“No, I’m not leaving you on your own withthese guys. I’ll be your shadow tonight. No arguing.”
I paused. I found I didn’t want to refusethe offer of his protection.
“Fine, but I don’t know where I’ll be.”
“I’ll find you.”
I didn’t doubt that.
“Be safe. Be careful.”
“I’ll see you later.”
I moved with purpose out of the restaurant,feeling a bit better than I had when I’d entered it, and twominutes later I was in position to meet up with my partner.
Mikado met me again.
“Hey.” He rubbed his hands on his pants,probably for warmth.
“You ready?” I hoped all traces of mymourning were gone. I could see my breath freeze in big puffs.
“Yeah. I’m ready for our time off nextweek.” He walked toward the marked car.
“We get time off?” This was interestingnews.
“Yeah. Tonight’s the last night we can liftfor this shipment. And we always get a week off after a successfulshipment.”
I nodded. I needed to find an opportunity togive that information to Jeremy and the team. We were not ready forthis. We still didn’t know which pier for sure the bratva workedout of. I’d text them once I knew which one. We suspected Red Hookbecause of the information that Carson’s family owned a shippingcompany that worked out of Red Hook, but we hadn’t been able toconfirm anything. As soon as I could find out, confirmation was onits way.
“Ah, makes sense. I guess they need a fewdays to load them up. I’m assuming they go on a ship or something.”We reached the car and started the process of taking it.
“Nah. It doesn’t take that long. Most of thecontainers got loaded today. An entire ship can get loaded in lessthan an hour. It’s like fifteen thousand containers. It’s quiteamazing. Of course, this shipment is different. The finalcontainers arrive on the pier in trucks during the night. I meanthey just look like semis, you know? Like the ones we drive thecars into. By this time there’ll only be a few that haven’t arrivedyet, and the cars we all steal tonight will be loaded intocontainers on the pier. The ship will leave as soon as it’sloaded—probably before light of day.”
I huffed as we finished breaking through thecar’s security features and started the process of hotwiring it.“Interesting. Do you help load or something?” Information from thebox beneath Alexander’s desk started playing in my mind, and partof my brain started working on figuring that out.
“Heck, no. But I’ve seen it done a fewtimes. You’ll see it tonight. It makes me sick to see how efficientand effortless it all is for them.”
So Kozlov had been wrong—or had he justplayed up the impossibility of finding the car in order to put usoff the mission? It didn’t matter. I’d be on the pier where thecars were going out. That meant I’d have a chance of finding thosekids—if only I could discover where they were being kept. The carroared to life, and we sped down the city streets, expertly weavingthrough the traffic.
We pulled up to a closed gate right outsideRed Hook, and Mikado typed something into his phone. The gate slidopen, and we pulled inside. Only then did I notice the six guardswith heavy-duty guns pointed at the car.
“Boy, they take this seriously, don’tthey?”
He nodded. “This is big business. Like tenmillion a shipment—just for the cars. There’s also all kinds ofother stuff on that ship—food, clothes, computerequipment…everything you can think of.”
I whistled as he drove the car right into acontainer. Jeremy had to be seeing what was happening. They had tonow know where I was, but just to make sure, I pocket texted theteam about which pier we were at and that we were bringing new carsin tonight because the ship sailed before dawn.
We got out, and men rushed in to make thechanges to the VIN and the paperwork. Jericho was there in a carnear the gate and motioned to us to come to him.
“He’s our ride,” Mikado said as we walkedtoward him.
“First one in tonight?” Jericho said.
“Yep.” Mikado said as he jumped into theback seat.
I sat in the front, but instead of feeling achill, I felt heat. We were about to free those kids, maybe this iswhere that van was headed, and then an anonymous tip could lead theFBI to the shipping yard to retrieve not just one car but all thecars slated for shipment. A pleasant feeling of satisfaction filledme, and a plan started formulating in my mind.
“It’s my third. Something slowing you down?”He looked pointedly at me.
“Nah, we were way over in Bensonhurst.”Mikado spoke devoid of derision. He’d obviously learned how tohandle Jericho.
“Not this time. We’re both headed forProspect Park for this next lift.”
He parked the car in a ritzy section nearthe park, and Mikado and I went one way and he went the other.
We both pulled up to the pier at the sametime. I took notice of everything in the pier this time. I knewwhere every guard was and every camera and every worker. There wereno longer any guards at the gate. Only the cameras kept watch.
I watched as Gina and Karina drove out withanother guy before we drove in. I guessed everyone was workingtonight. We went back out four more times. The third time back in,I saw the director’s Mercedes 300 sitting in front of an emptycontainer labeled ABCU 1654347. It would have been an easy thing toget inside and drive away with it, but that was no longer my goal.I had to save those kids, and I had a plan.
I only needed Jeremy to have someone outsidethe gates to take us away from this place to safety. I was going tofree them tonight. They had to already be at the yard, waiting tobe loaded. At least, I hoped they hadn’t already been loaded. Itexted the team my plan and what I needed from them. Now I simplyhad to have faith they would be there.
After the last drop, Jericho took us to asubway entrance and dropped us off.
“Looks like the ship will be leaving in afew hours, huh?” My mind was whirring. We had to stop thatship.
“Most likely,”
