Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
The desire to keep Chelsea in the room where she was at least partially safe still thrummed through his body.
It chanted to him in his head on a near-continuous loop.
But so far Josiah was managing to control the impulse.
Last night, he’d almost lost control, falling off the brink, and there was every chance he wouldn't have been able to find his way out of that dark hole. Only somehow, Chelsea had managed to pull him back up.
She was so damn sure of everything. Not just herself and her feelings and desires, but so confident when it came to him as well. She believed in him, and because of that, he was doing his very best to believe in her.
Not just believe in her ability to play out this undercover operation to completion, but also that maybe he could find a way to live again. Maybe honoring his fallen teammates wasn't working himself to death but taking the chance he’d been given and living his life to the fullest.
Now was not the time to examine that too closely, though. For as long as they were there, his focus needed to be on keeping Chelsea safe and finding what they needed to end this trafficking ring once and for all.
Which is why he was fighting against his protective instincts, and Chelsea was with him as they wandered out of the dining room.
She hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep last night, and he knew the black smudges under her eyes were completely genuine.
He hadn't slept much either, but how was he supposed to just drift off after hearing Chelsea’s barely conscious declaration that she never wanted to let him go?
“There are more people here than I thought there would be,” Chelsea said softly as they made their way through to one of the living rooms.
She was right. The dining room had been like one you’d find in a hotel, with at least four dozen tables, and almost all of them had been occupied. That meant there were at least fifty people here who were buying organs. Possibly more.
A lot of lives were about to come tumbling down.
Every one of those couples would be prosecuted for the part they had played in the suffering of the ring’s victims. Marriages would be torn apart, children would lose parents, so many lives destroyed, all because some people thought that if they had enough money, they could treat others like objects instead of fellow human beings.
“We’ll try to talk to as many as we can, but we’re going to have to give up a large portion of the day to pretending you're undergoing dialysis,” he murmured, dipping his head to nuzzle against her neck so no one else would hear his words.
“There’s a couple over there, they look about our age, let’s start with them,” Chelsea suggested, taking his hand and leading him in that direction.
While he was good at observing, taking mental notes, and picking up on the tiniest of details, Chelsea was good at talking, putting people at ease, and getting them to open up. Their strengths would definitely complement one another.
“Hi,” Chelsea said as they approached the couple.
“Hi,” the man said back.
From the way the couple sat, with the woman lounging in an overstuffed armchair and the man with his own chair pulled close, hovering protectively over her, Josiah assumed that it was the woman who had received the lifesaving transplant, or was about to.
“You guys mind if we sit?” Chelsea asked, indicating the couch opposite the two chairs.
“Not at all,” the woman said, offering them a smile. “You two new here?”
“Just arrived yesterday,” Chelsea replied, as both of them sat down on the couch. “I'm Chelsea, and this is my husband, Josiah.”
“Amy and Gavin,” the woman supplied. “That middle of the night wake-up call is terrifying, isn’t it?”
At her words, the man, Gavin, bristled, and it was clear that he was protective of his wife. It was also good to know that the break-in hadn't been just for them, which meant the ring really did believe they were there to buy an organ.
“Terrifying,” Chelsea agreed. “You guys have been here for a while?”
“We’re almost ready to leave,” Amy said with a grin.
“My wife is almost back to her old self,” Gavin added, a tender smile on his face as he brushed his knuckles across his wife’s cheek.
“I'm so glad your surgery was successful,” Chelsea said, smiling at the couple even though he knew she was as upset as he was about the way these wealthy people were fine with knowing their donor had suffered horribly. “And you were … okay … with how everything went down?”
Immediately they both had the grace to look embarrassed. At least that was something.
“It wasn't easy,” Amy said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “But knowing that the donors they use are at least criminals helped. Money to get their lives restarted seems a good trade off for giving up an organ.”
Interesting.
They hadn't known that’s what the ring was spouting out.
“We try not to think about it too much, it makes Amy upset,” Gavin inserted.
Yeah, Heaven forbid that the people paying to disassemble another living, breathing human being’s body, should have to feel upset about it. Upset was nothing compared to the pain and terror the victims were suffering.
Chelsea nodded. “Yeah, I'm a little … upset … about it too. But, I mean, it’s that or die, so … I can see why you just try not to think about it.”
Just because the trafficking ring knew who they really were didn't mean anyone else here needed to.
Besides, he wasn't even sure Amy and Gavin, or anyone else here, would care if they learned the donors weren't criminals but everyday people just like them, who had been snatched off the streets and imprisoned by the ring.
“Can I ask what transplant you needed?” Chelsea asked.
“Skin,” Gavin replied. “My wife was in a terrible accident, and her legs were so badly burned she almost lost them.
The doctors weren't able to find us a donor, and my wife didn't have enough good skin left to transplant, plus she was still weak and recovering. When we were contacted by the clinic, we jumped at the chance to get Amy her life back.”
“Of course,” Chelsea tutted understandingly. “You guys are still young, you have your whole lives ahead of you, of course, you wanted to grab that chance and run with it. We’re the same way.”
“Gavin would do anything for me,” Amy said, staring lovingly up at her husband.
The other man’s gaze met his, and Josiah realized that at least they had this in common. Because he would do anything for Chelsea. Including, he realized with somewhat shocked horror, attempt to face his demons.
“Same way you're here doing this for your wife,” Gavin said.
Josiah nodded. Suddenly, needing to touch more of Chelsea than just her hand, he hauled her into his lap, uncaring of what anyone watching, either the couple they were talking with or anyone watching surveillance footage, thought.
“We want to have kids, grow old together, play with grandbabies, and travel the world,” Chelsea said as she snuggled into him.
“Same,” Amy said, leaning into her husband’s touch when he palmed her cheek.
“You guys want kids?” Chelsea asked, the question sounding completely innocent, even though Josiah knew where she was going with it.
“Definitely. You too?” Amy asked.
“For sure,” Chelsea answered. “Have you seen any kids here? I can't think of much worse than having to bring your precious baby here, knowing this is probably your last chance at saving them.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Amy said. “We haven’t seen any kids, and we’ve been here for months. Skin transplants are tricky. Oh, wait, there is one kid here sometimes. A little girl.”
A little girl.
Desiree Tilly’s daughter?
If the kid had been spotted here, there was every chance that Desiree was either living here or at least visited from time to time.
“Is she a patient?” Chelsea asked.
“I'm not sure,” Amy replied. “She doesn’t look well, so I'm guessing she’s sick, but she’s the only kid I've ever seen here, and she loves playing outside in the gardens. Maybe she’s just the daughter of someone who works here.”
Looked like they would be spending the majority of the day in the gardens.
They were running out of time. They were meeting with their “donor” at some time this afternoon, and then tomorrow, Dr. Gant was planning on doing Chelsea’s surgery.
Obviously, they couldn’t let things get that far, which only gave them approximately twenty-four hours to find out if Desiree was here.
Either way, Prey would raid this building sometime today or tomorrow, and in doing so would effectively shut down the trafficking ring. This was clearly their main base, and there was no way they could maintain their operation without it. At least it would take them a while to rebuild.
But Desiree Tilly wasn't just in this for the money and power, she was also in this to save her daughter’s life. Which meant she was never giving up. She’d find a way to rebuild no matter how long it took her.
While he understood that level of desperation, he would do anything within his power for Chelsea, especially if it was to save her life. The woman couldn’t be allowed to keep doing what she was doing.
May 17th
10:22 A.M.
“This is ridiculous, we can't just wander around out here all morning.”
“Why not?” Chelsea asked, tilting her head up to glance at Josiah.
There was something different about him today, something changed last night.
It wasn't like he was a completely different man or anything, but there was a softening to him.
The way he looked at her, there was a tender affection that hadn't been there before.
Wishful thinking, maybe, but she didn't believe so.
He was trying, doing the best he could to battle his demons while simultaneously working this operation and keeping her safe.
That he was trying meant everything to her. She was so proud of him, and she found herself falling deeper in love with her grumpy SEAL.
“Because we’ll look suspicious.”