Chapter 25

Chapter

Twenty-Five

LUNCHBOX

I wasn’t sure what happened that made Bones change his mind for us to pick them up but I also didn’t stare at it too hard. We’d arrived at the airport two hours earlier than rendezvous, specifically to make sure nothing was waiting for them when they arrived.

Instead of experiencing relief at their appearance, I found myself in a front row seat to a gathering storm. Gracie’s pallor and tension translated to everyone else. Bones and Voodoo were in the middle of some disagreement—never a good sign.

What I couldn’t pinpoint was what specifically upset Grace currently. She had every reason to be upset from the initial kidnapping to being held to being transported. I wasn’t sure if they’d tried to rape her to break her or what. The type of people who trafficked in women would more often than not. Rape them into obedience, or at least to break them from fighting, then use drugs to keep them docile.

Her injuries had increased during her absence. That fit with what we knew of the second ambush. She moved slowly, soreness evident in every step, but she didn’t complain. The relief reflected in her eyes and her posture when she first saw me, followed by Alphabet and Goblin was also not lost on me.

When I pinned Voodoo with a look, he ignored me. I wanted an explanation, but that would have to wait until debrief. For the moment, Gracie didn’t need to suffer through a breakdown of current intelligence. Most of it wasn’t pretty. That briefing needed to happen before we broached any discussions with her.

Her nerves were on display during the flight. They didn’t vanish during the drive to the house. She relaxed some when Voodoo put her in his lap. The familiarity and the comfort set off alarm bells.

Yeah. I really wanted the debrief on what the fuck happened between when Voodoo took off with her and meeting us at the airport. Still, the wariness returned to Gracie when we pulled into the garage. All of us waited for Alphabet to do the electronic sweep and deactivate the main alarm.

A physical and visual sweep would follow. We split up the gear and carried it in. Grace moved carefully, like she was hurting.

Of course, she was still hurting. I could have slapped myself in the head. She’d taken more than a few blows and with the narrow exception of two nights in the safe house, how much sleep had she gotten since?—

Fuck, we hadn’t even really tracked how long she’d been held. It wasn’t a point I wanted to bring up and interrogate her, but knowing would just be another piece of intelligence to add to the puzzle.

Relaxing would be good for all of us. She was here where I could keep an eye on her. Base was also a hell of a lot more secure than anywhere on the road.

Food was next on the agenda. Food, rest, and once she was settled, the team could debrief and plan.

“You promised.” The wounded note in her voice sliced. Alphabet’s expression tightened. I had to imagine mine was as well, considering the fact we all knew she wanted to find out about her sister. It was why Alphabet had started investigating as well.

“I know, Firecracker. I did.” Voodoo’s voice carried all the elements of regret his expression seemed to deny.

“But he can’t keep the promise,” Bones said, in a chilly voice that wouldn’t be persuaded or argued with. He was issuing an order. For team cohesion we made it work in the field. The same could not be said for in private, but we’d really never had a reason to test it. “None of us can. So, do what Alphabet said, get some rest. We need to debrief and then we can get to work.”

Son of a bitch…

It was quite possibly the worst way to address the issue. The threat was right there in her posture as Bones turned away from her. I should have predicted the next actions she was going to take. Should have predicted and should have done what I could to prevent it.

It was just the remote, though in our case the remote was almost ten inches long, four inches across and controlled more than just the television. Gracie balanced the remote like it was a throwing star.

Strategically, the overhand shot shouldn’t have worked. But the thud of the remote hitting Bones in the head seemed abnormally loud. I blew out a breath and headed forward. Bones was turning with a cold look at the same time Voodoo moved to intercept him.

I clocked Gracie reaching for something else. Flashes of her throwing everything at the attackers in her apartment danced across my mind’s eye. She already had a lamp in hand when Alphabet laughed.

His amusement triggered Goblin’s barking, but the dog was still parked right next to him.

“Gracie—” I said, but she was throwing the lamp. Shit. “Voodoo.”

He caught the lamp narrowly, but it was more because of the awkwardness. Gracie was already going for the next item on the table. It was a coaster, but a marble one. I leapt the railing as Bones crossed toward her. He narrowly knocked the coaster aside before he reached her.

Fuck.

Without comment or explanation, he put his shoulder into her belly and rose with her over his shoulder. He locked her legs down with one arm and pivoted. In four strides, he was at the stairs. His quick ascent echoed in his rapid footsteps.

Funnily enough, I wasn’t the only one who’d gone still as we tracked his passage through the house. Then a door slamming closed—and I didn’t doubt locked—drifted down the stairs. Bones returned with an even less fucking happy to be here face than earlier.

“Is she—” Voodoo started.

“She’s fine. I didn’t do anything that would open that wound. I am not going to vouch for her own temper not doing it.” He reached for the remote to pick it up and then the discarded coaster. Voodoo had put the lamp down. Instead of following suit with his items, Bones paused to stare at Alphabet.

“Her temper amuses you?” Irritation rifled the words despite Bones’ cool voice.

“Yep,” Alphabet said. “That temper means she’s alive and you still don’t know shit about women.” With that, he turned to head into the kitchen. “We should do the debriefing sooner rather than later.”

“Or we can wait to make sure she is fine, fed, and given an explanation that involves a little more nuance than I said so .” I shook my head. “Then debrief. I think she’s had enough emotional upset the past few days, don’t you?”

“Depends on the debrief,” Voodoo argued. “If we have significant facts to cover, then yes, by all means, let’s make this easier on her. If you can do it in five minutes or less, just get it over with. Then we don’t have to lock her away twice.”

“We’re two votes to do the debrief, one to take the time with Gracie,” Alphabet said, then looked at Bones. “You voting, Captain, or are we just getting the debrief done.”

Bones glanced at me. I sighed. The debate was not one he wanted to have at the moment. No, he’d rather address the Gracie situation. “Fine, I withdraw my suggestion. Get in here and start the debrief Alphabet, I’ll start food.”

Alphabet took a seat, the stiffness in his posture had improved, but he was still sore. Bones folded his arms as he leaned against a pillar separating the kitchen from the living room. Voodoo rested against the wood rail that also demarcated the two rooms.

“In short order,” Alphabet said, leaning forward. “The men who were controlling the truck are ghosts. They don’t exist, their fingerprints are in the system, but they trace to men with identities that don’t exist or died thirty years ago. They were backstopped damn near perfectly. If it wasn’t so frustrating, I’d be impressed.”

Goblin moved to settle next to Alphabet, but he’d also relaxed his wariness. I trusted the canine and started pulling out the burgers I’d prepped for grilling before we went to the airport.

“That said, I moved onto a full background on Grace Black. She is exactly who she appears to be on all fronts. A very influential and in high demand model who has been working in the business for nearly seven years. It’s an impressive career if you read the stats.”

“And because she’s the perfect tiny pixie instead of a six-foot Amazon.” Not that I had a problem with either type. I liked women in general. I liked them tall. I liked them short. I like them flat and a little curvy. I liked women .

“Apparently, that’s added to her professional mystique. She gets chosen for a lot of ‘delicate’ or ‘exotic’ pieces, particularly with the all-natural campaigns. Not seeing exotic in her five foot two inch frame, but I can definitely see delicate and hot.” Alphabet shrugged. “She’s got a gorgeous body and presence and it’s in nearly every image of her I could find.”

The sizzle of the burgers filled the kitchen. I kept one eye on them as I set up the condiments, the various toppings for the burgers like lettuce, tomato, onions, and cheese. There was also plenty of chilis in a bowl but Voodoo was the only other one who liked them.

More for us.

“I did a cursory search for Amorette Black, also using info gathered from Gracie’s background. She’s an attorney, works for a law firm, a real crusader type. They’re identical twins, the resemblance is uncanny?—”

“If they’re identical, it would be more uncanny if they didn’t look alike,” Voodoo stated in a droll tone. I shook my head then paused to flip the burgers.

“Regardless, they look a lot alike, they seem to dress totally different. Kind of makes sense—look that’s not the biggest problem.”

“She’s already gone,” Bones said without waiting for Alphabet or me to fill in the blanks. “If you’d found her, you would have led with that. You’re laying out the breadcrumbs so we can begin tracking, but her sister wasn’t in DC and you don’t know where she is or you would have shared that too.”

“You’re so annoying when you do that,” Alphabet grunted.

“So is taking the scenic route when you wanted a fast debrief.”

The two glared at each other, then Alphabet raised his hands in surrender. If I hadn’t been watching him, I might have missed the way Bones seemed to force himself to relax. Everything about this situation grated on him.

Why?

“Conceded. Amorette Black is missing. No one filed a missing person’s, yet. Though there have been more than a few inquiries. I’m going to guess the people calling the cops are her clients. At least based on what I could work up about the cases she was on. The best I can tell from area surveillance, she’s been gone somewhere between six and eight days.”

“Fuck.” Voodoo dropped his chin.

“What about the law firm she works for?” Bones asked. “Why haven’t they reported her missing?”

“According to them, she dropped her resignation on her desk and walked out the door without saying goodbye to anyone. If we are a client and need to arrange continued legal representation…” I recited the party line we’d gotten from four separate law firm employees.

“She lives alone,” Alphabet said. “She’s very active in her community, but the places she spends her time tend to value privacy and discretion over security cameras. Most of it is domestic violence, workplace harassment, and immigration support—primarily for women, and children. She had some cases through her firm where she did the work for the firm’s pro bono credits. She also does a lot more on her own time and has for years.”

“So what you’re telling me is the twin is a devoted advocate for abuse victims, served as her firm’s PR sacrifice, and was up for sainthood in her attempt to save people, and no one has reported her missing? Which means no one is looking, and the one person who would have noticed her absence just happened to be taken by a human trafficking ring?”

When Bones put it that way, you couldn’t illustrate our problems more clearly.

“There are no coincidences,” Voodoo said.

“No,” I said, agreeing. “Come eat. What else do we need to cover before we can let her out?”

She also needed to eat.

“I think we’re going to let Miss Black cool her heels for just a bit,” Bones said, without the customary bite to his words. In fact, he sounded far more circumspect. “She wants to contact her sister, for now, if we deny it, we delay her confirmation of what she’s afraid of.”

“She has to know.” Voodoo wasn’t wrong. It was why she kept bringing it up and then digging back in when we found a way to delay her.

Today? She’d crossed the imaginary goalposts that had been set and when we failed to live up to our end of the bargain?

“She knows she’s missing and she’s terrified of it. The first thing she’s going to want is to get the cops and the Feds involved,” Voodoo continued. Since it matched my assessment, I tried not to let his sudden insight and understanding annoy me.

They had just spent twenty-four hours together. Not that much more than what Alphabet and I managed before meeting back up with them.

“Then we need answers, because letting her go to the authorities isn’t going to happen.” The finality of the statement made it difficult to dispute.

“Eat.” I repeated before sliding a plate in front of Alphabet. I set the toppings out on a platter and let them all build their own burgers.

Bones hadn’t abandoned his post, where he leaned against the pillar. The distance in his gaze told me without words that he wouldn’t be eating right now.

“You sure you want to keep her up there until we have actionable intel?” Cause I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Not after everything else.

“No,” Bones said. “But we have a job that’s been waiting on us. We can’t do anything about her problems yet . We can’t let her make it worse for her or for us. So she can stay up there for the time being. Get your food, we need to brief on the factories.”