Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

ALPHABET

I t took us a solid thirty hours to get the majority of these people to the various shelters, homes, and more. Human trafficking was the purview of dirtbags and scum. People were not property, nor should they ever be bought and sold like they were.

They’d been hauling men, women, and children around like cargo. It disgusted me. When Doc called and asked for a favor, the last thing I was going to do was tell our old companion “no.” Bones had been finishing up a job and we just had to wait for him and Lunchbox to return. Voodoo had put together a list of supplies and gone to pick up transpo.

It was pure dumb luck we’d been down the coast when Doc called us. Then again, it wasn’t the first time dumb luck saved our asses. Once we got there, we made quick work of sorting through the people who could go and the ones who needed more medical care.

For those that would need more time, Voodoo reached out to a couple of shelters a few towns over. They worked with the displaced. Not everyone on that truck had been illegal, but some had been. Those who needed legal assistance would get it.

Those who just wanted to go back to where they’d been taken from, well we’d get them there too. It was just a matter of resource management. Voodoo would take care of that. Bones was going over security with Doc. Some of the survivors were going to have to stay here. We’d rather leave one of us with Doc, but he said he had it.

Lunchbox took in all the details with me. He identified who would need new identification. It helped that he was good with people. The pixie in the corner hadn’t said a word since she’d retreated. If she told Lunchbox her name, he hadn’t deigned to share it yet.

No matter who I was speaking to, though, my attention return to her again and again. Something about her was off. I couldn’t put my finger on either what it was that was off or why it was off. I worried over it like a hangnail.

Eventually, we were ready to take a trip. Voodoo was also back with a tour bus. An honest to god tour bus. I stared at it and then at him. “Do we want to know where you stole this?”

“Acquired,” he informed me. “And no, it’s fully loaded, and comfortable. We’ve got a place in the back we can crash when we need if we take it in shifts. There are places for them to ride and spread out. It also has a bathroom. Say thank you, Voodoo, and get your ass onboard.”

“Thank you, Voodoo. Get your ass onboard.” I deadpanned the delivery and he just smirked at me. The sound of soft laughter came from behind us, but when I turned, I couldn’t see who had found the comment funny.

It aggravated me a little that I couldn’t identify where the humor came from. These people were so browbeaten and gray with exhaustion, that a little laughter would go a long way.

Switching to Spanish, I invited them to come aboard. “We’re going to be on the road for a few days. We will make stops for food, drink, and to stretch your legs. Some of you will be home sooner than the others. But if you trust us a little longer, we’ll get all of you there.”

The weight of the pixie’s stare settled on me like a heavy cloak. I didn’t see her right away as the survivors began to climb aboard. They were all swaying from the exhaustion. Lunchbox had scooped up one of the kids from his mom and carried him for the fatigued woman.

Bones was right behind him with another. Voodoo had circled around all of them and gone to the backdoor to speak to Doc. It was late into the night again, a good time to leave under cover of darkness. I wasn’t sure how much sleep any of these people had gotten.

There she was, moving quietly behind the others, she drifted up toward the tour bus door. We were taking seventeen passengers with us. The others would need more time. If Doc could place them before we were done, he would.

If not, we’d come back. Then Pixie was the last one at the door. She glanced at me, her thoughts an utter enigma behind the shadows moving in her eyes. She was so damn beautiful it kind of hurt to look at her. Despite that, I didn’t turn away.

“You ready?” Bones said from behind me and it tugged her gaze from me to him. For the first time since the accident, I found myself almost resenting him.

“Just need the pixie aboard,” I told him. I made a point of keeping an eye on her from the periphery of my vision. She frowned at the description, or maybe she was frowning at getting on board.

Right, time for backup. I whistled. Goblin had been parked up in the truck with the window open while we got all these people moving. Not everyone was comfortable around dogs.

He leapt out of the open window and raced toward me. The pixie swung her gaze around as Goblin slowed to a trot. His tongue lolled with his open mouthed grin. I raised the fingers on my right hand at his approach.

It was a signal to halt. He stopped. When I curled my fingers, he sat then looked from me to the pixie then back.

“Good boy,” I murmured.

“Is he friendly?” Three words in beautiful unaccented English. I kept my comments to myself. Dogs worked their magic every time.

“He is,” I told her. “Goblin, come.”

Goblin trotted toward me.

“Goblin?” Surprise popped through both syllables.

“It fits him.” Not crouching, I made a circle motion with my index finger and Goblin pivoted. “Friend,” I told him, then held out my hand for hers. “Just place the back of your hand against my palm.”

She gave me one wary look then obeyed. I lowered our hands together and Goblin gave her hand a thorough inspection and sniff before he licked it.

“Friend,” I repeated, then glanced at her. She was wholly enthralled. “You can pet him if you want.”

It was the closest to relaxed I’d seen her since we arrived. The tension in her body eased and she crouched slowly. The clothes were far too baggy and oversized, especially around her torso and waist. The t-shirt hid her silhouette and the sleeves dropped down to her mid-forearm. Even as she lowered herself to meet Goblin, the hem of her shirt was nearly to her knees. From a distance, she looked more like a child wearing her parents’ clothing than an adult woman. The pair of flip flops revealed her pale pink toe nail polish and tiny delicate feet.

When she was at eye level with Goblin, I said, “Easy.” It was a release command. He hurried forward to greet her, tail wagging. He didn’t jump. Instead, he just sat there in front of her while she stroked his head. He leaned right into the contact.

“He’s sweet,” she said, the faintest of tremors in her voice. “Yes, you are.” No longer paying any attention to me, the pixie seemed to relax for real. Finally.

“If you want, he can sit with you.” Goblin usually stuck close to me, but I was doing okay right now. She needed the comfort and the support.

“Really?” She met my gaze briefly, not stopping her petting of Goblin.

“Yep.” Then I held out a hand to her. “Come on, let’s get you two on board and comfortable.”

She stared at my hand for a moment. Considering the circumstances, this might be pushing it. If she refused, I wouldn’t take it personally. After a too long moment where I almost lowered my hand, she gripped it lightly and I gave her a gentle tug.

Once on her feet, she released me and I took a step back. She glanced down at Goblin. “Want to sit with me?”

Goblin wagged his tail, he looked between us again, always checking with me first. I lifted my chin and motioned to the stairs. “Up you go.”

He dashed up the three steps to the inside and she followed along, still slow, but I didn’t think her movements had anything to do with reluctance now. After a beat, Bones descended.

“They’re in the second row,” he said. “You good?”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “She needs Goblin and he’s helping. I’ll stay near the front.” That way if I started to slip, Goblin could warn all of us.

Bones took me at my word and clapped me on my shoulder. With everyone on board, we got moving. Doc waved us off and by the time Voodoo turned the tour bus out of the lot, the pixie was sound asleep, curled up under a blanket with Goblin stretched out against her lap.

It was sweet.

Over the next seventy-two hours, we returned several of our passengers to their home cities or to relatives. We checked each place before we left them. I made arrangements for papers as needed. Voodoo provided them with funds, and a card. If they needed us for any reason, they just had to call.

It wasn’t until our pixie was the last one left that she admitted her name and her address.

Grace Black. Manhattan.

She was the farthest away of all our passengers. Driving, it would take us another couple of days yet. “New plan,” Lunchbox said. “Two of us take Miss Black home and you two take care of the tour bus.”

“I could just go to the airport,” she offered, all the while she was petting Goblin.

“You could,” I told her. “But then you’d have to say goodbye to Goblin a lot sooner and that might break his heart.”

A smile flickered over her lips.

“We don’t mind taking you home,” I said, lifting my chin to Lunchbox. Thankfully, she didn’t take a lot of persuading. The wariness in her eyes had seemed to grow heavier with each passing day. I wasn’t the only one who’d seen it. Instead of being relieved to be farther and farther away from her captivity, she seemed to worsen.

Bones and Lunchbox seemed equally as puzzled. The one thing that settled her was Goblin. So, we would let Goblin help take her home.

An hour after that conversation, she was posted up in the back of the four door SUV Voodoo picked up for us. It wasn’t the best gas mileage, but it would be comfortable. Instead of driving all night though, we stopped at hotels out of the way.

Never hurt to play it safe. We gave her her own room and took the one next door then spelled each other out for watch. Goblin slept in the room with her. I kept waiting for her to open up more, to say more, but she didn’t.

The last night before we were going to get into Manhattan, she was glued to the news on the television. Every single channel. If Lunchbox knew what she was looking for, he didn’t share it.

It was closer to four days later that we pulled up in front of her brownstone. Lunchbox pulled into an empty spot across the street. It had limited parking but we wouldn’t be here that long.

“Stay,” I told Goblin as I eased out of the front passenger seat before I opened the back door for her.

“You don’t have to walk me in…”

“Just going to walk you to your door and make sure you’re inside and safe,” I told her.

She hesitated, standing there next to the car with a lost look on her face.

“Problem?”

“I don’t have my keys,” she admitted. “I don’t—I don’t have anything.”

I pulled open the door to the front seat and took the kit Lunchbox tossed me. “Do you have an alarm?”

“Yes,” she said, then gave me a mystified look when I held up the pouch. “But I am going to have to call someone for a key.”

“Or not,” I said. “I’ll get it open, you take care of your own alarm.”

When she blinked at me, that puzzled look back in place, I motioned to the building.

“Come on, you want to go home, right?” It was a lot like coaxing a wounded animal. There was something so fierce and vital about her but it was coated in a miasma of—darkness. I had no other word for it.

Frankly, I didn’t fucking like it but no one asked me.

She gave Goblin one last look before crossing the street with me. The slow pace she set was easy to match, but it was like watching someone heading to a firing squad.

I wanted to tell her something, anything really, to make this easier for her but I had no idea what that could be.

At the front door to her brownstone, I pulled out my tools and went to work. Not all locks were easy to pick. If there was an inaccessible deadbolt on the inside, this definitely wouldn’t work.

The first tumblers gave, then the second. I freed the top lock then went to work on the handle lock. Four minutes later, I opened the door for her.

An alarm buzzed a warning and she hurried in three feet to turn the alarm off. Four minutes. I was getting rusty.

“Thank you,” she said, turning to look at me and then past me to where Lunchbox was in the SUV.

“You’re welcome,” I said, then I pulled out a card. It had our number on it and I’d already written down my private number on the back. “Here.”

She took it for a moment then stared at it before she looked at me again.

“Anything happens, even if you just want to talk—call. I’ll always answer the number on the back. The number on the front means you have to leave a message and that could take a little time to get to us. So for an emergency, always the number on the back.”

With a slow breath, she nodded. “Thank you—again.”

“You’re welcome, Gracie.”

She frowned a little as she split her attention between me and the card.

“Close the door, Gracie.”

“Oh.” Another flicker of a smile and as much as I didn’t want her to vanish, I waited as the door closed. Then one by one, the locks turned.

“Good girl,” I murmured before making my way down the steps and heading toward the SUV. My leg was aching, but I ignored it. It was a very familiar feeling.

Once I returned to the SUV, I climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door. Lunchbox didn’t pull out and I didn’t say anything.

We just sat there.

After a couple of minutes, Lunchbox asked, “How long?”

“Let’s give it an hour?”

“Done.”