And not dirty in a good, playful sort of way.
I feel as though I’ve been doused in oil and then dusted with dirt that will never come off.I thought I was relatively jaded to the crime of life but this...I don’t want this in my head.I want to bleach my brain of the knowledge.
And Brooks is in this ring.
My thoughts catch on that, and I suddenly wonder.An auction?They’re auctioning the girls off?Does that mean they don’t actually ship them anywhere?We were so sure there was an actual smuggling aspect to this, via ship, that we’ve been focusing on that over and above anything else, and I was sure we knew what we were doing.
But now I’m doubting myself.We don’t actually have proof of any shipments.Just circumstantial evidence that we might have been forcing into our suspicions.Did we waste all that time at the docks, tracking ships, for an operation that only functions in the city?Do they only do auctions?
Has this been right in front of my face the entire time?
Once a week, that girl said, and the guard said the place is closed tonight.That must mean there’s an auction happening.The only auction this week.And we’re within the window of a group of girls being shipped out.Or, as it happens, sold to the highest bidder.
If that timeline is true, and if our suspicions are correct, that means Aislyn’s group should be on the block tonight.Literally.
And if they put Brooks in the same group, she’ll be here, too.
If she’s still alive.If she hasn’t done anything stupid.The tracking device I gave her hasn’t been working since they took her, and I don’t know what to make of that.There’s a chance the device just didn’t work–it was a new version of tech–but there’s also a chance they found it when they first kidnapped her.They would have been searching her for weapons, and if they had something that could pick up on tech embedded in a hair tie…
If they found it, they might have killed her for having something like that.
Devils, I could have gotten her killed by trying to protect her.Fuck, fuck, fuck.I turn and start pacing, willing my brain to come up with something useful.Why the fuck did I let her go in there without a plan to get her back out again?Why didn’t I tell her she couldn’t go?
Why the ever-loving fuck hadn’t I done more to protect her?
Because you didn’t think you had that right, a voice in my head says.
I close my eyes.The voice is right; I didn’t think I had the right, at the time, because she told me I didn’t.She flat out demanded that I stay out of her business and let her do what she was going to do, and because I’m an absolute idiot, I didn’t push her on it.
I wanted to figure out what was going on, and she had the only good plan in the room.So I sat back and let it happen.
And now Brooks might be dead because of it.
Well, she doesn’t get a say in the matter anymore, and that’s all there is to it.She’s not here.She doesn’t get to tell me to stay out of her business.I’ve spent much of my life involved with that girl, and that has to count for something.
And I don’t care if it doesn’t.She’s mine, and I’m not going to let some fucking trafficker sell her to another man.
“What’s the move, boss?”Daniel asks suddenly, startling me out of my thoughts.
I open my eyes and look up at the dance hall.“We’re coming back after dark.The place opens at 9.I want to be inside at 8.I need to know what the fuck is going on here.And get Brooks out before they try to sell her to some asshole politician.”
And Satan help them if they’d already sold her.
Because I’ll tear the city apart finding her again.And then I’d kill everyone who’d ever laid a hand on her.
***
The thought is still with me hours later, when we creep through the darkness of an alley off Canal Street, looking for a way into the building.I brought several men with me, but none of my own.These are freelancers.Men outside the law who can’t be tied back to me if they’re found.
I still haven’t told my father what I’m doing, and my own men being apprehended would get me into a world of trouble.
I go through the plan again, feeling off-balance without Daniel here.The man is a genius when it comes to brainstorming, and I almost always discuss plans out loud with him when we’re on our way in, to make sure I haven’t missed anything.
I feel as though I’m trying to walk with one fucking leg.
But I can’t afford to lose him.If tonight goes wrong, I need him to keep searching for Brooks.We’re so close to the end of our timeline that I can hardly stand it, and I’m keenly aware that I might lose her at any moment.She might have already left the city.I know the answer to that, of course; even if she has, I’ll find her.I’ll spend the rest of my life tracking her down if I have to.
The way I should have when she left New Orleans the first time.
