Page 16 of Polestar
Memories crashed through her.
Not mine.
Shared memories she gleaned from survivors and crew alike.
Prophetic images that warned her of Antony’s accident.
Not the same.
She had to separate the situations from each other.One was work.The other was personal.
She squeezed her eyes shut.Drew a deep breath through her nose and eased it out between her lips.
Pressure on her forearm drew her attention.
Raya Burns’ hand rested on Ana’s sleeve, her expression one of compassion.She didn’t say anything.
Raya knew.
She knew because she’d seen it, too.
Ana had seen itallfirst through Raya’s memories.
Survivors trapped in shipping containers on the freighters.Barely fed or hydrated, dirty and cold, some sick.All headed for a life of enslavement to the highest bidders.Bidders that comprised human and paranormal buyers alike.
Anytime paranormals were involved, the GPSA was called in.And this team had been tracking this specific ring for some time before Ana had called Carson Perenga in to investigate a murder case that led them all together.Here.
She never could have imagined that the mutilated bodies that had turned up in her community on the west coast of California would bring them to this.
An international human trafficking ring, facilitated and organized by paranormals, which had led them to Raya Burns and her team.
The things she had seen in Raya’s memories bit deep into Ana and still hadn’t let go.
It changed her.Resolved her will to do all she could to help stop it.
Until Antony.
She’d changed, and she’d lost everything.
Ana forced a wan smile for Raya and whispered, “I’m good.”
The look Raya gave her said‘bullshit’but she maintained her silence and released Ana’s arm.
Bjornson stopped the car outside the port office.The official on duty came out to meet them.
“Show time,” Connor said, before stepping out of the car, Ana right behind him.
“Magnus, stay with Ana, no matter what.I’m going to look around while Connor entertains the officials,” Burns said to Bjornson.
Even if Burns couldn’t shift during the day, she still knew how to get around unseen.She knew how to be the ghost she became after nightfall.
A moment later, Ana sensed Bjornson at her back.
Used to working alone and taking care of herself, it surprised her that she found comfort in his presence as she turned her gaze toward the freighter looming above the port.
Sure, she’d worked with Carson, Lirikai, Raya, and Ian McLachlan on the last leg of the case, but that was different.Carson was like a big brother to her.Everyone else… sort of grew on her.
But this felt different.
