Page 103 of Knights Game

She laughs even more.

We wait for the worker in the high-vis jacket to finish with the driver. They sign a piece of paper attached to his clipboard, keys are exchanged and passed to someone else. He then leads the large-bellied, red-faced driver into the rec room.

“Start unloading,” he shouts as he walks through the main warehouse, which kicks off a wave of activity.

“Wait,” Black says, walking out into the overcast weather, taking the keys from the worker. “I’ll do the honours, thank you.”

Levi is quickly next to him. “I think I will, leadership orders, remember.”

“Have at it.” Black throws him the keys. They walk together to the end of the container, as a worker follows, waiting to coordinate the unloading as soon as the doors are opened.

I walk outside but stand off to the side, leaning against Roman’s car as Duchess and Roman join me.

“It’s safe, right?” Duchess says, watching Levi and Asher approach as if receiving a shipping container of illegal items is the everyday norm.

“As safe as our world can be,” I reply.

She’s studying Levi’s movements intently. And seeing how still she has become and how anxious she is tells me everything I need to know. Well shit. Isabella loves Levi.

“Stop staring at me, you moron.”

“I’m not staring. I’m just—”

“It’s none of your business.”

I like Isabella. I’m not too stuck in my ways to say women can’t make it in our world, because they can, but you have to be something extra to make it as far as Isabella has in such a short time.

“Luca!” Black shouts.

The smell is the first thing to hit me as we reach him. There are certain smells that you can tell in an instant. Sweat, human faeces, and death are three of them.

“Fuck me,” I say holding my hand back to halt Duchess.

“Really?” She says, raising her eyebrow at me before she marches past, her heels and trousers getting dirtier from the muddy, damp road as she gets closer to the back of the lorry.

I pull myself up to join them, looking past their white faces into the truck to what lingers inside.

34

Luca

“I’m going to fuckingkill them.” Asher spits as a sound like a wounded animal comes from Duchess. “Levi.”

“I’m not some sort of fucking damsel in distress!” she snaps, pushing Levi off her. “Are any of them alive?” Her face is as pale as her white suit. Looking at the state of the shipping container I wonder the exact same thing.

Bodies are tightly packed in, already in different states of decomposition, the skin greying, and bellies bloated. There is one thing they have in common.

“Women. Every single one of them,” Roman says pulling rubber gloves out of his pocket and handing me a pair.

“The fuck?” Black asks.

I shake my head. “Don’t ask.”

“Where did this come from?” Duchess demands. “How long have they been in there for? Transported like goods.”

She jumps down from the back of the truck bed, the ground splattering mud all over her clothes.

“I want answers. Now. Get me the fucking driver,” she snaps at one of the nearby workers who has the sense to run for the warehouse to get the poor bastard.

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