Kat sighed and turned in her seat again, big blue eyes so serious as they took in my face, assessing my sincerity.
“Madison tracked down the McLaughlins and when she realized where they were staying, she came to me because she thought I was in on this whole trafficking thing. Once she realized who I was, and that I’m trying to stop the child trafficking, she asked for my help. I actually give a damn about her and her sister, even though I don’t have to. When she was in trouble later, she called me. Me, Terry.”
The uptight, incredibly competent businesswoman was gorgeous and beyond appealing, but this passionate firebrand, ready to jump into the fire to help out a kid she barely knew? She was fucking irresistible. I nodded.
“And we’ll find her Kitty Kat. You have my word.”
The look of relief and the flash of a smile that played around the edges of her lush mouth had my foot pressing harder on the gas. Time was a key factor because there were a few direct routes straight to Mexico which meant we had to find her before the driver left the truck stop.
An hour later we pulled into the giant monstrosity of a truck stop and Kat jumped from the car and made her way around to the back of the car. When I caught up to her, the crazy woman had traded those sexy as fuck stilettos for a pair of pink ankle socks and white sneakers. “What? You’ve never heard of a wardrobe change?”
I shrugged. “Uh, not right at this moment. In a truck stop parking lot.”
“Sneakers are made for running, Terry and I need to be able to do that,” she said and pulled a nickel Walther PPK from her purse, attaching the holster to the back of her shirt. “And this is because pencil skirts are a bitch to run in.”
I scratched my head. “I thought that was a dress.”
Kat rolled her eyes with a playful smile. “It’s a good thing you’re not a professional stylist,” she said and unceremoniously yanked her shirt from the skirt all the way around, flashing a glimpse of toned, pale flesh. “Ready?”
“Yeah. Stay close.”
Kat shook her head. “We don’t have time for you to play overprotective big brother Terry. I’ll go inside and charm the truckers and tourists inside; you go talk to the guys eating in their rigs or buffing their trailers.”
She didn’t wait for me to give her all the reasons that was a bad idea, instead Kat flounced inside with an extra swing in her hips.
I watched for a beat longer than I should and made my way to the first row of trucks preparing to leave the stop. The first three guys hadn’t seen shit and even if they had, they weren’t inclined to share.
“Hey, you seen this girl?”
The guy shook his head with a shrug. “Sorry man, but there are a few lot lizards inside if you’re interested.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I grunted and moved on to three more truckers who hadn’t seen Madison. “Hey man, have you seen this girl?” At his skeptical look, I sighed. “She’s the kid sister of a friend who hired me to find her.”
The trucker scratched his goatee and shook his head. “Saw her about ten minutes ago. Some old dude tried to sell her; said I could drop her wherever I was headed next. That’s some cold shit. She’s just a kid. I told him to fuck off.”
“Thanks. Any idea where they went?”
“Nah. To the other side is my guess, fewer cops and less visibility from the road if you get my drift.”
I did. “Thanks,” I told him and plowed my way through another half dozen no’s and two more men who’d passed on the offer of transporting or buying a teenage girl.
“Terry.” Kat rushed over to me and put one hand on my shoulder, which I tried to ignore in favor of the rapid words spilling from her lips.
“Slow down.”
Kat sucked in a deep breath, frustration illuminating her blue eyes under the yellow lights of the parking lot. “I got a room number from one of the waitresses.”
She was so excited I didn’t want to be the one to wipe that look from her face, but we had to be careful. “Madison is there?”
She nodded. “Said the guy she works for was willing to pay good money for a few hours of work and once I convinced her I wasn’t looking to home in on her side hustle, she gave me the room number. Said the new girl was there now when I told her my man liked ’em young.”
I glared at her cheeky smile. “Gross, Kitty Kat.”
She shrugged and smiled but the way her gaze kept tracking the rooms behind us, proved she was still worried as hell. “We got the room number, Terry, that’s what matters. Let’s go.”
She grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the flat two-story building that held about a dozen rooms.
As soon as we reached the designated room, I yanked Kat back until she was behind me, safe. Protected.
“Door’s open,” I whispered before she could chew me out for manhandling her.
Instead, behind me I heard the snap of a holster and the sound of her gun being prepared to shoot. That’s my girl. At the threshold, she reached around me and pushed the door open, leaving me free to sweep the place.
“Fuck me, it’s empty,” she growled.
It was empty but it hadn’t been for long. “The cigarette butt is still smoking. We didn’t miss them by much,” I told her even though I knew nothing but finding the girl unharmed would ease Kat’s guilt and her worry.
“We have to keep looking, Terry. I have to find her.”
How could I deny her anything when she set those big blue eyes on me like I was some kind of goddamn hero? I was nobody’s hero, just a man in a position to help. A man who would do just about anything to help this
