Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
GRACE
O’Rourke glared at AB like he’d kicked him in the nuts.
Oh, there was an idea. Maybe I should kick him in the nuts.
Then the man transferred that gaze to me.
Gone was the smug, entitled jackass who’d played games during the ball.
It wasn’t the bruises on his face, the blood marring his mouth, or even the way he sat, almost defiant in his restraints.
It was his eyes.
A chestnut color, he seemed almost—lost. No, that wasn’t the right word for it. But he wasn’t as in control or as arrogant as he was playing it. I leaned into AB, my lips still tingling from the kiss. As performative as that caress had been, he’d also meant it and I’d damn well enjoyed it.
“Human trafficking and corporate scum,” O’Rourke said finally, his voice flat and his expression going flatter.
The air seemed thinner abruptly and I blinked. “What?”
“Human trafficking and corporate scum. The ties between the two are inextricably linked. They have been for as long as there has been an elite class.”
Images of Maurizio Gallo’s grabby hands and laughing demands. The aristocrats at the party in France. More at a party in New York. Yachting invites. Corporate introductions and offers…
“Vega was a cover, a story to get it past the pencil pushers and budget appropriation committees at least here.” He rolled his head from side to side, the faint cracking of his bones seeming to echo inside of me.
I fisted the back of AB’s shirt as I kept my gaze fixed on O’Rourke. “Are you saying this is all related to me?”
“In a manner of speaking—yes.” It was a straightforward and as direct an answer as he’d ever given. “A few years ago, these guys took a job to shut down Odessa. It was where Vega was stored.”
He spared a glance at Voodoo and I followed his gaze. Voodoo’s expression remained neutral, but he neither confirmed nor denied anything.
“In Ukraine?” I asked finally. Odessa was in Ukraine.
“Odessa was the name of the program that housed the tracking units for the mobile station,” Voodoo said. “Not the city.”
Oh.
“Operation Vega staged out of Odessa. On the move, never spending time in the same port.”
“It was on a ship,” I said abruptly.
O’Rourke flashed a smile at me. A small one before his expression turned to a grimace. “Yes.”
Tension threaded through AB’s arm where he held me. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or not, but all three of them were buzzed with everything they weren’t saying. Anger licked the air between pulses. As confident as O’Rourke sounded, he avoided any egotistical displays.
“They raided Odessa, took the drives, and fucked off to who knows where. The last person we know for certain who had the information was Voodoo.”
“We’ll come back to that in a minute,” I said, shifting forward to stop leaning on AB.
When I would have moved away, he flexed that arm and I found myself being tugged to stand with my back against his chest and his arms—both of them—loosely around me.
Rather than argue, I just went with it. “Who is we?”
“We refers to my team,” O’Rourke said. "Freelance specialists. A lot like these guys. We also had a bid in on the job, we didn’t get it.
” The lack of care about the result suggested it was in the past, but if that were the case…
“Just pocketed the information and filed it away for future reference. You never know when it’s going to come in handy. ”
“So how did you end up in bed with Vega or whoever is currently roleplaying as them?” Voodoo asked, sober, intent, and focused.
“Got snared in a net after the raid in France.” Self-deprecation peppered his tone. “Caught some of the blame for that one going sideways.” He flicked a look at me. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome?” Did he want sympathy from me? He wasn’t going to get it. “When you trade in people and sell them, you can get fucked as far as I’m concerned.”
Another hint of a smile. “I do like you, Gracie.”
“Grace.” Legend, Voodoo, and AB all said in one voice. It was almost funny.
Almost.
“So you got snared…” I said, motioning for him to continue.
“Yes, I got picked up. They knew I’d worked with you before, they made me an offer.” He shrugged, but his insouciance seemed feigned. “I accepted the offer. I made the call.” He nodded to Voodoo. “You showed up. Chaos ensued. Bones was taken. That pretty much sums it up.”
“Except you still haven’t said who they are?” Did that come out at all screechy? I did not want to still be standing here in a week trying to puzzle through this man’s alternately cryptic and direct responses.
“No,” he said softly. “I didn’t.”
“You don’t know,” Voodoo said and I jerked my gaze to him then back to O’Rourke.
“Not precisely, no.”
A scream worked its way up my throat. “Then why did you play this game?”
“Did I?” O’Rourke said, shifting his attention back to me. “Sweet Gracie—”
“Grace,” came the stern reprimand from three voices once again and I almost rolled my eyes. My name was not the important thing here.
“Or am I merely leveraging what I have to ensure I survive this interrogation?”
I wanted to throw my hands in the air. “Is this at all helpful?” I asked, glancing from Legend to Voodoo then back up AB. They were all staring at O'Rourke, their expressions unreadable. The tension in the room seemed to swell and expand.
Voodoo started forward without a word. The knife he suddenly had in his hands worried me, but AB tightened his embrace to keep me in place. Over the past few months, I’d seen the guys do what they had to do with and without weapons.
Could they be violent? Absolutely. Deadly? Without a doubt. Had I seen them kill? Yes. But not once had I seen evidence of a cruel maliciousness in their actions or witnessed anything like joy when it came to the often brutal decisions they’d had to make.
No, they weren’t psychopaths. They may not be pure as driven snow, but their actions and their choices spoke volumes for them. I’d back them in whatever they decided here. O’Rourke might not be the villain, but he’d definitely participated in the setup and he had been at the auction.
Voodoo stood over O’Rourke for an inordinate amount of time, his gaze locked on the other man. O’Rourke didn’t beg. He didn’t offer up excuses. He didn’t even ask what Voodoo planned to do.
The stare off seemed to last forever but it was really only a few seconds. Voodoo slid around O’Rourke and released him.
“Damn,” AB said. “I just lost fifty.”
I blinked and cut my gaze up at him. “What?”
“I bet Lunchbox that he’d be the one who let the asshole go.”
The “asshole” in question snorted at AB’s grumble. It didn’t take long for Voodoo to make short work of the zip ties and O’Rourke sat forward with a slow groan as he began to rub his wrists.
“What was on that drive that we took from Odessa?” Voodoo didn’t wait for O’Rourke to recover before he asked.
“Files. Client files. Human trafficking. Predators. Those with strong political ties. Others with strong financial incentives. A comprehensive list built by one of the main suppliers over three decades.”
With care, O’Rourke stood and popped his back.
“It started out as a CIA side project spotting irregularities, flagging patterns, locating networks, then making connections. Get the inside look. Human trafficking is a web of trade across the world and the volume of money funneled through it is enormous.”
Ice shivered through my veins even with AB holding me.
“They had to train their analysts on what to look for, then it narrowed down to a couple of guys who were really good at it. Eventually, they tried to build it into a machine to do the work for them. Someone that wouldn’t have the ability to blackmail them, but offered them what they needed to keep their finger on the pulse. ”
Legend held out a bottle of water to O’Rourke, and then another to Voodoo. We were all still in the cell, so I guessed this was where we were going to finish this conversation.
“The problems weren’t with the program. They were really good at uncovering the patterns, finding the links, and identifying possible traffickers.” He paused to down about half the bottle. “The problem began when someone saw a way to monetize Vega.”
“Is it a program or a person?” Because it sounded like both.
“Yes,” O’Rourke said, glancing at me. “It’s a consortium of disparate but compatible groups. They were brought together to monetize Vega and they began to make power moves using the proof on the drive.”
“But they don’t have the drive anymore,” I said, verifying with a glance at Voodoo then Legend before looking back at O’Rourke.
“No, they don’t,” Voodoo confirmed. “But that’s why they took Bones.”
“Likely. They wanted you.” He motioned to Voodoo with his bottle. “You are the last one they have on surveillance with the drives before you destroyed the rest of their servers. But the captain is a good second choice, because chances are, he knows exactly what you did with it.”
The pressure in my chest shifted, the air backing up in my lungs. “If it has all the things on it you’re saying it does… they are going to want it back.” Obviously. “That’s what they’ll want for Bones.”
“The programs that were originally designed to help in enforcing the law and saving people now curate it. I don’t know who gave you that job to take it, but Vega has been out of play since then.
” O’Rourke began to walk in slow circles, each step indicating he was pained after the enforced inactivity.
“Someone is playing a massive game of chicken relying on the information on that drive.” Voodoo stared into the middle distance. Rarely did he ever look so remote.
“That’s my guess,” O’Rourke said. “They leveraged me to get to you. They want to leverage you to get to the drive or leverage Bones for it.”
“He’ll never give it to them,” Legend said, zero doubt in his voice.
“No,” Voodoo said softly and AB sighed. “He won’t. Which means tracking them is going to be paramount.” Slanting a look at O’Rourke, he continued, “Are you going to be helpful or continue to be a vague prick about everything?”
The other man glanced over at me again. “Feel like asking me to stay and help, Gracie?”
Legend slugged him. The man was on his feet then he was down. “Call her that again,” he suggested. “I fucking dare you.”
“Won that fifty,” AB murmured in my ear and I cut a look at him again.
“Why are you betting on all of this?”
“Morbid humor. Helps me get through the bad days.” Deadpan and utterly serious, but I got it.
With a sigh, I said, “If you will stop baiting them, then yes, I am asking you to help us find Bones. To be useful. To not be a prick.”
Slowly, O’Rourke climbed to his feet. Fresh blood decorated his now split lip and the redness of the bruising on his jaw had deepened. He really wasn’t going to be pretty when that came out.
“Then I’ll help.” He popped his back. “We can start by having you backtrace my own locator. They took me somewhere to put the screws to me, but I couldn’t see shit or hear much over the sound of the tires on the road and running water.”
“Son of a bitch,” AB said abruptly, then gave me a squeeze before he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. He shifted to put himself between me and O’Rourke. “We scanned you for trackers.”
“It’s not active currently,” he said. “Give me some credit here. I deactivated it with my phone. But I can get you into the—”
“Let’s go,” AB said, pointing him to the stairs.
“I’m going,” O’Rourke chuckled as he eased past Voodoo and kept a wary distance from Legend. “I don’t suppose you’d care to join us, Grace?”
“I’m good,” I said, then AB got O’Rourke up the stairs. Once up there, AB gave Goblin a command in German. Pretty sure it was guard, but as muffled as it was, it could have been a variant on it.
“Are we seriously trusting him?” Legend asked Voodoo.
“No,” Voodoo said. “Firecracker, can you stay away from him up there?”
“Where do you want me to go? Hide in my room?” Because that wasn’t really fair.
“No,” Legend said. “Stay with me.” When Voodoo looked like he would object, Legend cut a hand through the air. “No, you back up Alphabet. I’m more likely to break his jaw if he keeps looking at Gracie like she’s his favorite snack.”
“He’s just doing it to fuck with you,” I told them and that snared both of their attention. At their semi-blank looks, I raised my hands. “I know when a man is interested. He just wants to yank your chain and he’s figured out that you will respond to his taunts if he uses me to do it.”
“I still want you to keep your distance,” Voodoo said. “And before you ask, yes, whatever we find out, you will also know and whatever we plan, you will also hear.”
Relief spilled through me at that. “Thank you.”
Voodoo cupped my face then dropped a kiss on my lips. “We’ll take care of things, Firecracker.”
It wasn’t quite a promise, but I’d take it. He headed up the stairs and Legend held out a hand to me. His battered and bruised hand. I was careful as I took it, I didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already was. But he didn’t seem to care, pulling me into him and wrapping me up in a hug.
“We’re going to find Bones, Gracie,” Legend said. “I promise. We never leave anyone behind.”