We're a convoy of violence—three black trucks and eight motorcycles, moving with grim purpose through the Florida afternoon.
I'm in the lead truck with Runes and Tor, studying the satellite imagery on a tablet, memorizing every detail of the property.
The main house is two stories, probably four or five rooms on each floor.
The barn is behind it, big enough to hold a dozen people.
There's a smaller outbuilding to the east that Tor thinks might be a guard station or equipment shed.
"She'll be in the barn," Tor says. "Or the basement of the main house. Freya always kept her... merchandise... separate from living quarters."
I hate that word. Merchandise.
Like the women she trafficked were products, not people.
"How many guards can we expect?" Runes asks.
"Hard to say. Freya usually had six to eight men on a property this size. But Solveig's been building her operation for years. Could be more."
"We have twenty," I say. "Better odds than most of the fights I've been in."
"You Brotherhood boys and your 'better odds.'" Tor shakes his head, but there's a ghost of a smile on his face. "All right. Let's go over the approach one more time."
We plan and re-plan, working through scenarios, identifying contingencies.
It's what I'm trained for—tactical assessment, strategic thinking, violence.
But underneath the soldier's calm, something feral is pacing.
Hold on, Dalla. I'm coming.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dalla
I wake up to the smell of dust and old wood.
My head is pounding—a deep, throbbing ache that pulses behind my eyes with every heartbeat.
My mouth tastes like chemicals, that sweet, cloying residue of chloroform coating my tongue.
My thoughts are sluggish, fragmented, trying to piece together how I got here.
The café. The woman. The lost little girl.
There was no little girl.
When I try to move, I realize I can't.
My wrists are bound to the arms of a chair.
My ankles are tied to the legs.
The rope is rough against my skin, tight enough to bite but not tight enough to cut off circulation.
Whoever tied me knew what they were doing.
Knew how to restrain someone without causing permanent damage.
