in?”
Tanner pinned her with a stare. “You had us all worried.”
Now was the time to tell her boss she’d been detained by a
vampire and held until dawn. If she were a good agent, she’d do it without
hesitation. An image of Yuri Kovak sprang to mind. The image where he wasn’t
wearing a shirt and she was naked. Her body tensed all over again. “When I lost
Madison, I hunkered down in a safe place until daylight.”
His attention was back on the stack of documents in front of
him. “Smart move. Next time, try to get a call in to me.”
“Yes sir.” She spun on her heel and headed to her desk. Once
seated, she gathered her thoughts. Where was Madison? The only leads she had
were the Dragóns and the folder Tanner had given her.
The Dragóns were a diverse group of gang members, primarily
from the poor neighborhoods. Kids who’d been left to run the streets by parents
who were either too spaced-out on drugs or just didn’t give a damn. Those kids
grew into criminals, running in packs like rabid dogs, ripe for any illegal way
to make a buck. Nothing was off-limits to them. Stealing, killing and
kidnapping women would be right up their alley. But was there a bigger fish to
fry at the core of their work?
Reggie pored over the file of A. Skirko, foreign-born
businessman with substantial financial holdings in the Houston area, including
shipping ties and warehouses along the waterfront. She jotted down the
addresses of the places that might be used to hold over a dozen—make that
fourteen women, counting Madison. Reggie refused to believe any one of them was
dead, and her sister was only waiting for her to find her and save her sorry
ass.
And she’d kick it from here to tomorrow, after Madison was
safe and sound back home.
“Bert?” she yelled as she rose from her desk.
“Yo, Reggie, good to see you back in one piece. Like the
shirt.” He nodded at the cleavage no amount of tying could cover.
He was a notorious yet harmless womanizer, but all in all
not too bad. Reggie had worked with him on occasion when Madison was out sick.
“Keep it in your pants, Casanova. We have work to do.”
In one of the agency’s nondescript gray sedans, they
traveled east along the congested highways crisscrossing the metropolitan
spread that was Houston toward the inland waterways and ports. When they turned
onto the road where one of the warehouses was located, Reggie caught glimpses
of the water between the rows of buildings.
Clouds churned in the sky, blotting out the sun and turning
the water to a perpetual dark gray.
Reggie parked the car three buildings shy of their target,
pulling around back, out of sight. When she got out, she was hit with the full
force of the coastal humidity the air conditioner had effectively cut up to
this point. “Remind me why I live in Houston?” she grumbled.
Her family had been in Houston as far back as her
great-great grandfather. They’d settled in this area, coming all the way from
Ireland to start over in the new world. Why couldn’t they have found a cooler,
drier place to start a new life?
With her sister’s life hanging in the balance, she had to
hurry. Reggie broke into a jog, covering the distance between the buildings
with Bert barely keeping up.
All the warehouses looked pretty much the same, and she
feared she’d lose count or get the wrong one. Then she recognized the symbol
painted in bold black across the back door of one of them. She’d seen it in the
file and on Cesar’s arm in the form of a tattoo. It was a circle made of the
coil of a snake’s body with the head and tail of a dragon. “I’ll take door
number one.”
“Sure this is it?”
“Absolutely.” She grabbed the doorknob on the off chance it
would open, only to be disappointed. The door was locked.
“How do you suggest we get in?”
“There has to be a way.” She scanned the walls of the
steel-and-metal-sided building. Without so much as a window close enough to the
ground to crawl into,
Tanner pinned her with a stare. “You had us all worried.”
Now was the time to tell her boss she’d been detained by a
vampire and held until dawn. If she were a good agent, she’d do it without
hesitation. An image of Yuri Kovak sprang to mind. The image where he wasn’t
wearing a shirt and she was naked. Her body tensed all over again. “When I lost
Madison, I hunkered down in a safe place until daylight.”
His attention was back on the stack of documents in front of
him. “Smart move. Next time, try to get a call in to me.”
“Yes sir.” She spun on her heel and headed to her desk. Once
seated, she gathered her thoughts. Where was Madison? The only leads she had
were the Dragóns and the folder Tanner had given her.
The Dragóns were a diverse group of gang members, primarily
from the poor neighborhoods. Kids who’d been left to run the streets by parents
who were either too spaced-out on drugs or just didn’t give a damn. Those kids
grew into criminals, running in packs like rabid dogs, ripe for any illegal way
to make a buck. Nothing was off-limits to them. Stealing, killing and
kidnapping women would be right up their alley. But was there a bigger fish to
fry at the core of their work?
Reggie pored over the file of A. Skirko, foreign-born
businessman with substantial financial holdings in the Houston area, including
shipping ties and warehouses along the waterfront. She jotted down the
addresses of the places that might be used to hold over a dozen—make that
fourteen women, counting Madison. Reggie refused to believe any one of them was
dead, and her sister was only waiting for her to find her and save her sorry
ass.
And she’d kick it from here to tomorrow, after Madison was
safe and sound back home.
“Bert?” she yelled as she rose from her desk.
“Yo, Reggie, good to see you back in one piece. Like the
shirt.” He nodded at the cleavage no amount of tying could cover.
He was a notorious yet harmless womanizer, but all in all
not too bad. Reggie had worked with him on occasion when Madison was out sick.
“Keep it in your pants, Casanova. We have work to do.”
In one of the agency’s nondescript gray sedans, they
traveled east along the congested highways crisscrossing the metropolitan
spread that was Houston toward the inland waterways and ports. When they turned
onto the road where one of the warehouses was located, Reggie caught glimpses
of the water between the rows of buildings.
Clouds churned in the sky, blotting out the sun and turning
the water to a perpetual dark gray.
Reggie parked the car three buildings shy of their target,
pulling around back, out of sight. When she got out, she was hit with the full
force of the coastal humidity the air conditioner had effectively cut up to
this point. “Remind me why I live in Houston?” she grumbled.
Her family had been in Houston as far back as her
great-great grandfather. They’d settled in this area, coming all the way from
Ireland to start over in the new world. Why couldn’t they have found a cooler,
drier place to start a new life?
With her sister’s life hanging in the balance, she had to
hurry. Reggie broke into a jog, covering the distance between the buildings
with Bert barely keeping up.
All the warehouses looked pretty much the same, and she
feared she’d lose count or get the wrong one. Then she recognized the symbol
painted in bold black across the back door of one of them. She’d seen it in the
file and on Cesar’s arm in the form of a tattoo. It was a circle made of the
coil of a snake’s body with the head and tail of a dragon. “I’ll take door
number one.”
“Sure this is it?”
“Absolutely.” She grabbed the doorknob on the off chance it
would open, only to be disappointed. The door was locked.
“How do you suggest we get in?”
“There has to be a way.” She scanned the walls of the
steel-and-metal-sided building. Without so much as a window close enough to the
ground to crawl into,
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