AllFreeNovel
Share Us
RIDGE
Unlike the hours that dragged before I’d overheard the conversation about the ship arriving tonight, the next twelve flew by. I disengaged from the victim response team and asked Gunner how I could assist his group instead. He pointed me to Snapper and Kick, who were heading up moving the victims into the triage center once they were out of the containers.
Like Seraphina, I wondered how we’d know which ship to board without involving the terminal operations manager.
“Customs,” said Snapper when I mentioned it. “They’ll at least know which ships are coming from Altamira. If not there, we’ll check every ship arriving from Mexico. At the same time, the K19 crew who remained in Yavaros is leaning heavily on Varilla to give up more information.”
Every so often, I’d look over at Sera and catch her looking at me. Each time it happened, her eyes scrunched as though she was asking what was wrong. Or maybe I was misreading that too.
Once this was over, maybe I’d spend some time at Tryst’s ranch, exploring why I was such a schmuck when it came to women. I felt certain Brix’s uncle would be more than willing to share his opinion on the subject.
I’d also talk to my father and see what in the hell had happened between him and Seraphina’s dad. I wanted to head in the opposite direction when I saw Press stalking toward me. If he’d found more evidence of Sera plotting against Los Caballeros, I didn’t want him to tell me until after we’d rescued her sister. As it was, it was hard enough for me to be around her.
“I’ve been chatting with Zin—”
“Save it, Press.”
He raised a brow.
“I need to focus on the human traffickers now, not on whether Los Caballeros’ existence is being threatened.”
“That’s just it. After hashing it out with Zin, I don’t believe Ms. Reeve would have anything truly damning on us.”
“Ms. Reeve? Her name is Seraphina.”
Press sighed. “Yes, Ridge. I don’t believe Seraphina has anything to pursue on Brix or us. All we really did was facilitate K19’s involvement and act as support to them. Cooley won’t be able to touch Doc Butler or anyone from his organization.”
“I as much as admitted our existence.”
“Meaning what? No money exchanged hands. A woman came to you, a friend, and told you her sister was missing. Everything taking place from then on was K19.”
In terms of proof, he was right. Other than searching Luisa’s room and hacking into her phone records, we’d merely acted as facilitators.
Realizing how little Sera had to go on in terms of obstruction of justice did little to relieve me, though. While believing there was no threat against Los Caballeros offered some solace, the idea Sera would betray my trust left me feeling bereft.
Giventhere was a race to get the medical teams and supplies in place before the ship’s arrival, as well as the teams preparing to storm the containers, I hadn’t had time to talk to Seraphina at all.
I checked the time and saw it was getting close to zero one hundred when Ares assembled each team leader and told them to let their group know we were T-minus one hour before the ship would be in its berth.
“What’s happening with the terminal operations manager?” I asked.
“In custody and singing like a fucking canary,” Gunner responded.
There were eight teams of ten armed and suited up in protective gear. An equal number of people in civilian attire were assigned to each unit. Once the all clear was given, they would move in and start aiding victims.
Sera, along with the rest of Los Caballeros, would be floaters, aiding as needed but, more importantly, on the lookout for Luisa.
“Time to move out,” announced Doc, leading the first team out of the warehouse.
Sera was standing beside me, and I put my arm around her shoulders. She turned her body, faced me, and we embraced. “I’m so scared,” I heard her whisper.
I stroked her hair, not knowing exactly what to say.
She looked up at me. “Noah?”
“It’s all going to be okay.” While I could feel her eyes boring into mine, I didn’t look into hers.
She rested her head against my chest. “We have a lot to talk about once this is over,” she said.
