From what Reid could tell, each property was registered to a different owner. One was a shipping yard in LA, another was a housing complex in New York, while the last was a farm in Arizona.
Once they got close to the farm, they decided to park the truck and cut across a field with thick vegetation to help conceal their approach.
They didn’t want to draw any attention since they had no idea what they were walking into.
As they continued to sneak across the property, they watched as dozens of workers tended to the rows of vegetables waiting to be harvested. There were patches of lettuce and carrots, as well as what appeared to be potatoes.
“Perhaps they are foreign workers? Being smuggled in and working the season for cash money?” Simon asked, taking in the mixture of people who lined the rows of vegetation.
“Perhaps. Or maybe they’re being trafficked? Free labor? Given that this address was located on this group’s laptop, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were trafficking in people and forcing them to work the fields to pay off their debts. Modern-day slavery, they call it,” Reid explained, glancing between Simon and Niko.
“So we can go down there now and bust in some heads?” Niko asked, pulling out a set of brass knuckles from the inner lining of his jacket.
Reid’s eyes went wide.
“Wh-where the heck did you get those?”
Niko snapped his head toward Reid. “What? These?” Niko asked, holding up the metal jewelry.
“Yes! Do you always walk around with weapons in your pockets?”
“I’ve got a semiautomatic and a knife if you want?” Niko said, pulling out a gun from the back of his jeans and offering it to Reid. “I prefer ‘Betty and Sue’,” he said, referring to the brass knuckles he held in his other hand. “There is something about feeling a man’s jaw crunch beneath your fist that just makes me feel soo…”
Reid’s mouth dropped open as he stared at the crazy Russian.
“Hey, the world is crazy. You need to have protection on you at all times,” Niko explained with a huff.
Who was this guy?
“No, Dr. Evil! That’s not how we do things around here,” Reid scolded in a hushed voice. He pushed the gun back toward Nikolai. “We investigate first and try to figure out if a crime is even being committed. Right now, we only know that this farm is mentioned on a criminal’s laptop. We don’t know anything else. Plus, we are trying to bring down the organization, not just arrest one or two low-level thugs simply carrying out orders.”
Niko looked disappointed as he slipped the gun back into his jacket and began removing his brass knuckles.
“Also, since when did you start using brass knuckles?” Reid asked, wondering when his best friend suddenly turned into Rambo.
“Around the time that I began boxing.”
What?That explained how Niko was still able to rock such a fucking hot body.
Shaking his head, Reid turned his attention back to Simon.
“I’ll have the guys dig into the background of the farm, see what they can find out, including where they are getting their workers,” Simon explained. He discreetly lifted his phone and took a few pictures of the farm and its workers.
Seeing the rows of people hunched over and on their knees made Reid want to hit someone. Taking advantage of someone who wasn’t from this country or able to speak up for themselves was despicable.
If his suspicions were correct, and these people had been trafficked, he would find those responsible and make sure that they got what they deserved.
Realizing there wasn’t much more they could do today without tipping people off, Reid decided to call it a night.
“Shall we head back?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a long drive back to LA, and the wife is already pissed at me,” Simon noted.
“Do I want to know what you did this time?”
“Apparently, I breathed the wrong way.”
“More likely, you forgot your anniversary or didn’t notice her new haircut. I’d start there and see where that leads.” Reid chuckled as they headed back to the truck.
