Page 14 of Sinner's Secret

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Oh?”

“A man claiming to be the police said he was sending a car to pick me up so I could come down to the station and give my statement.”

“But you did that already.” Baz froze completely solid for a moment before muttering, “Fuck.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.

He did not like the situation at all.

“Yeah.”

“How did this guy get your number?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t give a name or any information that might help determine who he was.”

“Nobody tried to get into your apartment?”

“No. It was quiet, and my team has my place under surveillance,” she answered. “My partner is looking into how my phone number might have become compromised, but it might have been through the diner. I’ll ask the other waitresses if anyone has been looking for me.”

“I think this whole thing is a bad, bad idea.”

She might not be able to see his eyes, but his jaw was clenched tight, and he was gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white.

“We tried getting our foot into the operation by having a couple of under cover cops pose as buyers, but one of them was nearly killed in an ambush, so we pulled the other guy out. We need someone on the inside of this operation. We need information. We need to put these monsters away.”

“If anything goes wrong, you’re the one who will pay the price,” he told her, his tone rough. “You could end up dead, or worse.”

He didn’t need to spell out the or worse.

“I told you, we’ve taken precautions.”

He grunted. “One tracking device is not enough.”

“How many should I get implanted? Three, five, fifteen?”

“Sure, why not, fifteen,” he said, throwing his hands in the air for a moment. “The problem is, all they have to do is wave one of those RFID tag readers over you to find them all.”

“I don’t think that’s likely.”

“Are you willing to bet your safety, even your life on that?”

She didn’t bother to hide her frustrated sigh. “Well, what do you suggest then?”

“I don’t know.” The words came out through his teeth, tearing the edges of each letter.

She studied him, his hands squeezing and squeezing the steering wheel like he was choking the life out of it, and his jaw flexing as he ground his teeth. “You’re furious.” She meant it to come out as a simple fact, but she heard a note of surprise in her own voice.

“Of course, I am. What they’re doing is...disgusting.”

“Is it because I’m a woman and you think this is a job for a man?”

He growled, full on growled, then pulled over and threw the car into park. He turned to her and pulled his sunglasses off. The whites of his eyes had pinpricks of red throughout, making him look like a man possessed by some kind of demon.

In hindsight, she had to give it to him, the sunglasses were a good choice.

“Woman, pretty boy, or child, they’re probably all considered prey by these people. So, no, your gender isn’t the issue, the fact that you’re an object someone wants to own and won’t see you as a person, is.”

Oh.

“Once you’re in their power, they will do whatever it takes to break you. They’ll brutalize and eventually kill you. You’ll likely be drugged, so there won’t be any opportunities to escape. This isn’t like posing as a prostitute and catching johns. This is infinitely more dangerous.”

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