Page 44 of Soros
“Who are they?” Star asked.
“Some friends I met recently. They like to play games.” Moving nose to nose with me, he asked. “Do you like to play games?”
“Yes.” I laughed. “What kind of games are we talking about?”
Ko’roz gave the most angelic laugh. “The kind of games that makes me rich.”
“Can I play too?” Star, who was sitting on his other side, asked.
“Yes, you can. I’m sure you both will give me a nice chunk of money. Just do as my friends tell you and I’ll be proud of you.”
The thought of making Ko’roz proud filled me with joy.
Once we got to our destination, we got out of the taxi and stood on the sidewalk in front of what looked like a nightclub. There were no windows, only a solid door. The metal reinforcement on the lower part of the door was dented as if someone had kicked at the door repeatedly. On the wall were old posters advertising rock concerts. Most were ripped or covered by graffiti. The whole street had a rough look and made me feel uncomfortable.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“This is where we’ll meet my friends, and you’ll play games.”
Despite my pride in knowing someone as wonderful as Ko’roz, I still felt uneasy about the place.
“What is the game called?” Star asked.
Ko’roz went and knocked on the door before he turned his head and answered with another of his charming smiles. “It’s called prostitution.”
CHAPTER 16
Tracking Tania
Soros
Just like Lee and Sanchez, the two detectives who picked us up weren’t wearing police uniforms and their car was stripped of any sign that they belonged to law enforcement. They introduced themselves as detectives and gave us their last names, but I wasn’t paying attention to that part. Instead, I asked, “Do you have the location of the phone?”
“You need to buckle up,” the man in the passenger seat said in a stern tone. He was slender with gray hair while the driver was bald with sunglasses. Turning his head, he answered me. “Yes, we have the coordinates of where the phone is currently located.”
“How far is it?” I asked impatiently.
“Twelve minutes depending on traffic, but we already have colleagues on the spot.”
Nerix sat between Lios and me in the backseat. Moving to the edge of his seat, he asked the two men, “Have they found Tania and Star?”
“Not as far as we know. Our colleagues reported that they asked about them, but no one knew them at that address.”
I gaped at their naivete. “You asked a kidnapper if he kidnapped a victim? And you expected an honest answer.”
“They were invited inside and found no women present,” the bald detective said.
Lios spoke to me and Nerix through our telepathic connection. “That doesn’t mean anything. The human officers could have been mind clouded by Ko’roz to think they didn’t see any women. We need to go and see for ourselves.”
Traffic was slow and I felt frustrated that the vehicle couldn’t lift from the ground and fly to get there faster.
“Are you getting any contact with Star?” I asked Nerix when he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I keep reaching out to her, but she’s not responding.” Nerix answered.
“I’m trying as well,” Lios said. “So far no luck.”
“Where are you from?” the driver asked us. “We were told that you are foreign agents, but no one seemed to know exactly where you’re from.”
