Page 100 of Redemption

“My lips are sealed.” She grumbled, braiding her pink hair into the blue strands as the bangles on her wrist clinked. “I don’t like that bitch.”

“I know. Is the name-calling out of your system?”

“Maybe. What she want?”

“Gave me a bead on how I might…” Victoria gestured vaguely.

Seven perked up. “Really? Maybe not a bitch after all.”

“Do you even know what I’m talking about?” Victoria asked.

“No—but, she’s Mayhem’s go-to legal girl. Mayhem and the Russians are wheeling and dealing every which way over every which thing lately.”

“Sounds like you’ve been spending quality time with—”

“No, I amnot.”

“I think the lady doth protest too much.”

“Yeah, yeah, that fire’s so cold it’s ice.” Seven tugged the blanket partially over her knees, playing down the relationship that had nearly been prearranged. “Mayhem’s come into more money, and they are also pissed at something going on with the Russians.”

“I know you’re not picking all this up at the Perky Cup.”

“I won’t reveal my sources.”

“I bet not.” Victoria wiggled her toes as she drew them onto the couch. “It’s girls. The Russians are snatching girls. Ivan Mikhailov is a player in financing Russian weapons, and he’s allowing purchases to be made with women as capital to make up for a loss he sustained recently.”

Seven’s eyes couldn’t have been any wider. “What? How do you—” She blinked and stuttered to a stop. “How would you know that?”

Victoria sealed her eyes for a long moment before admitting the specifics she hadn’t told Seven. “Because of what Lenora said and… I was Vashchenko’sgiftto Mikhailov. I saw the operation from the inside until it was shut down. I guess they’re rebuilding.”

“From here?”

“Probably from all over the world.” Victoria twisted the edge of the blanket. “But the guns are here. Vashchenko is here. Their distribution partners for middle America are here—”

“Mayhem,” Seven muttered. “East coast is too hot. That’s why they’re flourishing.”

“That’s why I have a job,” Victoria confirmed. “Up from the gulf—then they can go anywhere in the US.”

“Are they actively taking women?”

“Lenora thinks so.”

“From here?”

She nodded. “Makes sense. Unloading to Mayhem. Empty cargo space. Highways. Easy to transport if they don’t want to use airlines.”

Seven let her tongue stud run along her teeth. She quietly grabbed Victoria’s hand under the blanket. “I know when, maybe where, the next weapons meet is.”

Victoria’s head twisted so fast it might’ve popped off. “You do?”

“If they’re grabbing girls, they’ve got them already.”

“Does Mayhem know?” Victoria asked.

Seven arched her brows. “Maybe some members? I don’t know. Business has been tense lately.”

“What have you been up to?” She shook her head. “Never mind. One thing at a time.”

---