Daniel shifted on the stool, wanting so badly to argue. The idea of getting an omega involved inthisfelt wrong. He hadn’t liked the idea of Felicity even, but she’d at least been a trained agent.
Alison? She might know how to fight, but that didn’t mean she’d understand the risks.
But what other choice do we have?
“Do you know how to get hold of her?” Daniel asked, refusing to commit to the plan just yet.
Tiffany shook her head. “I asked around a few weeks ago, but she’s completely off the map. She was really secretive already, and if she’s doing what it sounds like she’s doing, she probably didn’t want to risk anyone else, thus the no contact.”
“So you don’t know anything?”
“She hasn’t been back to her cabin that I know of—we drove up there a while back and there’s no sign of life. Where else she lives or stays, I really don’t know. She’s always really private.”
Daniel thought back to the cabin, the one he’d asked the alphas about on the day he’d gone up there to get Tiffany. It seemed he’d been circling around this Alison for a while without realizing it.
Daniel and Kyle said their goodbyes and thanked Tiffany, Kane, Marshall and Kieran for the hospitality.
“You know what we have to do,” Kyle said. He was always the practical one, the one willing to admit to things Daniel didn’t like to.
“He’s already too involved.”
“Yeah, but that’s the thing. Those same scouts saw him with us. If we’re really going to do this, we need him. Plus, he knows the area. If anyone can figure out where she is, it’s Trent.”
Daniel tightened his lips into a thin line, hating the entire idea. Trent couldn’t be trusted and in Daniel’s world, that was a hard limit.
Still, he couldn’t come up with a better option.
“Fine,” Daniel snarled. “Because dealing with him once wasn’t quite frustrating enough, let’s go see Trent.”
* * * *
Trent couldn’t believe his ears. If he hadn’t been the sort to avoid drugs and alcohol, he’d have said he had to be high, because there was no way Kyle and Daniel were standing in his gym asking him for a favor.
He crossed his arms, about half-a-second from kicking their asses out. It was what they’d have done if he’d ever showed up at their job.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
Kyle snorted, but his smart-ass action didn’t hold the same derisive attitude he probably wanted it to, because he flinched when it aggravated his nose.
Serves him right.
After a short moment, as if he had to collect himself, Kyle continued. “It’s not my first choice either, but we’re out of options.”
“This how far you’ve fallen? All the preaching about good police work and rules, but you’re willing to rest an entire case on an untrained civilian woman and me?” Trent whistled low. “That’s sad.”
Daniel cast his partner a sharp look, but it was one Trent knew just as well.Shut up and let me handle this.Daniel did that a lot, stepping in as if he could clean up the messes of everyone around him. “This is a serious case, Trent.”
“You think they’reallserious. Does that help you sleep at night? Thinking everything you do is for a good cause?”
“What I doisfor a good cause, but I’m serious on this one.”
“Don’t need to hear about it.” Trent turned his back, ready to shut himself in his office until they left. He’d done this with them before. He’d worked with them before. It had all blown up in his face. “I don’t need to go through this bullshit with you two again.”
“We’re going after the last slavery auction in the area,” Kyle said.
Thatstilled Trent’s feet.
Kyle kept going. “If we don’t catch them now, we won’t. They’re packing up, and the next shot we’ll have? Who knows when that will be. They’ve got a lot of omegas going onto the auction block in eight weeks, judging by all those missing in this area, and even if we catch the assholes behind this years from now, those women? They’ll be gone forever.”
