Page 50 of Dark Auctioned Mate

But all he could think of was those ten women in the warehouse, drugged and waiting to be sold.

By the time they got back to the inn, they saw August waiting for them in Rael’s room. Alanis left them to change in her room, promising to be with them in half an hour.

“Did you get something? Anything?” August asked eagerly.

“More than I expected.” So, Rael told him all about it. August’s face grew grim with each tidbit of information.

“Ten women in a warehouse close by?”

“Crazy, right?”

“We have to extract them.”

“I know.” Rael walked to the end of the little room. “But when we do, Venn will know that something is amiss. He will vanish, alert the rest of the network, and we will never get a chance of reaching the other individuals behind this operation.”

“So what, we leave them there? Let them get sold while we worry about the bigger picture?”

“I never said that.”

“But it’s what you’re thinking.” August exhaled sharply. “I know how you work, Rael. You count the cost, weigh the gain, play the game of strategy. But these are not chess pieces. These are ten women who are suffering at this moment while we are discussing strategy.”

Rael dragged his hands over his face. He knew August was right. He also knew that the logical choice would be to keep in touch with Venn, gain his trust even more, and get deeper into the network. But that would mean those women in that warehouse would be sold off at an auction to disgusting creatures. He could not bear to think about it happening.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Alanis came in, dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt, with her face free of the heavy makeup. She looked younger and more helpless and Rael was hit with a wave of protectiveness.

“I heard the two of you arguing down the corridor,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

“We have a choice to make,” Rael said in a dry tone. “We can either keep the cover with Venn and use it to gain access further into the network or we can get those women out of the warehouse tonight and know it will burn our cover.”

Alanis glanced at both August and Rael. “Well, that’s not really a choice, though. Is it?”

“What do you mean?” August asked.

“There are ten women in a warehouse being drugged and held against their will. We free them tonight and in a way that will not blow our cover.”

“How?” Rael tilted his head in confusion. “As soon as those women go missing, he will realize that someone meddled.”

“Not if he thinks that they got away themselves.” Alanis took out her phone, opening a maps application. “He said the warehouse was by the river. Old textile factor.”

“Yeah…”

“Old buildings such as that are structurally weak. Fire code violations. Where walls are thin, or doors do not close right.” She zoomed in on the satellite image. “We can fake it, pretend the women escaped because the building was shit. Venn will believe it was a slip on his part and not an outside intrusion.”

Rael stared at her. She was a completely different person at the moment. Like he never even knew her.

“People can be taken out without leaving any trace of external interference,” Alanis explained. “All you need to do is make it look organic.”

“And what will we do if it does not work? “August asked. “If Venn finds out about us?”

“It is nothing in comparison to freeing those women.” Alanis looked at Rael. “This way, however, we get to at least make an effort to keep our cover but still do what is right.”

Rael glanced at August, who shrugged. “Well, it’s worth trying.”

“Okay,” Rael sighed. “We do it tonight, but we do it very quietly, and we do it wisely. August, I want you to watch Venn—see that he does not leave the inn for any reason.”

“On it.”

“Alanis and I will handle this,” Rael accessed the warehouse location on his cell phone. “We would need to get supplies and a vehicle that can accommodate ten women and also somewhere to take them to.”