“Okay,” she whispers, and starts climbing up the ladder. I wait until she reaches the top, then turn to see Jo has coaxed the first girl out and is carrying her in her arms. The woman is about her size, but Jo carries her like she’s a child. How strong is she?
“I’ll carry her up,” I say, because there’s no way Jo can do it.
“I can do it,” Jo says, shrugging me off and heading up the ladder. I watch her for a few seconds, then turn to the third woman, lifting her over my shoulder. I look around the basement, making sure there’s no one left behind. The cops can do a more thorough sweep for anything else that may help with this investigation.
I climb up the ladder, glad we are able to save these three, but also wondering if Elizabeth is in a cage somewhere right now, waiting for someone to come and save her.
Fuck.
What type of man does this to a woman?
I can’t even comprehend the evil some people have in them, but it makes me fear for humanity.
And that’s coming from a biker.
TEN
Johanna
I WATCH as the women are taken away in ambulances, while the man we found in the house is led in handcuffs to the back of a police car. He hasn’t said anything so far.
“We need to raid the next house, now,” I say to Ranger. “Before they figure out we’re onto them and they move any other women they may have.”
It’s obviously some sort of human-trafficking operation, which was of course my worst fear, and it looks like it’s a reality. One of the women told us about how she was told she would be sold off to the highest bidder. As a cop, I know things like this happen, but I never would have thought something like this could happen to someone I love.
It’s a hard pill to swallow.
The rest of the team head to the next house, while Ranger and I stay behind with the forensic team. If Ranger hadn’t noticed the trapdoor, we never would have found those women. A whole team of police, and it was the biker who saved the day. I don’t know how to thank him, or if I even should, but all I’m feeling right now is grateful that he’s here. He’s a good man to have around, that’s for sure, even though he keeps trying to protect me from things I’m used to doing.
Yes, I’m a woman, but I can do everything a man can do. I train to make sure I’m strong and can lift heavy things; I know how to fight, so I can protect myself even in a hand-to-hand combat; and I can handle weapons as well as any man can. At the same time, it’s kind of cute that he’s being all protective and chivalrous, because I’m definitely not used to it.
The biker has a heart.
And that kiss. I absently touch my lips, remembering the way his mouth felt on mine. I don’t know what’s happening between us, and I know I said I’d never have anything to do with a biker, but when he kisses me like that it’s hard to remember reason. It’s hard to remember anything.
While it hurts that my cousin wasn’t here, three women are now saved, and that’s a start. I’m hoping that the man we arrested can give us the information we need to find her, or that the second raid proves to give us more information, maybe even lead us to her. Either way, we’re onto something good here. I feel like we’re so close I can taste it.
“Can they check his call history and maybe interview the people he has contact with?” Ranger asks, his mind still working on ways to bring these assholes down.
“Yes, don’t worry, Ranger, everything will be looked into,” I assure him. “We are the police, you know. We’ve got it all under control.” I step closer to him and lean my head on his arm. “You were so good in there, by the way.”
“So were you,” he says, wrapping his arm around me so my head is now touching his stomach. “We make a great team.” He pauses, then adds, “Travis better look out.”
I can’t help but grin at that. “I’ll have to give him a heads-up.”
I’ve never been so lighthearted in such serious moments before, and I know it all has to do with him. Normally I’d be feeling down right now, replaying events in my head, just being really harsh on myself, but with Ranger here going through the exact same thing with me—I don’t feel so alone. I don’t even know how to explain it, other than that he seems to bring out a side in me I didn’t know existed. With Travis, we’d just go our separate ways after our work is done, and I don’t know how Travis deals with it, but I tend to go into a zone where I overanalyze everything. Ranger being here with me is changing the way I handle the aftermath of the situation.
You just met him, and he’s a fucking biker.
Ahh, right. That little chestnut.
Then why aren’t I stepping away from him right now? Why didn’t I stop the kiss? Why can’t I stop thinking about the kiss? I look at his lips, then clear my throat.
“I need a shower. Let’s go back to the hotel and wait for more calls,” I tell him, stepping away, breaking our contact. But then, he offers me his hand, and I take it. I don’t question it, I just do it because it feels good, and it feels right. I don’t listen to the voice in the back of my head. I don’t have time to listen to it.
We still have more work to do.
Once this is all over, I’ll worry about it then.
? ? ?
I’m fresh out of the shower and sliding on my black silk pajamas when there’s a soft knock at my door. I know it must be Ranger, but I still peep through the hole, watching him standing there. It’s about ten o’clock at night, and I know that inviting him inside right now will be a very dangerous thing. Maybe he just wants to tell me something? Maybe I’m making excuses for what I secretly want to happen anyway. Did I just actually admit that to myself?
I unlock the door and open it. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he murmurs, looking down at my pajamas. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” I say a little warily, opening the door wider and stepping back. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he says, closing the door behind him. He sits in the chair by the desk, and glances up at me. “Today was intense.”
“It was,” I agree, sitting down on the edge of the bed. The second raid came up with nothing, and still no sign of Elizabeth. The man from the first house is now in custody, but he’s not talking.
“Do you think they’ll let me interrogate him?” he asks, dead serious.
“Probably not,” I say, feeling amused. “Let’s see how the detectives do first before we offer our services.”
“We?”
“You think I don’t want a piece of him too?” I say, arching my brow. “And if you’re going in there, so am I.”
“Why?” he asks, studying me. “I’d rather you not see that side of me.”
“She’s my family,” I fire back, brow furrowing.
“And she’s my friend,” he says, surprising me.
He knows Elizabeth?
“Why didn’t you mention anything about that before?” I ask. “How do you know her? Is that why you came on this case?”