Chapter Twenty-Six
The tall dark-haired woman standing in front of me did not match the voice I’d heard earlier this morning on the phone.
“You lied to her,” I fumed. “Again. That’s twice since I’ve known her, and you want me to trust you?”
The corner of Atlanta’s mouth hitched up, but she schooled her features before the smile could fully form. “I love this for her.”
My patience was nonexistent. The anger I was barely keeping in check was in danger of spilling out and eviscerating Calli’s friend.
“My woman’s missing.” My woman? Fuck. “I’m not sure what you love, but I’m not loving any of this, including the part where you told her you were in Berlin when obviously you’re standing in front of me.”
“I know it looks bad,” Atlanta began, taking in my team huddled behind me.
“Fine, it is bad. I lied, but I did it for a reason. I had no idea she was going to quit today. And when she asked if Tom had contacted me to take her out, I knew she’d freak if she found out I was here.
She’s a lone wolf and has serious trust issues. ”
“Can you blame her when the people who are supposed to be closest to her lie to her?” I snapped.
“You’re one of those black-and-white guys, aren’t you?”
The growl that slipped out of my mouth sounded feral. I was beyond social graces—not that I had many to begin with, but I could oftentimes stop myself from snarling like an animal.
How the fuck did I get here, debating with some woman I didn’t know about my moral compass? Oh wait, I knew. The woman showed up in the lobby and told us to ring her up.
“I’m as gray as they come, lady. Except when it comes to loyalty and lying.”
Atlanta shrugged like it was all the same to her, and she didn’t care where I fell on the moral spectrum—lily white to pitch black to every shade between.
“Technically, I was in Berlin today. My flight landed here at eight this morning. If she wouldn’t have quit, I wouldn’t have lied. But I needed to make sure she trusted I had her back, so I told her I was in Berlin.”
I wanted off this merry-go-round.
“Who’s Jason Anderson?”
I’d asked Atlanta, but it was Pete who answered. “Liliya’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, and the man responsible for her kidnapping.”
All of the pieces locked into place, revealing the whole picture.
Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.
“Jason Anderson is her endgame. Her one more thing.”
“Yes,” Atlanta confirmed.
“Before we go down that rabbit hole, what else did he say?” I asked, intentionally not mentioning Shep in front of Atlanta.
“Amir’s changing the location of the auction,” Aiden told me, holding my gaze. There was more, I knew it. “No word on where to. Calista’s cover is blown.”
It was Gavin who delivered the kill shot, and when he did, pain sliced through my gut, leaving carnage in its wake that almost took me to my knees. “Amir put out a bounty for Calista. It has since been rescinded.”
Rescinded?
“What the fuck does that mean? Did Amir pull the bounty or was it paid?”
“The working theory is paid,” Catarina gently told me.
“Rescinded,” Atlanta contradicted. “Jason wouldn’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He’d pay Amir to find her for him.”
The calm tone in which Atlanta had rapped out that Calli was being hunted by a sex trafficker—the same one who’d taken her sister two decades ago—pissed me right the fuck off. The lack of urgency was infuriating.
“I need to make a call,” Atlanta announced.
Jack waited until Atlanta was in the living room, out of earshot, before he told me, “Jason is staying at the Bvlgari Resort. Shep hacked the security camaras. Two hours ago, Jason and three guards left the property in a black SUV. Shep tracked it but lost it when it headed out of the city. He’s still trying to pick it back up.
He’s also got feelers out for the new location of the auction. ”
“What about the taxi Calli was in?”
“Shep lost it twelve miles past the Dubai Safari Park.”
Fuck.
I took my phone out of my back pocket to pull up a map. “There’s nothing but desert out there,” I noted. “Why the hell would she go out there?”
“Tanner,” Atlanta said as she came back into the foyer.
“Who, exactly, is Tanner?” Catarina asked.
“He’s my contact in Dubai, former merc turned arms dealer, among other things.
I called him earlier to tell him to expect Calli early to pick up her kit—rifle, pistol, and body armor.
At Calli’s request, I also asked him to call in some guys to handle the brothel at the bazaar.
He lives in a tiny village, twenty minutes past the Safari Park. ”
I wanted to feel relief Calli had gone to pick up weapons and was now armed. However, the gnawing in my gut made it impossible.
“Jason left his hotel with three guards,” Pete told Atlanta. “What can you tell us about them?”
“Bodhi Lee, Arlo Brown—both former SAS—and Archie Evans, former SBS. It’s not Jason who you need to be worried about. The guy is a total tool. He inherited the brothel and the high-class service from his father. Rumor is there’s a traitor in Jason’s crew. My bet is on one of them.”
“Prostitution’s legal in Berlin. Why kidnap women and force them when there are willing women?” Gavin pointed out.
Personally, I didn’t give a shit about the history lesson. I wanted a locale and to move.
“Old man Anderson got greedy and wanted something to offer his clients who had rougher tastes, but he couldn’t find any girls to offer those services, so he picked a few from his stable, got them hooked on heroin, and suddenly they don’t mind being punched in the face by a john.
This proved to be popular, but he didn’t want to keep pulling beautiful women from his brothel, and those men didn’t care what the women looked like, so he started snatching runaways and putting them into service. ”
“Inherited? So, the father’s dead?” Aiden asked.
Atlanta’s dark hair shifted when she turned to look at Aiden. “Yes, he’s dead. A stroke.”
Quick and painless. The bastard deserved worse. But there was nothing I could do about that.
“How’d Lili wind up over there?” Catarina’s inquiry had me grinding my molars.
Who the fuck cared? Calista was out in the desert alone with a rescinded bounty on her head and two men who’d either like to see her dead or sold.
Neither option was acceptable.
Jesus fuck, my heart felt like it was crawling up my throat.
“This is a guess,” Atlanta started, before I could put a stop to it.
“But Jason wanted Daddy’s attention. He saw his father four times a year.
Twice in the US, when his dad flew there, and twice when Jason flew to Germany.
Jason was twenty-five when he gave Lili to his father, and wanted to make a statement he wanted in on his dad’s gig.
Or, another guess, old man Anderson told Jason it was time for him to prove himself, because he wanted to groom his son to take over the business. So he handed over Lili.”
And now Jason was after Lili’s sister. Chills ran down my back, chased by fire licking up my spine.
Oddly, if it was just Calista against Jason, with her pent-up rage, I wouldn’t be worried.
She’d tear him apart. But with three former Special Forces guys in the mix and Amir and his army, I had a bad feeling.
Even if one of them was a traitor. He wouldn’t turn on Jason until he felt confident he could do it and take over Jason’s operation, and he wouldn’t give two shits about Calli.
“It’s time to go,” I told Pete.
“I’m coming with you,” Atlanta demanded. “If Calli’s already come and gone, maybe she told Tanner her plan, and he won’t talk to you. Besides, he’ll sell to anyone who has cash in hand, but he saves the good shit for people he knows.”
I must really be going insane if I was contemplating going into an unknown hostile situation with a woman I didn’t know and who I didn’t trust.
No, not contemplating, that was exactly what I was going to do.
“Call him. Tell him we’re on our way.”
“I already did. He’s not answering.”
“Is that unusual?” Gavin asked. “Does he always answer when you call?”
“No, he’s hard to get ahold of. I left him a message to call me.”
“Mason—”
“You told me to wake up,” I interrupted Pete. “You told me not to fuck this up. This is me with my eyes wide fucking open, not fucking this up. I’m going in to get Calli. Either you’re coming with me or you’re not.”
Pete’s jaw clenched at my outburst. “Fallon and I are coming with you to Tanner’s.
Jack and Cat are going to hit Jason’s hotel.
Gavin and Aiden are going to pick up Samuel Allard.
Calli said he didn’t have the same buying power as Maxwell Lancaster.
We’re hoping he’s the weak link that’ll get us the new location. ”
“And me,” Atlanta spoke up again. “I’m coming with you.
” Her gaze traveled to Pete. “Calli’s right, Samuel Allard is the bottom of the barrel at this auction.
He has a penchant for Russian girls—the younger the better.
He won’t use a massage girl. He’ll want high-class hookers.
Find who’s got them to offer and you’ll find Samuel. ”
Jesus Christ, sick fucking bastard. I hoped Gavin and Aiden took their time torturing the prick before ridding the world of a pedo sex trafficker.
“Let’s roll.”
Atlanta stepped in front of me. The stubborn set of her jaw and narrowed eyes said I wasn’t going to like what came next.
“Do not take out Jason. She’ll never forgive you if you do. She’s lived and breathed her vengeance for a long time. If you take that from her, you’ll lose her forever.”
Lose her forever.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do to get her safe. If that means taking out Jason and her never forgiving me, I’ll do so happily, knowing she’s out there somewhere breathing.”
“Mason, I’m serious.”
“I get that. But get me, Atlanta. Calli walking away alive is my only goal. Anyone who gets in my way is dead.”
She held my gaze for a moment, then nodded.
“Okay.”
“Holy fuck.”
That was Atlanta, and holy fuck was an understatement.