13

Will

Jake, Christian, and Jager showed up at my apartment less than thirty minutes later. I briefed them on the situation and together we came up with a plan to storm the house.

However, when I suggested we should go in tonight, Jake shook his head. "We should get the police involved."

"That's what I said," Christina murmured from the loveseat behind me.

I tried not to smile, but her sass was tempting. "As I'd said earlier, we will, but you know the police will only slow us down."

"Maybe," said Jake. "But they've seen what we can do and I think we can get them to trust us to go in."

"Fine." I checked the time. "I'll go see the police chief first thing in the morning. But I'm not delaying this any more than that. I promised Donna I'd not be long and I intend to keep that promise."

Christina made a sound, almost like a murmur of approval, but it could have just been her shuffling in her seat instead of my wishful thinking that my response pleased her.

"All right. Call us back and let us know how that meeting goes," said Jager. "In the meantime, I'll prepare our gear. Looks like we're going in with the police's permission or without."

I clasped Jager's shoulder. "Thank you." Then I turned to Christian, who was quieter than usual. "Are you up for this?" I asked him.

He sat straighter in his chair. "Of course I am. I'm there for you, brother." His words were familiar, but the force behind them was not.

Christian was the toughest one between us, and it killed me to see him down on himself. When this was all over, I would have to pull him aside and see what was up.

One by one, they stood and said their goodbyes. I walked them to the door and then turned to Christina. Her hair was a mess from running her hands through it, and she looked tense. I pressed my lips to the crease between her brows. "I wish I could spend the night making you forget about what's happening, but tomorrow is going to be a long day and I'm going to need my strength and head in the game."

She gave a weak smile. "That's all right. I'm feeling pretty worn out myself. I'll head out now."

She stepped out of my arms, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to me. Rubbing her arms and kissing the space below her ear, I whispered, "Doesn't mean you have to go home. You can still sleep in my bed." The thought of sleeping next to Christina and not touching her was torture, but so was letting her go right now.

But she shook her head. "I told you. I don't stay overnight."

She bit her lip, then closed her eyes. I was disappointed, for sure. But I didn't think her ‘rules' for not staying overnight had anything to do with me, so I didn't take it personally. I promised myself I'd be patient, and this is what that meant.

"All right," I said and kissed her slowly on her lips. "But let me drive you home, at least."

Again, she shook off my request. "There's no reason for you to come to Brooklyn when I have my own car. Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow." She grabbed her purse that she hung by the door, and before she walked out, she turned to me. "Promise you won't go into the house without me."

I didn't like the idea of Christina being anywhere near that house, especially not when the situation would be unpredictable with potential gunfire. But she would most likely find out something was happening through Nikole. And if I were to build trust between us, I couldn't lie to her.

"Yes. I promise."

"Thank you." She placed her hands on my chest, her warm palms squeezed my muscles, and I grinned. "If you get to cop a feel, so do I."

She grabbed my hand as soon as I raised it and smiled. "No, you don't." But smoothed her rejection with lips over mine. She ran her tongue over the seam and I opened wider to breathe in more of her. Pulling her closer to me, I slid my tongue inside her mouth and feasted on her peppermint taste.

I groaned when she pressed her body against mine, and the friction sent a shiver down my back. "God, I can't let you go," I whispered.

She pulled away. Her eyes were bright and less tired, but they stared at me, perhaps a little confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing. I… I'm just tired. I should go. Good night, Will."

"Goodnight, Christina."

I wanted to say something more. Not I love you. Not yet. But something. There should be a string of words one can say to express how much someone is affecting your life without scaring them off.

I want you.

I care for you.

I need you beside me.

Nothing felt right unless she was in my arms. I didn't know when, but I would tell all this to Christina when she was ready to hear it.

***

I found the police chief in his office the next day. He was shouting at a couple of officers just as I was about to knock on his door.

While Jake had a contentious relationship with the police, I'd never had a problem before. However, the chief's red face and clenched fists didn't bode well for my upcoming conversation.

"Did we have a meeting set up this morning, Nash?" he asked after the two officers walked out with their heads down.

"No, sir. But the matter is urgent."

"I'm the chief of police, Nash. Everything I deal with is life or death. If we don't have an appointment, then you'll have to make one."

I sat down in a chair in front of his desk anyway. "You need to hear me out. I've discovered a human trafficking ring involving three women and there could be more in other houses."

The chief stopped rifling through papers and turned to me. He knew my history and knew I wouldn't be making this up. But he still had to ask. "How did you come about this information?"

"I spoke with one of the women myself. I smuggled a phone into the house and have a line to her now. My brothers and I are going in today."

"Today?" He shook his head. "That's not possible. If this is human trafficking, we have to get Homeland Security involved, and that could take weeks, maybe longer."

I crossed my arms and stared at the chief. "I'm not waiting that long. I promised the woman I would get her out and I'm doing that today."

"My hands are tied, Nash."

"Well, mine aren't."

"You do not have jurisdiction to go in there. It would be unlawful entry and you would be headed to jail."

"You would arrest me for saving three women."

"I would have to arrest you if you broke the law to do it."

I rubbed my face with my hands. "This is insane. Three women are being held hostage in that house and performing acts they no longer wish to perform, and all you can think of is arresting me for busting down a door."

"I'm warning you that it's not as simple as you make it out to be."

"That's the problem. It really is that simple, but sometimes we just make things harder than they need to be."

Thinking quickly, I came up with a plan. "Give me two officers today."

"For what?"

"To perform a wellness check on the women. If we see anything that looks illegal, the officers can respond right away."

"You have to do this by the book, Nash. None of that hero bullshit."

"We'll do it by the book."

"All right. You'll get two officers, but that's it. Don't try to get those women out unlawfully or I'll instruct those officers to arrest you, too."

"I understand."

I wasn't worried about going to jail. I was willing to do whatever was necessary to get Donna and the other two women out of Simon's house.

"Tell your officers to meet me here in an hour." I wrote down Simon's address on a notepad I found on the chief's desk.

The chief grabbed the address and stared at it. "They'll be there."

On my way out, I called Jake and updated him on the situation. We were all meeting in an hour. And I didn't care if the police arrested me or not. I was getting Donna and those other two women out today.

***

It was only ten o'clock when I turned the car onto Simon's street. Christina sat in the passenger seat beside me. She wore boots and cargo pants. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was coming in with us. I prayed she wasn't getting any crazy ideas like that. My brothers and I had been through countless hostage rescues and we knew that any distraction could be fatal.

"Christina, I know I promised to bring you with me, but you have to promise to stay back. Do not come within thirty feet of the property. In fact, I preferred if you stayed in the car."

"I understand."

"But do you promise? It's important that you follow this rule."

She crossed her arms.

"I have to trust that you are going to listen to what I say so that I can focus on my task."

"I promise to stay thirty feet back."

I nodded. "All right. I see the police cruiser behind us and my brothers are here too."

I pulled her hand into mine and interlaced our fingers. "This will all be over soon."

She stared at our joined hands and nodded. "I know."

For a second, my chest tightened. I had a bad feeling that she was talking about us and not the rescue. But there was no time to question her now. We would discuss it all later.

I climbed out of the car and walked over to the cruiser parked behind me. "Are you guys ready?" I asked.

"We're just knocking on the door and asking to speak to Donna Polito, right?"

"That's right. But we're looking for any reason to go inside. So, if anything doesn't look right, we're going in."

"You're coming with us?"

"Absolutely."

Then they looked over my shoulder at my brothers lined up behind me. "They're staying here."

I considered this. "Fine. They'll be on standby if we need them."

"All right, let's go," said the officer in the driver's seat. "Best to get this done with."

I narrowed my eyes at him, unhappy with his attitude.

The three of us walked toward the house and my brothers followed, but I shook my head and waved my hand. They knew the signal from our days out east and stayed put.

The officer who was driving knocked on the door first. "Open up, police."

He placed his hand on his gun as we waited, and I checked the holster at my side. But there was no answer and no sound from the other side of the door.

"Doesn't seem like there's anyone home."

"There are at least three women inside," I said.

"Do you have proof of that?" the other officer asked.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the burner's number. It rang and rang, but Donna didn't answer.

"Come on," I muttered.

I texted her a message in case she was with Simon so she could get back to us later.

"I just texted her. Let's give her some time to respond."

Mr. Grumpy Pants sighed and looked at his watch. "She's got ten minutes."

I stepped closer to him. "She's got as much time as she needs. We are going to stand here and wait for someone to answer this door or hear back from Donna. Is that clear?"

"You can't order me around."

"Do you want to take off that badge and say that, or will you hide behind the uniform?"

He considered it, but his friend stepped in. "Let's just wait and see what happens. We've got time."

"That sounds reasonable," I said and turned to Mr. Grumpy.

He crossed his arms. "Fine."

I crossed mine—my T-shirt barely covered my biceps—and his eyes widened.

He huffed and turned around, pretending to look through the front window, but the blinds were drawn as usual.

"I don't know what we're doing here, wasting our time," he muttered under his breath. But I ignored him.

I walked down the porch and discreetly put my earpiece in. I heard some rustling inside, but no voices. Someone was in there. I was sure of it. Did he lock Donna and the women away from the phone and the front door? That was possible.

No one was in the backyard, and the blinds were drawn here, too. Something was going on. I could feel it in my gut.

As I walked back toward the front porch, a man's voice stopped me. "Hey, are you Christina's friend?"

A man wearing baggy jeans and a white tank top approached from next door. "Yes. Who are you?"

"They call me Lucky."

"Hi, Lucky. Have you seen or heard anything this morning?"

He shook his head. "Nah, it's been unusually quiet."

"What do you mean?"

"No cars, no guys smoking up in the back. It looks like nobody's around."

I watched Lucky as he told me this. His eyes shifted from my face to behind me, looking at the police cruisers.

"I'm not a cop."

"But you hang with them."

I nodded. "How much did he pay you to say this to me?"

Lucky's eyes didn't widen, but he took a swift intake of breath. I watched him closely.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"They're holding three women hostage in there. One of them is Christina's sister."

"Donna?"

I nodded.

He swore under his breath. "Fifty. He paid me fifty bucks to tell anyone snooping around that nobody's home."

"I'll give you two hundred if you tell me where they went."

He shrugged. "Nowhere. I haven't seen anyone leave the house."

"Thank you," I said, pulled out my wallet, and paid the man.

"I hope you find them and throw his ass in prison."

"I'll try."

He walked back to his porch, his shoulders, and head down.

Walking back to the officers, I gave them the update. "They're all still inside. The neighbor just confirmed it."

"Well, it's their home. I can't arrest them for staying inside their house."

"I'm telling you they're holding three women hostage, and that's what you're saying?"

"You don't have any proof."

When we were on a mission, we were all on the same side. This felt like we were not in this together and if they were going to hold me back, I was done playing by their rules. "Stand back, I'm kicking in the door."

"You can't do that," the reasonable one said.

But the other guy smiled. "Let him. I'll be happy to cuff him."

Raising my leg, I was just about to kick the door when a piercing scream came from inside the house. The officers looked at each other and then at me. "Break it!" Grumpy shouted.

Without any hesitation, I slammed my boot against the wooden frame and pulled out my gun. I waved it around the room.

A man stood in the middle of the living room with his hands up in the air. "Don't move," I shouted.

Grumpy handcuffed him as I moved further into the house. Walking with one foot slowly in front of the other, I listened for any movement or rustling. Or worse, the cocking of a gun.

When I turned the corner, I found Simon sitting at a kitchen table, a hurricane lantern burning beside him.

It was the middle of the day. Why would he light a lantern? Was he heading into the dark basement?

"Where are they?"

He tilted his head in mock confusion. "Who?"

"Donna and the other two women. I know they're here."

He squinted his eyes. "You look familiar." Then his face fell when he finally recognized me. "Motherfucker."

"Yeah. I was the city worker. Now, I'm only going to ask you this one more time. Where are they?"

He smirked. "You can't shoot an unarmed man."

"Wanna bet?" I cocked my gun and his smile faltered. Then he looked down at the lantern.

I didn't like that look on his face. I needed to move him to a more neutral spot and interrogate the asshole until he gave up their location. "Get up. And keep your hands where I can see them."

"Where are we going?"

"I wouldn't worry about where. I'd worry about what will happen when we get there."

He licked his lips, slowly raising his arms and body. But as he stood, his hip hit the rickety table, and the lantern fell.

When the single flame fell onto the wooden floor, it lit up like an inferno. He must have planned this last-ditch effort as he ran in the opposite direction through the back door.

I pursued him, but he didn't get very far since Jake and Christian were already there. He turned back toward me and that's when his eyes widened. But then he smiled, a sickening smile.

The house behind us was already engulfed in flames. My heart stopped as I realized he had planned it. If he set the fire, he would destroy all the evidence inside the house. Including the hostages.

"Help me put it out," I yelled at my brothers. "The women might still be inside."