Page 3 of Art of the Hunt
“Actually, I am—”
“He’s coming. That guy I told you about,” Denise interrupted, looking at the other woman. Artemis. Actually, it was a cool name, but she’d probably been picked on in elementary school. Likely how she’d ended up such a badass.
Shit, his chest still hurt from that kick.
“This isn’t the guy?” Artemis asked, eyeing Hunter like she had her doubts. “He’s certainly dressed like a bad guy.”
“Hey,” he protested, although wasn’t he here, undercover, pretending to be exactly that?
Denise shook her head. “Hunter’s my friend. He’s a cop. He’s here to help too. He promised to get me out of this place. I want to go back to school. And go to college. I want to be a social worker and help other kids like me. Hunter promised I could do all that if I helped him bring this place down.”
“Um, actually, I promised you would stand a chance of doing all that,” he pointed out, because, holy shit, his conscience couldn’t handle it if she didn’t actually accomplish all her goals and felt he was to blame. All he was going to do was break up this sex trafficking ring and hand Denise and any other underaged girls over to the foster system.
That was all he could do before moving on to the next problem. Because there was always a next one.
“A cop, you say?” Artemis said, eyeing him with significantly more interest. Not the sexual kind of interest but the I-want-something-from-him kind.
Uh-oh.
“Yeah,” Hunter said, reaching for his wallet before he forgot he’d tucked away his ID so he wouldn’t be made. Luckily, he had Denise to vouch for him. “And if you kick me again, I might just press charges.”
“Oh, this is excellent,” Artemis said, holding a bow and apparently ignoring his threat.
“Where did that bow come from?”
She glanced down at the weapon in her hand. A weapon that hadn’t been there two minutes ago. “The Cyclopes made it for me.”
“The…” Hunter needed a drink. Was this woman on drugs? If so, she probably ought not to be carrying around a potentially dangerous weapon.
“Come, let’s go conquer the bad guys,” Artemis announced.
“Conquer the…wait, what do you mean,let’sgo?”
“They aren’t in here, obviously,” she said, waving at the room while the blue light followed her movements, illuminating all the various nooks and crannies of the place. How the hell was it doing that?
“Which means we need to go out there.” She pointed at the door.
“Okay, I get that, but what I’m really focused on at the moment is your use oflet’s, as in, let us, andwe, as in—”
The door opened once again, and the frame of a really bulky guy took up most of the space before he stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Whoa,” the guy said, eyeing Artemis. “I didn’t know there was a two-for-one deal today. Although you’re way older than I prefer, so I guess it’s a good thing you’re free.”
“Did he just call me old?” Artemis said, her eyes and nostrils flaring while she looked at Hunter as if he were dumb enough to answer.
In truth, she looked to be in her mid-thirties, which, by Hunter’s standards wasn’t old at all, but considering this guy thought he was paying to get freaky with a sixteen-year-old, Hunter could see where he might consider Artemisold.
Hunter rubbed his chest. “I wouldn’t piss her off, buddy.”
The guy flung around to face him. “Who the fuck are you?”
“The cop who’s arresting you for paying to have sex with underaged girls,” Denise announced.
Shit.
“Cop? You’re a fucking cop?”
“He is,” Artemis confirmed, sounding very sure of herself, which was funny because all she had to go on was Denise’s word.
