Page 15 of Reacher's Ride or Die

“Young love,” she breathed. “I just can’t help myself, sorry.”

“No, it’s all good,” Brandi said, “Reacher is swoon-worthy.” Yonkers and Hurricane both groaned out loud and he smiled at Brandi.

“I think that’s my cue to leave with those two,” he said, nodding over to his friend and his club’s Prez. “They aren’t very patient men,” he insisted. They both grumbled about the pot calling the kettle black, and Reacher followed them out to the front porch. “I’ll see you at home, honey,” he called back over his shoulder.

“Let’s talk in my truck,” Hurricane ordered. Reacher was starting to feel impatient himself.

“Why all the secrecy?” he asked, pulling the pickup truck door open and sliding into the front seat. Hurricane sat in the driver’s seat and Yonkers hopped into the back.

“Because we can’t be too careful,” Hurricane said.

“Careful of what?” Reacher asked. Hurricane looked around as though expecting to find someone standing outside of his pickup truck. “You’re starting to worry me.”

“Good, you should be worried, man,” Yonkers warned.

“Okay, how about one of you tell me what’s going on and I’ll decide if I’m worried or not.” Reacher was pretty sure that he was going to do a whole lot of worrying with the way that the guys were looking at him.

“You’re in danger,” Yonkers said.

“How am I in danger?” Reacher asked.

“Those warehouses that you’re clearing chemicals from—they are being used to hold women who are being trafficked,” Hurricane said.

He had been in the warehouses every day since he started his job, weekends included, and he saw no signs of human trafficking. “I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary,” Reacher insisted. “I’m in those three warehouses every day, and I’m pretty sure that I’d notice a bunch of women in cages, guys.”

“Wait—you’re only working on three warehouses down at the docks?” Yonkers asked.

“Yes,” Reacher said, “why?”

“Because your boss’s records show that he owns five warehouses, not three. Why aren’t the other two buildings in your contract?” Hurricane said. He had no idea that Tom had five warehouses, and not just three. He always felt as though the guy was a little bit shady, but why wouldn’t he tell Reacher about the other two buildings?

“No, I don’t have a contract for the other two warehouses,” he admitted. “Do you think that my boss is involved in human trafficking?”

Hurricane shrugged, “Not sure, but we do think that one of his five warehouses is being used to hold women until they can get them to auction.”

“Shit,” Reacher breathed. “I finally get a job that I like, and my boss might be a fucking human trafficker.”

“Yeah, that does suck, but if we can prove that he is grabbing these women off the streets to sell them off to the highest bidder, we’ll be able to take him down. I’m sure that the company will still need your services.” Yonkers seemed confident in his assessment, but Reacher wasn’t sure that it would be that easy.

“Can you tell us which two buildings aren’t included in your contract?” Hurricane asked. He handed him a map of sorts with most of the warehouses from down on the docks on it. He looked it over and shook his head.

“I can’t tell you which ones aren’t in my contract, but I can tell you which ones are in my contract.” Reacher pointed to the three buildings that he was currently cleaning barrels of chemicals out of. “I’m in charge of these three warehouses.” He handed Hurricane back the map and he pulled a pen from the glove box and marked the three buildings that Reacher had pointed out.

“We’ll do some research to figure out which other two also belong to your boss,” Hurricane said. “In the meantime, be vigilant. If you see anything out of the ordinary, let me know. We think that the Vipers are involved, but we’re not sure how they fit into this mess. They are notorious for kidnapping women, and this sounds like their kind of party. We just need to find out if your boss is involved.”

“I can try to help with that,” Reacher admitted. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground and let you know if I hear anything.”

“Thanks, man,” Hurricane said.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Hurricane insisted.

“That’s not the way to do this, man,” Yonkers scolded.

“Do what?” Reacher asked. He could tell that he wasn’t going to like this part of their conversation either.

“I want you to be my Vice Prez,” Hurricane admitted. Well, at least that didn’t take as long for him to say as the part about the Vipers human trafficking women through the warehouses he was cleaning up.

“I thought Yonkers was your Vice Prez,” Hurricane said.

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