Chapter 15 - Rael
Rael stood in the shadow before the inn with his binoculars trained on the entrance.
August had installed some surveillance gadgets in their room, which he was using to monitor communication and tracing the movements of the target electronically.
But Rael liked the traditional method—eye contact and physical observation.
Venn had come into the inn an hour ago, and other than ordering a drink, he was quiet, seated in the corner of the bar. Rael was ready to spend all night watching him. This sort of job required patience. Lots of it.
If Venn stayed there long enough to get sufficiently intoxicated, Rael might be able to approach him with a cover story, see if he could—Some movement at the inn’s entrance caught his attention.
A woman walked in. She had dark hair, a tight red dress, and heels that made her legs look long. She walked in like she owned the place, with a confidence bordering on arrogance.
She looked strangely familiar. Rael frowned into the binoculars, trying to focus on her face. When he finally saw her clearly, he could not believe his eyes. It was Alanis. Stepping into a bar where a reputed trafficker was sitting alone.
No, no, no. She wouldn’t. They agreed to wait two days. But it was happening right in front of him—Alanis was heading straight to Venn.
Rael’s wolf howled with possessive rage. Ours. She’s ours. Take her away from him. Kill him. KILL HIM.
His fingers tightened on the binoculars so hard that the plastic squeaked. He stared as Alanis ordered a drink at the bar. Venn openly stared at her. No, leered at her, and Alanis turned to him, fucking smiling. What the fuck was she doing?
The jealousy coursing through Rael made him feel like his body was going to explode. He felt like bursting into the inn, pulling her out, and making it plain to everyone there—especially Venn—that she belonged to him and he had no right to stare at her or fantasize about her.
Instead, he took in deep breaths. If he did that, he would put her in danger and blow whatever she was doing.
But watching her tease Venn, leaning forward, giving him a view of her breasts, watching his hand on her thighs—Rael took out his cell phone and dialed August.
“Bring me a change of clothes,” he ordered. “Something costly. A suit, if possible, and a forged ID that says I’m not from here.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Alanis is with Venn. In the bar at the inn. They are flirting with each other.”
There was a moment of silence on August’s end. “She’s what?”
“Just bring the clothes. Now. I am going in after her.”
“Rael, look, I don’t know what is going on exactly, but Alanis already has an in with Venn. If you go in, it might compromise—”
“I am not leaving her alone with him!” Rael snapped. “Bring the clothes.”
August sighed. “Give me fifteen minutes.”
***
Rael entered the inn, wearing the spare suit that August had given him. It was a little tight on the shoulders, but otherwise good. He also had a forged ID in his pocket, which named him Richard Stone—consultant in Chicago.
He immediately spotted Alanis. She remained seated at Venn’s table. His hand was still on her thigh, and he had a smug look on his face.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He had to think rationally rather than emotionally.
He needed to come up with a legitimate excuse to intervene.
Something which would allow him to overhear and interrupt the conversation without alarming Venn.
An idea formed in his head. It was most likely dangerous, but possibly effective.
Rael went directly to their table with a cold, authoritative face.
“Hey!” He yelled. “We need to talk. Now.”
Alanis turned to face him, her eyes widening in shock. “I am in the middle of something,” she said, in a breathy and flirtatious tone. “Can it wait?”
Venn looked at Rael with slightly furrowed brows.
Rael gave him a sleazy smile. “Excuse me for interrupting your evening, but this one tends to walk off the face of the earth when unattended.”
Venn tightened his grip on Alanis’s thigh. “The woman appears to be able to make her own choices.”
“The lady,” Rael gritted, putting just a touch of contempt in his words, “is mine. And she knows not to leave without telling me.”
He watched Alanis’s eyes blaze with anger. Good. It would make Venn believe that they were in a real fight and lead him to believe it to be real.
“I do not belong to anybody,” she said sharply.
“That is not what our contract says.” Rael took out his phone, faking something to scroll through. “You would have me read it aloud? The section concerning how you are paid to spend your time, your company, your... services?”
He saw the expression on Venn’s face change. Perfect. He sold it.
“Oh, all right,” Venn said, smiling again. “I am sorry. I was not aware the lady was working tonight.”
“She works all the time,” he said, looking at Alanis. “Don’t you?”
“Indeed.” She murmured.
“You know what? I think I may have some business that might interest you. Acquisition business. Sorry, I did not get your name.”
“Oh, Richard,” Rael took out his ID.
Venn accepted it with a smirk. He glanced at it and looked back up. “Consultant, huh? Interesting. Please,” he gestured at the empty seat in front of him. “Sit. I’m Venn.”
Rael took a seat, finding it hard to disregard the fact that Venn still had his hand on
Alanis’s thigh. “I’m always interested in business opportunities. What type of acquisitions do we speak about?
“The specialized kind.” Venn’s smile widened. “I deal with customers who are very…particular in their tastes. They are prepared to pay high prices as long as the inventory is of high quality, meets their requirements, and satisfies their needs.”
Inventory. The word made him sick to his stomach, but he tried to school his expressions. “What type of requirements?”
“Young. Attractive. Compliant.” Venn’s eyes swept over Alanis. “Take your girl here, she is exactly the type that my clients want. If you do not mind, we could—”
“She is not for sale,” Rael said too sharply, then relaxed his tone when he saw Venn’s brows twitch. “She is a personal purchase. But I would be keen on assisting you to locate such... inventory.”
Venn watched him for a long time, as if trying to figure Rael out.
That is when Alanis decided to speak up. “Darling, Richard, I believe you are boring our new friend. Why don’t all of us have a drink together? I am sure Venn here must have some interesting stories about his work.”
The suggestion was perfect. It gave them the opportunity to stay at the table.
“A great idea!” Venn grinned, beckoning the bartender to get him another round. “I do have some very interesting stories. And, perhaps, Richard, you and I might bond over this.”
The discussion that ensued was sickening. Venn boasted of his business model, how he had created a network of suppliers and buyers, and about the returns on human trafficking. He didn’t call it exactly that, though. He referred to it as talent acquisition and specialty placement services.
And the whole time, Alanis kept his glass filled, kept him talking, and made him feel important and clever.
Rael could not help but notice how natural this seemed to her.
She did too well. Each smile, each touch, each flirtatious remark was so finely tuned to maintain Venn interested and confident.
But he also saw how her smile did not quite meet her eyes and how she tried to shift a bit away from Venn.
Those little signs revealed that she was detesting every moment of this.
A couple of minutes later, Venn was drunk. His words became slurred, and his movements were less controlled.
“Do you know what is wrong with this business?” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “Logistics. The stock you can get easy enough—there are crazed girls all over who believe promises of modeling careers or employment abroad. But keeping them until the auction? That is the tricky part.”
“How do you deal with it?” Rael asked in a casual tone.
“Safe houses. Undetected places in various cities.” Venn smiled smugly. “I have one just down the road here in this village, in fact. Ten girls, waiting for the next event, high-quality merchandise, in my opinion.”
Rael gagged silently. “Impressive,” he managed. “Needs a lot of security, I suppose?”
“Not as much as you would think. The girls are kept in line with a bit of pharmaceutical assistance. And the place is remote enough that screaming is no issue.” Venn laughed like he had made a joke.
Rael glanced at Alanis. She looked up at him, her eyes glassy.
“Where is this safe house?” Rael asked, forcing himself to sound interested yet casual. “I would like to know more about your operations if I am going to work with you.”
He momentarily thought that Venn would say no. But the liquor had caused him to become loose-tongued and overconfident.
“Old warehouse on the east side of Starville. Near the river. It was a textile factory, but it went out of business.” Venn leaned forward conspiratorially. “But you see, that is kind of like a secret. I can trust you to treat this with utmost confidentiality?”
“Yes, of course,” Rael clamped his hand on his shoulder. “Discretion is essential in our line of work.”
They stayed an hour more, eliciting additional information about the network, how often the auctions were to be conducted, the mode of transportation, and the principals in the game. When they walked away, Rael had more sufficient data than when he did surveillance for months.
But all he could think of was those ten women in the warehouse, drugged and waiting to be sold.
By the time they got back to the inn, they saw August waiting for them in Rael’s room. Alanis left them to change in her room, promising to be with them in half an hour.
“Did you get something? Anything?” August asked eagerly.
“More than I expected.” So, Rael told him all about it. August’s face grew grim with each tidbit of information.
“Ten women in a warehouse close by?”
“Crazy, right?”
“We have to extract them.”
“I know.” Rael walked to the end of the little room. “But when we do, Venn will know that something is amiss. He will vanish, alert the rest of the network, and we will never get a chance of reaching the other individuals behind this operation.”
“So what, we leave them there? Let them get sold while we worry about the bigger picture?”
“I never said that.”
“But it’s what you’re thinking.” August exhaled sharply. “I know how you work, Rael. You count the cost, weigh the gain, play the game of strategy. But these are not chess pieces. These are ten women who are suffering at this moment while we are discussing strategy.”
Rael dragged his hands over his face. He knew August was right.
He also knew that the logical choice would be to keep in touch with Venn, gain his trust even more, and get deeper into the network.
But that would mean those women in that warehouse would be sold off at an auction to disgusting creatures.
He could not bear to think about it happening.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Alanis came in, dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt, with her face free of the heavy makeup. She looked younger and more helpless and Rael was hit with a wave of protectiveness.
“I heard the two of you arguing down the corridor,” she said. “What’s the problem?”
“We have a choice to make,” Rael said in a dry tone. “We can either keep the cover with Venn and use it to gain access further into the network or we can get those women out of the warehouse tonight and know it will burn our cover.”
Alanis glanced at both August and Rael. “Well, that’s not really a choice, though. Is it?”
“What do you mean?” August asked.
“There are ten women in a warehouse being drugged and held against their will. We free them tonight and in a way that will not blow our cover.”
“How?” Rael tilted his head in confusion. “As soon as those women go missing, he will realize that someone meddled.”
“Not if he thinks that they got away themselves.” Alanis took out her phone, opening a maps application. “He said the warehouse was by the river. Old textile factor.”
“Yeah…”
“Old buildings such as that are structurally weak. Fire code violations. Where walls are thin, or doors do not close right.” She zoomed in on the satellite image.
“We can fake it, pretend the women escaped because the building was shit. Venn will believe it was a slip on his part and not an outside intrusion.”
Rael stared at her. She was a completely different person at the moment. Like he never even knew her.
“People can be taken out without leaving any trace of external interference,” Alanis explained. “All you need to do is make it look organic.”
“And what will we do if it does not work? “August asked. “If Venn finds out about us?”
“It is nothing in comparison to freeing those women.” Alanis looked at Rael. “This way, however, we get to at least make an effort to keep our cover but still do what is right.”
Rael glanced at August, who shrugged. “Well, it’s worth trying.”
“Okay,” Rael sighed. “We do it tonight, but we do it very quietly, and we do it wisely. August, I want you to watch Venn—see that he does not leave the inn for any reason.”
“On it.”
“Alanis and I will handle this,” Rael accessed the warehouse location on his cell phone. “We would need to get supplies and a vehicle that can accommodate ten women and also somewhere to take them to.”
“There is a medical facility in The Shadowridge Pack, remember?”
“Oh, yes.” Rael turned to Alanis. “They are our friends. They will assist. August, call and tell them what is happening. They should prepare them to take ten or more women who are drugged and traumatized.” Rael glanced at Alanis. “You are sure you are up to this?”
“Are you seriously asking me that?”
“This is a dangerous mission, Alanis. If anything goes wrong—”
“Then we improvise. That’s how rescuing works, right?”
“Right,” he inhaled deeply. “Now, let’s go free
some women and hopefully not ruin our whole mission in the process.”
“That’s the spirit. They have waited long enough.”