Page 49 of Dark Auctioned Mate

“She works all the time,” he said, looking at Alanis. “Don’t you?”

“Indeed.” She murmured.

“You know what? I think I may have some business that might interest you. Acquisition business. Sorry, I did not get your name.”

“Oh, Richard,” Rael took out his ID.

Venn accepted it with a smirk. He glanced at it and looked back up. “Consultant, huh? Interesting. Please,” he gestured at the empty seat in front of him. “Sit. I’m Venn.”

Rael took a seat, finding it hard to disregard the fact that Venn still had his hand on

Alanis’s thigh. “I’m always interested in business opportunities. What type of acquisitions do we speak about?

“The specialized kind.” Venn’s smile widened. “I deal with customers who are very…particular in their tastes. They are prepared to pay high prices as long as the inventory is of high quality, meets their requirements, and satisfies their needs.”

Inventory. The word made him sick to his stomach, but he tried to school his expressions. “What type of requirements?”

“Young. Attractive. Compliant.” Venn’s eyes swept over Alanis. “Take your girl here, she is exactly the type that my clients want. If you do not mind, we could—”

“She is not for sale,” Rael said too sharply, then relaxed his tone when he saw Venn’s brows twitch. “She is a personal purchase. But I would be keen on assisting you to locate such... inventory.”

Venn watched him for a long time, as if trying to figure Rael out.

That is when Alanis decided to speak up. “Darling, Richard, I believe you are boring our new friend. Why don’t all of us have a drink together? I am sure Venn here must have some interesting stories about his work.”

The suggestion was perfect. It gave them the opportunity to stay at the table.

“A great idea!” Venn grinned, beckoning the bartender to get him another round. “I do have some very interesting stories. And, perhaps, Richard, you and I might bond over this.”

The discussion that ensued was sickening. Venn boasted of his business model, how he had created a network of suppliers and buyers, and about the returns on human trafficking. He didn’t call it exactly that, though. He referred to it as talent acquisition and specialty placement services.

And the whole time, Alanis kept his glass filled, kept him talking, and made him feel important and clever.

Rael could not help but notice how natural this seemed to her. She did too well. Each smile, each touch, each flirtatious remark was so finely tuned to maintain Venn interested and confident. But he also saw how her smile did not quite meet her eyes and how she tried to shift a bit away from Venn. Those little signs revealed that she was detesting every moment of this.

A couple of minutes later, Venn was drunk. His words became slurred, and his movements were less controlled.

“Do you know what is wrong with this business?” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “Logistics. The stock you can get easy enough—there are crazed girls all over who believe promises of modeling careers or employment abroad. But keeping them until the auction? That is the tricky part.”

“How do you deal with it?” Rael asked in a casual tone.

“Safe houses. Undetected places in various cities.” Venn smiled smugly. “I have one just down the road here in this village, in fact. Ten girls, waiting for the next event, high-quality merchandise, in my opinion.”

Rael gagged silently. “Impressive,” he managed. “Needs a lot of security, I suppose?”

“Not as much as you would think. The girls are kept in line with a bit of pharmaceutical assistance. And the place is remote enough that screaming is no issue.” Venn laughed like he had made a joke.

Rael glanced at Alanis. She looked up at him, her eyes glassy.

“Where is this safe house?” Rael asked, forcing himself to sound interested yet casual. “I would like to know more about your operations if I am going to work with you.”

He momentarily thought that Venn would say no. But the liquor had caused him to become loose-tongued and overconfident.

“Old warehouse on the east side of Starville. Near the river. It was a textile factory, but it went out of business.” Venn leaned forward conspiratorially. “But you see, that is kind of like a secret. I can trust you to treat this with utmost confidentiality?”

“Yes, of course,” Rael clamped his hand on his shoulder. “Discretion is essential in our line of work.”

They stayed an hour more, eliciting additional information about the network, how often the auctions were to be conducted, the mode of transportation, and the principals in the game. When they walked away, Rael had more sufficient data than when he did surveillance for months.