“Sorry. It looks like I’m interrupting. Are you making progress on your sister’s notes?”
“Some. Here, take a look at these pictures.” Gemma swung her feet to the ground and made room on the swing for him to sit next to her. Cy filled the swing and her heart fluttered when his shoulder pressed against hers.
“This girl is twelve years old and was shipped on a container ship with twenty other girls from the Philippines to Europe as part of a sex trade Gia was investigating. Here are some more.” Gemma handed him pictures of young girls of all ages, races, and nationalities.
“They’re so young,” Cy sighed as he shook his head.
“Gia believed the sex trade was run by a mystery man she called Lucifer. She talked to some of these women. While most wouldn’t say anything, some told her of being taken from orphanages and shipped to Europe and the Middle East. Then
these . . .” Gemma handed him another couple of pictures. “These women are all Americans taken via interstate trafficking. They are prostitutes who were kidnapped and traded all across the United States. Do you know what they have in common?”
“Besides tragedy? Let me guess, the rings are all run by Lucifer . . . or Mr. X as we call him at the agency.”
“That’s right. And there’s more. He’s not a low-level criminal living in the dark. He’s very well connected. In her notes, Gia wrote about a man that your Mr. X was preparing to back for Congress. But he bumbled a job and this is what happened to him.” Gemma pulled out the three pictures and showed him the first picture of the body that still made her cringe. “This is what happened to him for messing up a dog-fighting ring, see?”
Gemma flipped to the next two pictures showing people at a dog-fight. Cy grabbed the photos and shot to his feet as he stared at the pictures.
“I don’t believe it. The dead man is Paul Russell. And this woman here,” Cy tapped the picture of the woman in her prim suit taking bets outside of a dog-fighting ring, “that’s Nancy Kincaid. These pictures were taken here in Keeneston. This is the dog-fighting ring that Marshall broke up.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes. This is the whole reason I started investigating Mr. X. Your sister was looking into the same thing I was, and it got her killed. At the same time, I was being hunted here in Keeneston. This is good news. Mr. X’s organization is taking out anyone looking into them and now they know you are.” Cy stood up and started pacing along the wooden porch.
“How is this good news?”
“It means we’re on the right track,” Cy shot her a smile, the one she recognized as his Hollywood smile. He could shell out his smiles to the ladies, but they never reached his eyes. Gemma wondered what he would look like when he finally let go and smiled for real.
“You’re basically going to sit here and wait for them to kill us? I don’t know if I like that idea,” Gemma worried. She had just traveled across the country to try to avoid these guys and now it sounded as if Cy was excited that these guys would be coming after them.
Gemma nibbled her bottom lip as Cy slowly came to stand in front of her. “My plan is to have enough evidence to take them down before they get here. When they arrive, we'll be here waiting to arrest them.”
“That’s what my sister probably thought, too. Instead, she got in too deep and they killed her.” Gemma looked up into Cy’s eyes and wondered what was really happening behind the facade he kept firmly in place.
“I won’t let that happen to you,” he said softly as he pushed a stray lock of her hair away from her face. Gemma felt her breath catch as his fingers brushed against her cheek. For a moment his eyes softened and she caught a glimpse of the man behind the mask.
The screen door slammed and the spell was broken. “Oh dear. I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” Miss Lily asked innocently as her wide eyes blinked. “I just wanted to see if you two were staying for dinner.”
“Thank you, but we’re going to miss dinner. We’re going to see Marshall . . . and his files.”
CHAPTER TEN
Cy was relieved when Gemma sat quietly in the truck watching the farms pass by. He was tired of playing the playboy. The models and actresses had irritated him when he started working in Hollywood, but it was all necessary for his cover. The thing was, he didn’t even sleep with them—well, not many of them. He guessed that was what made him so popular with the famous women. They weren’t used to having someone say no. Unfortunately, it was an unintended aphrodisiac.
After the first year of undercover work, the acting had turned real. He got used to the secret games and power plays of making movies. He fit in with ease at parties, clubs, and on the set. He was popular, confident, and one of the best at his job. And it didn’t hurt that some of Hollywood’s hottest starlets took a shine to him.
But then Cade had problems with drugs at the high school and Marshall busted up a dog-fighting ring. That’s when he realized he had missed so much in life. Sure, he’d done amazing things and gone to faraway places, but that wasn’t really him. It was Cy Davidson who had done those things. All he’d done with the CIA was try to live up to the legacy left to him by the older brothers he had idolized his whole life. He wanted to give back to his country just as they had done.
Somewhere along the way, though, he had lost himself. Cy had thought as soon as he came home, everything would be as it was; the real Cy Davies would return. But it wasn’t happening. He didn’t know how to be himself anymore.
“Cy? Cy . . . is everything okay?” Gemma’s voice shook him out of his reflections.
“Hmm?”
“Are you okay? I’ve been trying to ask you a question, but you seemed in another world.”
“I’m fine. What did you need?”
“I was wondering what you think Marshall can help us with?” Gemma asked with a concerned tone in her voice.
“I want to see his files. He said he’d call the others and they’d bring everything they have. They found a black book on Nancy and arrested hundreds as a result. I’m hoping some of the names match up with some of those pictures you have. Maybe it can give us a lead to identify Mr. X.”
Cy pulled the truck to a stop in front of the farmhouse he used to live in whenever he came back to visit. It looked like his brothers were already there and waiting for him. The grass in the surrounding pasture had just been cut and the smell hung in the air. The large round bales of hay were tightly coiled, waiting to be used to feed the animals through the winter.
“How is Fred with other dogs?” Cy asked when he opened Gemma’s door.
“Great. He loves running at the dog park with them, why?”
“You’re about to find out,” Cy barely had time to say before Katelyn opened the front door and a herd of dogs came running out. Justin, with his bright yellow bow, led the way as Bob, Chuck, and finally Bill ambled out to see them.
“Aw, look how pretty she is,” Gemma cooed as she petted Justin.
“Don’t say that too loud or he’ll get his feelings hurt. His name is Justin. Pierre, the dog groomer, just doesn’t believe me when I tell him no more bows. But the darn things work at keeping the hair out of his eyes,” Cade said as he came outside. Justin’s big black nose shoved her arm as a way to try to figure out what Fred was.
“Looks like Justin has a mini,” Annie joked as she watched Justin’s big, hairy tail wag and his brown eyes light with glee when he looked at Fred.
Gemma bent over and placed him on the ground and then screamed and jumped when something cold and wet hit her bottom.
“Sorry about that. Bob likes to goose the women. It’s actually rather embarrassing, but it’s the least outrageous of his quirks,” Marshall said, not looking the least bit embarrassed as Bob trotted over and leapt up onto the porch swing.
“He’s not the only one with an embarrassing dog. Paige kicked Chuck and me out of her shop.
