“I’ll take it over to my guy first thing in the morning,” Bree says.
“Have we made any headway with the men guarding the building where Chad is being held?” Ash asks.
Mention of his name has me grinding my teeth. I hate admitting I’m wrong, and nobody can convince me Chad didn’t suspect his dad was up to something shady, but I believe Ash and Jase when they say he wasn’t involved in the trafficking. Doesn’t mean I like the dude or we’ll be holding hands around the campfire any time soon.
“We have an in,” Bree confirms. “Our team found some dirt on one of the guys, and we can use it to our advantage. The good news is, he’s on the roster for tomorrow night.”
“Yes!” Ash leans her head on Jase’s shoulder. “Thank God.”
“Is he on shift tonight?” Jase asks Bree.
“No. They alternate days and nights. Weeks where they are on nights, they do one day on, one day off.”
“Good.” Jase lifts Ash off his lap, placing her down on mine. “I’m going to grab a few guys and pay him a visit tonight.”
“It’s after midnight,” Ash says as she snuggles into me. The scent of her perfume seeps into my pores like a magic potion, adhering to my skin and calling to me like an enchantress. My arms automatically band around her, and I hold her close, pressing my nose to her hair, inhaling the peachy smell with hints of vanilla.
Jase smirks, and I glare at him.
“This needs to happen now. I have that meeting with Dad in the morning, and then we need to plan a strategy for tomorrow night. We don’t have time to waste.”
“Hold tight for a sec, PC2.” Bree closes her laptop and sets it down on the coffee table. “I have something I need to tell you all.” She sits sideways, tucked into the end of the couch, toying with strands of her long blue hair.
Jase sits back down, giving her his full attention.
“You need to know what happened in South America, and I think it could be connected.”
“We’re listening.” Ash sits up a little straighter in my lap. Her arms curl around my neck, and she tucks her knees up closer. I cling to her like she’s the oxygen I need to breathe, and it’s troubling.
What is this girl doing to me?
Why am I falling harder when I should be pushing her away?
Bree clears her throat and starts explaining. “When I was in South America, I worked for a time at a rape support center. One day, this young girl came in, screaming hysterically that her friend was in danger, and she needed help. When we eventually calmed her down enough so she could explain, she told us her friend had gone to meet an American man who promised her she could be a model in the US.”
Goose bumps sprout on my arms, and I have a sixth sense what she’s going to tell uswillmake a difference.
“This girl had a bad feeling about it. She’d read about other young girls going missing from the area and she smelled a rat when the man told her not to tell her parents. She begged her friend not to go, and she promised she wouldn’t, but she lied. As soon as the girl found out, she tried to tell the girl’s parents, but they were at work, and she couldn’t reach them, so she came to us for help.”
“Shit.” Ash shivers in my arms. “I’m guessing this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”
“It doesn’t.” Bree gulps before wrapping her arms around herself.
“The girl knew where she was meeting him, so we got a crew of eight together, and we went after them.” Bree drinks from her water, her hands shaking so badly it’s a miracle she doesn’t spill it. “The guys we were with were local vigilantes. They told stories on our way there. This wasn’t anything unusual for them. It happened all the time.” Her voice wobbles, and her lower lip trembles.
My heart thuds painfully against my rib cage, thinking of all the Liliannas out there.
Jase slides over beside his sister, circling his arm around her shoulders. “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”
“No judgment,” Ash adds. “You were trying to do a good thing. If it went wrong, that’s not on you.”
Bree draws in a sharp breath before continuing. “When we got to the location, it was an old factory building in a remote part of town. We heard screaming and crying, and the guys rushed in without hesitation. I entered the building in time to see the doors closing on a large van. There were at least ten young girls inside. Gunfire broke out, and it was a free-for-all. I tried running around the edge of the building, hoping I could shoot out the tires and stop the van from leaving, but I didn’t make it in time. The van got away. At that exact moment, a man crept up behind me, and we fought. He had me pinned from behind, but I managed to stab him in his thigh and push him away. I turned around and shot him, riddling him with bullets until he fell to the ground. By then, the gunfire had stopped all around me. We had lost one man but taken out five kidnappers. Two got away with the van.”
Jase hugs his sister as she shakes. “The vigilantes were checking through pockets, looking for wallets and IDs to dispose of separately before they burned the bodies. That’s when I saw it.” Her face pales. “The guy I had killed had the Luminary branding on his upper arm.”
“You think it was a sting operation?” Jase asks.
Bree shrugs. “I don’t know what to think. I know this is what Lust & Envy does. I know we have teams in the field who set up situations to trap these perverts, but it was happening all the time, Jase.” She looks up at her brother. “If they were there to stop it, why hadn’t it stopped?”
