Page 26 of Dark Angel
Grabbing a bottle of water from the console, Beth drank thirstily and then looked at him. “Oh, they will. The local detectives will want to roll in the glory of breaking a case as big as this one. They’ll get a promotion for getting all these missing kids back to their parents. The press will eat it up and they’ll be heroes. Don’t worry, I have a plan. We’ll drop the girls in a safe place and get the hell out of Dodge. One thing for darn sure, I need a long hot shower. My skin is crawling just being inside that place.”
“I’m not doing it.” Styles shook his head. “You should know the local cops hate us being involved and surely the lack of assistance from the bureau in this area tells you they don’t want us on their turf. Do you honestly believe we can trust them or the cops not to rat on us? This was an unsanctioned bust.”
Leaning back in her seat and staring at the roof of the van for some minutes, Beth nodded. “Okay, drop me at a pay phone. I’ll call the cops and tell them there’s a group of very young girls standing on a corner wrapped in blankets and hardly anything else. They look like they’re in big trouble. We’ll hang around for a while to make sure they’re okay. I’ll set up a story with the girls and tell them that we need them to keep us out of it.”
“You figure that will work? We can trust them?” Styles rubbed a hand down his face. “Man, I’ve crossed the line a few times myself, but this is obliterating it.”
Beth climbed out of the cab and slid open the side door of the van. The girls all looked at her, wide-eyed and terrified. She moved her gaze from one to the other. “We’re undercover agents. You do understand what that means, right?” She waited as they all nodded. “So, if the bad guys or anyone else, including the cops, finds out who we are, we’ll end up dead. We want to keep getting girls like you out of trouble, so we never existed, okay? I need all of you to swear you’ll keep our secret.”
“So, what do we say to the cops?” One girl held up a hand as if she were in the classroom.
Anger hit Beth in waves. It was as if time had stopped for these children the moment they were taken. Their childhood ripped away and replaced by horrific memories. She swallowed hard, trying to regain control of the need to kill each and every one of the men who’d visited the brothel. She pointed to the girl who seemed to be speaking for them all. “You tell the cops that one of your clients left the door open. When Spike was busy, you opened the doors for the others and escaped. You ran into the street and waved down a patrol car and the cops took you to the police station.”
“But that didn’t happen, did it?” The girl looked at her with narrowed eyes. “There was no police cruiser. They’ll punish us for telling lies.”
Beth let out a long sigh. “Don’t worry, they won’t punish you. They’ll help you and that will happen. We’ll call the cops and they’ll send a cruiser to get you so you can wave it down. Tell them the story. When they ask you to show them the alleyway, say it’s on Beal between blocks six and seven. They’ll go and arrest Spike. You can tell them everything that happened apart from our involvement, all about Spike and the men who came to visit you, and they’ll put them in jail. We’re going to trust you with our lives. Will you promise to keep our secret?” She looked from one girl to the other. “If you break your promise, girls like you will die in places much worse than Spike’s. It’s your chance to set them free. I need your word. Cross your heart and hope to die.”
When they all agreed, Beth heaved a sigh of relief and headed back to Styles. She climbed into the front of the van. “Okay, it’s all good. We’ll need a burner phone.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Unsure why he’d agreed to this half-brained idea, Styles cruised the streets looking for a store to purchase a burner phone. Eventually they found a store and Beth purchased one and then walked to the entrance of a nearby Chinese restaurant to make the call. The sidewalk was in shadows and the stink of seven-day-old garbage spilled from the dumpsters in the alleyways. At her signal, he ushered the girls out of the van and into the entrance of the Chinese restaurant. The place was in darkness and offered the girls a modicum of security. After Beth had given them final instructions, they drove some ways away and parked out of sight. Concerned for the girls’ safety, Styles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and then looked at Beth. “This is a bad neighborhood. I figure we should get closer, just in case something happens. Those girls have been through so much. If they get caught up with a gang, it would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.”
“Sure.” Beth grinned at him. “Strut when you walk beside me, and people will think you’re my pimp.”
Styles shook his head slowly and slid out from behind the wheel. “This is why I prefer to work alone.”
“You’re no fun at all.” Beth walked away with an exaggerated wiggle and then turned and blew him a kiss.
The city was busy, with the sounds of emergency vehicles filtering through the traffic noise, but in the distance the sound of a police cruiser’s siren cut through the night. “Hey, we need to find a place to hide or we’ll be hauled downtown to answer questions.”
“We can watch from here.” Beth disappeared into the shadows.
Minutes later, a cruiser arrived containing two women police officers. They spoke to the girls at some length and soon after a support vehicle arrived to take them away. Styles heaved a sigh of relief. “We need to get out of here. Over the stink of the garbage I can smell drugs. We’re probably close to a flophouse and that’s not a place I want to be right now.”
“Ah… more like a crack house.” Beth indicated behind him. “They don’t look too happy.”
Turning his head slowly, Styles took in the threat. Four men had filtered out from a doorway and stood in a semicircle around them. They were all dressed in the same baggy black jeans, T-shirts, and various jackets. He had little doubt that they all carried concealed weapons. He dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “I’m sure glad I left my cred pack at the hotel. I don’t figure they would enjoy having the FBI on their turf.”
He grabbed Beth by the arm and tugged her toward the street. If he made like he’d found one of his girls in the wrong place, they might just be able to walk out of this situation. As if on cue, Beth turned on him.
“It’s not my fault. That guy just pushed me out of his vehicle. He has my phone. I couldn’t call you.” Beth actually appeared to be afraid of him. “He took my purse, so I can’t give you what I don’t have.”
“Hey, little lady.” One of the men, with a dragon tattoo running down his neck, came closer and his gaze moved up and down her as if he was purchasing livestock. “If you don’t wanna go with him, our crib is close by.”
“I’m fine.” Beth smoothed her hair. “It’s a misunderstanding, is all.”
Styles pushed her behind him. “Do we have a problem?”
“That depends on how much bread you have on you, man.” Dragon Tattoo pulled out a pistol from his jacket and aimed it in a slack hand. “Empty your pockets.”
Recognizing the pocket pistol as a Ruger LCP II, accurate at small distances, Styles dropped his hands, keeping his arms relaxed and hands in sight. They hadn’t noticed he was carrying, a fatal mistake if he’d planned on taking them all down, but he figured he could negotiate them out of the situation. “You don’t really figure I’m stupid enough to carry cash in this town, do you?” He tipped his head toward Beth and smiled. “We’re all businessmen here. I don’t want any trouble with you, I just want to take my girl back to her corner, is all. She’s not earning while she’s standing around doing nothing.”
“Well then maybe we should charge a release fee.” Dragon Tattoo smiled, and his gold teeth glistened in the street light. “We’ll take it in trade.” He snorted. “You can wait out here in the alleyway until we’re done.”
During the conversation, Styles was taking small steps toward the street. In an alleyway surrounded by four men, all presumably armed, they didn’t stand a chance, but out on the sidewalk both of them would have room to move. He could sense Beth behind him, she’d moved to his left-hand side and was continuing to move away, but was doing it so skillfully no one would have noticed. The way the man was waving the gun around, not aiming, just using it to gesture with, he didn’t consider him too much of a threat. It was obvious they’d been sampling their own product and even if he took the trouble to aim, he’d miss. Giving what he hoped was a nonchalant shrug, he shook his head. “That’s not going to happen. I have a reputation to uphold. All my girls are clean and ten minutes alone with you would shoot that to hell.”
“You sayin’ we’re dirty?” Dragon Tattoo sneered at him.
