Page 53 of Sinner's Secret

“My cousin.”

She frowned. “Why aren’t we calling the police?”

Baz looked her straight in the eyes for two seconds before he paid attention to where he was going again. “Because I think someone you work with sold you out.”

“Bazyli,” a man with a rolling Russian accent said. “Why are you calling me with a cop listening in?”

“Because she was kidnapped by some assholes who buy and sell people.”

“Did you help her get unkidnapped?”

“No, I asked nicely, and they just handed her over.”

The guy on the other end of the phone heaved a loud sigh. “I’m trying to discern the size of the problem, dear cousin. Let me ask this another way. Did you leave anyone alive?”

“Only a truck full of kidnapped women.”

A moment of silence passed, then Baz’s cousin asked, “And where did they go?”

“In all directions, like rats abandoning a sinking ship.”

“So, other than your cop, who you saved, no witnesses?”

Nika jumped in before Baz could answer. “There were at least three video cameras in the room where they kept me. I don’t know if the images were going to a computer in the next room or another continent.”

“Give me the address.”

Baz gave it to him, then added, “We need a safe place to go to ground.” He looked at her feet. “And Nika needs a pair of shoes.” He glanced down at himself. “Actually, we both need some clean clothes.”

“Do you remember where you stayed when you first came to New York?” his cousin asked.

“Yeah,” Baz said slowly.

“Go there. At the check in desk, tell them you’re Yvgeny’s stupid cousin. They’ll give you the keys to a room. Tell them your sizes and they’ll get some clothes for you. And don’t forget to feed your cop. I hear they get hangry.” He hung up.

Baz drove with more purpose now. Having an actual destination probably helped.

“Stupid cousin, huh?” Nika said.

“I told you before that I’m the family fuck-up.”

“Stopping those men and freeing a truck load of women is not—” she began, but he interrupted.

“I killed six men with my bare hands. Six men who are part of some kind of nasty criminal organization. The fallout from that isn’t just going to hit me, it might hit my cousin and his business too. It’s sure as shit going to hit the police department.”

“You said before that someone I work with sold me out. Do you know who it is?”

“Not for certain, but one man in particular has been acting really hinky.”

“Thomas?” she asked.

“Yeah, after you were snatched Smith, Davis, Williams, and Thomas came to the cab company’s garage and knocked on my trunk. Thomas launched into an intense accusation, when he finally stopped long enough to breathe Smith politely asked for my help to find you.”

“He wanted you to find out where I’d been taken through your contacts in your cousin’s organization?” The same cousin Baz had just turned to for help?

“Probably, but my cousin had nothing to do with this. I agreed to help as long as I got to see the scene in your house.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

---