Page 57 of Cocky Secrets

Stunned, my mouth cracks open. I manager to mutter, “Right.”

“Do you need me to call them for you?”

I have their number,isn’t something I can say right now. But I don’t want her alerting The Ciphers that someone called who didn’t need help. “I’m not ready for them to come just yet.”

“Listen, I don’t know what you’re going through, but please don’t keep yourself in danger, if that’s what you’re in. You don’t have to wait for it to get really bad before you ask for help.”

“And they’d help me,” I mutter.

“Yes,” she replies.

“What’s their fee?”

“They don’t have a fee.”

“You’re saying they don’t charge for their services?”

“Helping people is what they were put on Earth by God to do.”

“Thank you for talking with me,” I tell her, and decide not to ask her name. For what reason, I don’t know. Do I want her to stay anonymous? To keep doing what she’s doing? Using some hard-to-find blog with a vague message, to help people?

“Call when you’re ready. God bless you,” she whispers, and hangs up.

“You too,” I exhale to myself, tossing my phone on the passenger seat, and putting the truck in gear.

The streets are deserted at this hour, as I drive home, and it’s all I can do to not drive by The Cipher’s crazy old mansion and see if there are lights on. Part of me wants to sit in my truck out front and stare at it, process what I just heard. And what Rhodes showed me. But I don’t wanna risk being seen.

At my house, the lights are dark. Forgot to leave the porch lamp on again. Not that I need it with this moon out tonight. Sliding my key in the deadbolt I step inside, lock up, and head for my kitchen to stare into the refrigerator. For a long time I stare until I realize I haven’t really been looking at anything in here. Got a stocked fridge but my mind is on that human trafficking ring.

“They took the traffickers’ money and gave it to the slaves?” I process aloud. Because that’s what human trafficking is. Just a fancy name for slavery. People held against their will, made to do things they don’t want to do, their very lives threatened if they try to escape.

Shutting the fridge door, I spin around and hold onto my kitchen island, staring into the darkness. “They took the traffickers’ money…and gave it to that woman so she could go to college.” Tapping the counter with my thumbs I mutter, “Now she owns her own business. And what would we have done? Taken the traffickers away and let the people fend for themselves.” Pushing off the island, I pace my clean tile floors, running thunderstruck fingers through my hair. “They gave them the money. What happened to the traffickers?” Stopping by the sink I say, louder, “What do I care what happened to the traffickers?” My frustration of five years of being a beat-cop explodes from me. “And now The Spiders are going to go after Briar for helping Sage and we can’t do anything about it. We’re not even going to try. And they’re going to be back on the streets on Monday. Nothing’s gonna stick!” I almost punch a hole in my wall, but stop just shy of it, opening my fist and dragging my hand down my face instead. “I’m so tired of feeling this way.”

The bed does little to relax me, and I toss and turn, falling in and out of sleep. Exhausted. Nightmares of getting there too late to save my woman, haunt me. In a cold sweat I wake up shouting, “Sage!” panting and looking around, realizing she’snot with me and wishing again, like I do every night since I met her…that she were.

At half-past noon I wake up for good, and reach for my phone. “Left it in the truck,” I mutter, throwing my legs over the bed and into some jeans.

Squinting against the stark mid-day sun, I reach into my truck, snatch up the forgotten phone and dial their cases’ judge. We only have two and I’ve got both in my contacts from past cases. Can’t believe what I’m about to do. And that I didn’t think of it earlier.

“Judge Hartford!”

“Bear, everything okay?”

“We’ve gotta let Briar leave before theotherSpiders leave, Judge.”

“And why is that?”

“You saw the report?”

“I did.”

“The woman they kidnapped. He did everything he could to ensure she wasn’t hurt.”

“Except help her escape.”

I blink into the sun. “Maybe he would’ve if he’d had more time.”

“Do you believe that?”

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