Page 67 of John’s Yearning

“Good.” John eased up on the pressure on his gun. Behind him, he heard more of Scanguards’ men enter.

“The rooms are empty,” Zane announced. “Tons of mattresses, bedding, and the like. I can still smell them.”

“Thanks, Zane.” John glared at the thug in front of him. “Where are the girls?”

“They’re long gone.”

“Explain. Where are they?”

“On a container ship. On their way to Russia.”

“Fuck!” John cursed. “Who is behind this?”

“I don’t know,” the man claimed.

John whipped him across the face with his gun, making blood splash from his mouth, while he grunted in pain. “Who?”

“I’ve never met him.”

John glanced over to the other man who was held at gunpoint by Grayson.

“I haven’t met him either. He sends us text messages. Tells us where to snatch the girls, which ones to grab. He gives us all the details. Which ship to put them on.”

John looked back at his captive. “Is that true?”

The man motioned to the cell phone on the desk. “You can check for yourself. But there’s no number. We can’t call him, he can only call us.”

“How do you get paid?”

“Cash. He tells us where he leaves it, and we pick it up. Always a different place.”

John looked over his shoulder to Benjamin. “Check the phone.”

Benjamin did as he was told, while Oliver joined him and rummaged through the paperwork on the desk.

“He’s telling the truth,” Benjamin said after a few moments of silence.

John nodded. “And the girls, what happens to them once the ship arrives in Russia? Who takes them from there?”

Both thugs shook their heads.

“We only put them on the ship,” Grayson’s captive said. “Once they’re loaded and the ship’s gone, we’re done.”

John narrowed his eyes and growled.

“You have to believe me,” the thug closest to him pleaded. “All we know is that the girls are special orders for some hot shots in Russia. They pick them specially. We just have to make sure they get on the ship. I don’t know for sure, but I assume the boss has a crew on the other side to distribute them to whoever ordered them.”

“Oh fuck,” Oliver suddenly let out.

John whirled his head to him and saw him holding up a sheet of paper. “What?”

Oliver addressed the thugs, “Is this the manifest for the ship the girls are on?”

Both nodded.

Oliver cursed. “John, if I’ve figured out the time difference correctly, the ship with the girls will be arriving in Vladivostok in less than four hours.”

“Shit!” John’s heart sank into his knees.