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They all nod in unison.
“Metamorphosis is hers too. She’s a silent partner.”
“Why silent? I mean, it wouldn’t be unusual for two friends to go into business together. Look at us.”
“Yeah, Finn, but none of us have abusive families and partners that want to destroy us.”
Carter clears his throat in an all-knowing way, but I interrupt him.
“You know what I mean.”
“Knowing her… she’s doing it for Loreley more than for herself. Holt, even her family, would use the club against her.” Madds nods in understanding.
“What would they do if they found out we’re backing them?”
Finn’s words lay heavy in the air and grins form on all of our lips.
“As much as I will love seeing that, we have to hold off until the time is right. No one can know. No one.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
VINCENT
“Hello, my darlings.” Jonathan, the Ghost, is a lean man, well into his fifties, very well dressed in his tweed suit that Carter is currently admiring. Both men have style, but Jonathan definitely has an edge, always wearing some sort of flashy accessory, something to give him that touch of extravagance, whilst remaining tasteful. This time around, a filigree gold brooch shines on his lapel.
“Jonathan.” Carter nods.
He was the one that created this connection with the man. He was Carter’s father’s friend when they were young, and they connected maybe about five or six years ago, by way of a fortunate accident. It was Jonathan that looked straight into Carter’s eyes and saw his father right away. He knew he had died years before, never having had the chance to meet his son as an adult.
“Come, come. Follow me.” He leads us quickly inside a warehouse, and we’re eagle eyed as we pass large industrial shelves filled with packed boxes of all shapes, sizes, and materials. Some more heavy duty than others. But we don’t stop at any of them, instead we go straight to the other end of it, where two of Jonathan’s men stand by a huge door.
He stops and turns to us.
“This is one thing I won’t work with, and if I’m not mistaken, you won’t agree with it either.”
His men open the door, only we’re looking right at the back of a container, its doors cracked open. I guess this is a clever way of checking contents, without having outside eyes on you, since the access to it is inside the warehouse.
And when the doors to the container open, we’re all stuck for words. The stench is horrendous. The image even worse. Girls and boys. In the worst state, dirty and so fucking scared. They don’t even dare to say a word to us, completely still, just in case the wrong move would be fatal. Most of them look drugged out of their mind.
“How long have they been in there?!” Finn reacts first.
“The container has been traveling for three days. We fed them and gave them water when we found them, about an hour or so ago. We haven’t logged the receipt of the container yet, but I will have to soon.”
“Are you telling me that this is O’Rourke’s container?!” I take one more step forward, swiping my eyes over the delicate faces that don’t dare look at me. They’re probably between ten and sixteen, at most.
“And Holt’s,” he confirms.
“But the deal was for ammunition and fucking cocaine!” When I turn to Madds, he’s barely containing himself. One thing he will kill a man for without debating, are crimes against children… especially sex trafficking. Nothing will touch him as much as this does.
“That was indeed the deal. I’m supposed to be discreet too. But one of my guys heard crying when we pulled the container off the ship and set it in the docking area. I won’t condone this, Vincent.” He looks straight at me, eyes wide, not with shock or fear, but a stern gravity.
“I agree. It needs to stop now.” Madds steps forward and walks inside the container. Some of the kids cower instantly, trying to make themselves invisible, and it’s fucking hard to keep your heart whole as you witness this.
“We can’t stop it now.” At my words, everyone freezes. When their predatory gazes turn to me, various levels of outrage and fury meet mine. “If we do, they’ll find another way, which means that this operation is going to continue behind our backs. What we need is to end O’Rourke and Holt, and with them… this entire operation.”
“Are you fucking saying that we’re supposed to close these doors and let them go, wherever the fuck those assholes are taking them?!” Madds’ voice booms through the small space of the container and some of the kids start crying.
“We don’t have a choice. He can’t know we know of this. We need to find out where they’re taking them, because this might be bigger than this one container. The hydra has many heads, and we need to cut the root and find all of them.” I know I’m making sense, and from the looks I’m getting, it’s clear that the wheels are spinning in their brains right now. “Saving just them will not save all the others. If there are any others.”
