Club 22 (Hades Book 3) Read online

  Three dark vans were pulling into the south gate as I approached, and I recognized the plates as being from Timberwolf garages. Two huge men climbed out of each van, and I jerked my head in acknowledgement at Bulldog. Without his tip, we never would have known those girls had been stashed.

  "Interrogation room," I told them. "Be quick and silent. I want everyone gone before cops even get their fucking anonymous tip."

  The men all murmured their understanding and took off in the direction I'd come from. Only Bulldog remained behind, silently offering to take Diana from me. I tried to hand her over to him, but the instant she tensed up and tangled her hands in my hair, I knew it wasn't going to work. Poor kid was scared shitless and had latched onto me as her savior.

  "It's fine," I murmured. "I'll stay; go help the guys. I want you all back here in less than five minutes."

  It was a made-up timeframe, but it got my point across. Bulldog grunted his understanding and loped off into the darkness, shockingly quiet for such a heavy dude.

  Alone again, I shoved the side door on one of the vans open and sat on the step, Diana in my lap. "We're alone," I told her quietly. "My friends are going to get all the other girls out, then we'll take you somewhere safe."

  The kid relaxed her hold on me slightly, raising her head just enough to look around cautiously. When she was sure I'd told the truth, she carefully climbed out of my lap and sat beside me instead. The tears were all gone now, replaced with a stubborn determination I could relate to.

  "Then what?" she asked, blinking up at me. Her face was grubby and her hair greasy and tangled like she'd been denied a shower for way too fucking long. Fury boiled my blood, and I vividly pictured what I would do to the people responsible for her imprisonment—and to her fucking family if they had indeed sold her knowingly.

  "Then..." I replied, still imagining violent, messy murders, "then we work out what to do. But I promise you, kid, no one will hurt you."

  She stared up at me for a long time, then nodded. Just like that.

  43

  As it turned out, my Wolves didn't need the full five minutes. They arrived back in three, each of them carrying an unconscious girl. Zed confirmed they'd swept the rest of the rooms and everything was clear, so I ordered the vans to move out—get the girls to my safe house on Wattle Lane where Nadia would meet them.

  Diana shed some tears when I told her she needed to go with the other girls. But I reminded her of my promise, and she visibly pulled herself together. Tough little cookie.

  Still, there was a sick feeling in my stomach as Zed, Alexi, and I watched the vans pull away with their cargo, like I should have gone with her, if for no other reason than to keep her calm.

  Shaking it off, I turned back to Alexi and Zed. "Let's do a sweep of all the buildings," I told them. "Turn lights on if you want, but let's doublecheck in case this is a decoy."

  Alexi grimaced. "A distraction in the form of trafficked kids, while the real setup is right under our noses."

  I shrugged. "I don't put anything past that psychopathic fuck. Best be sure. Alexi, call in some more teams and get all of our venues swept the same."

  He nodded, and the three of us split up to check over the rest of Anarchy. Having been transformed from an old amusement park, there were a lot of places to check. And yet by the time we were done over an hour later, still no cops had turned up on an anonymous tip to find the girls.

  I dismissed Alexi, telling him to collect reports from all the other sweep teams and report back. Just as he was about to climb into his car, I called out again.

  "Good work tonight, Alexi," I told him, my jaw tight. "This could have all ended a hell of a lot worse."

  He seemed shocked by my praise but dipped his head in acknowledgement and drove off into the night. Zed met my gaze over the hood of his car, his eyes questioning, but I didn't have the answers. What the hell had happened here? Why stash those girls and not call the cops in to frame me? Was this all just a headfuck?

  My phone vibrated in my back pocket, and I pulled it out. The caller ID was unknown, but I answered it anyway.

  "Yes?"

  "Can you tell me, Hades," Lieutenant Jeffries asked, "why I got woken up in the middle of the fucking night by a tipster who claimed you were smuggling human cargo through your fight club?"

  My brows hitched. "I wish I could, Jeffries. This tipster seems to be very active lately."

  He gave a grunt like he was deeply unamused. That made two of us. "What's stranger still was that not five minutes later I got another call to say it was a false alarm and not to investigate."

  I wrinkled my nose as I leaned my back against Zed's car, looking out into the night. "Do you make a habit of doing whatever this prick tells you to do? I didn't pick you for a lazy cop, Jeffries." As much as that would’ve caused issues for me, I was disappointed he didn't investigate. What if that tip had been for real? Was this guy so concerned about his sleep that he wouldn't at least send a squad car?

  "The second call came from my boss," he muttered back, "which I thought odd. So I've been sitting here watching a security feed of your parking lot, and so far all I've seen is you, Mr. De Rosa, and your head of security. No suspicious shipments of captive women or drugs or weapons or anything. So I'm gonna ask you again, what the hell is going on?"

  I snorted a laugh, looking around until I located the camera he'd been using to spy on us. It was on the opposite side of the street, on public land, but turned away from the traffic to point directly at Anarchy.

  "I'd have thought that was obvious, Jeffries," I drawled, opening Zed's car door. "You're being used to harass me. I sure hope you're getting a tasty slice of the pie your boss must be getting to justify all this shitty policework."

  Ending the call, I flipped off the camera across the road and slid into Zed's car. I slammed the door behind me and waited for Zed to pull out of the parking lot before filling him in on that conversation.

  He didn't say anything for a few moments, his brow creased in thought. Then he glanced over at me. "So someone saw us arrive and realized we'd beaten them to it."

  I huffed in frustration. "Sounds like it. They figured out that we had enough head start to make the tip irrelevant and called it off, opting for head games instead. No doubt Chase didn’t expect Jeffries to tell me about the aborted tip, so I'd have been left puzzling over the point of it all."

  Zed blew out a long breath, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as he drove. Then he perfectly summed up my feelings in just three words.

  "What a cunt."

  Blame the stress of the evening, but I started laughing. "That's an insult to actual cunts, Zed," I scolded him between bursts of laughter. "Chase could never compare to the real deal."

  Zed snorted a laugh, flicking a glance at me, then down at the body part in question. "Fair point. Speaking of your delicious cunt..."

  Grinning, I shook my head. "Later. We need to get over to Wattle Lane and sort out the girls. Hopefully, Doc Greene was able to get there to check them all out. Fuck knows what they've been drugged with or why Diana was awake before the rest of them."

  Zed grimaced. "Good question." He ran a hand over his short hair, looking tired, then dropped that hand to my knee.

  We drove the rest of the way in near silence, both a bit lost in our thoughts. In my head I was trying to work out what in the hell we would do with nine girls if they didn't want to return to their parents... wherever the fuck they were. I had no clue where they'd been taken from. But I sure as shit wouldn't be sending them back to abusive families who would just sell them again the second we were gone.

  "You were really good with that girl, Dare," Zed commented as we parked in front of the friendly suburban house that had long been a Timberwolf safe place. The neighbors on each side were nice, normal middle-class couples, but they were also heavily on our payroll.

  I leaned into his touch when he wrapped an arm around my waist on the way up the path to the front door. "I'm not a total mons
ter, Zed. I’ve raised Seph pretty much since she was three, remember?"

  He flashed me a smile. "I remember."

  Inside the house, Nadia had all the girls in the living room. Most of them were awake, but one girl was still unconscious in a makeshift bed on the floor. The others were all huddled together on the couches while Nadia handed out steaming mugs of hot chocolate. A huge platter of baked goods sat on the table in front of them, and Diana looked like an overgrown chipmunk with her cheeks full of cake.

  When she saw me, she jumped up as if she wanted to hug me. Then her wide eyes shifted to Zed, and she stiffened.

  I gave a small sigh, shooting Zed a sympathetic look when his shoulders tensed. "Maybe call Hannah? I'm thinking the girls aren't going to want big, scary men around right now."

  Nadia grunted, coming over to us with her empty tray in hand. "You can say that again. They won't even let Doc check them out. He's gone to wake his wife up, seeing as she's a nurse." She eyed me hard. "Do I even want to know where you found this lot?"

  I gave her a warm smile, shaking my head. "Not really. Thank you for coming."

  She huffed another grumpy sound, but her eyes were soft. "No thanks needed, sir. You're practically family." Her wink said it all; she knew exactly what Cass meant to me. And me to him.

  Zed sighed, pulling out his phone. "I'll call Hannah and Gen, maybe Maxine too." He headed back out the front door to do that, putting himself well out of sight of the terrified girls.

  When the door closed behind him, I turned back to Nadia. "I know you said Doc hasn't checked them out, but how do they seem? That one hasn't stirred?" I nodded to the unconscious girl.

  Nadia shook her head. "I kept them all down here together so none of them woke up terrified and alone. That way I could keep an eye on them all as a group, since I'm only one woman."

  I nodded vaguely, looking over to find Diana still staring at me with huge eyes. Her hot chocolate was clutched in her hands and crumbs covered her face, but the poor kid was still covered in grime.

  "That was good thinking," I told Nadia. "Hopefully, Zed can get some trusted women to come in and help, maybe get them cleaned up while we figure out what in the hell we do with them."

  Nadia indicated to Diana. "That one's been asking for you. Go sit with her a minute, and I'll get you a drink."

  I did as I was told, making my way carefully over to where the girls sat. I gained more than a few suspicious looks—and I didn't blame them—but no one started screaming or crying. That was something, I supposed.

  Diana gave me a tight smile as I sat down but otherwise didn't seem in the mood for conversation—which was fine by me. I was nowhere even close to qualified to talk these kids through what had happened and what needed to happen next. Better that we get some more maternal women here to help as soon as possible.

  Nadia returned a couple of minutes later with a mug of the same hot chocolate for me, then crouched down to check the girl on the floor.

  "Doc's wife, Maria, should be here any minute," she told me quietly. "She can see if this one needs more urgent medical care."

  "She hit her head," Diana said in a small voice, making both Nadia and I turn to look at her.

  Nadia raised a brow. "That's good to know, sweetheart. Thank you."

  "What's going to happen to us?" one of the other girls asked, her confidence seeming to spark with Diana breaking the quiet. This girl seemed older, maybe thirteen or so, and had a French accent.

  Nadia flicked a quick glance at me, then pursed her lips as she returned her gaze to the girl who'd spoken. "Well, we have a friend coming now to check that you're all recovering from the drugs, then I think it might be nice to have some showers and clean up. What do you think?"

  The girl gave a halting nod, her scared gaze flicking between Nadia and me. "But what then? Will we be sold again?"

  Nadia blinked a couple of times, then shook her head. "No, child. I told you when you woke up that we're here to take care of you. You're safe."

  "Told you," Diana muttered, glaring at the older girl. "They saved us. Idiot."

  The other girl's expression darkened like she wanted to reach out and smack Diana for insulting her, but her response was interrupted by the polite chime of the doorbell.

  "I'll get it," I muttered, placing my drink down and hurrying to the door.

  It was Maria, our nurse, who gave me a quick greeting before bustling through to the living room with her huge medical supply bag tucked under her arm. Before I shut the door again, though, I spotted another car pull up.

  Maxine and another girl from Club 22, Sabine, climbed out, both dressed in sweatpants and slippers like they'd rolled straight out of bed, but their faces were creased with worry as they hurried up the front steps to where I waited.

  I stepped out onto the porch and gave them an abridged version of events to fill them in.

  They both listened attentively, then when I was done, Maxine gave a firm nod. "Got it. Clean them up and get as much personal information as possible so we can get them home again."

  "Or not, depending," Sabine added with a shrug. She'd fully understood the subtext when I’d glossed over the need to reunite the girls with their parents.

  I nodded. "Exactly."

  Maxine gave me a knowing look. My past was closely guarded, but all the current Timberwolves knew about the massacre. Maybe not what sparked it, but they knew that the majority of victims that night had their hands in the flesh trade. Every one of my Wolves knew how deeply I abhorred traffickers, so it really shouldn't have been a surprise that they were so ready and willing to help out.

  "We've got this, H," she assured me with a small smile. "Sab and I are good with abused kids."

  Sabine snorted. "Birds of a feather and all that shit."

  The two of them headed inside, leaving me out on the porch alone. Having them there, along with Nadia and Maria, eased the tension across my shoulders. I fucking sucked with kids, no matter what I’d said to Zed. Hell, maybe if I'd been better, Seph wouldn't be such a spoiled princess now. I screwed up trying to raise her, and I would inevitably screw up trying to talk to those girls in there.

  Better someone with a more approachable personality handle them. Maxine and Sabine were perfect.

  So instead of heading back inside, I sat my ass down on the porch and waited for Hannah and Gen. A minute later Zed finished his call from where he'd been standing on the lawn, then came to sit on the step with me.

  His arm wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into his side, and his lips pressed to my hair.

  "You want to go?" he asked softly after a couple of minutes. "There's not much more we can do tonight."

  I nodded vaguely. "Soon."

  He didn't question that response, just sat with me in silence until Hannah and Gen pulled up in separate cars just seconds apart.

  Shivering, I pushed to my feet to meet them and give the same rundown I'd given Maxine, then told Hannah to use my credit card for anything the girls might need.

  She gave me a confident smile in return. "Absolutely, sir. We've got it handled."

  I nodded back. "I'll keep my phone on; call if you need me."

  Hannah agreed and continued up the steps to the house. Gen lingered a moment, though, a worried frown creasing her brow.

  "This is dangerous," she murmured, unnecessarily. "If there are missing-person reports out and they're found here..."

  I shrugged. "It's a risk we'll take. I'm not dropping them off at the dirty-as-fuck police station just to be tossed back into the skin market. Max and Sabine are going to try and get some names; your job—"

  "Run them through the database," Gen finished for me, her mouth tight. "Understood."

  With a quick smile to Zed, she hurried up into the house. Only once she was safely inside did I nod to Zed that we could leave.

  As we climbed into his car, I flicked my eyes around and checked off all the backup. All of Alexi's guys, the ones who'd transported the girls, were still present, just
out of sight. Smart guys.

  44

  Cass was already home by the time we got back to the house, sitting at the dining table and playing poker with Lucas. Neither one of them were drinking, though, and both had their guns sitting within reach. High alert.

  Exhaustion was making me lightheaded, but at the same time I was so keyed up I doubted I could have slept even if I tried. So I sat my ass down and summarized everything that had happened, while Zed made me a Baileys on ice.

  After he placed the drink in front of me, he gathered my hair up and tied it in a loose knot. Then he proceeded to massage my shoulders while I talked, and I quickly retracted my mental statement about not being able to sleep.

  "You reckon they were all sold by their families?" Cass rumbled when I was done. The anger in his voice was dark enough to make me shiver, and I didn't blame him.

  "Probably not all," Zed answered for me, "but the little girl Dare spoke to seemed that way."

  Lucas blew out a long breath, raking his fingers through his hair. "Fucking hell," he murmured. "Poor kids. Is there anything I can do?"

  I shook my head, leaning into Zed's hands harder. "Not tonight. They're well looked after tonight."

  Cass grunted a sound of agreement. "Nadia's there; they'll be fine. Everyone should go to bed."

  Lucas snorted a laugh. "Okay, grandpa."

  In retaliation, Cass cuffed him around the head. "Watch your mouth, Gumdrop."

  I gave a short laugh at their teasing and finished my drink with a large swallow. Then I pushed to my feet with a yawn.

  "Any movement from Seph?" Zed asked as we all made our way upstairs.

  "Nothing," Lucas replied. "I even checked in case she'd, like... somehow crept out of her alarmed window, but she was snoring with her mouth open and drool all over her pillow."

  I smiled. It wasn't the safest, but I liked how deeply Seph slept. It meant she wasn't plagued by the nightmares and horrors that the rest of us were.