“Who wants to know?” He made his voice sound rough. Forrest was an excellent mimic and always had been.
“Me.” A man stepped toward him.
“I’m waiting for two men coming off this ship. They’re to work for my employer.”
The man couldn’t see his features clearly, nor could he see his.
“Well get them and leave.”
“And I will when they leave the ship.” Forrest took his time walking away.
When he reached his cousins, he could feel the anger.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Gabe whispered.
“You’ve never done this kind of thing before. Have you lost your mind, behaving like that?” Nathan demanded.
“Some of the crew are in on it,” Forrest said calmly.
Gabe cursed, and Michael sighed. “I had hoped you would be the voice of reason among us, like me.”
“They will make sure the women leave last. The Hindi-speaking men will talk to them and lure them to where they want them to go.”
Gabe cursed again.
“So we wait,” Zach whispered. “But this is not done with, cousin. We will talk about your reckless actions when we return home.”
“Coming from the most reckless among us, I find that statement a double standard,” Forrest said.
“Shut up,” Zach snapped.
“He did well though, loath as I am to praise him,” Michael said.
“Thank you.”
They watched people get off the ship, walking down the gangway loaded down with bags and luggage. A steady stream of people until the last two women.
The men who had been in the group Forrest had overheard appeared out of the shadows.
“Now is the time to strike. We need to get those men to question them,” Gabe said. “Forrest will be able to understand what they say, and we can make sure those women are free.”
“I will go and listen to what they say, as I already have a cover. I will wave you over when it is time.”
He moved closer, ignoring the protests from his cousins. He listened as the men spoke with the two women, asking them if they needed a place to stay or work.
One of the women said she had an aunt here who was to meet her.
The man asked her name, and then said he knew her aunt and would take her and the others to where they wished to go. The women seemed uncertain. Forrest waved to his cousins. They appeared out of the dark.
“Halt,” Forrest said. “These men mean you harm. You cannot go with them.”
The two men started to protest, but his cousins stepped in to intimidate them. Gabe grabbed one, and Nathan the second.
“Come here,” Forrest said in Hindi to the women. They were clearly terrified. Arriving in a strange country had been frightening and now this had added to it. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I mean you no harm. Please come here.”
They moved closer to him.
“Do you have a place to go to?”
