“Yes, it is,” Worm agrees. “Guys, I don’t want to but we need to back off. We can’t risk them crashing and hurting her or the baby.”
“Worm, I have a bird in the air with real time footage,” Tex rejoins the conversation. “You can safely back off. We won’t lose her.” Wallace eases off the gas. The other two vehicles back off as well. Worm swallows hard, seeing the flare of fear in Allison’s eyes as the limo pulls away from them.Please let this be the right decision.
“How’d you manage that so quickly?” Hawk asks, with a bit of amusement in his voice. They all know Tex is highly resourceful.
“I have connections,” Tex answers with a chuckle. “We will track the limo and see where they take her. I’ve been using Allison’s articles and research looking for who is behind the sex trafficking ring. I’ve gotten the name of one of the powerful players.”
“Who is it?” Hawk demands, beating Worm to the punch.
“Senator Henry Claymore from California,” Tex tells them. “He lives in a very affluent neighborhood in San Diego. A couple of homes away from where I’d tracked the car that had dropped Allison off when she’d been taken after the wedding. It was clever on Claymore’s part. If anyone traced the car, like I did, they would assume a Jonathan Milton would be to blame. Claymore uses his friendship with Milton to help him cover up his deeds.”
“Is Milton in on the sex ring, too?” Worm asks, not that the answer matters, but if the man is involved, he needs to pay for his deeds.
“I believe that he is,” Tex adds. “From the texts between them, Claymore provides him with favors, meaning a string of young boys, for allowing him to use his vehicles and properties.”
“Motherfucker,” Bull mutters over the line that’s connecting them all together. “We need to take these fuckers out. How can this be happening in America? The selling of children? Forcing them to perform sex acts with adults? This has to be exposed. We can’t just get Allison free and not shut this down!”
“We will shut it down,” Tex confirms. “I’ve been relaying what I’ve found to a trusted source who has been getting people involved that despite the Senator’s reach and influence will move against him and expose him and his associates for the sick bastards that they are.”
“Good, we will help as much as we can,” Hawk states. “I can reach out to some of my superiors, see if we can be sanctioned to move on them, but I highly doubt we’ll be allowed to make a move on someone on American soil, especially with him being a Senator.”
“Don’t worry about your involvement,” Tex interrupts. “I have people in play to take the Senator and his lackeys into custody. Your only role will be getting Allison to safety.”
“Thank you,” Worm adds. “for telling me about the baby and for helping us find a way to get her free.”
“You’re welcome, but you don’t need to thank me,” Tex asserts. “I’m happy to help. I’ll send you my bill.” He chuckles, everyone knows Tex is joking. He never takes payment for helping those in need.
“Send it, even if it takes the rest of my life to pay it, she’s worth every penny.” Emma and Charlotte sigh, while the men in the vehicles grunt their approval. “I just need her back with me where she belongs.”
“We will get your woman back, Worm. Now, I have an idea where they might be headed,” Tex informs them. “Claymore has just called fellow Senator Alisha Mingham, who has a home near New Bern. I’m running a check on her as we speak, but from what I can tell, she isn’t involved. At least, I haven’t come across her name in the last few weeks while I’ve been digging through all of this.”
“So why would Claymore reach out to her,” Wallace asks, “If Mingham isn’t involved?”
“I believe it’s to give himself some credibility,” Tex replies. “He thinks if he has someone who isn’t involved as his alibi then he can get out of any involvement in all of this. From what I’m gathering, he’s been courting Mingham for months. They’ve been seen together at several social events. Her husband passed away a couple of years ago and she hasn’t dated anyone since.
“Claymore is clever. I believe he is using Senator Mingham as part of his outward persona to the world that he is an upstanding guy,” Tex continues. “He’s done well to cover his tracks. I’m just really good at following his convoluted trail. I have enough evidence to expose him in the sex trafficking ring. I’ve already been sending some preliminary files to my contact at the FBI who handles cases like this. I just need to send him the rest and ask him to get involved.”
“Do it!” Worm demands. “I want him taken down by any means necessary as long as Allison isn’t harmed in the blowback.”
“Calling them now,” Tex announces. Worm continues to stare through the windshield at the limo which is getting progressively smaller as they increase the distance between them. Allison has to be okay. Worm won’t accept anything less than her being whole, safe, unharmed. He’d denied his feelings for her long enough. He knows that he loves her, needs her more than air, water, and food.
How could I have been so stupid?Worm wonders to himself.So much wasted time. Time that put Allison in danger and kept the knowledge that we created a life together from me. God, let me get her back, let her be unharmed. I’ll take whatever punishment is needed for my foolishness, even if she doesn’t forgive me.Worm knows if he can just get her away from these bastards, she will forgive him, likely already has. She had mouthed that she loved him after all. Hope grows in his chest.Hang on, sugar. I’m coming!
53
ALLISON
Russell’s vehicle disappears from view. Dread settles in Allison’s belly, but she has to hold on to hope, not only for herself, but for her baby. Her hand instinctively drops to cover the precious cargo. Russell had said he’d come for her. She just has to trust he knows what he’s doing by letting them get out of sight.
Claymore is on the phone with someone, talking all sweet. His voice is making her physically sick. Allison has noticed he hasn’t mentioned anything to the caller about needing to hide out, just that he is in the area and thought he’d stop by. When he ends the call, he tells Bruno he has a place where they can lay low. It’s a ‘friend’s’ house.Is this the man he wants to sell her to? He’d said that man was out of the country, hadn’t he?
“I think we lost them,” the driver declares. Allison spares another glance over her shoulder, but already knows she won’t be able to see anything. She’d already watched the SUVs back off until she could no longer see them. Sure enough, she doesn’t see the familiar black SUV’s anywhere in sight.
“Take this exit,” Claymore commands after another few minutes of traveling. They leave the highway and turn onto a residential street. The beat of a chopper can be heard overhead as they come to a stop at a stoplight. “Do you hear that?” Claymore looks over at Bruno, who nods, leaning to peer out his window.
“Open the moonroof!” Bruno demands. The driver presses a button and the ceiling of the limo slides back followed by the glass moonroof. Bruno reaches over the seat across from them, revealing a compartment with several large guns and boxes of ammunition. He grabs one of the long weapons, lifting it into his hands. With efficient movements, he slides a metal piece back. The metal clanking as he loads a round into the chamber. “Keep it steady,” he yells at the driver, who glances back with a nod.
Bruno stands up, sticking his head up through the opening, craning his head to look for the chopper. He pulls the gun up through the opening, bracing his feet in a wide stance to steady himself as the limo sways. A loud rapport of gunfire spews from the weapon, just as the limo swerves to the right. Bruno’s shoulder jerks back with the force of the shots from his gun.