Page 10 of Kept By The Agents

"She was sold to some high powered man there and shipped off the day after the girls were snatched off the street. Her parents are trying to get her back. They're trying to go through the Egyptian Government to force the man to return Sasha. All three girls were young. Elena and Sasha are only eighteen years old. Hana was twenty. I dug into the man who purchased Hana. This isn't the first time he's…lost control, and he just buys another girl from the Raleka to replace those he kills."

"Sick fucks," Weaver said. He looked over at Brandon. "We knew they were doing this shit, but-"

"It's different once you see it in person. Once you know the women who are being taken," Brandon said in agreement. "It's only going to get harder," he warned. He turned his head and looked at me. "Boykov's looking into what happened tonight."

"Maybe we just missed the meeting," I said, frowning at my own words. It didn't make sense. With as many people that were supposed to be there, that meeting should have gone on for hours. We'd only been, maybe, thirty to forty minutes late if Denis had been running late in the first place.

"We're pretty sure we know what happened," Suave told me.

I arched a questioning brow. Brandon shook his head, but Suave told him, "She deserves to know what's going on, Brando."

Brandon scowled, but then gave him a nod. Suave pulled over a chair so that it was sitting in front of me. He seemed to be searching for words.

A sinking feeling caused my stomach to do somersaults as I waited for him to tell me what they knew. Judging by the looks on their faces, and the fact that Brandon hadn't wanted to tell me, I knew it wasn't going to be good.

"We haven't confirmed it yet, but we think you were sold out."

My mouth opened, but nothing came out for a few heartbeats. Suave had managed to shock me into silence. "I don't understand." It was hard to force the words out.

"Who's your source?" Brandon asked.

It took me a minute to realize what he was implying. "He wouldn't do that," I told them, voice hoarse. I'd found Boris with Alyona's help. He was well known in Moscow because his own daughter had been taken by the Raleka a few years earlier. He'd gone to the Bratva and started a war between the two organizations. After a year of bloodshed, the Bratva and Raleka decided it was better to co-exist rather than killing each other off.

"Are you sure?" Weaver asked. He cut me off before I could answer. "There's nothing that could force him into betraying you?"

"This organization doesn't fuck around, in case you hadn't noticed," Brandon said, taking over. "All they'd have to do is snatch someone in his family and he'd turn you over to them." He saw the heartbroken look on my face and came over, squatting next to me so that we were face to face. "Most people are only willing to help if it's safe to do so. The fact that he helped you at all meant he believed in what he was doing. If the Raleka set their sights on him it would have been impossible for him to do anything other than what he did." His voice was gentle, without judgment.

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Alyona and I poking around may have led the Raleka right to Boris. We might have caused this. I quickly explained who he was and why he had started helping us in the search for Elena. "You think he gave me intel that led to that building?" I asked. A fine tremor started all over my body. I was shaken. If they were right and I'd followed Denis through that door tonight, I'd have disappeared forever.

"Weaver, get her a blanket." Brandon's fingers grasped my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. There were flecks of amber near the irises that caught my attention. He had such pretty, deep brown eyes except for those few flecks. "Hey, it's okay."

Warmth covered my hand and I moved my eyes, since he was holding my chin immobile, and saw that Suave was rubbing warmth back into it. The small tremors had turned into giant quakes as I went through all the scenarios that could have happened tonight.

When I thought I had the protection of anonymity and stealth, it hadn't seemed like such a big deal. Sure they'd found my apartment back home, but I'd used an alias when I got to Russia. If they'd gotten to Boris, then they knew my alias, where I was staying, and it was only a matter of time before they caught me. I swallowed hard. "What am I going to do?"

"You're going to stick with us," Brandon answered. "We'll keep you safe and take down the Raleka. Then you can go home."

"Why don't we send her home now," Weaver suggested, dropping a sleeping bag over my shoulders.

"It's too dangerous," Suave told him. "If we're right, and really I see no other reason for what happened tonight, then it's only a matter of time. If we send her home, she'll go missing as soon as the damn plane touches down."

I gulped at that thought. It was always a possibility that the people running this organization would figure out who I was, but I'd hoped it wouldn't happen until after they were behind bars. My trashed apartment had been the first sign that this was going downhill for me. Now that they knew I was back here in Russia, I was terrified.

Pulling my courage around me like a shield, I blew out a breath. "I can't run. I'd never forgive myself if I did. Alyona, Ferra, and Lev are counting on me."

"Even if the Raleka doesn't know who you are and we're wrong about what went down tonight, you're finished with this," Brandon commanded. "We're taking over from here."

I glared at him, tugging my hand away from Suave and crossing my arms over my chest. "I can help you."

"The only help I want from you is for you to sit here and wait for us when we have to go out. That's it."

Rolling my eyes, I slumped back into the chair. "Fine, but only until we figure out if the Raleka know who I am."

One side of his lips twitched. "Why are you giving in so easily?"

Was I that simple to read? Nibbling on my lower lip, I gave him a pleading look. "Will you look in on Boris, my source?" His brows lifted in surprise. "I'm worried about him." His beaming smile flashed through my mind. He'd helped me, told me the horrific story of losing his daughter, and I couldn't help the guilt that was clawing at my insides. Even if he sold me out, I couldn't blame him. The Raleka were merciless.

"Sure," Brandon responded.

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