63
GAbrIEL
Three Years Ago
My hand shook as I pulled a sheet over the body in the corner.
A body that was far too small and reminded me of things I’d rather not think about.
This place made me sick to my stomach and what we found in it, even more so.
I dug my phone out of my pocket, suddenly needing to speak with someone who understood.
She answered on the first ring, like she always did.
“Hey, brother, oh my god you wouldn’t believe what kind of bullshit I just had to go through—” My older sister rambled on for a good minute, and I relaxed into whatever nonsense she was talking about.
It didn’t matter, just hearing her voice brought me back from the edge.
“Anyway, sorry, just coming off the tarmac so I’m hyped, you know? What are you up to?”
“I’m on a job,” I said.
“Oh. It’s bad, isn’t it. You never call me unless it’s bad.”
“Yeah—just—reminds me of her, you know?
She sighed heavily.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to ruin your day too.”
She scoffed, and I heard a hanger door slam. “Nonsense. You know I want you to call me whenever. I just don’t know how you do it. I already have anger issues—”
A breath that was almost a laugh escaped me. “So do I.”
“Yeah, but you get to take it out on bad people. I just fly things.”
“Okay, that’s downplaying things just a bit,” I protested.
My sister, older by only three years, was a highly sought after tactical pilot. If it flew in the air, she could fly it, although she preferred helicopters.
“You know what I mean,” she said, her humor gone. “Whenever I think about Kally, I still get so angry. Sometimes I wish I could have been there to help you get revenge—maybe that would have helped.”
“It didn’t help me,” I said dryly.
“Yeah, but now you’re helping other people.
You’re doing a good thing, G—I know saving other girls and women won’t bring our little sis back, but it sure doesn’t hurt to honor her legacy like that.
Just don’t go getting yourself killed, alright?
I’ll fucking drag you back from hell and be a very pissed off big sister.
Trust me, the devil doesn’t want to see me coming. ”
“Psh, please, I’m not going to hell, I’m going to be stuck here haunting your ass until you join me.”
She laughed. “Deal. Alright, I have to go. You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for answering.”
“Always, baby bro. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I hung up with my sister and felt immediately centered once more.
“Gabriel!” I frowned, Seven rarely used my full first name. I heard the creak of his footsteps upstairs and stepped out of the room as he appeared on the landing.
“You need to see this.”
I really doubted I needed to see any of it. But, Seven was the best tracker I’d ever met. I always sent him in to sweep the houses first because he almost always found information or clues the others and I wouldn’t have.
I reached the top of the stairs and followed on his heels into a large bedroom where the girls must have slept.
Beds lined the walls—with chains attached to them.
My jaw clenched for the millionth time. I don’t know why I was so emotional about this particular job—something about this house creeped me the fuck out.
And, unlike most jobs, the bodies we’d found in this house had been small—too small.
There was a deep corruption of innocence here that had me feeling dirty and devastated.
Seven was crouched near a bed he’d pulled away from the wall.
He pointed to something I couldn’t see yet.
“Remember Knight? From the Paris job a few months ago?”
“Of course I remember Knight,” I scoffed. “No one forgets someone like Trent Knight. What has that got to do with this?”
“Remember that friend of his? Theron North—the PMC guy?”
I moved the bed further from the wall and looked down. There on the wood in red crayon was the name Emersyn North. It looked like it had been drawn over many, many times.
Chills raced across my skin. What were the odds?
“I mean, that’s kind of freaky right?” Seven said. “North isn’t that common of a last name.”
He was right. I didn’t know North, and I’d just met Knight a few months ago, but if there was even a slim chance this was North’s daughter, we were going to take it—we’d united families on less.
I wracked my brain to try and remember all of what Knight had mentioned about North.
It wasn’t much. Knight had just said that they were super close and had gone through a lot of shit together.
“Did Knight mention North had a family?”
Seven picked up a few papers from the ground and sifted through them. “He alluded to some sort of tragedy happening, but that man wouldn’t tell a story that wasn’t his to tell, even with the number of beers we consumed that night,” he said, dryly.
Seven frowned and handed me one of the papers. “I think you should call Knight.”
I took the crayon drawing and Seven tapped the initials in the corner. EN. It was all too much of a coincidence. I pulled out my phone and dialed Knight.
“Hey bud! Long time no talk!” Knight said.
“Hey man, yeah it’s been a minute. Listen, I found something on one of our raids—”
“You still mowing down trafficking rings?”
“Yeah, and this one we just hit in Paris—I need you to get me into contact with Theron North.”
Silence. Knight was never silent.
“You there?”
Knight’s jovial manner was gone. “What did you find?”
“I’d prefer not to disclose it over the phone.”
Silence again, then Knight sighed harshly. “Alright, let me give him a call real quick. Either way, I’ll head over there. Text me the address.”
Not even twenty-four hours later, a blacked out SUV pulled into the gravel front drive of the boarding house.
Four men got out of the car, but the only one I recognized was Knight.
A man about Knight’s age stepped out of the passenger seat and pulled off aviators.
He had dark hair streaked with silver, piercing grey eyes, and tattoos peeked from his immaculately tailored dress shirt that he had rolled up his forearms despite the slight chill.
He had a presence about him, and I immediately knew this was Theron North.
I greeted Knight warmly and then held out my hand to North.
“Gabriel Griffin,” I said. “You must be North.”
“I am—this is Nyx—and Atlas.”
I shook the other two’s hands. It was obvious this was North’s inner circle.
“So, why am I here, Gabriel?” North asked.
I nodded at the house. “There’s something you need to see.”
The minute we stepped through the door, the chill in the air intensified and the tension thickened. The air was suffocating, and I could tell everyone immediately felt the darkness here.
“What is this place?” North asked.
“It was a boarding house for children,” I said simply.
“Children?” Nyx echoed.
I could hear the distaste in the word and saw him and Atlas look at a chain on the wall that ran to the body I’d covered earlier. Atlas cursed as they quickly realized exactly what I meant by boarding house.
“This way.” I led the way upstairs and the men followed. “In here.”
I dragged one of the beds away while they looked around at the room with various looks of disgust on their grim faces. I moved out of the way.
North saw the name on the wall and fell to his knees.
“No,” he gasped.
He reached out his hand to trace the letters. “No, it’s not possible.”
I stepped away to give him a moment and there was a familiar tightening of my chest.
“She’s—dead—”
Well, there was our confirmation. Knight cursed softly. North picked up one of the drawings and ran his thumb over the initials. Whatever he saw in those pictures, made him surge to his feet. He stormed out of the room, and I heard the back door slam a moment later.
Nyx knelt down next to the name. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Fuck, dude—this could mean—”
I could tell he didn’t want to voice the hope out loud that maybe this person was alive.
“Who is she?” I asked.
“Emersyn North is his daughter,” Knight answered.
“The last time we saw her, was what—thirteen years ago?” Atlas ran a hand over his face and shared a deep intense look with Nyx. Whatever had happened thirteen years ago still sat heavy between them.
Knight turned to me. “Alright, we need to put together a plan. If there is even a small chance that she’s still alive, we need to capitalize on it.”
“We’ll head to the safe house,” I said. “The rest of my team will finish up here and we can figure out next steps.”