Page 52 of Anything But Convenient

While I was thankful that my husband had never had to come across these guys, I also understood that things could change at any second.

Memphis slammed his hand on the desk. “Are you 100% sure?”

Tank pulled out his phone, then motioned it towards the large screen. What popped up was a gruesome sight. The deadbody of the man that we had been calling Ajax was splayed across the room. He was in far worse shape than any of the other Gilded Ones we've come across.

“Good grief,” Cohen mumbled. “You hired someone to do this?”

Our boss scrubbed the back of his neck. “I have a feeling this Ajax fellow aggravated my associate. He typically has a good habit of not making a mess. This is an abnormal case, to be sure.”

Ronan scoffed. “Abnormal? The man is basically minced meat. I don't know how in the world you intend to cover this up.”

“I don't intend to cover it up,” Tank said. “I have zero affiliation to it. There is no proof that I'm involved in any way. Honestly, once the police figure out who it is, the FBI will come in, mark Ajax's off some most wanted list and everyone will be happy.”

I rolled my eyes at the way Tank said it so succinctly. It wasn't going to be that easy.

There would be questioning and confusion. There would maybe even be an investigation. The only way all that could be avoided would be if Stabler stepped in to say something.

But since Stabler wasn't having the easiest time handling things, we couldn't depend on him for that. Just like most government agencies, his could not be trusted. There were people too far up the food chain who held too much power. They would go against us in a heartbeat if it meant jeopardizing their own safety and their own agreements.

I tapped my finger on the table to get everyone's attention. Once I had it, I motioned to Ronan and mimicked picking up a phone. He scowled until I drew a D in the air. His eyes bulged out as he breathed a single word, “Damari."

I nodded quickly, then pulled out my own phone. Ronan shook his head. “I’ll call Archie too. He can go meet Damari at the shop.”

The thought made me scowl. There was no way Archie would get to the coffee shop in time if he was at home. At the same time, there was no guarantee that either of them would be safe if we didn't get people in place.

Tank had already instructed us not to be alone anymore. We had to work in pairs or as large a group as possible without drawing too much attention to ourselves. We had basically been doing that already, but he wanted to make sure we were aware of why it was important now.

Because the person we thought we were getting close to catching, the one behind all this human trafficking, wasn't the actual person we were after.

Cohen raised his hand. “Does this mean that Ajax isn't the human trafficker and Mordecai is? If that's the case, then what did this Ajax person do?”

Memphis spoke up. “It would mean that we had the two of them mixed up. Ajax is the gun runner, and Mordecai is the body snatcher. And if that's the case, then we put together a plan that's not going to work at all.”

“Why not?” Tank demanded.

“Because this Mordecai is a fucking ghost. I mean, I have some shots of him from the side and back. And that face shot I have is one that's like fifteen years old. You know people can get work done and change their appearance. Hell, he could have been in the disguise in the photos I found. We have no clue what we're working with. We're going in blind.”

“No we're not,” Ronan said. “We know that Ajax person is now dead. That brings us down to Mordecai. He's the final piece of the puzzle.”

The room went quiet. Somehow that didn't seem right. I did the math in my head and realized he was wrong. I held up one finger.

Ronan frowned but turned to Memphis who pulled up the screen of all the Gilded Ones members. “Takeshi is right. We still have one more after Mordecai. But we figured they would be the easier ones to find. Tank’s guy was supposed to go after Mordecai first, and then we would take care of Ajax. Now it’s all mixed up.”

Tank stood and leaned forward on the table; his fingers spread wide — a clear indication that he's aggravated. “No matter what happens, we will take care of this. This is not the end of the road for us. We're going to figure it out.”

Ronan muttered as he lifted his phone to his ear. “I called Damari first. He's not answering. I'm calling Archie now.”

It only took a second for my husband to accept the call. What happened next was something I would lose sleep over for the rest of my life.

On our end, I could hear Ronan demanding that they get somewhere safe and stick together. But then, right as Ronan put it on speakerphone at Tank's behest, we heard what came next.

The screeching tires and the shouting.

The panic that ensued.

Tank’s phone blew up with the front desk calling him to say that there was an attack on the building.

Except it wasn't an attack on the building itself. It was an attack on our people.

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