We could storm wherever they make the porn, but that’s only cutting off the tail of a snake. I don’t know if snake tails grow back, but this one sure as hell would, and it’d scurry off into another dark shadow. We’d never find the head of the operation.
I watch as he silently debates himself on how he wants to proceed when I blurt, “Send me in.”
He looks quizzically at me. “You defied me, you’re not going back in.”
“No,” I say, squaring my shoulders because this might be the best or the worst idea I’ve ever had. “Undercover, sir.”
His eyes blow wide. “Absolutely not.”
I point at the closed door. “You heard him. They’re running two operations. If I get into one, I can reach the other, and then we can take down whoever owns and runs it. This is bigger than kidnapping, sir. If I could just get in –”
“You’d die,” he growls. “You have no experience here, Charlie. Besides, there’re other agencies that handle sex trafficking.”
“But –”
He swipes a hand through the air because he knows I’m about to get territorial. “The answer is no.” He looks at Miles. “Finish the interview. Squeeze what you can out of him.”
And then he walks off.
Inside, I fume, but I keep it off my face as I turn to Miles. “I have to do this, Miles.”
His lips thin out in a displeased sort of way. “You’re not going to do anything.”
I place my hands on my hips and glance around to make sure no one is looking or listening. “You can either be on my side or be in the dark, but I am doing this.”
“Captain said no, Charlie,” he growls. “You intend to go behind his back on this? On putting your life at risk just to prove yourself?”
I raise my eyebrows as I think this over and then answer simply, “Yes.” All of that is true.
He crosses his arms over his chest, but I can tell he’s starting to get angry with me. “And just how do you suppose I explain your absence?”
I shrug a little. “I have a few vacation days left.”
“And you think it’ll take a few days to get to the bottom of this?” he hisses.
I shrug again. “It’ll give me a head start. I’ll deal with the rest when it comes.”
He curses under his breath and glances away, ticking his jaw. In my head, I silently plead for him to not let me down, to be there for me like he has time and time again. When he comes to some sort of conclusion, he looks backat me. “You’re going to do this no matter what, aren’t you?”
It wasn’t really a question, but I answer with a nod anyway. It’s extremely difficult to keep the smile on my face because it hadn’t taken much to wear him down to be on my side about this.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he whispers, “The first sign of trouble and I’m pulling you out, Charlie. I won’t have another Mitchell die.”
“Fair enough,” I whisper back, and I mean it. My father’s death was hard on him, and I have no intention of making it harder.
He drops his arm to his side, glances around, and then grabs the door handle. “You’re going to ask him how to get into this operation. I don’t like this, Charlie. I don’t like that you’ll have to . . . whore yourself for the job . . . Can you even handle this?”
Both of us know that going into the porn business means that I’ll eventually have to partake in the porn part. It’s not a pleasing thought, but I grumble anyway, “It’s just sex, Miles.”
He shakes his head because we both also know it’s not just sex. But I can handle it. I’ve handled everything else in my life, and this won’t be any different. “Fine, but constant communication, got it?”
I grip his elbow and squeeze my promise. He looks like he wants to puke as he opens the door.
Chapter Four
Feenix Blaylock
One particularly thin woman is dragged in front of the high-paying bidders by one of Andre’s men. East Harlem has a few warehouses, one of them owned by us. Dim lights shine against many heads that belong to the seated crowd, and the smell of dust tickles the inside of my nose.
