Dodging tourists and traffic, she crossed the road and entered the cathedral.Hefty stone walls swallowed sound, and light fell in slanting halos across the stripped-back interior.It was blissfully cool.If she’d got it wrong and Lino wasn’t dropping a huge hint, at least she’d have a chance to grab a few moments of tranquility.
* * *
He watched her slide into a pew, head bowed as though in prayer.To an outsider, she was a woman seeking peace, but he knew the camera on her cell was reversed, showing everything behind her.She would have noted the nearest exit the second she stepped inside.
He waited to be sure they were alone, then moved.
She sensed him before the camera did its work.Turning, she stared up at him.Their eyes locked.His senses sharpened, hunter keen.Observing Sable from a distance had been manageable.Seeing her without a shadow or barrier between them was something else.
“Sable.”He kept his voice low, emotion buried deep.
“Elijah.”
His name on her tongue was like long-forgotten music, but sentimentality had no place.
“Thank you for coming.I didn’t see you until you were right behind me.Of course,” she added, “you’re too good for that.”
“No slouch yourself,” he said, giving her cell a pointed glance.“So, why did you bring me here?”
She blinked at his cold tone, but showed no other emotion.“It’s always the slavers.You must have known…”
He didn’t answer.
“I wouldn’t have contacted you unless I was desperate,” she went on.
“Desperate and dead?”
“I recovered.”
“So, it seems.”He let a beat pass.“I don’t have time to waste, Sable.”
“Will you sit?Just for a moment?”
“Here?Too public.Prayers won’t save me—or you.”
Her voice thinned with urgency.“There’s no one else I can turn to.Lives are at stake, and this is time critical.Only you and the Blood and Thunder team can shut down this latest band of monsters.”
“I never deploy the team unless the intel is flawless.”
“It is,” she assured him, her gaze steady.“This band of people traffickers is bigger, stronger, and better organized than anything we’ve seen before.I have to do something.We must.”
“We?”
“I can guess what you think of me, but this isn’t about us.Please think about the captives and the hell they’re going through.If there’s even the slimmest chance we can save them?—”
“Go on.”
“A cleaner in my building raised my suspicions.Anna Marie was too young and too scared to be on her own.When I saw men in a black SUV collecting her, I grew suspicious.”
“So you followed them?”
“It was worth the risk.”
His jaw tightened.She knew the rule: never approach hostiles alone.
“I followed them to a derelict house and waited outside.Anna Marie eventually emerged.Dragged out by two thugs, she was dressed like a doll, a very frightened doll.They pushed her into the back of an SUV and drove off.The next day, when she was back cleaning in my building, I approached her.She broke down, and told me there were dozens like her—girls, boys, older prisoners.Held in filth.No help.No hope.”
“Until you came along.Are you sure she wasn’t setting you up?”
