Page 81 of Breaking Conviction
Wes felt himself growling in frustration and Ascot gulped before answering. “I-it’s a ‘who’ not a ‘what’. Although I suppose, at its core, it’s an organization dedicated to a state of mind. Men of my wealth and power who have certaininterests. Strickland’s brother provides us with those interests… but we’re by no means the only organization he deals with.”
“So, what? It’s a group of hedonistic rich old white men?” Hawk ground through his teeth.
Ascot’s cut lips tightened before he relented. “I wouldn’t put it into those unsavory terms, but essentially that’s the gist, I suppose.”
“Who all’s in the group?” Devil asked. “Is it just you three pervs?”
Ascot huffed but shook his head. “Dmitri, Mitchell, and I… we were the founding members. Others have trickled in over the years. It seems Assistant District Attorney Marco Aguilar was able to ascertain most of the list if the arrests of my friends right before I went into hiding were any indication.”
“Was Investigator Burgess in the group?” Wes asked, mentioning the investigator who’s double agent spying had brought to light the connection between the trafficking ring and Ashland County’s elite members.
“No. He… he worked for Strickland’s brother… in a roundabout way. Well, for Dmitri Rusnak, who was the right-hand man.” He cursed under his breath before muttering. “I can’t believe he’d dispose of him so…cruelly.”
“You think Rusnak’s death is cruel? After you’ve all kidnapped, drugged, raped, and murdered innocent women?” Wes’s dark laugh of disgust snapped the man back in the moment. “Ascot, we’re going to need a list of those names.”
“I-I can’t! Truly—”
Devil’s strong fist laid into Ascot’s cheek. “You will tell useverythingor you will wish Strickland’s brother had you in his sights, do you understand?Iwas the man who put Strickland in the hospital. I knew exactly where to shoot to cause lifelong damage. Don’t think I won’t do the same to you.”
Ascot whimpered and nodded. Wes pulled out his phone and began to type.
“Start talking.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ascot blathered as Wes took notes on his iPhone. They didn’t know if the names Ascot was giving them were a pile of shit, but Wes would work his magic to see what he could find about each person.
When he was finished, Ascot fell back against his chair.
“Exhausted from telling the truth?” Devil asked, and Ascot glared at him before sighing.
“That’s it… that’s all I know.”
But Ascot hadn’t answered the question burning in Wes’s mind ever since Marco told him that Investigator Burgess was looking into missing women. And then the few women Naomi had pointed out from the list…
“Where do you get the women?”
Ascot hung his head and blew out a breath. “It’s been harder in the past couple of years. We used to have a consistent supplier. There was a group that helped us… erm… procure slu—” Devil growled, “—women… who’d come to them. They’d take them and distribute them. It was genius, really. No one was ever the wiser. But everyone in that supply chain is gone. We’ve been having to make do, hiding in the shadows and finding willing women at our fundraisers and events.”
“‘Willing?’ That’s what you call them?” Devil’s pale skin was beet red with anger, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.
Wes couldn’t blame him. Ascot’s confessions were churning in his own gut like acid, bringing him to the brink of nausea when another question entered his mind. The timing of everything, how the traffickers had to resort to other means the past couple of years, what Phoenix had said…
“... hasn’t it ever occurred to you that maybe we’re the villains?”
“What’s the name of the group?”
Ascot’s eyes were focused on Devil’s tightening hands. “Wh-what?”
“The name,” Wes gritted out. “Of the group. What’s the name of the group where you got the women?”
Ascot nodded. “Oh, yeah… uh… I’ve never, uh, been the religious type, but it’s a weird Bible name.”
“The Rahab Foundation?” Wes breathed the question, knowing in his soul he was right.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s it. The Rahab Foundation.”
“What?” Hawk sounded like he was in pain and disbelief. “That can’t be the name.”
