Chapter 25
As I went, I looked for objects lying aboutthat I could use or transform into weapons. There was nothing. Idetoured quickly into a hole-in-the-wall eatery and walked casuallytoward the back as if I was a customer going to use the bathroom.Across from the bathroom was the kitchen, and it was easy to take afew steps in so that I could grab a knife, which I quickly slippedinto my boot. It seemed like it gave me back some of the power thatAlexander had taken from me. Even if I never had to use it tonight,it would be a comfort. And then I slouched into the bathroom.
I looked at myself in the dirty mirror, myhands clutching the sink, and I couldn’t stop the flood of tearsthat raced down my cheeks. My phone vibrated. Jeremy. I took in adeep breath and tried to pull it together so that Jeremy wouldn’tknow how completely devastated I felt at the moment. It was good hecalled. I needed to tell him about the kids in that dungeon.
“Jeremy?”
“I talked to Halluis. He said Alexander tookyou somewhere in the house that blocked his ability to hear whatwas going on. He said you left the house completely distraught.What happened? Where did he take you?”
I looked up to the ceiling to help curb myincreasing desire to lose it. “He took me to a basement roomwhere…where he’s keeping prisoners to ship off with the cars. He’sgoing to sell them as slaves.” I took a deep breath. “They’re onlykids. Not a one older than twenty. And Jeremy,” my voice crackedhere, and I slapped my hand over my mouth and pressed my lipstogether.
“Christy?”
I removed my hand. I had to get it out. Ihad to tell someone who would understand how I was feeling. “Theyhad Hank. Called him a snitch and shot him in the head. They killedthat sweet boy.” Fresh tears flooded my eyes, and I looked back tothe ceiling. I couldn’t let the other lifters know I’d beencrying.
“I could kill Halluis—he should have been inthere the second you were in danger.”
Irrational rage was evident in his voice. Iforced myself to pull it together, closing my eyes and taking acleansing breath through my nose. “It’s not his fault, Jeremy, andyou know it. Besides you can’t kill him. We still need him. I put98% of what was on Alexander’s computer on a jump drive on a lipunderneath the dining room table. If anyone can get it back, it’sHalluis. We’ll want the information on that drive, I’m sure ofit.”
“No, we don’t need it. The mission’s off.That’s what I called to tell you in the first place. You don’t haveto go out there again.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve uncovered the reason the directorwants the car. No one hired us.”
I furrowed my brow. His breathing sped up.“Apparently, Central Division Director Kettering inherited a carfrom his father’s estate. A 1959 Mercedes Benz 300 SL GullwingCoupe.”
“What?”
“Yep. The Mercedes 300 we’ve been searchingfor and putting everyone’s lives in danger belongs to DirectorKettering.”
I let that sink in. “I don’t get it. Did hetell Director Skriloff to retrieve it at all costs?”
“No. The car was in probate, and he couldn’ttake it to Belgium until it cleared. He needed to keep it somewheresecure, and Director Skriloff insisted he store it at his estatebecause it was so secure and a better place than a storageunit.”
“Huh.”
“Well, it turns out, Skriloff’s son took itfor a spin to a nightclub, and it got stolen while parked in thegarage. Skriloff was afraid he’d lose his job, so he gave us themission to retrieve it. It was all to save his butt. It’s time tocall this mission off. I’m not willing to risk your life and thelives of the whole team for the likes of Skriloff.”
For a few sweet seconds, relief washed overme. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me,” I blurted. Thenreality hit. “But—wait. Those kids. We have to save those kids.”Horror gripped me once again.
“What?”
“It’s not about the car anymore. Those kidsthat were in the dungeon are going to be sold. As slaves. We can’tlet that happen.”
“Kozlov is on the case, remember? He’s goingto bring the whole bratva down.”
“In a year! In a year, those kids will belong gone and at the mercy of who knows who, being forced to do whoknows what. I think this is the reason I had that feeling the otherday about sticking with this mission. It was for these kids. Wehave to save them.”
Silence.
“Jeremy. I don’t care about that car and theSkriloff sent us on, but I do care about those kids.” Echoes ofHank’s murder rushed through me. “We can save them. We can’t quitnow.”
Jeremy swore quietly. “You’re right. I hateit, but you’re right—we have to go through with it. I’ll get withHalluis and Ace and work out a plan to get the kids from thebasement.”
“That’s the thing. They took those kids to adifferent location. I have no idea where.”
“Nothing can be easy, can it? I guess we goforward with finding the docks where the cars are to be taken andwait for the kids to be loaded. What’s your location? I’ll tellHalluis, so he can get back on your shadow.”
“No!” I insisted. “Halluis has to get thatdrive. It could tell us where he’s holding the kids—we’ll need thatif we have any hope of getting them out of there before the shipsails.”
“All right, then, but if the information ison that drive, then you don’t need to go out there at all. We canget everything we need from the files.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t get a chance to look atthem. I only saw the papers in the box under the desk. Theinformation about where they’re keeping the kids may be in thefiles, but maybe not. If I stay in the field, it gives us anotherchance to find out when the shipment goes out, where they’reshipping from, and where they’re keeping the kids. We need to do itall.”
Jeremy sighed in exasperation. I knew he waslooking for a way around it, but there was none.
“Don’t worry about
