35. The Living Dead
The Living Dead
Fly
My heart thunders in my chest as I step into the empty office we’re using as a staging area for Vandal.
It’s full of brothers, but the two people at the computer make my blood run cold.
Max Rage and the Whiz Kid are back.
Does that mean we made contact with The Ghost?
Havoc turns around. “Good, you’re here. We have a problem. Well, eight of them to be exact. Everett.”
The kid’s fingers dance across the keyboard, and eight faces pop up on the wall of screens. Next to each face is a missing child poster.
“We found them. They were all abducted around the age of eight. Most from playgrounds. Except for these two. They were lost in malls.” Everett reads off data.
What does this have to do with Vandal and our drug dealer?
Everett switches the screen so that we’re seeing Vandal sitting, looking bored at his party. The petty drug dealer, Chad Carves, walks up with a bunch of skimpily dressed women…girls. “Those are the kidnapped children.”
“Yup. Not one of them is over the age of sixteen,” Rogue steps up next to me. “And Carves offered them to Vandal.”
Offered them…“Carves is trafficking kids. But he had to be a kid himself when they were taken.”
“That’s the problem. He also didn’t arrive alone.” Max nods at Everett. “There were two handlers that came in with the girls and are pretending to watch them, but mostly have their eyes on Vandal and Carves.”
“They expect Vandal to have sex with one of those children.” Or more than one. “We can’t let that happen. I can sneak in and pull the fire alarm. It would be a quick in and out. No one would see me.”
Maddox strides into the room. “And where would those kids be? This might be the only chance we ever have of reuniting them with their parents. Parents who have been searching for them since they were eight. What would you do if it was your little girl in that room?”
The world would have burned to the ground before I left my children out in the world unprotected. “How do we get them out without blowing the operation? Because whatever this is Carves is involved in is just as bad as what The Ghost is doing.”
“Agreed.” Havoc nods. “The fire alarm wouldn’t be bad. It would get them out of there and away from Vandal without placing any suspicion on him. But it would burn that quick fix if we ever needed it in the future.”
Maddox steps forward, leaning in to stare at the screen. “What is she doing there? I thought you said he was smart enough not to get her involved.”
An irate Lola is standing a few feet from the door, staring at Vandal as he’s dancing with the kids who probably look like grown women from that distance. “He didn’t invite her. Did you see the flash of fear on his face? There’s no way she knows or that he invited her.”
“Lola’s going to kill him when this is done.” Maddox grins.
“Not if Vandal gets himself killed keeping her safe.” Which is quite possible, watching him fight with himself not to step in and get her to leave. “You need to get her out of there.”
“On it.” Maddox walks away, lifting a phone to his ear.
“We need a plan.”
“Why not call the cops?” Everett asks.
“Because we don’t know which ones are dirty cops and which ones will help.” Rogue stares at the screen, watching the same nightmare as the rest of us. “We could be digging an even deeper hole.”
Max looks at Everett, and they have some sort of silent conversation that no one else can understand.
“Or we set a trap. Flush out a few more dirty cops. We’ll place an untraceable call from a little old lady who saw some prostitutes and drug dealers go up to a party in Vandal’s apartment.
Then we wait and see what happens. If they run, we pick them up.
If the cops pick them up and ‘release’ them, we nab the girls before they can make them disappear. ”
“How do we do that?” Havoc asks. “Once they’re in central booking, there aren’t a ton of cameras.”
“First, we get a tracker on their ride.” Everett pulls up an image of a parking garage around the corner. “It’s empty, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have someone watching it.”
“I can get the tracker on it. Give me fifteen minutes.” An outfit change and a whole bunch of dirt and filth are required. It’s a good thing I keep a stash of costumes here just in case. Sheri would probably say I prepare for any eventuality, but no one could prepare me for this one.
Eight minutes later, I make my way through to the parking garage.
Not even my own mother would recognize me, and she was known for her creative personas.
Drunks are rarely ever noticed, and drunks that smell like they emptied their bowels in their current clothing a week ago are even less likely to be approached.
Only the most determined security guard would bother.
And this one is watching television instead of the cameras he’s supposed to be monitoring.
I amble around, falling a few times as I make my way to the target; a minivan with dark tinting and an elementary school bumper sticker.
It was probably stolen just for tonight.
It’s gotta be tight for all those girls to fit in the back.
Like these creeps care if the kids they’re kidnapping are comfortable.
As I fall to the ground, I tuck a tracker under the bumper, then another under the license plate.
A man hops out of a nearby van. “Get away from there.” He reaches for my arm and pulls back. “Get lost before I call the cops.”
Like you would ever call the cops. I stumble away, even though I want to take him down. There will be time for that after we grab his friends.
And it’ll be even easier since I now have his wallet. Only a fool keeps their wallet in their back pocket. Though I do keep a decoy there on occasion for funzies.
“You reek.” Havoc steps away as I enter the office building.
“That’s kind of the point. Trackers are engaged. I put an extra one on the friendly guy who tried to help me out.” It feels like bragging when I lift up the wallet. “Thought you guys might want to get to know him.”
“How did you do that? I didn’t even see you touch him.” Everett’s eyes go wide.
“If you scroll back, you’ll see me do it. It took less than a second, and he didn’t feel anything.”
“And that’s why you’re the perfect person to mentor Jett.” Maddox grins.
“He talked you into it?” Havoc turns around, staring at me. “I was sure you’d tell him you’re too busy, or that you hate kids.”
“I don’t hate kids.”
Rogue raises an eyebrow at me. “With as often as you complained about Vandal, Torque, and Ryot, I have a hard time believing that.”
“You guys wanted me to train three men in a couple of weeks. Their training should have taken months, probably a few years. Of course, I complained. Ryot and Torque have fat fingers and the coordination of a three-year-old trying to roller-skate for the first time. Maddox didn’t give me a deadline, and Jett already has skills. She just needs refining.”
Havoc whistles. “Jett is a girl. Don’t expect her to join Children of Chaos.”
“Why are you afraid of women messing with your boys’ club?” Maddox teases. “We’ve embraced those of the female persuasion.”
“Because I know how you work. You wouldn’t let us keep one of your kids.
But you would send them over to spy on us and learn from us.
And you didn’t trust a boy not to defect when it came to custom motorcycles and the free road, so you sent a girl who wouldn’t be interested in anything our club had to offer but an education. ”
Maddox’s cheshire grin says it all.
“You know what I think.” I wink at Rogue. “I think we should build her a custom bike. She likes rocker teddy bears. She’s already got one foot in the club. I’m sure with the right incentive, we can turn her.”
“Not funny.” Maddox glares.
Max swivels around in his chair. “If you guys are done fighting, Lola and her friends are out, so Everett can call the police.”
This better work, or Vandal might not survive.