Phylis Marchant-Smythe burst from her chair, knocking Ash away. She snatched for the carving knife in the centre of the table and whipped around, wielding it out.
Ash growled annoyance. He ducked back to avoid a swing then kicked up her chair, smacking it into her wrist. The knife clattered to the tiled floor, and in seconds, he had her arms behind her back and her face pressed to her plate, gravy slopping.
“My hair! Get off me,” she shrieked.
“Bind,” I said.
Ash reached for his small backpack and secured zip ties in place. Convict did the same for the husband who hadn’t moved a muscle.
The man’s face paled to match the white tablecloth. “What do you want with us? Who are you?”
Kane leaned close enough for the skeleton grin to be the last thing he focused on. “The people ye should’ve been afraid of.”
Two quick jabs knocked them out, and they slumped in their chairs.
I watched it all from the dark. Two captives secured. No third in sight. No alarms triggered.
“Secure their electronics then search the house,” I ordered. “Every room. Every cupboard. If the son isn’t here, there could be evidence on where he went, assuming the mother was lying.”
My men were already on it.
I straightened, rolling tension out of my shoulders.
“What next with the couple?” Arran asked. The screens reflected in his eyes.
Cassie waggled her phone. “The skeleton girls have something to say about that. Dixie?”
On the screen, Dixie gave a pretty grimace. “Not to tread on any toes, but I was talking to Mila and Lovelyn about how these people need to be processed by the cops. They potentially know about trafficking routes and have contacts. Surely that should be part of a wider international takedown? It could be bigger than just Deadwater.”
I considered her request. “True. That tactic loses us access.”
“While also giving the public a target that isn’t Mila.”
Ah, I got it. She wanted to help her sister.
Arran asked, “And if the cops let them go?”
Cassie said, “We grab them right back up again and deliver payback for the suffering they caused. We still need to go after their son. Let the police handle the formal investigation.”
If I got into an interrogation room, both would likely end up dead. Still, I didn’t love simply giving up the people we’d found.
This time, it wasn’t my call. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll clone their phones and complete our search first.”
Cassie nodded. “Lovelyn will organise handover with her pet cop.”
I relayed that to my team who were coming up empty on anything further in the house. It looked like the Marchant-Smythes had arrived in a hurry, not bringing much.
“Exit,” I ordered. “We’ll reconvene and regroup.”
Then it was over to Heretic to work magic with their phones, Lovelyn to give a drop-off point for the police, and Kane to get back to his girlfriend’s side within his time limit.
I sat back in my seat, still buzzing from the raid. Adrenalised without the blood on my hands to help me come down.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text.
Dixie: I’m going back to your apartment. Come up when you can?
My energy shifted again, drawing me back to the woman I’d never say no to. For her, I’d given up my usual trafficker takedown method, no question. I’d do far more, too. Given the chance, I’d tear up the world in her name.
