Page 120 of Bad Enough

“I just do. Trace it!”

TB heard keys clicking over the speaker. “Got a signal. You gotta be shitting me. No one ever still has their phone on them when they get kidnapped,” he murmured.

“I’m heading for the armory. Patch into my watch. Where is she?”

Midas’ voice came across the watch’s speakers. “You’re not going to believe this. She’s at The Library.”

Waters ran to TB’s side, Nemo following closely behind them. “That’s not possible,” Waters replied.

“Well, her phone is if she’s not. But the signal’s goofy.”

Waters looked at TB. “What’s under the club?”

“Under it? Nothing. I mean, there’s a basement, but it’s just storage of liquor and foodstuffs. Air conditioner and furnace. That kind of stuff. I’ve only been in it once or twice, but it’s pretty much an empty room.”

“Is there anything under that?”

“Nothing that I’m aware of.”

Midas called over the line, “Well, according to the GPS, her phone is literally in the middle of the dance floor.”

“It’s definitely not there. We didn’t step foot out onto that floor tonight. We were in the bar only, and then she went into the lounge, which is where she was taken from.”

They were in the armory and loading up their personal weapons. “Hate to ask this, man, but what if Gendry’s working with someone from the club?”

“Impossible. I questioned everyone. They all read clear.”

Waters looked at him pointedly. “Everyone?”

“Every bartender, every monitor, even the new door guardian.” He stopped. “No. Not everyone.” He turned his gaze to Waters. “It never once occurred to me to question one person.”

The vehicle was silent as TB, Nemo, and Demon checked their weapons. Waters was behind the wheel. Steel had checked in moments ago, letting them know they were in the back alley behind The Library where the abandoned Escalade now sat.

Gendry, the fucker had tried to throw them off with taking her jewelry off and dumping it near the freeway entrance, then circled back with them to the club. But because he didn’t know about the phone in Flame’s secret pocket, he was clueless that TB and friends were about to rain down destruction on him.

“Midas has looped the security cameras, so we’re clear here and inside,” Nemo informed them after receiving a text from his brother.

“Feckin’ unbelievable,” Demon commented with a shake of his head. “No wonder it was so easy for any of the girls to disappear from here. They never left the feckin’ building in the first place.”

“Makes you wonder,” Waters chimed in. “How many others might have gone missing without us having a hint. Think about it. A nightclub is the perfect front for trafficking. People get overly intoxicated, solicitous staff ‘help’ them home, then poof. Nowhere to be found, and who knows how long before people notice or how long before connections get made. Most people don’t tell others when they’re going to a kink club, I’m guessing.”

“Those in the lifestyle don’t hide it, but they don’t broadcast it. And people who are new to it, they’re usually overly cautious,” TB agreed.

There was silence in the car.

“I don’t even begin to know how to do this.”

Waters shifted the conversation. He lowered his voice to try and give the moment a semblance of being more private, but both knew that the guys in the back would be able to hear them.

“Do what?” Waters asked.

“Love her.”

A smack came to the back of his head. “Dude, you just do it. There’s no technique to it.”

TB turned around on Nemo. “All those women in your life, and that’s your answer?”

Nemo scoffed. “That’s just sex. That requires technique. Choices made. Skills learned. I’m talking about loving her. There’s no one way to do it. It’s an instinct. A drive.” He shrugged and looked out the passenger window. “You can’t stop it even if you try.”

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