“Cleo!” Allora’s face lights up and she extends her arms. The cat gives her a baleful look, like she’s annoyed, and then stretches.
“She’s been an excellent guest,” Rage says to Allora.
“Apparently, she really likes you.” Allora takes her from him and snuggles her close. “Did I abandon you?” she asks the cat, who yawns. “I know, I’m sorry. There will be treats in your future.”
We all settle around the table, with Allora still holding Cleo and scratching her head.
“Your stuff is in my truck,” Rage says to Allora. “We’ll move everything over before you leave. And here’s your key.”
“Thank you.” She takes it and closes her hand around it like she’s afraid it might disappear.
“Sorry I’m late!” Luna, our cyber expert, comes in with a grin. “Had to take care of a few things.” I watch as she sinks down next to Rage and his eyes move over her…possessively? That can’t be right. He’s as much of a bachelor as I am and she’s only been here a few weeks. Yet he seems much more comfortable with her than I would’ve imagined at this early stage. Like me, he doesn’t make friends easily.
Yet he’s buddy-buddy with Luna and I’m…living with Allora. Not in a romantic sense but I invited her into my home without giving it a second thought. And I never do that. At least, I never have before.
Huh.
I’ll have to think about all of this but not right now because Daniil is telling us what he’s discovered about the traffickers.
“Apparently, they’ve been working in the area for years but the police and FBI have never been able to catch them. It’s a tight organization. We believe the man in charge is an Albanian national named Alben Bajrami. No one here has ever seen him although we believe he travels back and forth with a fake passport.”
“My research tells me that it’s a big, international enterprise,” Luna interjects. “They have hiding places all over the area, but authorities have only ever discovered them after they’ve been abandoned. We believe they capture the women and move them over the border into Mexico. From there, they disappear. We don’t know how or where.”
“There are rumors of an international auction that happens every quarter in Ankara, Turkiye,” Daniil says. “We’ve heard rumblings in Limaj for years but could never substantiate them. Now that we know it’s more than a rumor, I spoke to my cousin, the king, and he’s going to make some inquiries, see if there’s any information we can get from that side.”
“But what do we do in the meantime?” Allora demands. “I can’t hide at Landon’s place forever.”
“I know.” Daniil’s expression is sympathetic. “We’re working on it. And we’re going to have you and Grim work with a sketch artist so we have a picture of at least one of the men.”
“I can describe both of them,” she says firmly. “I’ll never forget either of their faces.”
Daniil nods. “Great. Unfortunately, in the meantime, you do need to stay out of sight. Is that okay with you?” He looks to me.
“Of course.” I lean back in my chair. “She’s welcome for as long as necessary.”
“I hate to be an imposition,” she says softly. “I have money so I can pay my own way. Or pay you rent or?—”
Daniil interrupts. “Your father is paying us to protect you and some of that money will go to Grim to cover any expenses he has, in addition to his salary.”
“And your father is putting out feelers as well,” Courtney adds. “We haven’t discussed any details because he said it was better that we don’t but we’re sharing information.”
Ironically, in this particular instance, her father’s illegal activities don’t bother me. If he can find these sex traffickers, I don’t care how he does it. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite but after what they did to Allora, I’m not bothered by any made up moral ground I should be standing on.
“So short-term, nothing has changed.”
“It’s only been a day,” Daniil says quietly. “Give us a little time.”
“What about Landon?” Allora asks after a moment. “They know he saw the one guy’s face.”
“I can take care of myself,” I say with a chuckle. “And you.”
“In the meantime,” Luna interjects smoothly. “Any detail you can remember could be helpful. Did they use each other’s names? Discuss timing. Talking about a boss. Speak in another language? Any little thing could make a difference.”
Allora closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, like she’s gearing up for something painful.
“The guy that was driving the van is named Baron.” She squeezes her eyes tighter. “The other guy’s name was Vito.”
“Age?”
