Page 53 of Wild Temple
"You’ve been to this place before,” I said. “You knew that's where they would take us.”
He gave me a sheepish look, then his eyes fell to the floor.
“How much dirty work have you done for them?”
His mouth tightened, and he just stared at me with guilty eyes.
An exasperated sigh escaped my mouth. "Rex!"
"I told you, I didn't have a choice. You think I like doing this shit? I told you, I'm done with it." He paused. "You think I don't wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and see the faces of all the people I killed? Tell me you don't see them too.”
I was trying to kill people only when absolutely justified these days. But maybe I was lying to myself, thinking there was a difference. "How involved are you in the trafficking?”
"I'm not," he said, adamant.
I gave him a doubtful look.
"I swear to God, I stay out of that shit.”
"But you help facilitate it. Anything that helps Caspian Vorn helps his operation.”
"Spare me the morality lecture. I don't need it. I just saved your asses. That ought to count for something. The way I see it, we’re even now. I don't owe you anything. You saved my life once. I saved yours.”
"Where's Hannah and Isabella?"
"I don't know.”
My doubtful eyes pierced into him.
"Look, Caspian cherry picks the cream of the crop. He keeps them for his personal use until he gets bored, then he puts them on the market. He constantly moves around between his rental properties. And he's got plenty of them." Rex paused. "But I don't think he's got Isabella. I would have heard something. I told you he likes them young—18, 19, 20. Sometimes younger.”
I glared at Rex.
"Do you know if Hannah is still alive?”
"I know Caspian wants the map. I don't think he's gonna let Hannah go until he gets it.”
“Where’s Brooke?”
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“Brooke’s in the car parked down the road,” Rex said. "Do you realize what kind of a shit show this is!? I just killed Caspian’s business partner. That screws up his entire operation. As you're aware, he owns all the cops in this town. Granted, he'll get another local stooge to come on as his business partner. But you’re gonna have every thug and cop in this town looking for you. And they’re going to be looking for me too. I can't go back to my bar. I can’t go back to my normal life. My entire world here is fucked because of you two.” He sighed and shook his head. “We’ll all be lucky if we can walk away from this.”
I had to admit, the outlook was pretty bleak at the moment.
Before we left, I rummaged through Slim’s pockets and took his cell phone. I used facial recognition to access the device. Once inside, I searched his recent calls and texts. There were plenty of calls and texts to Caspian. I scrolled through the messages, looking for any information regarding Isabella or Hannah.
There was nothing useful.
We left the tin shack and headed down the road to Rex’s red Jeep.
Relief washed over Brooke's eyes when she saw us. We hustled down the dirt road to the vehicle. Brooke clutched a 9mm pistol that he had given her. She put it on the dash, climbed out of the Jeep, and squeezed me tight. "Thank God you two are okay!”
"All the thanks goes to Rex," I said.
"Did you find where Hannah and your friend are?"
My eyes flicked to Rex as he climbed behind the wheel. "No. But I'm sure Rex can come up with something."
