Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

LUNCHBOX

A t some point, mercifully, our passenger fell asleep. The shadows under her eyes and the pallor to her skin couldn’t diminish her beauty. If anything, the smudges and lack of color, gave her a more hollowed out look, yet the tarnish couldn’t reduce the shine.

Grace Black was a stunner. More than that, she had a million dollar smile who lit up every campaign she’d ever been a part of, from fashion to cars to perfume and more. I still couldn’t get past the fact she was found on a truck of trafficking victims.

In no way did she fit that profile. If anything, she was the farthest from it. She had a high profile, recognizable, and was even featured in some memes the last time I checked. She may not be Gigi or Bella Hadid famous yet, but she was well on her way despite her small size. Most models were a lot taller than her what? 5’2? 5’3?

Maybe not a household name yet . But if I recognized her, well, she couldn’t be far off it.

“She still out?” Alphabet asked in a low voice and I nodded.

“Hopefully she sleeps the rest of the way to the rendezvous. I don’t think she’s slept once since we met her.” The wariness in her killed me. I wouldn’t call her wounded, but I didn’t doubt the wounds were there.

Then I kept circling back to her expression when we came in. She’d been fighting. There’d been a cold kind of rage in her face and a fire in her eyes. From the destruction around her, she’d been throwing everything at the guy. It wasn’t going to help much when he had an easy seventy pounds more muscle on him.

Still, had to admire her. I’d wanted to kill the guy because as soon as the fight was over, all the fight bled out of her. It was like someone just cut her strings and she sagged.

“Who the fuck are these guys?”

“No idea. Did you get anything we can run?” I should have, but I wanted her out of there before the shock really set in. She’d been so quiet and withdrawn on the ride into the city. It didn’t surprise me she was shutting down.

Once in the car and with Goblin resting against her, she’d succumbed to sleep pretty swiftly. There was a picture she was holding close. Two girls in it. One of them was her and the other a mirror image.

Her sister was her twin—either identical or so close it didn’t matter. That would add another wrinkle to the problem.

“Fingerprints. Phone. Don’t worry, it’s off. And a wallet. Nothing in the wallet but some twenties and singles. I left them in the wallet. I might be able to get prints off them once I get back to my equipment.”

“That works,” I said, rolling my head from side to side. The sun had gone down a few hours earlier. According to the GPS, we were about an hour out from where we’d meet Bones and Voodoo. “How’s the leg?”

“Fantastic,” Alphabet lied even as he rubbed at his thigh. “I could probably run a marathon.”

“Glad to hear it. I’ll make sure to put money on you next year in Boston.”

He snorted. “You need sleep,” he said. “Your jokes are weak.”

“Fuck off,” I responded and he grinned. The smile didn’t last long though. I wasn’t the only one who was tired. Once we had backup, we’d move to a safe house for rest. If necessary, we could find an off highway hotel to hunker down in.

A solid eight in the rack wouldn’t kill either of us. I still had a few more hours in the tank, but I didn’t want to risk another fight while running low.

Alphabet glanced in the back. When we’d stopped for gas the last time, he’d called Goblin up and out so the dog could relieve himself and have some water. I’d gotten her more comfortable and tucked her blanket around her.

“We’ll figure it out,” I told him. It was what we did. We were problem solvers. Whoever was after her, we’d deal with it and them. Grace Black was not the type to disappear without speculation or investigation. She had ties—a sister for example—business associates and I would imagine boyfriends.

Bones texted that they’d arrived at the rest area meetup we’d scheduled. Alphabet messaged him back that we needed sleep and Grace needed somewhere safe. Voodoo joined the conversation with an address.

It added another fifteen minutes to the drive, but it was definitely off the interstate. Bones was outside when I pulled in. He strolled down from the porch to meet us. The house wasn’t huge, but it was tidy and set back from the road. There were huge trees cutting the visibility.

I didn’t like that for sight lines. We’d have to check them later. But Voodoo wouldn’t have sent the address if it wasn’t secure. So I left it for now. Goblin hopped out to follow Alphabet. The fact he limped wasn’t lost on me or Bones.

“Hit the rack,” Bones told him. “Six hours, minimum.” You could take the captain out of the army but you couldn’t take the captain out of him.

The fact Alphabet nodded and Goblin trotted after him immediately told me all I needed. The lack of argument said he was definitely hurting.

“No injuries that I know of,” I answered Bones’ unasked question. “But it’s been a lot of driving, sitting, and it was five to two. Not really a fair fight for those guys.”

With a snort, Bones moved to the back door of the SUV. Gracie hadn’t so much as twitched. Her breathing was so deep, it worried me. I didn’t see any wounds on her and the guys might have had drugs, but they hadn’t had them out.

“What is she? A buck and change?” Bones shook his head. “She seems almost too fragile for me to pick up.”

“She’ll be fine, you should have seen her throwing shit at the guy who closed in on her. She tried to bash his brains in. She might be tiny, but she’s feisty.” I couldn’t quite keep the grin off my face and Bones just shook his head before he reached into the back.

He bundled her up into the blanket and lifted her out with care. As soon as he cleared the door, he headed up to the house. I grabbed our gear, and snagged the pair of framed photos. They were the only things she’d brought with her.

Guilt scraped against me. She’d been damn upset about leaving. I’d half expected a raging fight or a total denial, but she’d suppressed her reactions so damn ruthlessly, I wasn’t sure it was healthy.

Course, the past few days couldn’t have been the best for her mental health so she got a pass. After I locked the car, I headed in. The interior had low lighting. It was pretty basic, but comfortable.

It seemed to fit our basic needs, it was clean, had enough room for us and I hoped hot running water, because I was showering before I crashed.

Voodoo leaned against the counter in the kitchen where a coffee pot brewed the standard black. His neutral expression betrayed nothing. Then, he was cagey like that.

“You already assign rooms?” Since he called the place, it gave him the pick of rooms.

“I’m on the sofa. Bones is in the master with the client. Alphabet’s in the back on the left. There’s two more rooms on the right. Shower on the left. Supplies are in there.”

I set the photos down in the kitchen and the bag on the counter. “Clothes?”

“Yep.” He pointed to the duffels in the living room. Go bags we kept when we had nothing else. “Anything we need to know right now?”

“Two five man teams. One in her place. Second in a vehicle that tried to tail us. We took their vehicle out with a cocktail. Not sure if we got any of them, I was more interested in securing Gracie than going back to scout the targets.”

Voodoo nodded.

“She know why they are after her?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. She was a little shocky earlier and more than a little lost. I don’t know how a girl like that ends up where she did.”

“Girl like that?” Voodoo raised his eyebrows.

“Google Grace Black. We’ll discuss tomorrow.”

“Got it.” He pulled out his phone. “Get some sleep.”

I headed for my go bag then straight to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, showered and teeth clean, I hit the double bed in the room I’d picked out. Alphabet’s snoring was audible through the door as I passed it.

Stretched out diagonally so my feet didn’t hang off the end, I dropped an arm over my eyes and tried to quiet my brain. Sleep was discipline. Rack time was also important and I hadn’t slept in the past thirty-five some odd hours.

The moment I tried to sack out, I replayed the arrival of the five man team. They pulled up in a van and parked a half block down. What caught my attention was the military boots they were wearing with their suits.

One of these things was not like the other. They also didn’t move like business men. They moved with precision. When they cut down an alley to head to the back, Alphabet was already pushing out of the car.

By the time we reached the back of her place, they were already inside. Fuckers were not moving slow. The team had a kind of lethal efficiency. Their biggest problem was not expecting an assault from their flank.

They hadn’t left anyone on watch. Even then, it took a minute to get through the four in there before I made it to the living room where Grace fended off her attacker. I replayed each moment after I cleared the doors and hit him with the air fryer.

It had been handy and it made a satisfying thunk against his chest. He’d had a hand in her hair. He wasn’t touching her anywhere else. What I focused on was how he’d gripped her hair, the way he kept her still, yet despite her blows—he didn’t hit her in return.

That bothered me. Not that he didn’t hit her. I didn’t want anyone striking her. It bothered me that his reaction was contained even when she was trying to do him bodily harm.

I kept circling back to that choice. When I took him down, he’d let her go rather than drag her down with him. He’d been trying to contain her, not harm . Was he following orders? The specificity in the targeting made this an entirely different kind of threat.

It wasn’t about wanting a beautiful woman. It was about wanting a specific beautiful woman.

Violence threaded through me as I did another replay of the scenario. Nothing about it changed. Those men had been there to take her. If I had to place a bet, they’d come to collect her.

But the guys the Vandals took those victims from were not former military. If anything, they were more street level. So how were the two tied together?

I was still chewing on that when I finally let myself go to sleep.

Tomorrow would be here soon enough.