Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
A rap came at the door, and I was led out into the hallway, where I joined several other girls dressed just like me. My heart raced as a reminder of Ruin’s words came back to me. Someone wants you. Had the time come when I’d be sold? It was both a fear and an opportunity. My guess was that anyone who bought me wouldn’t have the same level of security Ruin did. It could be my ticket to freedom.
Only now, I had a bigger moral dilemma. I’d gotten caught while trying to save my little sister from a predator. The girls lined up with me looked her age, preteen. While it was possible one or more could look young like me, from the fear on their youthful faces, I didn’t think any were of legal age.
As they marched us to the room where Ruin held court, I racked my brain for a way to save us all. Without backup or a weapon, I didn’t think I would be able to do so, and it broke me.
We were filed into the main room of the compound. Gone was the raised platform and throne Ruin liked to sit on. Instead, a table was in the middle of the room. Men sat on either side of it. Without counting, I guessed the number of men matched the number of us females.
Most of the men were older, like my dad’s age, except one. He had dark hair, was clean-shaven, and had eyes as cold as the arctic. Though he was very attractive, he had to be a sick fuck to be here for whatever was about to happen.
It was easy to surmise even if I hadn’t ever seen one; I was more certain than ever we were about to be sold at a human auction.
3
MATT
Plans had been made. Though nothing was certain. When the call came, my brothers-in-arms, the close circle that included the King brothers, Kalen and Connor, Kalen’s best friend Griffin and me, didn’t have a lot of time to account for every possibility. I would go in blind as any who’d attended one of these auctions never spoke a word of it. We had to guess at what to expect.
Because of Connor King’s contacts and my deep-cover Shawn persona, I, rather Rook, had gotten in. The auction was tonight. I had no choice but to be more specific about the description of the type of girl I was interested in than I’d wanted to be. It was a risk, for sure. But I didn’t want to go without being reasonably sure we’d find David’s sister. All other potential human trafficking auction leads we’d gotten had been passed to the FBI anonymously.
What did one wear to an auction for people? Jeans and a T-shirt didn’t seem appropriate. Full FBI riot gear would have been my choice, but it would have exposed my cover. So, I wore a suit. Black because the funeral look was what I was going for. If I happened to kill Ruin, it wouldn’t be the worst outcome.
I rented a car and drove out past the city to docks off the beaten path. The parking lot had few cars in it and the boxy industrial building looked deserted. Only pale-yellow light lit the area just around the single gray door. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that the building wasn’t heavily guarded unless someone had double-crossed me.
The sound of my rental car’s door closing ricocheted around the area where the loudest sound had been the howling wind and lapping waves. I swiftly made it to the gray door and leveled three sharp raps on it.
A man who looked like he was a professional bodybuilder stuffed in a suit opened it. I held up my phone and flashed the QR code that had been sent to me. The man scanned it with a handheld device and ushered me inside. He waved his hand. No words were exchanged for me to understand what to do next, but I assumed the position for a pat down.
As much as I wanted to be armed, there was no way to sneak in a weapon. The man would have found it the way he thoroughly checked me for any. Then he took my phone before waving me forward with no further instructions. If I had depended on my phone, I would have been fucked. Luckily, Griffin, the security expert in my band of brothers, and his security team assumed I wouldn’t have access to it.
I didn’t glance at the watch that had the look of an expensive, traditional one. Its old fashion clock face with exposed gears was as costly as it was attractive. Griffin’s team had taken it apart and added an emergency beacon to the watch crown. Two quick presses and the calvary would arrive. They’d made it two because no one wanted an accidental press to wreck the op.