The SUV jerked to a stop in front of yet another dance hall and I stared up at it, fury rolling off me.I didn’t want to be here.I wanted to be at home making a plan for how we were going to get to Brooks tomorrow before she shipped out.But the moment I got back to the mansion, Daniel had come running out with more new information.
He’d hacked into the port’s records and everything had been updated.The schedule we thought we knew was now gone, and nothing had replaced it.Currently, it looked like nothing was set to ship out at any time in the next week.Which was wrong, if we believed the records I downloaded at the first dance hall, and the timeline we thought we knew.
But without a confirmation for what time ships were leaving port tomorrow, we had no way of knowing where to look for Brooks.Or when to arrive.Hell, this had me doubting that they were going to ship girls out at all.Maybe they got wind of the fact that we were on their trail and were going to try to stop them, and decided to go a different direction.
In the end, we decided to go with the with one aspect we knew of: the auctions happening at the dance halls.We had a list of other halls involved, courtesy of that first set of data, and quickly decided on a new one so I wasn’t returning to the scene of the crime.I already broke into the first dance hall, and if there were cameras in that building they’d be looking for me.
At a new one, they might know about me yet.
“You’re sure this is the one you want?”Daniel asked from the driver’s seat.
“Positive.You said they were taking Brooks to Canal Street, and this is the only other dance hall they have in this neighborhood.”
Daniel huffs.“Are you here to figure out what’s going on in this ring?Or just here for the girl?”
I grind my teeth together at the question, because he knows the answer just as well as I do.
“I’m here for Brooks,” I snap.“The ring can wait.”
“What about the other girls?”
Instead of answering, I shove the door open and get out of the car, checking my holsters for my knives and guns.I have everything but a plan, and that makes me nervous.I never do anything without a plan, and certainly nothing this big, but I don’t see a way around it.As far as we know, the auction has already started here, and that means we don’t have a lot of time to get in there and start searching.I need to get to another computer to see if the smugglers have updated their list of girls, and I need someone at the auction, making sure Brooks isn’t one of the girls being sold off.
Yes, I’m here to stop the smuggling ring.I’ll do whatever it takes to close this thing down.
But I want Brooks out of here first.And I’m not willing to be flexible on that point.
My men gather behind me, each of them armed and ready, and we run for the back of the hall.We’re going in hot, but we still want to be hidden.If we can get in and out and get the information we need without them discovering us, that will be ideal.
We may be acting like the New York mafia right now, all blazing guns and flashy watches, but that doesn’t mean I want to make as much noise as those New Yorkers do.I want to get in and get out, and then find my girl.I’m not willing to risk her for one more second.She’s already been in this situation for too long, and I have no idea what’s fucking happened to her since I last saw her.I’m caught between anger at her for going and anger at myself for letting her, and underneath all that is the simmering, long-standing frustration that I ever let her go in the first place.I should have chased after her when she left me, instead of being prideful and stubborn and bitter.I could have brought her home if I’d known what she was so upset about.I could have explained everything to her.
Instead, she moved to New York and found those lunatic friends, who taught her how to try to handle everything on her own.Brooks became that New York mafia.The loud, reckless ones who don’t think anything bad can happen to them.
Which is how we find ourselves in this position.Another one of her stupid, dangerous ideas.
“Carlos, you go up front,” I hiss as we run down the alley.“Get into that auction.Watch for Brooks.If you see her, bid on her.I don’t care how much it costs.I’ll pay the bill.”
The man–one of my oldest and most loyal–doesn’t ask questions.He peels off from the group and sprints back the way we came.I breathe out a bit at that.I trust the man, and know he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Brooks safe.If she’s here.If she’s even in the auction rather than waiting to be shipped out.
The problem is I don’t know.
I hate not knowing.
The rest of us sprint down the alley, looking for a door into the dance hall, and come to a stop when we find one.It looks the same as the door in the other building, and I wonder if all dance halls have the same basic layout.That would be extremely convenient.
So would finding this door unlocked.
It’s not, but I learned how to pick locks when I was about five and wanted to be able to get into the pantry at all times of night.My father had found out about it and started locking the pantry, so I went to my uncle and asked him to teach me how to pick locks.He’d thought it was charming, as I was only five, and hadn’t thought I had any plans to actually use the skill.
More fool, he.
The lock takes me about thirty seconds and then we’re through the door and into the building.I don’t know if all dance halls have the same layout, but this one is similar enough to the other for me to feel like I know exactly where I am.I look one way, then another, and then dash for the steps, taking them two at a time and heading for the third floor.
Behind me, I can hear Daniel on the phone, breathing hard as he listens to someone.
“Right,” he finally says, and hangs up.
“What’s going on?”I ask.
