I ground my teeth together before replying, "Yes, Dalton is a dancer there."
"I believe Anatoli Brasov owns that place."
Knox's heavy sigh made my heart clench. "Sir?"
"Brasov is bad news, Lancaster. If your friend is mixed up with him, you are headed for a lot of trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"The sex-slave industry kind of trouble."
I swallowed tightly. "He told me his boss was going to sell him."
"That would be my bet."
"Dalton told me something. Hold on." I quickly looked back through the messages Dalton had sent me. "He said that Brasov was going to sell him to some rich guy tomorrow."
"Then we need to get him today. Come up to the penthouse. I'll call Crosby, Burke, and the Russians and have them meet us here. Between all of us, I'm sure we can come up with a plan to rescue your friend."
My shoulders slumped with relief. "Thank you, sir."
I hung up on Knox and then sent out a quick text to Dalton that I was getting some backup but I would be coming for him. I also told him to let me know if they tried to move him at all. I'd kind of need to know that if I planned to rescue him.
As soon as I was done with that, I got dressed, grabbed my jacket, wallet, and cell phone, and then raced out the door. Waiting for the elevator to reach my floor and then take me up to the penthouse was an effort in frustration. Everything seemed to be moving slower today.
I always thought that the top floor of the Silver Building was done interestingly. The elevators let me out into a small lobby. From there, I was faced with three doors. One led to Colton Knox's penthouse, one led to Alexander Burke's, and one led to Decker Crosby's place. And all three penthouses had walls that retracted to make them one large place when they were entertaining.
I walked over and knocked on Knox's door. A moment later, it was opened by an older man dressed smartly in a dark suit. "Good morning, Jerome."
"Good morning, sir." He stood back to allow me in. "Mr. Knox is expecting you."
"Thank you."
"Everyone is waiting in the dining room, sir. Mary has provided pastries and coffee."
Mary, the cook and housekeeper that worked for the three billionaires, was a godsend. I headed for the dining room...and coffee. A lot of coffee. I was pretty sure I was going to need a cup, or twenty.
"Morning, sirs." I nodded to each of my bosses and then shook the hands of the three Russian brothers who worked their security. "I really appreciate you all dropping everything to help me."
Burke had a little squint in his eyes as he asked, "Knox said you had a friend who was being held against his will?"
"Yes, sir. Dalton works nights, so he usually messages me in the morning after he gets off work. When he texted me this morning, he said his boss had drugged him and tossed him into some hidden room in his office. He said the guy was planning to sell him to some rich guy tomorrow."
Burke's eyebrows lifted. "His boss is into the sex-slave trade?"
"His name is Anatoli Brasov," Knox explained. "We've dealt with him before."
"When?" Burke demanded.
"His name came up during the investigation into Mr. Crosby's mother and the senator, sir," Ivan Zhukov said. "We couldn't find any direct link so we didn't pursue that line of investigation."
Burke grimaced. "Fucking perfect."
"I'll get our new computer guy on it, sir," Ivan's brother, Sergei, said. "If there's dirt to be found, he'll find it."
"Yes, do that," Knox said. "But I also want him to find me a complete blueprint of The Refectory down on Tenth Street and any other information he can get me about that club. The better informed we are, the better chance we have of pulling this off."
I frowned. "Pulling what off, sir?"
