“I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner.”
He sat up on the sofa, the cloth falling into his lap. “You did exactly right. The stun gun threw me. I wasn’t expecting that. Even after they dragged me into the storeroom, I figured I could find a way to take them down. I wasn’t really worried because...”
“Because...?”
“Because I knew you had my back.”
“You mean Reese.”
His expression darkened, turned almost fierce. “I mean you.”
Warmth spread through her. She thought of the decision she had made and that she had been right to go in. “I did what I thought was best.”
“Reese said your instincts were spot-on.”
She shrugged. “I guess I’m starting to know how you think. I knew you would have found a way to get word to us if you could have.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner, Kate.”
Her heart squeezed. They were good together in a lot of different ways. She wished Jason could see that.
“We didn’t call the cops. Are you feeling up to telling me why not?”
He leaned back and closed his eyes, replaced the cold cloth on his forehead. “Because if we had, they would have raided Paradise Massage, but the other locations would just close up shop and move somewhere else. The only way we’re going to stop these guys is to find the men at the top.”
“What about the girls?”
He sat up again, set the cloth on the end table. “From what I saw, most of them were lifers. Probably been arrested for soliciting half a dozen times. A girl named Eve was marked with the lipstick tattoo. She was definitely a victim. With any luck, we’ll get her out of there soon.”
Kate hoped so. She couldn’t help thinking of her sister and what she had suffered.
“The thing is, Eve said they sold young girls,” Jase continued. “They’re high-end product, and they keep them at a different location. If they’ve got Callie Spencer, that’s where she’ll be. We find the men at the top, we get those girls out, too. And once the men are locked up, we don’t have to keep looking over our shoulders for someone trying to shoot us.”
He was right. Waiting was their best chance of success and their only real option if they wanted to stay alive. “So how do we find them?”
“Duff said Harlan Burke makes a cash run to Dallas every Tuesday. We follow Burke and he’ll lead us to the guys up the ladder. One more rung closer to the top.”
“You think Duff will actually keep quiet?”
“Los Besos plays for keeps. Duff knows that. Good ol’ Marv is going to convince them I was just some guy, not a cop and not any kind of threat to them. He’s got no choice—if he wants to live.”
“So you think Burke will make the cash run.”
“Why not? The cops aren’t going to show up because we didn’t call them. I think Burke will keep doing his job. If he makes a run to Dallas, we’ll follow him, get the info we need.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“You dumb fuck. I give you a simple task and you botch it.” Harlan Burke sat across from Marvin Duff in the downstairs office at Paradise Massage the following morning.
“I told you—the guy got hold of my stun gun. You saw what a big bastard he was. He zapped me, left me half dazed, tied me up and got away.”
“You said he wasn’t a cop.”
“That’s what he said. Cops never showed up, so he must have been telling the truth.”
“So what the hell was he doing here?”
“Said he just wanted some company. Said he got his rocks off just talking to a hooker. We get guys like that once in a while, just want some female attention.”
