“We went to the harbor and split up. It didn’t take long for Hawkeye and Tats to eavesdrop on the location of a warehouse because Colt did some shit with their phones. They stayed there to continue searching.” Pax taps on the circles on the map and points to the waterfront next to it.
“We found a ship,” Tats continues. “We need to monitor it. They loaded some kind of cargo, but we can’t say for sure what it was. Darkness and strategically placed security prevented us from seeing clearly. We now know how the security works and what the corresponding schedules are.”
Tats slumps onto the sofa. Clearly, that’s all he has to say, but I don’t understand. Is this everything?
“We have a suspicion,” Pax continues. “There were two trucks. One at the port where they were unloading and one a little further down the road, with only one guard.” The cigarettebetween his fingers turning back and forth. “It sounded like there were people in that truck,” he whispers. “But we saw nothing.” When he looks up at me, I see so much emotion in his eyes that I almost stumble backward. It’s something I’m not familiar with from Paxton. Usually, his gaze is cool and calculating.
Meanwhile, Brooks hasn’t said a thing this whole time, nor have I. All we can do is listen to what the guys have discovered.
“We went to the storage facility that Tats had heard the location of.” Ash stares at his fingers and swallows visibly. “I slipped inside. Those fucking guards sat on lawn chairs in front of the wooden shed and didn’t notice a thing.”
Ash runs his hand over his blond scruff only to lower it and lean his elbows on his leg.
“Inside there were—Fuck, Ky. There were about fifteen cages. Blankets on the floor, something that looked like straw. Buckets in the corner.”
“Human trafficking,” Brooks whispers.
“That’s what we think,” Tats responds. It’s the first thing he says. “We don’t have any hard evidence.”
“But those cages…” I start.
“Were empty,” Ash finishes my sentence. “We didn’t see anyone there. The guards were probably just there so no one would discover the place. Which obviously failed.”
I bang my fist on the table. “Goddamn it.” Looking up at Pax, I say, “You heard them.”
“That’s not hard evidence and you know it. Then again, what do you want to do? Go up to them and say, 'that’s a bit out of line'?” A humorless laugh comes out of his mouth. “Fuck off, Ky. We have to go to Dad with this. This is a club thing. We can’t solve this on our own and you know it. The only reason we’re telling this to you and Brooks first is because you asked us andwe want to give you all the info, so you’re prepared in front of the prez.”
I bang my fist on the table again. “We can say with ninety-nine percent certainty that Hayes probably found out about this, and it’s the reason he got killed.”
Tats mutters, “Just say a hundred. If this was part of the accounting he was doing for Vanderberg—The guy probably doesn’t want loose ends and Hayes was—”
“A loose end,” Brooks finishes.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I get up, fold my arms behind my head, and turn my eyes toward the ceiling. “We have to go to Dad.”
I storm at the door. Not that anyone can hear it since I’m wearing my heart-patterned socks. Angrily, I pull open the door and shove my feet into my boots.
“Hurry up,” I shout at the others.
After I tie my boots, I pull my phone out of my pocket, and find my father’s name. The others are putting on their shoes when he answers.
“Church, now,” I grumble.
“Kyler, I’m the one who—”
“Not now, Dad. This is important. Church. We’ll be there in about five minutes.
“This better be good,” Dad grumbles when we’re all seated and the door’s closed. With a shake of his head, Kai surveys the table, his expression suggesting we’re a bunch of unruly toddlers.
Colt lays the map out on the table, opens it, and points at the black circles. Then they tell the rest of the MC the story I just heard from Pax.
When they’re finished, Kai gives me a dirty look. “Seriously? You went solo on this?”
“I didn’t think they’d find something, thought it’d be a dead end. After Koslov, we figured we’d check it out. I didn’t know—”
“This is club business,” Dad thunders.
“Dad, Ky just wanted to check if the info was legit. He didn’t think we’d run into something. We were simply checking it out to get a lay of the land.” My gaze shifts to Pax and I nod almost imperceptibly.
