"We ready?"

  Two Case nodded. "Runner and Storm are already on Sennit's tail. He's picked up a couple of other kids. Runner says he used to do that, take kids from several homes on a 'field trip' to the library or zoo, or whatever, but really, they were taken to some hotel to get whored out."

  "Shit. I was hoping we wouldn't have many kids to deal with during the takedown."

  "Yeah, me too." Gator shoved a wicked looking fixed blade knife into a scabbard that rested across his chest. "Scared kids will make shit harder to carry out."

  The cover story we concocted to allow Sarah to bring the kids in would still work. "Yeah, it will, but Sarah will be able to handle them."

  A heavy pack resting on his shoulder, Two Case grunted. "We can hope. Let's get out of here." He led the way and Sarah and I went to the SUV, while Gator closed up the room. Moments later, we pulled out behind the big pickup truck with Gator at the wheel.

  Light traffic leading up to the lunch hour made it easy to stay together, but it concerned me. Heavier traffic made it harder to spot a tail. Hopefully Two Case's boys knew how to switch shit up and stay out of sight.

  After a few blocks, Two Case signaled and turned in at a convenience store with an attached fast-food restaurant and parked at the edge of the lot facing the street. Exactly as planned, we would wait here for word from Runner and Storm.

  In the meantime, I took advantage of the time with Sarah, and caught one of her restless hands in my own. "Nervous?"

  She looked at me for a long moment. "In a way, but probably not what you're thinking."

  Damn, she sounded scared as hell. "Tell me."

  She ducked her head a little, hiding her face from me. "What's next?" The whispered words, nearly inaudible, betrayed her worry over something big.

  I searched my mind. She knew the plan, so that couldn't have her so upset. "What do you mean?"

  A shaky sigh left her lips. "What's next, Crank? We get Sennit today, and that will all be finished in a day or two, at most. Then what do we do? You go back to Kentucky, and I go back home to work?"

  Well, fuck. The same fucking question had plagued me since I realized I couldn't live without her. "I don't know. I fucking have to go back. I'd like to say you're going with me." My turn to be so nervous my hands shook. "Would you leave everything for me, Sarah? Or is that asking too fucking much?"

  She looked up, finally, and met my gaze. "Do you want me to?" The apprehension in her expression stunned me. How could she fucking question that?

  A deep breath helped calm me a little. "Yeah, I fucking do. More than anything. I want you with me, every goddamn minute of every day. I want a home with you, a future, fucking forever." Another deep breath for courage. "Sarah Channing, will you leave all you know, and come back to Kentucky with me?"

  She waited so long to reply, I started to fucking hyperventilate. What if she refused? But finally, the answer came. "Yes. I'll come back to Kentucky with you, and we will build a life together there."

  The fucking console dug one of my guns painfully into my hip as I leaned to kiss her. Her mouth tasted sweeter than ever, her lips clinging to mine. I needed more, but as I thrust my tongue between those soft lips, my fucking phone started buzzing.

  Eyes closed to gather my resolve, I ended the kiss and drew back. Fucking phone continued to buzz, until I fished it out of my pocket. "Yeah."

  Two Case's mocking laugh greeted me. "Get you dick back in your pants. Time to roll."

  "Right." I ended the call and started the SUV. "Looks like we're getting closer." Gator's big pickup pulled away, and I followed. The truck slipped into the slightly heavier traffic, and I let a few cars separate us before I pulled out.

  Beside me, Sarah clutched her hands together so hard her knuckles went white. "Do you think it's all going to work? The way we planned it?" Anxiety furrowed her forehead as she looked at me.

  I didn't tell her that the real plan looked little like the one she was aware of. She didn't need to know all the fucking details about what happened to Sennit and the others after we took them down. "Maybe not exactly, but it'll work. We'll get Sennit and the pedophiles he supplies. That's the only fucking thing that matters."

  "You're right. I have to quit worrying about it." She exhaled slowly, and visibly forced herself to relax back into the seat.

  I kept a few cars between Gator's truck and us, just in case someone paid attention. "All you have to worry about is dealing with the kids once we get started." If I were fucking honest, I was just glad I didn't have to handle the kids.

  Gator and Two Case led us about twenty minutes away, then turned onto a series of back streets that took us into an increasingly rundown area. Finally, I spotted it. A motel that looked like a stiff wind would fucking blow it down, but with several cars in the parking lot. No fucking way a dive like that had a full house for any legit reason.

  We rolled right on by, and around the corner. On the next block, Gator drove straight into the open door of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. I followed, resisting the urge to pull my gun when the rolling door slid closed behind the SUV. Every fucking alarm bell in my body rang full out, warning of a set up. My instincts demanded an escape route, and that had been cut off when that door closed.

  Gator stopped his truck next to a line of other vehicles, and climbed out to motion me into the space next to him. Wary as fuck, I parked and shut the car off.

  Gator came over as I climbed out. "Sorry about the sketchy situation. Storm and Runner found this place on a quick recon of the area. Figured it would make a good place for us to get shit together out of sight."

  Sarah and I joined a dozen men standing around the hood of a beat up Pontiac, as Runner drew a rough map in the dust covering the car. "So, quick count, we have eight rooms, a kid per room, and at least one creep per room. I don't expect they'll be armed, but you never know. We need to hit all the rooms at the same time, to keep any of them from running." He went over a few more details. "Okay, we have to move. Kids been in there ten minutes already."

  And just like that, we were ready. I made sure Sarah had a gun ready, kept her right behind me, and fell in with the deadly silent group of men heading toward that ramshackle motel. My fucking respect for Fergus and his operation grew by leaps and bounds. These motherfuckers had a goal in sight, and nothing would stop them from reaching it. With nothing more than hand signals, we all moved into place, ready to strike.

  I steeled myself, prepared to see just about any damn kind of depravity, and hoped I could keep it the fuck out of my head. On Runner's signal, eight flimsy-ass motel room doors crashed inward under heavy boots, and startled cries rang out. Gun in hand, I shoved through the door I'd kicked open, ready to blow a fucking pedophile or two away.

  A skinny middle-aged man glanced my direction. "Well, it's about time. I told Sennit I wanted a willing child, not one too scared to enjoy this." He looked at me again, and seemed to absorb that this wasn't what he thought, and his hands went up. "Is this part of the package?"

  I centered the barrel of my .45 on his forehead. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

  He blinked. "I called Sennit and told him there was a problem. The child won't cooperate. Is that why you're here?"

  "I'm here to fucking end you, you sick fuck." My finger tightened on the trigger, taking up the small amount of slack.

  The man went pale and raised his hands even higher.

  Sarah edged around me and approached a kid huddled up against the side of the bed. "Hey, sweetheart, you're safe now. What's your name?" She dropped to her knees in front of the kid.

  Startling green eyes in a deathly pale face flashed fear as the kid looked up. He took everything in, then took a shaky breath. "Jimmy." Something vaguely familiar nagged at my memory.

  "Okay, Jimmy, we're here to help you. I want you to come with me." She rose to her feet and held out a hand.

  The kid made a lunge for her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her arm. Gently, with lots of hushed words, she led him out of the room. As soon as they were safe, I turned my focus back to the fuck-wad sitting there in front of me.

  "How about you tell me what the fuck this is all about, and I consider letting you draw another breath?"

  As if he suddenly understood the seriousness of the situation, the man frowned. "What did you want to know?"

  "Let's start with how a child rapist like yourself finds someone like Sennit." The fucking details were the last thing I wanted, but we needed them in order to allow Two Case and the others to wipe up any mess that survived this.

  He gave an awkward shrug and leaned forward. "For the record, I am not a rapist. The children I love are with me willingly. As for the rest, word gets around. People with mutual interests tend to share sources."

  I laughed. "For the record, you put your dick in a minor, you're a rapist. Stand up." I jerked him roughly to his feet, and wrapped my hand around the side of his neck. "Walk. There's some boys outside looking forward to talking to you, motherfucker." With the nose of my .45 jammed hard against the base of his skull, I shoved him for the door.

  Out in the parking lot, the party was wrapping up as one of Two Case's men led his prisoner to where all the pedophiles were being searched, then forced to their knees and elbows. To the left, a bunch of kids clustered around Sarah while a couple of the men watched over them, guns drawn and ready for trouble. I turned my prisoner over, and made my way in that direction, needing to reassure myself that Sarah was actually okay.

  "I remember you. On the plane." The kid from the room stared up at me.

  Shit. That's why he seemed familiar. It was the kid who pestered me on the plane. "Huh. I remember you too. Thought you were going to some camp, or some shit like that."

  He nodded, serious as a heart attack. "Yeah. I got there, and the Sheriff was there already, shipping kids out. One of the counsellors beat a kid up, and they closed it down. When it was my turn, my mom wouldn't take me back. So they put me in foster care."

  I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't break for that damn kid.

  Sarah:

  The afternoon went by in a rush of getting children picked up so they could be moved to different homes. I also gave a list of the foster homes involved in this situation to Sennit's supervisor. I had to trust in the system somewhere. Hopefully, she would follow through and investigate the homes thoroughly.

  Crank and the others took the prisoners to turn them in. I expected a swarm of police to descend on us, but they never arrived. Crank said it would just be simpler to take them in themselves, since they would have to give statements and turn over evidence. It made sense, even though I was pretty sure a few of the pedophiles would arrive at the police station with a few extra bruises.

  The boy Crank rescued, the one who knew him, stayed close to me through it all, but said nothing. Finally, he was the only one left to take care of.

  "Okay, Jimmy, let's get you settled. Which home were you in?"

  "Where's that man?"

  I gave him my most reassuring smile. "Don't worry, sweetie, they took the bad man to jail."

  "Not him. The one that knocked the door down." The steady gaze from such a young boy unnerved me a little.

  "You mean Crank?" Surprise made my voice rise a little.

  He nodded. "Yeah. Him. I'll wait for him." He marched over and sat down on the crumbling curb by the motel.

  It took me a moment to recover from the small act of defiance. When I did, I went over and took a seat beside him, resisting the urge to groan when bits of the concrete dug into my butt bones. "You sure know how to pick a comfortable place to sit." I waited for him to at least smile at my joke, but he didn't even acknowledge it. "Why do you want to wait for Crank?"

  He propped his elbows on his knees with a little shake of his head. "He gets it. An' he'll make sure you can't send me back to that place."

  His tone raised the hair on my arms. "What place, Jimmy?"

  A little shrug. "The place they put me. Ain't goin' back to that shit-hole."

  I raised an eyebrow at his openly belligerent attitude. "Really. And what shit-hole would that be?"

  Finally, he turned to look directly at me again, then rolled his eyes. "If I tell you, you'll just send me back. They done told me that much. No way out."

  It dawned on me then. "Oh, no, Jimmy, you're not going back to the same place. We'll find you another home."

  He nodded. "And I'll screw up and get sent to another one. Before you know it, I'm right back there."

  I refused to admit he had a point. "What happened there?"

  One thin shoulder raised, and he grimaced. "The man's mean. But the woman is worse. She give me the belt yesterday for coughing at the table when I got choked."

  Nausea sucked at my stomach. "The belt?"

  He nodded, then turned and wriggled until he managed to get his shirt part of the way up. The angry welts striping his thin back made my ears buzz with anger.

  "Who the fuck did that to you?" Crank's angry growl came from behind me.

  Jimmy repeated his story, and I told Crank how he feared getting sent back there.

  "What do we do to make sure that doesn't happen?"

  "The home will have to be investigated, just like the others. If the allegations are substantiated, the children will be removed, and the people no longer allowed to be foster parents." I gave him the Cliff Notes' version.

  Crank glowered. "Not good enough." He turned to Jimmy. "You hungry, kid? I'm starved."

  Jimmy nodded, eyes bigger than ever.

  "Good. Let's go get a burger or something, and figure this shit out. You ain't going back there." And just like that, he wrapped one arm around my waist, rested the other hand atop the boy's head, and led us both toward the SUV.

  "What are you doing, Crank? We can't just—"

  "Kid's hungry. I'm going to feed him." To him, the matter seemed closed.

  We rode in silence for half an hour, while I searched my mind for some way out of what looked like a highly illegal situation. Finally, we reached the little diner near the motel where we had stayed. Inside, we ordered at the counter, then sat in a little booth by the window.

  "Can you make him disappear?" Crank barely waited until I slid into my seat.

  I had to suppress a shudder at his words. "What do you mean?"

  He rolled his eyes. "Can you make it look like he went back to his momma? End his case, or whatever it is you do?"

  I thought about that. "Well, yes, but—"

  "Then that's what we do." He turned to Jimmy. "You got any relatives? If you could go live with anyone, who would it be?"

  Jimmy considered for a long moment. "You. None of the relatives would take me. They all said I'm a bad seed."

  Crank growled just as the waitress arrived with our food, but he stayed quiet while she put everything on the table. "Kid, you don't know me. I might be worse than the people at that home."

  The ketchup bottle, nearly empty, refused to give up as much as Jimmy wanted, so he set it back on the table with a thump. "No you're not. I don't take up much space, and I don't eat a lot. I can even be quiet. And I can work."

  Crank's gaze met mine, a storm of emotion flashing in the shadowed depths. "Kid—"

  "You won't even know I'm there. I promise." The desperation in Jimmy's tone brought tears to my eyes. This poor child felt so unwanted by those who were supposed to care for him, he would rather trust a stranger not to hurt him.

  Crank sighed, then raised a hand to signal the waitress. "Let me get another bottle of ketchup. And I need to borrow your pen." He accepted the pen while the woman rushed off to bring the ketchup. "You take a napkin there, and you write down your momma's name, address, phone number, any and everything you know."

  Fear flickered in Jimmy's face for just a moment as he took the pen, and started to print carefully on the napkin. Without a word, he passed it back to Crank. The waitress returned, and Cranked traded her the pen for the fresh bottle, and helped Jimmy get more onto his plate.

  I couldn't wait any longer. "What are you doing, Crank?"

  Instead of replying, he tapped out a quick text, then took a photo of the napkin, and sent it as well. "Don't worry. Nothing sketchy." We ate in silence for a few minutes, before his phone beeped with a return text. He glanced at the screen. "I was thinking, you want to go back to Chancey's for a couple of days? Until you get everything settled here so we can head back to Kentucky?"

  "What about…" I gestured vaguely toward Jimmy.

  "Being handled. And that's a great place for a kid to spend a few days."

  Excitement fluttered through me at the prospect of spending more time with Chancey. It would also give me time to figure out how to talk to my parents. "I'd like that."

  "Good. Now where the fuck do people get clothes and shit for kids?"

  I sputtered laughter. "The mall? I don't know, but that's probably a good place to start."

  Crank just nodded, and went back to eating as if deep in thought. Jimmy's hero worship already showed in the way he subtly mimicked Crank, from his posture, to where he placed his drink on the table. Whatever Crank had in mind, I prayed it didn't break this child's heart any worse than it already was.

  We finished, and left the diner, and Crank asked directions to the nearest mall. The next hour and a half passed in a haze of male frustration, as Crank listed the items he wanted to purchase for Jimmy, and they both grumped about having to choose. Finally, though, we left the mall intact, with a handful of bags containing what Crank considered the essentials for a boy Jimmy's age. At least he relented on the steel-toed boots, and let us pick a pair of nice sneakers, too.

  Jimmy chattered ceaselessly the entire drive back to Chancey's place, although he started pausing for yawns in the last few miles. His excitement proved contagious, causing Crank to grin often. I seemed alone in the concern gnawing at my mind. Jimmy certainly wasn't worried. Now that Crank had taken over, he acted as a boy his age should, and trusted that his hero would take care of him. I wished I could share that trust. Unfortunately, I knew too much about how the real world worked.

 

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