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“Still not seeing how this gets us to Russians and trafficking.”
I hold up my finger to shush him. “Patience, my young Padawan. I’m getting there. So the witness saw Lettie leaving with the two men around eleven fifteen. It rang alarm bells for her because Lettie could barely stand, yet she’d appeared sober not too long before. There hadn’t been enough time to become that inebriated. The witness followed them to the front of the club and saw a beige Honda pull up. She turned around to get her friends, but when they returned, Lettie and the men had already driven off.”
“This witness paid anawfullot of attention to the girl who may or may not be Lettie.”
“I have my suspicion about why.”
“Are you sharing it or guarding it like more of your secret treasure?” he quips.
Giggling at his jab, I shrug and explain, “Lettie is quite beautiful, and I imagine she draws the eye everywhere she goes. Menandwomen are likely always aware of her. She’s a stunner.”
His lips bunch over to one side, and he curves a brow. “And yet there’s onlyonewitness to her drunken decline and shaky exit?”
“Other witnesses remember seeing her that night, but only the one woman noticed anything suspicious.”
“But this witness didn’t report it on her own, right? She was found by law enforcement and then responded to their questioning?”
Cal’s not just a pretty face.
“From what I saw, yes.”
“She’s a gem. If she would have reported it right away, the cops could have started the search that night.” He shakes his head and clicks his tongue. “Okay, fine. It does seem suspicious, but why the mafia or trafficking? It could be an isolated kidnapping by sexual predators.”
“Call it a gut feeling. Maybe I’m too tainted by my past, but—”
His hand shoots up to cut me off, and his face softens. “Your past? You don’t mean you were… trafficked?”
“Oh, no, no, no. Not at all. I meant my pastworkingon trafficking cases. You know I worked with Shep on that military intelligence task force on trafficking, right?”
He nods, relief causing his posture to stoop.
I met Shep when we were assigned to a joint agency task force. It started with an anti-terrorism focus, but it shifted to trafficking when we fell down a rabbit hole. The group we initially thought was recruiting and training terrorists was abducting women and children worldwide. Selling them like cattle. The CIA wanted to pull me from the task force since that’s not our typical purview, but I begged them to let me see it through.
I’ve never regretted that decision.
“So on that task force, I waded through mountains of cases that were eerily similar to this. There are many ways traffickers lure away their victims— one of which is a quick roofie grab in a bar. It’s the least time-consuming way to restock their coffers with freshproduct. Girl at a bar alone, a few guys circle, then she’s observed rapidly becoming so intoxicated she nearly needs to be carried out. It doesn’t usually raise eyebrows because drunk people are assisted out of bars and clubs every night.”
“And why the Russians?”
“CertainactivityI’m privy to regarding Lenkov points to a spike in his acquisition efforts of the human female product variety. And with a little more digging, I’d bet money this area, in particular, is a hotbed of activity.”
He crosses his arms at his chest and eyes me down. “You’re still tracking Lenkov. Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
My lips purse as Itryto hold back a snappy retort. Key word:try.
“I drink, and I know things, Cal. It’s who I am.”
As you can tell, I failed at holding back the snark. But I tried.
And it’s the thought that counts, kids.
Despite wanting to be angry at me, a slight grin slips from his mask at my datedGame of Thronesreference.
Aw, he’s so cute. Like a little puppy you want to scratch behind the ears and let lick your face.
Be still my clit.
He rubs his strong hand through his hair. The veins leading to his knuckles capture my attention, making my mouth water.
