“Yes,” I sigh. “I’m sorry, Princess. I promise we’ll come back to you. Ah, I may have to do some sketchy shit to get into this club.”
“Whatever it takes to get Maeve back,” Silva says simply.
“God, why are you so amazing?” Syrus mumbles.
“Because you don’t judge me on my shit,” she shrugs. “I desperately need a nap before I go into work tonight. I’m also probably going to stress clean, make up a room for Maeve to stay in until she’s ready to figure out her next steps, and get the house ready. Will you keep me in the loop please?”
“Absolutely,” Harlan murmurs, watching as she stands.
Damn. She’s fucking amazing.
It took me a while to get into the security feeds, and the video is not current that I’m accessing. Maeve left the club at five in the morning, and it’s now two in the afternoon.
It’s lucky that I caught this at all, since the cameras erase after twenty-four hours, and New Mexico traffic camera storage is short term as well.
We’re meant to save Maeve. I just know it. Everything is finally falling into place.
Silva gives Syrus a forehead kiss before leaving the room and he closes his eyes for a moment before leaning forward with hiscorded forearms on his thighs. As he opens his eyes, gone is the sadness and worry that were in his gaze, and back is the hardass policeman that he is.
“Tell it all to me, please,” he says.
“This is a sex club,” I say, pursing my lips.
“So all of the girls there are engaged in that activity?” Isidro asks.
“There are also men,” I admit.
“Hmm. What is your plan for getting inside the club?” he asks.
“Bait and infiltrate,” I explain. “This club isn’t member only, and most people don’t know that the omegas are there against their will. If you stopped all of your medication, and did a detox, it would allow you to ask about getting hired on.”
“You think not everyone knows how they operate?” Harlan asks. “This isn’t some kind of crime syndicate business?”
“Not at all,” I say. “While I’m sure some know this is all illegal, there are people perfectly willing to pay for sex with an omega.”
“I already hate this,” Syrus grumbles.
“I haven’t taken my medication for the last couple of days,” Izzy confesses. “If we’re not going on missions, and we’re considering going into the private sector in a more managerial way, I figured there’s no reason for it.”
“You’re not wrong. Okay, so this helps,” I muse. “In the meantime, while you’re chatting up the bouncer, I plan to go in with Harlan. He and I will ask for private time with Maeve. I’m unsure if she has a club name, so we’ll play that by ear. It’s possible that we may need to sit for a few dances, have a drink, and ask some questions.”
“We’re obviously not going to do anything with your sister,” Harlan says hurriedly to Syrus.
He waves his hand to erase his words as he shakes his head. “I know how these go,” Syrus says. “I didn’t think for a second that you’d be inappropriate with her. The question is, what are you going to tell Maeve to get her to believe you are who you say you are? I’m a little too cop-like for undercover work. It’s in the way I move and talk.”
Well, he’s not wrong there.
“What’s something only you and she know?” Izzy asks.
My eyes go back to tracking Maeve, sighing as the car turns into a private residential community. Pounding the keys on my laptop gains me access to the cameras at the gate, but I know my trail is going to end there. Without more elbow grease, I won’t be able to gain access to the security cameras to the houses beyond the gate without possibly getting caught.
I got lucky with Gideon because there were holes in his security. Whoever ran it for him was shit at closing the gaps left behind for opportunistic hackers like Lark and myself.
I don’t think I’ll get that lucky again. Just looking up the community, I can see that the people who live here are in the information technology industry, pharmaceuticals, and others are criminals like Heath and have their houses listed under a business.
Shady, red flag type of shit.
“Fuck,” I sigh. “Our best bet is definitely the club, guys. The housing community the vehicle Maeve’s in went into is going to be difficult to gain access to without at least a couple of weeks of intensive intel. We can’t fuck this up.”
