He turns me and shoves me toward the hallway, and I allow myself a secret grin of my own.
I like that he doesn’t like me smelling like other men.
Though I’m not going to look too closely at the reason for that.If I did, I’d have to admit that I might be catching feelings for him.And that is something I can’t afford.
***
By the time I get out of the shower, the apartment has changed from lazy, leather-clad luxury to a war room.The walls are covered with maps and lists, laptops clutter the dining room table, and Lucien has brought in not only Daniel Boniface, but Camille and a few men I don’t recognize.
“What’s going on?”I ask, forcing my mind to kick into gear.
If we’re planning war, I want in.I hate that I’ve left so many girls behind, and I still don’t know where Aislyn is or how we’re going to get her out.
As far as I’m concerned, I may have escaped but my job isn’t done yet.Far from it.
Lucien looks up from where he’s bent over the table, running his finger over a map.“We’ve had news from the inside of the ring.The auctions tonight were disrupted by the cops and the smugglers have changed their schedules.They’ve arranged for more ships than they originally planned, to get rid of the girls that should have gone to auction.The cops have the girls they seized, but that doesn’t account for all of them.And once they’re on those ships…”
“Once they’re on the ships, we lose them,” I say, moving toward him.“So we need to know the names of the ships and when they’re leaving.Then find a way to stop them.”
He smiles a wry, resigned sort of smile.“Exactly.”
I start looking at what they’ve got and immediately see the problem.Manifest after manifest lines the table, but they’re not going to tell us anything.All the ships leaving the New Orleans port are listed on here.Small fishing boats.Large cruise ships.Personal yachts and sailboats and speedboats, taking rich people out for the day or week.There are plenty of shipping vessels, but we don’t have their cargo lists, and even if we did, it we wouldn’t know what they meant.
Smuggling vessels don’t exactly list their true cargo, particularly when they’re transporting human girls.
“We know the original ship though,” I say, remembering what I already know.“The first one.The one that would have…” My voice drops off when I’m unwilling to finish the sentence.
“Would have carried you, yes,” he says, filling in the gap.“But we don’t know what the rest of the ships are named, or when they’re leaving, and I’m worried that the girls who should have been auctioned tonight have already reached their expiration date.The smugglers might not take much time to get them on another ship.Surely they have lists of ships to use in case of emergency.”
I swallow hard at that one.I don’t know the girls who were going to auction tonight very well, but that doesn’t change how much I want to save them.Every single girl in that ring deserves a better chance.
And every single man involved deserves to have his balls cut off and shoved down his throat.
I narrow my eyes, then, catching on two things that don’t make sense.I was so intent on figuring out where we are that I didn’t process them at first.
“Wait.How do you know the auctions were interrupted?Did you leave men there to keep an eye on things?”
He shrugs, but I can see the pride in his face.“I told the cops what was happening.The smugglers had paid them well to stay away, and thought they were protected.Those idiots thought they were safe.They never saw it coming.”
Well that doesn’t make sense.“And the cops raided them even after they were paid not to?”
He goes back to looking at the maps in front of him.“I paid them better.I want those girls safe, and we can’t save them if they’re with fifty different men.I’d rather they all be in one place.”
I stop for a moment, stunned at how casually he’s become a hero, but then carry on.“And how do you know they’ve decided to ship them out?”
“I have a man on the inside.”
This is so surprising that I actually do a double take.“You have what?Since when?How?Who?”
“Simon leBanc.Since about two days ago, though this is the first time he’s given me anything of real value.Well.The second, if you include the manager he turned over to me for… questioning.”
My mind is reeling with all this new information, but I stick on one particular point.“Simon leBanc?The outlaw?You know you can’t trust him.”I might not know much about New Orleans anymore, but I remember Simon from my time here before.
He doesn’t belong to any family and has never been anyone’s friend.Not really.I thought Lucien had better taste than that.
He looks up and meets my eyes again.“Hence the maps and lists in front of you, love.He’s not important enough to have any good information, though.He’s given us broad strokes with no details.I believe him when he says the smugglers have decided to ship the girls rather than auctioning them, and I believe him when he says he doesn’t know any more than that.So we have to figure out where they’re sending them, and how, so we can stop it before it happens.”
“In that case, I think I can help,” I tell him.
