“Even a man of your…skill has no hope to get her back.”
“Perhaps additional assistance is required,” Ben said. “Concerning that debt…”
“You consider it enough that you saved my brother’s life that I would go to war with Earnest?” The old man squinted. “Perhaps I only wanted my brother here so that I could kill him myself?”
“If that was the case, he wouldn’t be working at that upscale Cantonese restaurant on Broadway.”
The old man made a sound. “Can you believe that? Wants to go straight.” He shook his head. “Ungrateful.”
Ben didn’t comment on that. A man who had been through what George had was entirely at liberty to control his own destiny now that life had been restored to him.
The old man regarded him. After a minute of silence, he said, “Very well. I give you the address and my men will assist you.”
The man who’d given him the word for “tranquilizer” whipped his head around to his boss and began to speak in rapid words almost too fast for Ben to keep up.
The boss barked one word, and the man shut up. “Leave your number with the hostess.”
Ben gave him a short bow and let himself out.
**
Bolton gripped the phone. It was on the tip of his tongue to pray this would work, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be indebted to God. Not yet, at least. Dante had passed Nadia to some guy named “Earnest.” Because he was done with her? Bolton didn’t want to know what Dante had gotten from her or what passing her to Earnest meant, other than payment.
The call connected. “This is Special Agent Liam Conners.”
Bolton waited quietly while the third person on the line, the man he’d called, greeted the agent.
“Liam! This is Terry over at Quantico.”
“Terry, how are you?”
Bolton listened to their small talk, tapped his fingers on the edge of the table and tried not to get impatient. This was the way he’d chosen to try and find Nadia and this Earnest person. He was going to have to see it through now that he’d opened that door to his past once again.
“I have on the phone a friend of mine. I’ve fully vetted him, and he is who he says he is, so there are no worries there. I know you’re heading the case on Earnest Wells, and I’d like you to answer any questions my friend might have.”
The Liam guy sighed. “You want me to tell him whatever he wants to know.”
“He has earned that much from us, Conners. And he’s asked that we do him this favor so that he might help us all the more.”
“Fine.” Special Agent Liam Conners didn’t sound like he thought it was fine.
Terry said, “You need anything else, son?”
“No, Terry,” Bolton answered. “Thanks. I appreciate your help.”
“Okay, I’m hanging up so you two can talk.” Terry’s end of the line clicked.
“Are you still there?” Bolton figured if he was this “Liam Conners” guy, he’d just hang up and forget all about the call he had no intention of taking.
“Yeah, I’m here.” Liam sighed. “Terry is a friend I respect, but all this is sensitive information I’m not sure I should be giving you. I don’t know you from the guy at the hot dog stand.”
Bolton squeezed his free hand into a fist. “Type this number into your computer.” He rattled off a series of numbers he knew by heart and then said, “My name is Bolton Farrera. Earnest Wells kidnapped a friend of mine, and I need to get her back. If you can help, meet me at the West Side Diner on Central as soon as you can.”
Bolton hung up, picked up his coffee, and took a sip. He barely tasted it, the nausea in his stomach eclipsing every other physical sensation. Nadia was in the clutches of a madman. Sure, she’d faced evil in the past, but there was no way he could convince himself that experience was enough to face a man who was what they expected Earnest to be.
Fear crept up into his throat and threatened to choke him.
But he stayed in the diner and waited for Liam Conners.
**
Ben felt his watch vibrate. He lifted his wrist and read the numbers that flashed across the screen, pulled out the burner phone, and dialed the number.
“That you, boss?”
“Yeah, Remy.” Ben smiled to himself as he navigated the streets of lower downtown Denver. “What do you have?”
She was quiet for a moment—never good. “That side project I’ve been working on…”
“What about it?”
“You were right. Though I have no idea why I was looking at all that in the first place since it isn’t related to any of your open—”
“Remy.”
“I ran Nadia Marie’s picture and got a hit. Someone—I’m guessing Earnest—has put her up for sale. Bidding ends at noon tomorrow.”
“That’s good. It’s what we expected, and now we can get to the sale before anyone else and get her back.”
“Good? Dante knows all of your faces. He’ll have told Earnest.”
“We’re assuming Dante is too occupied with other things to follow up on what happens to Nadia. Besides, there’s someone I can call. A neutral party who can go in and get Nadia out.”
“Do you want me to make the call?”
“It’s okay,” Ben said. Though his stomach churned even thinking about it. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
He hung up and pulled into a parking space outside the West Side Diner. Ben hung his head and pushed out a breath before he dialed the number.
“Hello?”
Her voice. It was like a punch to the gut.
“It’s Ben. I need your help.”
Chapter 15
Bolton slid the magazine in the gun and pulled the slide back. So far everything seemed to be going to plan. At least up until the point he contemplated that Earnest was going to sell Nadia. Being paralyzed with fear wasn’t going to help right now. They’d separated to find both information and allies, but at this point they’d have to take what they could get.
Ben and Shadrach geared up, much the same except Shadrach wore a Yankees hat. Even the dog had a vest on.
FBI Special Agent Liam Conners strode in the door, stowing his phone in his back pocket. “No movement outside since the truck brought the girls in for the sale. My CI is sticking around. He’ll call if anyone enters or exits the old theater. The light is green when y’all are ready.”
Liam had turned out to be very amenable to what amounted to an illegal takedown of multiple targets who may or may not be people he needed to arrest. Bolton didn’t care about charges or admissible evidence, or warrants. All he cared about was getting Nadia back—before or after he put a bullet in Earnest’s brain didn’t matter much to him. The man had messed with the wrong girl.
Bolton glanced at his new friend. “Something up?”
Liam wiped the frown from his brow. “Can’t say I wouldn’t feel better with a little more information on exactly who your friends are.”
Ben looked over, raised one eyebrow.
Bolton shrugged.
“The chance to take down Earnest certainly sweetened the deal. I’ve been trying to figure out who he is for months. The man’s identity doesn’t exist in any database I have access to. Hard to get an arrest warrant on someone who doesn’t exist.” Liam glanced at each of them. “But I’m the special agent here. Therefore, since no one is willing to list out their work history that means you guys follow my lead.”
Ben shifted so slightly it was almost imperceptible. “Or, you hang back. We take point, and you don’t risk your ability to go home tonight to your wife and baby.”
Liam’s stare turned deadly. “And how would you know about my family?”
“You think I don’t research the people I work with?” Ben lifted one eyebrow. “Now we should finish gearing up, because we have no idea how many men are in there. It’s going to be all hands on deck on this one.”
Shadrach made a face. Any other time, Bolton would have laughed, but neither of them cared about the men in th
ere. They only wanted Nadia, while Ben seemed to feel this moral imperative to save everyone innocent in the building and bring down every bad guy.
Ben had been on edge for hours, since he’d told them he called in additional help that they would likely never meet. Someone who would be instrumental in securing the girls and hopefully getting Nadia to them.
Bolton wasn’t going to wait for someone else.
He and Shadrach had found a common goal. Bolton wasn’t going to take that for granted, not if it meant they’d get her back. He and Shadrach had forged an amendment to the plan wherein they broke off and made a bee line for Nadia. Room by room by room they were going to tear that place apart until they found her. Whether she spoke to him afterwards or not, Bolton would at least know that she was safe.
Ben lifted his chin. “Tensions are high, but we can do this. Secure the men in there, and then call the cops for cleanup.”
The door at the end of the room opened. Liam said, “I already called them.”
A tactical team walked in, full uniforms, helmets, night scopes, automatic weapons. All of it. The lead man grinned. “Someone call for an off-the-books takedown?”
Liam stuck out his hand. “I appreciate this.”
“What else would we do for Johnson’s bachelor party?” They all chuckled.
A door on the wall perpendicular to them opened and four suited Chinese men walked in. The tactical team pointed their guns at the same time the Chinese did.
“Guns down,” Ben said as he strode to the lead Chinese guy. He looked at Liam. “You’re not the only one who has friends with guns, who owe you a favor.” He said something in Chinese, and they lowered their weapons.
Liam shrugged. “The more the merrier, I guess.” He glanced at the lead Chinese man. “Doesn’t mean I won’t arrest you next week.”
The man replied in Chinese, and his men snickered.
“This isn’t about grudges,” Liam said. “This is about taking down Earnest once and for all. Destroying his operation. We go in hard, we scoop up whoever’s in there, and we secure them.”
“In the confusion, the girls will be extricated.”
Ben had already explained his contact planned to buy up all of the girls, or just steal them, and then take them to a safe place where they could recover and heal. Transition back to regular society and normal lives. Evidently it was something his contact had done before. The only difference this time was that Nadia would be returned to them.
Liam nodded. “Got your story down?”
Ben produced an innocent face—the same as when they’d been at Tristan’s house. “I had no idea officer. My buddies said it would be fun, but then they brought the first girl out, and I realized what this place is. Then gunmen stormed in. They tied everyone up and took the girls. I have no idea who they were. I swear.” There was a tinge of high school girl in the last word, but other than that it was flawless.
“You’re good. I’ll give you that,” Liam said.
“Of course I am.” Ben almost smiled.
“Awesome.” Bolton wanted to shake his head. Like Ben would let himself get caught anyway. “Can we just do this?”
They needed to move in, or someone in the room would end up getting shot. A cat fight among armed men wasn’t going to end up with anything less than walls covered with blood spatter and uncomfortable questions asked of anyone who was still alive at the end of it.
“Let’s move,” Shadrach trailed out.
One of the tactical guys stared at him as he did. “Isn’t that the guy everyone thought shot the president?”
Liam turned to Bolton. “Interesting company you keep now.”
Bolton shrugged. “More interesting than being dead.”
**
Shadrach secured his mask. He readied the weapon and then fired the canister of gas into the main auditorium of the small, abandoned theater. Canisters flew into the open room from all four corners and dispersed tear gas into the room.
Shad dropped the weapon and pulled his guns. He strode down the aisle, arms extended out in front of him, firing the second he spotted a gun being pulled by anyone sitting in one of the rows. The sound of his own inhale and exhale echoed in the mask like Darth Vader breathing. It would have been comical if he hadn’t already shot out four knee caps, two shoulders, and a gun-hand. When the confusion settled, they started tying everyone up.
Lame. It wasn’t like anyone would miss these guys.
Within minutes the room had been secured.
“He’s not here.” Liam’s voice echoed in his earpiece. “Earnest isn’t here.”
Dante wasn’t here, either, by the looks of it. Bolton was out of luck if he wanted to confront the man. What was Dante’s plan? He was off now doing something else. But what?
“The girls have been secured.” That was Ben. “I’ve got a couple of goons down back here, and I took care of the other two. She got them out. I’ll find Earnest.”
“Okay,” Liam answer. “Let’s clear out.”
She?
Shadrach detoured to the back of the stage. Nothing had been left behind. It would be near impossible to prove what had gone on here tonight. Some kind of business, but he doubted the police would be able to figure out what. There was little evidence they’d been here to purchase girls.
One of the tactical guys strode across the backstage area toward him. Shadrach lifted his chin and removed his mask since the gas hadn’t reached back here. Once it was off he could hear the moaning from the auditorium.
The man came closer.
“Time to head out, I—”
Gun.
The spark of powder igniting flashed in front of him, and Shadrach hit the floor on his back, pain like a lance in his chest. Armor piercing round.
With his free hand the man lifted the black mask from his face. Long hair, not one of the tactical team. Was it one of Dante’s men?
Shadrach clutched his radio with sticky fingers. “I…” He couldn’t catch enough breath to speak.
This was how he was going to die? Put down by someone who didn’t care about him at all? He’d figured a vendetta owed would be his demise. There were enough people in the world who had a price put on Shadrach’s head that one of them would come calling. But this? Not what he’d imagined. Bolton was going to owe him big time. Again.
The man had better not rest until Nadia Marie was found. Then he had to make sure Dauntless was taken care of. Otherwise Shadrach wouldn’t let the man rest. Even after he was dead he’d make Bolton’s life a misery. Somehow.
The gunman aimed the again, this time at Shadrach’s face. He shut his eyes. So long world.
“Don’t even think about it!” Bolton’s voice echoed.
Shadrach’s eyes flew open.
The man lifted his gaze beyond where he lay. “The fallout of your actions will be catastrophic. Unless you tell us where the cache is.”
“I have nothing for Dante.”
A gun fired, and Shadrach blacked out.
**
Nadia Marie sat on a bench seat in the bus station. She wrapped the trench coat tighter around her and eyed anyone who tried to come near. She didn’t even want anyone looking at her right now, let alone getting close enough to touch. Exposed, out in the open. She was in public when she’d rather have been alone in private, but at least it was safe here.
The giant clock on the wall had just ticked past two-thirteen in the morning when she heard Dauntless bark. The dog crossed the room in his service vest, skirted a homeless man and ducked under a table to reach her. He sat by her knee, his body weight a comforting push against her leg.
Nadia closed her eyes.
“She doesn’t look good.” Ben’s voice preceded footsteps that stopped several feet from her.
She wanted to scratch the back of Dauntless’s neck, but she couldn’t let go of the coat. Not just yet. Instead, she opened her eyes.
Bolton and Ben. Where was Shadrach? He should be with his dog.
“He got
hurt in the raid,” Ben said in answer to her unspoken question. “I’ll take you to him whenever you’re ready.”
Nadia nodded. Shadrach. How bad was it?
She couldn’t look at Bolton. She couldn’t see that look in his eyes or the question on his face. He didn’t want to know the details of the past twenty-four hours of her life, and if he was any kind of friend he would realize that and not ask her one question. Freaked out. Scared down to her bones. She hadn’t been touched—much—but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been horrible.
Not even rescue had been a pleasant experience, given it had been undertaken as a purchase—of her. Nadia’s “owner” had brought all the girls to a truck and loaded them in. To their confusion, inside had been blankets, snacks, water, clothes. Everything, down to socks and the sneakers she rubbed together now. But she was still frozen to her middle.
She needed coffee, only there had been no time when she was driven a few blocks away and released from the truck. The woman who “purchased” her had given her the coat she’d been wearing and told her where to wait.
“Is she a friend of yours?” Nadia winced at the sound of her own voice. Raspy and brittle, but not broken.
Ben nodded.
Nadia motioned with her head to the envelope on the chair beside her. “She said to give you that.”
Ben took the package, slow enough she could track his every movement. She hadn’t been raped, although she had figured it would be soon coming. Still, her foray in the world of sex trafficking wasn’t going to leave her any time soon.
“She’s good at what she does.” Ben retreated to a seat across from her. Far enough away she felt some assurance of privacy, but she doubted it was more than an illusion. He could probably hear every word.
Dante had handed her over to lose everything she knew about herself in the process of becoming someone else’s property. She never wanted to feel that way again, and at the same time her heart screamed at the thought of those whose whole lives were spent like that. If she had any energy, she’d figure out what to do about it. At least the girls she had been locked up with tonight were free now.
Sanctuary Deceived WITSEC Town Series Book 4 Page 16