Chapter Six #2
I held still as the van passed me, and the second it was far enough, I used all my strength to run back to my car as fast as my feet would take me.
Oakley was already in the driver’s seat, heading down the road—likely having left their post first when it was obvious the van was moving toward me—so as soon as they pulled to a stop, I hopped in.
Without preamble, I said, “There are three people in the back of that van. They looked unconscious, and the target injected them with something.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“This is it.”
I nodded even though they weren’t looking at me. “It is. We can’t lose her.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Oakley kept their headlights off as we followed a good distance away from the van. I was a little surprised when we headed out of the city, although I wasn’t sure why I was. It made sense to take them to a place where no one would see or hear them.
We drove for over an hour before the van finally slowed and turned down a long driveway that belonged to a farm.
I took a quick picture of the address as we drove past it and searched for what little information I could.
“The place is owned by a Silas and Villy Sanders. They’ve been living there for the last forty years.”
Oakley grunted. “You don’t think this has been going on for that long, do you?”
With a frown, I scrolled through an article about the farm from about fifteen years ago. “I sure hope not. There’s an article about them winning some pig contest fifteen years ago and not much else.”
“So we have no clue if Silas and Villy Sanders are involved, if they’ve been killed by someone wanting to use their place, or if they were sold into slavery with the rest of the victims.”
“Correct.”
They blew out a breath. “Alright. Let’s park over there. We can hide the car in the trees and walk back for some recon.”
I almost wanted to laugh at the fact that Oakley had been calling the shots all night, even though I was the one who was supposed to be running this mission, but I honestly didn’t mind.
I didn’t like when they put themself in danger, obviously, but I didn’t mind letting them take the lead.
So far, everything they’d suggested was exactly what I would’ve done anyway.
“Sounds good.”
Oakley drove the car between some trees, and we took a few minutes to cover it in more branches so it’d blend in better. We’d likely be out of here before daybreak, but it was a good precaution since we never knew what might happen.
After ensuring we were both loaded up with plenty of weapons, spells, and recording equipment, we headed back to the farm. It wasn’t far, and when we were closer to the driveway, we hopped over the small fence and walked toward the barn and house through the grass, staying low and on alert.
Hopefully, we didn’t scare any farm animals, but at this time, they’d likely be in the barn. Assuming whoever was here actually gave a shit about the animals, which was very wishful thinking considering they were literally selling humans, fae, witches, and other sentient creatures.
The van was parked right outside the barn, and I had a really bad feeling about what we were going to find in there.
We both froze when we heard voices, but they were too indistinct to understand, so after a few seconds, I signaled for Oak to go around the back while I went around the front, both of us removing our dragonscale swords from their sheaths, just in case.
Sure, it was likely that these people had bullets or spells to fling at us, but that was the great thing about dragonscale—all of that would simply bounce back off. And our reflexes were quick enough to knock a bullet off its track if need be.
Although I kind of wished I’d made Oak grab their shield, but here we were, and we couldn’t risk running back to the car now.
I made it to the front door that was left wide open. The van was sitting backed up to the barn with its doors open as well. The three victims were no longer inside.
I pulled out my borescope again and used it to record everything inside, watching on my screen while listening through my ear mic.
The woman was speaking to a group of four men. I sniffed the air, parsing through their scents, ignoring the smell of the farm and barn as best I could—farms did not smell good. From what I could tell, there was one vampire, one incubus, another witch, and one tiger shifter.
I winced at that last one, praying he wasn’t paying attention and wouldn’t catch the scent of Oak or me. His nose wouldn’t be as good as a dragon’s, but I had no doubt he’d be able to smell me if he paid attention.
Although, one thing in our advantage was that dragon shifters were very rare these days, so even if he caught our scent, he might not recognize what we were.
One could only hope.
I could smell an array of other beings, both sentient and animal, but they were fainter so I couldn’t tell if they were farther away or if they were… well, dead or no longer here. I’d need a closer inspection to parse it out.
“…set up for Friday night. We need to get ten more in, or Chambers is gonna be pissed,” the incubus said.
The woman sighed in frustration and took her beanie off, running a hand through her blonde hair. “Yeah, I know, but I don’t know what y’all want me to do about it. This is the haul for tonight.”
“Yeah, well, you got four nights to get the rest.”
The vampire said, “Three, actually. You won’t have time on Friday. They need to be evaluated and tagged before the clients arrive.”
I grimaced at that because that was… disgusting. How could these people talk about others that way and just… sell other people like this?
As they continued talking about how to get ten more people for their… event or whatever it was on Friday, I used my borescope to scan the barn as best I could.
I could see a few people chained up in the middle of the barn. They were different people from those in the van since they were in different clothes. But every one of them was filthy, shivering from the cold, and likely starving.
I counted them. Fifteen.
There were fifteen people there already, and I didn’t think the three from the van were in that group yet.
I scanned more of the barn, and I was pretty sure there were more people in a few of the stables.
Shit. Was this entire barn just filled with kidnapped victims these disgusting perps were about to sell? What the actual fuck?
We’d been following this trafficking ring for months and months, and this was the biggest number of victims we’d seen so far.
Did that mean we were nearing the end of the ring? Were we close to the leader?
Was that Chambers person they mentioned the head of the trafficking ring? Could we be so lucky?
I recorded for another hour before the little group broke up, and I knew we needed to get out of there before we were caught.
So I tapped my mic three times to signal we needed to retreat, waited for Oak’s responding three taps, and headed back the way I’d come. Relief flooded my entire body the second I saw Oakley safe and sound.
They shot me a small nod, and I could see on their face how disturbed they were by what they’d seen. I was sure my expression wasn’t much better.
On silent feet, we made it all the way back to the car.
Neither of us spoke until we were on the road and over a mile away from the farm.
“So…” Oakley cleared their throat. “They’re having an auction on Friday.”
“That’s my takeaway, yeah.”
They ran a hand over their shaved hair. “Right. So… what do we do? Can we break it up on Friday? Save all those people? Or… or do you think Dad’s gonna want to let them, um, let them be bought so we can follow the trail further?”
I thought about it for a few minutes, then shook my head. “I’m not sure, but I know what I want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Save those poor people as soon as possible.”
They blew out a breath. “Okay, good. That’s what I want too. Maybe that’s not the smart move overall, but I can’t watch anyone suffer when we have the means to help, you know?”
“Mhm.”
“But we’ll have to wait until Friday so we can arrest as many people as possible who’re involved in this.”
“Agreed.”
“So that’s what you’ll recommend to Dad?”
“Yep.”
“Thanks, Rome.”
Without much thought, I reached over and gave their knee a light squeeze. “You know he’ll want to hear your thoughts about it too, right?”
They sighed. “Yeah, it’s just… he values your opinion way more than mine, so… I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
I wasn’t so sure that was true, but I could understand where Oakley was coming from, so I didn’t argue. “Me too.”