Page 98 of Say it Ain’t So

That felt like a kick to the gut. Or a fucking cement truck to the face.

Donald Baker was the lowest sort of scum. Right before our little recovery mission to Kansas City where I was shot, I’d gone with Lee and Quinn, the ex-cop from New York, to talk to Donnie about the missing teen we were trying to find. Donnie didn’t want to talk, but Quinn had ways of making him speak. He’d promised us contact info that he had in his apartment, and we got the surprise of a lifetime when we opened the door.

Did I mention the man was scum? He was on our radar because he was the CEO of the company Jen Leonetti and Kelly O’Connor had worked for. The same company that was involved in kidnapping women and selling them into sexual slavery overseas. The same company that had abducted Jen and Kelly before that fateful night we saved their lives.

So it shouldn’t have come as any surprise when we opened Donnie’s apartment door and found a naked teenage girl chained to the floor.

And now he was out on bond.

“How the hell did that happen?” I didn’t realize how loud my voice was until Joss shushed me.

“Don’t know,” Van said, sitting back in his chair and taking a drink. “We were all but assured he was going away for life. His ex-wife wanted nothing to do with him, and she wouldn’t have had the money even if she did. The only people Donnie had any contact with since the company went down were his lawyers and the police.”

And the sex ring.

The people who delivered young girls to his apartment in the middle of the night.

I wiped my hand down my face as my stomach twisted and threatened to bring up my steak.

“How did the guys take it?” I asked after I swallowed down bile creeping into my throat.

“Let’s put it this way.” Van leaned his elbows on the table. “Cael sounded worse than you right now, and he wasn’t even on the mission with us.”

“Weston wasn’t either,” I pointed out.

“But he’s had over a year of working side by side with Zane to get caught up.”

“Both Kolton and Warren were quiet,” Joss offered, her own voice low. “It was weird.”

“How so?”

She lifted her gaze to Van. “Warren’s never quiet. He never takes anything seriously.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Like Rylan?”

She shook her head. “Rylan’s different,” she said before reaching for my hand. “Rylan loves to have fun, but he knows when to be serious. I’ve never really seen that in Warren before. I mean, I don’t know him well. He’s never around.”

“Where is he now?”

Joss shrugged. “Arizona, I think. Either that or Utah. I can’t remember when they were headed north.”

“What about Kolton?” I asked, my throat going tight. The kid hadn’t handled the news of the reason for Donnie’s arrest well at all. It was part of the reason he didn’t come with us to Kansas City.

Joss shook her head. “It wasn’t good. He got off the phone pretty quickly.”

“He gonna be okay?” Van asked.

“I made sure his sisters were there with him.”

We both nodded. Kendra and Kacie would take care of him. They’d make sure he got whatever help he needed.

“Well shit.” Van fell back into his chair. “That sure as hell put a damper on things.”

“I’m sorry,” Joss said, but both Van and I reached for her hands.

“Not your fault, gorgeous.” I gave her a smile and tipped her chin with my finger. “It was this asshole that brought it up.”

“Hey!” Van laughed, and it helped to calm the mood. His face fell a moment later and he scrubbed a hand over his head. “This is going to be a shit show. I’ve been busting my ass, trying to help Lee find Kelly, and now this. I guarantee Special Agent Hernandez is going to be on his ass.”