CHAPTER NINETEEN

"You okay, brother?" asked Ian, seeing Jean walk toward them.

"I'm right as rain now. Had a little Robicheaux estrogen thrown my way," he smirked. "Always seems to make it right for me. Helps me remember what I'm fighting for. Sometimes, I forget."

"We all do, mon frére," said Gaspar, hugging his brother, kissing his cheek. It was something Gaspar always did with the ‘little ones' when he was growing up. He would greet them and kiss their cheeks, just like Matthew. That made him smile.

"We get so filled with the anger and need to make things right we lose sight of what it is we're trying to make right. Unfortunately, we can't fix humanity. But we can stop this man, and that's what we're going to do."

"I have an idea," said Jean, looking at everyone. "We know that he has other places like the one we shut down. We also know the kinds of men who frequent those places. The kind of men we usually kill."

"What are you thinking?" frowned his brother.

"Hear me out. Major traded favors with an arms dealer by the name of Burkhard. I have no idea if this is his thing, but he may know where the other locations are."

"Jean, we start asking for favors from this dude, and we may owe some favors we can't deliver," said Ghost.

"I know, I know, and I think we need to be prepared for what he asks for. If it's too much, we walk away. No harm, no foul."

"And just how do we reach this Burkhard?" asked Ian. Jean smiled at the men and looked down at his phone, confirming what he already suspected.

"We take what he wants."

Jean, Alec, Tailor, Miller, Rory, and Major stood at the end of the runway behind the two pallets piled high with crates filled with weapons. The pallets had been dropped off earlier by a Bulgarian who wrapped the crates in explosives to keep the curious away.

He underestimated the curiosity of Gray Wolf.

"There's the plane," said Rory. "I hope to fuck you're right about this, dude. Although, killing him would be a good alternative."

"I can't explain it, but I think he'll go for it," said Major. "Let me step out first."

The small plane landed, and the steps were lowered, Burkhard walking down them and headed toward his crates. He saw that there were no explosives and looked around the edge of the forest. Two armed men were standing next to his plane, ready for his command.

"Don't shoot me," smiled Major, stepping out from behind the crates.

"Shit. You."

"Yep, me," smiled Major. "How's it hangin', Burkhard?"

"A little to the left right now. Why are you here? With my weapons?" he asked.

"Actually, they're my weapons for right now," said Major. Burkhard smiled at him, shaking his head.

"I guess you didn't notice that they were wired with explosives."

"We noticed," said Miller, standing with the others. Burkhard took a half step back and looked up at the men. "Fortunately, explosives are my favorite thing in the whole wide world. Other than my wife and Mama's shrimp creole."

"What do you want?" frowned the other man. "This has nothing to do with you or your family."

"We traded favors once. I need another," said Major.

"I traded a favor. I gave you what you needed at the time. I don't recall getting anything in return for that."

"I let you live and walk away," said Major. "Let's not split hairs. You give me what I need, and I let you have your crates."

"What do you need?" asked Burkhard with a sideways glance.

"Levi Kaplan. And all of his locations where he keeps the girls and POWs." Burkhard closed his eyes and paced back and forth.

"You don't ask for much, do you? Do you have any idea what that sadistic bastard does to people? Not just women. Men."

"We know," said Rory. "We closed down one place. We want the rest, and then we want him."

"Many have tried," said Burkhard. He stared at the men, then started to laugh, shaking his head. "It just occurred to me that others have tried but didn't succeed because he had something on them. But you guys are so fucking squeaky clean he wouldn't find anything on you, would he?"

"We all do stupid shit," said Alec. "The girls. Give us the girls, and then we'll find him and the men."

"Just so you know, I would have given you the locations of the girls for free. I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet with him once at a location in Malaysia. I was younger then. Not as ballsy. I wasn't even sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Those poor kids were so abused, so starved and catatonic, I couldn't stomach it."

"Yet you didn't stop him," said Miller.

"No. I didn't. I was young and stupid enough to leave an anonymous tip with the local authorities. They told me it was illegal to make prank calls. I knew he owned them, and I knew I couldn't do business with a man like him.

"There have been rumors for years that he was the guy that would take POWs off your hands. If you had nowhere else to hide them, he and his sadistic fuck brother would bring them to remote locations and let them die off slowly or hold them for negotiation at some later time. I seriously doubt any of them actually made it to that point. But he'd damn sure keep them on some fucking island. For a hefty fee, of course."

"Of course," frowned Jean. "Where are the other brothels?"

"One recently burned to the ground, which I strongly suspect you all had something to with it. The other six are in six different countries. They all look the same. Absolutely identical in every way."

Tailor handed him a sheet of paper and a pen and told him to write them down.

"Are you going after him? He sees you coming he's going to shoot first and torture later. He's a short, portly guy. Big around the middle from sitting on his ass all these years. But don't underestimate him. He doesn't like to be embarrassed, so keep that in mind. He's also positive that nothing will stop him. One good thing is, if you end him, you end this. He has no wife, no children." He scribbled the locations of the six that he was aware of and handed it back to Tailor.

"If there are more, I'll find out for you. You're going to need help in those countries that you can't trust, and it can't be the authorities. Maybe the military, but I don't know."

"If we need help, will you give us a hand?" asked Major. Burkhard stared at the man who he did not want as his enemy. But he also knew that he couldn't be his friend.

"If I can. I will. Levi is worse than his father or brother. He likes the smell of blood, and he likes watching the women suffer. He was the one who found some guy in Russia to show them how to train the girls so they wouldn't scream. Fucker is sick. His brother kept him from killing those on the islands. I guess his military code prevented him from doing anything so honorable," he said with disdain. "If he's no longer around, you need to get to them fast."

"Where are the islands?" asked Tailor.

"I don't know. That's the truth. The islands were all places he discovered through his old man. If I had to guess, they were some of the same islands that the Japanese and their allies hid after the war. They were all unpopulated."

"That actually helps," said Miller. "Okay. You can take your crates now."

"Gee, thanks," frowned Burkhard. "Listen, if this is going to become a habit, maybe we should exchange numbers or something. I mean, stealing my shipments isn't exactly the safest way to reach me."

"We did alright," smirked Major. Burkhard grinned at him, nodding. He handed him a white card with his number.

"Just for shits and giggles, call me if you need something. I'm not the man you believe me to be. Yeah, I sell weapons. But I don't deal in flesh or drugs."

"No, but the men you sell those weapons to do," said Jean. "They don't know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. It seems you still have traces of that gene within you."

"Fair enough," nodded Burkhard. "One other thing. Someone high up in the U.S. government is still protecting Kaplan. I don't know who. I don't know why. All I know is that man has had nothing stick to him. Nothing. Take care of yourself, Major."

"You too, Burkhard."

Burkhard waved his men over with a forklift, and they moved the weapons onto the plane. As they took off, Jean looked at Major.

"We'll have to stop him one day," he said to the younger man.

"He knows that. He's well aware, and so am I. I just hope he turns around before I have to kill him."