16. Emerson
Emerson
Perhaps I should’ve reconsidered Zane Lewis’s offer. If the private jet we’d flown to Guyana on was any indication of how he rolled, I was game . I’d been on a lot of privately owned aircrafts over the years, but I’d never been relaxed enough to fully enjoy the mode of transportation.
Not that I was a snob, and when I finally found Autumn and took her back home, I’d never fly in luxury again, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the swank interior.
The seat had swallowed me whole—the second I’d sat down, I sank into the soft foam and was asleep before we’d reached altitude.
Which was a little concerning that I’d let my guard down so easily.
Now we were at what Declan had called the compound, but I’d describe the warehouse as a prison. There were armed men all around the perimeter and a tall gate had to be opened to allow us entrance. Strangely, there were no guards inside.
The space was wide open and spartan. It was fitted for practicality not comfort.
There were couches, that had seen better days, arranged to make a seating area.
A table just off a galley kitchen, that again was out-of-date and should’ve been upgraded, oh, fifty years ago.
A long beaten-up table with no chairs around it that was big enough it looked like you could make an assembly line on it.
Then there were metal stairs that led to a second floor.
I’d counted seven doors before Tatiana had opened one and explained that’s where I would be staying.
I didn’t ask any questions, I just entered.
There were two twin-sized beds and nothing else.
Not a dresser, a nightstand, or even a mirror.
White cracked walls, and for a splash of color a dingy-white blanket was thrown over the mattresses.
Perfect.
Great.
Not only did the exterior look like a prison, the bedroom felt like one, too.
With nothing but time on my hands, I sat on the bed and thought about the report that had been put together about my life. I wondered what it said and if I’d be allowed to read it. And the longer I sat there, the more pissed I became.
Then I thought more about Zane’s offer to take me back to the States. Maybe that’s what I needed—a little time to relax and regroup. I’d also need to unload all the gifts Jefferson had given me and I’d get more for them in the U.S.
And sleep, I could catch up on eight months of sleep.
I was so tired—bone-deep exhaustion from years of hearing about and seeing the most atrocious, violent activities.
I didn’t think I’d ever close my eyes again without seeing all of those poor dogs ripping each other apart.
Or the girls. So many young women torn from their lives and held against their will.
I wished I could go back to a time when I’d never known this world existed. The dark underbelly of society. A place where men and women were so evil. What kind of person did that make me, that I wanted to go back to a life of ignorance?
“We’re ready for you,” Thad said, opening the door.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I snapped.
He mockingly knocked on the open door and repeated, “We’re ready.”
“I’d like to read the file Zane put together about me,” I blurted.
“Why?”
“Um… because it’s about me and I think I have the right to read it and possibly make corrections.”
“Corrections? It’s not a term paper, Emerson, it doesn’t need an edit.”
“I know that, Thad . I’m not talking about going Grammar Girl on the fucking thing, I’m talking about correcting any inaccuracies.”
“There aren’t any.”
What the hell? Why was he being so difficult? The stupid file was about my life, I deserved to read it and the more he protested, the more I wanted it.
“And how would you know?”
“Because neither Garrett nor Tex make mistakes. The intel in the dossier is a hundred percent accurate.”
I didn’t know who Garrett or Tex were and at this point I greatly disliked both men for digging through my life.
“Great, then I’ll treat it as a memoir of sorts. You know, a little light reading before bed.”
Thad’s features hardened and I was thinking it was a shame he still looked so handsome with his lips drawn into a frown and eyes squinty.
“I’ll give it to you when I’m done,” he gave in.
He said ‘done’, which meant he hadn’t finished it. It was stupid, me wondering how far he’d gotten, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “How far have you gotten? ”
“The Texas billionaire,” he answered.
Peter Stokes, the Texan oil billionaire.
He was the first man I’d seduced for information.
He was alive and well, probably still visiting his favorite massage parlors for a rub-and-tug.
I’d used him as a stepping stone. I’d also had a chance to talk to some of the women who he’d frequently called on, all of them had been there of their own free will.
But I did get a lead from one of the women who worked at the salon.
Allen Masters, he’d be next on the list. He wasn’t alive and breathing. Mainly because he’d bought and kept a woman, chained to a bed in his basement. Though, in my defense I hadn’t meant to end his life. He’d caught me freeing the woman, and his end came as I was protecting myself.
“Emerson?” Thad prompted. “Where’d you go?”
“What do you mean?”
“You totally spaced out.”
I had? Seriously, I needed to get myself together. I couldn’t be letting my guard down, I had to stay sharp and make a plan.
“Thought you said you guys were ready for me.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“About how much I enjoyed the plane ride to Guyana,” I lied.
“Do you ever tell the truth anymore? Do you even remember how to?”
Direct. Hit.
And if I thought about his question for too long, guilt would start to eat away my insides. Because the answer was—no. I rarely spoke the truth. I’m sure in time, I’d remember how to be an honest and good person, but that time wasn’t now. Not today. Not with Thad. Not until I found Autumn.
“I don’t know. I suppose it would depend on your perception of the word. Was I thinking about the plane ride? I was. Just not right then. So I didn’t lie, I just replaced one truth for another.”
“And the men you’ve been with? Did you lie to them, or were you replacing one truth for another?”
“I lied to them. None of them deserved any variation of the truth.”
“Right,” he muttered.
I didn’t know if he believed me or not. After all, I was admittedly a liar. And in the grand scheme of my life, it just didn’t matter what Thad believed or didn’t. It was almost better he thought the worst of me. It would make everything easier in the end.
I now understood what the long table with no chairs was good for. There were maps spread out, pictures scattered about, and file folders stacked. So much so I could barely see the surface of the tabletop.
“You said there were four or five guards in the house,” Declan repeated.
“Yes.”
“What about outside? Did the security team patrol the grounds?”
“Yeah. There were two outside. I was only allowed in the back garden when Jefferson was with me. And there were two men for sure that would stick close. I don’t know if there were others I couldn’t see.
And I do remember he had a full-time caretaker for the property and of course the men who trained the dogs lived there, as well.
I don’t know if you’d consider them security but they’re there, too. ”
“Any women or children?” Kyle asked.
“None that I saw.”
My opinion of the team going to Jefferson’s training camp hadn’t changed. They were nuts. If any of Jefferson’s people opened the pens the dogs were kept in, it would be game over.
A phone clattered on the table and Declan scooted it in front of him and pushed some buttons before answering. “Tex. You’re on speaker.”
“I sent the aerial footage of the camp. It should be in your inbox.” A deep voice came over the line. “And, Tatiana, I need to play you a voice clip. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, play it,” Tatiana answered.
“Here it is,” Tex said and a moment later a new man’s voice filled the room. “I don’t give a shit if they’re ready or not. I want them moved. All of them. The American is mine. I want her delivered unharmed.”
“That’s Leon Brown,” Tatiana said immediately.
“No, it’s not,” I corrected.
I knew that voice, very well in fact.
“What do you mean, that’s not Leon Brown?” Tatiana asked.
“That man’s name is Harry Landry,” I told her. “He’s from Connecticut. He’s an investment banker. Harry’s the only man in the last eight years that broke things off with me.”
Every person in the room looked at me in shock.
“Are you sure? Tex, can you play that back for Emerson?” Declan asked.
The recording started again, but I didn’t need to hear it a second time to know the voice.
“I’m sure. That’s Harry Landry. If I still had my old phone, I could play you an old voice recording I’d made. A hundred percent that’s him.”
“Tex? You have anything on Harry Landry?” Declan asked.
“Sixty-five, Harvard educated, parents deceased, no siblings, comes from an extremely wealthy family. Being as he was the sole heir, Harry inherited millions, which he turned into nearly a billion. He was married, wife died in an accidental drowning. No children. Harry is one of the three men Emerson left alive when she was done with them. What can you add, Emerson?”
Holy shit’s creek . This man Tex knew I hadn’t killed three of my marks, which also meant he knew I’d killed four of the eight. Jefferson would’ve been number five but Thad’s team had beaten me to it.
I looked around and saw everyone staring at me expectantly. They knew. They’d all read the report, everyone except Thad, so the cat was out of the bag and I had nothing to gain by lying.
“Not much. Harry was extremely tight-lipped. The closest he ever came to slipping in front of me was when he was on the phone. He’d talk about shipments being delayed.
A few times he mentioned the cost of goods in America was too high and he wanted new products purchased from Colombia.
He tried to tell me he had invested in an up-and-coming coffee company.
He has an estate in Colorado, a home in Italy.
He told me he was a venture capitalist.”
“Maybe he was importing coffee?” Max said.
“I picked Harry Landry because I’d overheard an argument between Harry and the man, Charlie, I was with.
Charlie was irate because his last shipment of drugs was late and was blasting Harry over the phone.
Harry explained the delay was with the supplier in Colombia but everything was under control.
To appease Charlie, he offered him dibs at the next auction.
Just so you understand, Harry didn’t actually use the word dibs , he explained in detail to Charlie what he’d be getting at the auction and Harry specialized in very young girls if the conversation was any indication. ”
I didn’t want to think about the disgusting, vile shit Charlie and Harry spoke about. There weren’t enough hours in the day to pray for the details to be wiped clean from my memory.
“And Charlie is Charles Simmons from Atlanta, Georgia? The second man you took out?” Tex asked.
“Jesus,” Thad muttered.
“As a matter of fact, yes. Just curious, did you commit my crimes to memory or did you make a spreadsheet?” I snarked.
“Right. So here’s the thing, Emerson,” Tex started.
“Under normal circumstances, I’d be against this vigilante gig you’ve got going.
Not only is it criminal, but dangerous. You’ve been incredibly lucky.
The only reason I’m even a little bit impressed by the intel you collected and the operations you executed is because every man you chose had indeed played a part in sex trafficking.
Men who’d greatly harmed women. I also was able to track the shipments you disrupted, which meant that you freed those women from a lifetime of misery.
I also understand why you’ve done everything you’ve done.
What happened to Autumn… well, there are no words for that.
Now, to answer your question, I have several spreadsheets on you.
Which brings me back around to the dangerous part.
You aren’t real good at covering your tracks.
And if you think you were doing anything to conceal your identity by changing the last name you used, you’re wrong.
Your time’s run out. I hope you know that. ”
“I’m not done yet,” I told Tex.
“Yeah, Emerson, you are. If you want to stay alive long enough to see Autumn again, you’re done.”
“That’s the thing. If I stop looking for her, then no one will be.”
I balled my hands into fists and tightened them until I could feel my fingernails digging into my palms. I couldn’t give up.
“You’ve got to trust us, Emerson. ”
“Sorry, but trust is something I ran out of when I walked into a hospital room and found my sister bloodied and broken.”
“I’m sure. What happened to her was horrible—”
“Horrible? What she went through, what they all go through isn’t horrible.
It’s repulsive, vicious, evil, atrocious.
I can’t begin to describe it. The way my sister stared at me with vacant eyes.
She was so frightened she couldn’t speak.
She was breathing but she was dead. So, I don’t care if you think my time’s run out.
I don’t care if I die in the process. I don’t care if I have to kill a hundred more men until I find the one who broke my sister. I’m not stopping.”
When I was done yelling my response to Tex, I was vibrating with indignation.
“Em—”
“Don’t, Thaddeus. Let’s just get through this.”
He looked like he had more to say, but thankfully he held his tongue. I was on the verge of tears and one more word out of his mouth would send me over the edge.