Then I realize that I might have a way of finding out.
“Do we have his phone?”I ask, spinning to look at Daniel.
He cocks his head, but then pulls the phone out of his pocket.“I doubt he has numbers for anyone saved in here, boss,” he says, handing it to me.“No one in their right mind would save something like that.”
“I don’t need numbers,” I say holding the phone up to James’ face to unlock it.“Take a picture of his face.Close as you can get.”I turn away from the dead man, my fingers busy on the phone as I open up the settings and go to his GPS history.If this guy is in the ring and is as important as Simon claims, he’ll have been to some important locations.Including, I hope, the distribution centers where they’re holding the girls.
I might be able to find Brooks without having to kill anyone else.
Though I’ll kill an entire army if I have to.
I’ll kill anyone who gets in between me and my girl, and I’ll do it so fast they don’t even see it coming.
“What do you have, boss?”Daniel asks.
“His GPS history.We’re about to do a tour of the city and figure out where their distribution centers are.”
True, the GPS locations might not be as specific as I’d like, but they’ll give me a place to start searching.And I’ve known this town a long time.If I can get into the right neighborhoods, I’ll find people there to help me.
By hook or by crook.By threats or by money.
I don’t care.
“Gear up,” I say.“We’ve got a couple days.And I want her out.”
Brooks
The room is everything you’d expect from a smuggling ring, and yet the opposite of what I’ve experienced up to this point.For the last twenty-four hours—from what I can tell—we’ve been held in dark, dank cells that I believe must be underground.Under a lake or river, potentially, given how much moisture there is down there.My skin is sticky and saturated, my lungs heavy, and I feel like I’ve been underwater for the last day.Without adequate oxygen.
A couple hours ago, half the girls in that underground dungeon were gathered up and moved, though, including both Kate and me, and now we find ourselves in what looks like a 70s-style whore house.Not that I know what that looked like.But if I had to guess, this is what I’d think.Velvet-lined walls, chaise lounges, lots of beading and tassels.The place even has shag carpeting.At least I think that’s what this is.It’s not brighter, per se, because the colors and fabric are all so heavy.
But it’s easier to breathe.
Or it would be if I didn’t feel like this was some sort of escalation.I just didn’t know what we were staging for.Yet.
“What do you think this place is?”Kate asks from her place next to me against the wall.
“I have absolutely no idea,” I answer.“But I don’t like it.”
“Right,” Kate murmurs.
She eyes the crowd of girls in front of us, all of them milling around with hopeless, vacant looks on their faces, and shakes her head.“They look like zombies.”
“Hard to blame them,” I reply.“They’ve been through hell and back already, and don’t have any way out.And these aren’t exactly girls who’ve been taught to fend for themselves.”
It’s one of the things I noticed right away, and something that makes me think the organizers of this ring are even smarter than we realized.These aren’t just rich, entitled girls, being sold to the highest bidder and then dangled out in public so their family has to see them being used as toys.These are girls who’ve never had to do anything for themselves.They don’t know how to shop or clean the house on their own, and they sure as hell don’t know how to defend themselves.
In short, when kidnapped and put into a stressful situation, they don’t know how to react because they don’t have the right tools.Instead, they shut down and become pliant.And that plays right into their kidnappers’ hands.
A man walks by and shoves two paper cups at Kate and me, barking that it’s time to take our medicine, and this has become nearly as routine as the rest of the girls wandering aimlessly through whatever room we’re in.
Kate and I don’t fit the mold.We’re not walking around like we’ve already died, nor are we following orders as seamlessly as the girls.We’re talking back.Telling them no.
Actively planning a rebellion.
And as such, they’ve started trying to drug us.
It’s not working, of course.
