gave you away. It was clear the man had zero military skill.
“I just saw you near the cabin. Slide back, Rogue.”
He didn’t speak, but the darkness swallowed him.
“He’s exiting the vehicle. I don’t have eyes on his face, but I can tell it’s a man’s body. We might have Carter Foley,” Zayn whispered.
They all held their breaths.
No, it wasn’t Carter Foley, or at least they didn’t think it was. Instead, when the man got out of the vehicle, they couldn’t believe their luck.
It was none other than Danforth Harrington in the flesh and blood.
Well.
Well.
Well.
Welcome to the party.
This was the best-case scenario for them. The man could fill them in on a lot of things, and that was what he was going to do.
Like it.
Or not.
“Can we kill him?” Zayn asked. “I owe him.”
Dakota knew that couldn’t happen. He was worth too much alive to them. He was walking intel on his sister, and the whole operation.
“No, we bring him in,” Dakota stated, warning Zayn not to do anything rash. The man was trigger happy—at best.
“Copy. There goes my fun for the night,” he stated, his voice saying it all.
He hated this man.
Danforth Harrington had caused Stella’s abduction by being involved in something so filthy, so vile, and so dangerous. She’d been locked in a dirty cell on a disgusting mattress for thirty days, nearly raped, and it was all of the man’s fault. Zayn wouldn’t let him escape punishment for that.
Plus, his wife was still worried about Mercedes.
Oh, Danforth was a dead man walking. No one had forgotten the hit that he’d wanted to put out on him.
Well, that stopped here.
There was only going to be one hit.
ON HIM.
They went silent, watching the man as they planned their move. They knew there were others coming. This was a drop, so that meant more to the party.
“WHERE ARE YOU?” he shouted. “You said my filthy cunt sister would be here! Come out.”
Dakota was halfhe
artedly watching the man. He was trusting that Zayn could shoot him in the leg if need be. Honestly, he was thinking about Sarah.
To say his mind was not in the game would be an understatement. He was trying to figure out what to do with his personal life.
“I don’t see anyone else coming,” Zayn whispered as the man on the ground raged around, clearly looking for the same people they were.
“Maybe Rosemary got wise to the setup,” Rogue whispered. “A few of her minions have disappeared the last two days. We took out Chesky’s book burner, and then her drug supplier. Oh, and rescued Storm.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” Zayn whispered.
“WHERE ARE YOU, ROSEMARY!” Danforth wailed.
“She called it off,” whispered Zayn. “They’d be here by now. Rogue heard Chesky. The drop was ten minutes ago.”
“Yeah, it’s been changed,” Rogue stated. “Dakota, what do you want to do?” he asked.
Before Dakota could say anything, he heard the snap.
It was a twig behind him, and that made no sense. He could see Danforth in front of him.
Instantaneously, his instincts took over, and Dakota rolled. Only, it ended up being too late. Distraction got the best of him.
The pain was intense.
He felt the blade slice into his side where his body armor was open.
Rogue and Zayn heard the rustling as the assailant jumped onto him.
“What’s going on?” Zayn asked.
He didn’t answer, and that was all kinds of wrong. This operation was going sideways on them. All they could hear was a struggle.
Zayn went into recovery mode. He needed to save what he could, and that was finding Dakota and grabbing Danforth.
“Rogue, get to him. I’m going to disable the car and grab the man.”
Rogue was up and rushed through the trees, only to find Dakota on his knees, his hand on his side.
There was blood.
Lots of it on his hand. He could see it in the moonlight over the man.
“We had company,” he said, out of breath. “He stabbed me and jumped me. My earpiece fell out.”
Well, shit!
Rogue scanned the trees around them, and he couldn’t see anything. He did hear a motorboat start up in the distance. It looked like their ambusher was ready for them.
Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two) Page 32