Page 39 of Ruthless

"He's one of the main players, brother," Jace commented. "And if he strikes a deal with the Feds and talks, others will crumble. This could be a good thing."

None of us liked the fuckers who were involved in the selling of flesh.

"Then what's the plan?" Moody asked, finishing off his beer and holding his empty glass up to get the attention of the waitress. She acknowledged him with a nod and turned back to the bar.

"The Feds won't make their move until later in the evening, after the auction starts. They'll want to catch Duponte in the act. So we'll make our move early, while they're still getting the girls ready. There's a guest house behind the estate where the girls will be housed until the show."

"It'll be heavily guarded," Moody grumbled.

"Not necessarily," Jace countered. "This is one of Duponte's specialty auctions. Those girls are virgins, and he'll keep them drugged to cut down on any drama, and to keep them manageable. They'll be sold off and in their new homes before they even know what's happened."

I nodded, agreeing with Jace. "What about her friend?"

Jace shook his head, his warning clear, as the waitress walked up to our table with a tray with refills for everyone. She set a glass down in front of each of us, making sure to lean low enough over the table so that we had a view of her tits. Moody leaned further back in his chair and set his gaze on the curve of her ass, which was almost in his face, but as usual his expression gave nothing away. When she stood up, the sexy invite on her face was meant for anyone at the table who was willing to take the bait.

"Thanks," Jace growled in a tone that made it clear that he wanted her gone.

Her smile wavered, and as she turned around to leave, Moody reached up and grabbed her hand. She halted, lowering her gaze to his. "You busy after the place closes?" She shook her head slowly. It was clear that Moody made her nervous. "Meet me out back then." Her smile seemed a little forced, but she gave a brief nod and then walked off. I wondered if she knew what she was getting herself into. There was nothing soft about Moody. The man was a cold-blooded killer, and he'd seen and done enough shit that would turn most men into monsters.

Jace waited for the waitress to get out of ear shot before he continued. "We go in for one woman, we come out with one woman. We have to keep our eye on the objective." He reached for something in his pocket. "This is her." He handed the picture to me.

I glanced down at it. The girl was beautiful, and it was obvious that she came from money. Even dressed casually as she was in the picture, she stood straight and proud, her smile perfect and radiant. I gauged her age to be somewhere in her early twenties. Her complexion was pale against the red curls framing her heart-shaped face. The green of her eyes, her poise, both showed a woman who was content with her life and didn't have a care in the world. I wondered how much of that innocence had been stripped away from her now that she'd had a taste of life outside of the protective gates of society.

I slid the picture toward Moody, meeting Jace's eyes. "Pretty girl." I leaned back in my chair. "What makes you think she'll be there tomorrow?"

He shrugged. "I'm going by Duponte's history of getting rid of his girls within a month of taking them. I want to get in and out without bloodshed, if possible. Duponte isn't someone you want on your bad side, he isn't afraid of leaving a bloody trail when someone crosses him. Even if the Feds grab him, if he finds out we were there he'll assume we led the Feds to him and we don't need that kind of trouble."

"Information like that gets out there, we'll be signing our own death warrant," Moody added gruffly. "No one likes a squealer."

Moody was right. People believed what they wanted. All it would take was a fucking seed of untruth to set off the rumor mills. I ran my hand through my hair. While the three of us were hard-core through and through, we were only three. Duponte had an army behind him that wouldn't be eager to see him go down because of the hefty profits they each made from his auctions.

"So here's what I'm thinking--we go in right after dark. There's a divider of trees that bumps up to the guest house, we'll go in from that direction. I don't want them to know we're there, but if it comes down to their lives or yours do what you have to. Keep in mind that if this shit goes south, Duponte will get spooked and close down before the Feds even get there. We don't want that to happen." He took a breath and reached for his beer.

"You don't have any idea how many will be guarding the guest house?" I questioned Jace, watching as he chugged half his drink down.

Jace shook his head. "The guest house bumps right up to those trees, so I'm guessing no more than a couple, mainly to keep the girls from wandering. Duponte has no reason to suspect that anything is coming, and with the guest house located at the back of the estate he probably thinks that it's secure. We're lucky that there's construction going on right next door. We can park the van and go in from there."

"It would probably be a good idea if we don't wear our cuts."

Jace nodded in agreement at my suggestion. "We go in wearing black. When we reach the guest house you two will each take a side and create a distraction that will draw the guards away to investigate. I'll go in through a back window for the girl."

"How much time will you need?"

"Let's make this fast and quiet. Give me three minutes, then head back to the van. I'll drop you two off and return the girl to her father."

"Where and what time are we meeting?"

"Here's as good a place as any. Six o'clock. We can grab a couple of beers and eat something before we take off. We'll change clothes at the construction site." He finished his beer. "Remember, the last thing we want to do is alert anyone that we're there. I doubt they'll miss one girl until it's too late and the Feds are already there."

Moody asked what I had been thinking. "How you going to keep the other girls quiet?"

"Tell them the truth," Jace replied without hesitation. "That they're going to be rescued by the Feds."

"That works," I grinned.

"Closing in ten!" someone yelled out from behind the bar.

That seemed to be our cue to finish up our drinks and get the hell out of there. Jace's plan was solid, as long as we got in and out without any trouble from the guards. If that happened, more than just our plan would be shot to hell. The Feds wouldn't be happy with us, either. I threw back the rest of my beer and set the glass down, getting to my feet.

"I'm out of here." I rubbed the bottom half of my jaw, suddenly tired as hell.

It was already tomorrow.

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