Page 34 of Dare
“Hellif I know. Everything was fine when I left, but she won’t return my calls ortexts.”
“Andyou haven’t just bullied your way into her apartment to confront her?”
“Shehasn’t been home.”
“Well,she lives next door. She can’t ignore you forever.”
“What’sgoing on with the new forum? Was Justus able to infiltrate?” I ask, changingthe subject.
“Yeah,he’s in, but I’m not sure it’s a good thing. He’s really hyped up about thisone for some reason. You know how he gets. It’s a big ring of humantraffickers, encompassing three states, so we can’t screw this one up or go allvigilante. We need to cover our bases and make sure we can safely report it tothe police. We’re having trouble nailing down all the addresses, which is whyI’m here. Justus could use some help.”
Ican’t spend all my time stalking the parking lot for Ayda when I should beworking. “Give me a minute to get my shit together and I’ll follow you over.”
Justusand Jeremy are sitting at their computers, typing away when I arrive. Landonwalks in just ahead of me and announces, “I found him mooning over the girlnext door.”
Jeremyand Justus break into laughter. “Don’t make me stuff you into a tanning bed,” Igrowl.
“Prisonhas made you very unpleasant,” he laughs.
That’swhen you know you’re close friends, when you can use a horrific disease andterrible prison stint to insult each other and laugh over it.
Dragginga chair over to sit beside Justus, I stare at the screen. “Fill me in on what Imissed.” We spend half the night working, Justus chatting with the traffickers,pretending to be an interested customer who’s shopping for the perfect girlwhile I try to nail down the IP addresses. These guys are pros, and know how toconceal themselves well. A little after three a.m. the screen goes blank.
“Whatthe fuck?” Justus shouts, slamming his fists on the desk.
“Whathappened?” Jeremy asks, approaching us.
“Theyshut it down! Fuck! I was so close!” Justus paces the room, clutching the backof his head.
It’sdisappointing because we know they haven’t shut down the operation, only movedit to a new location. They suspect something’s up. I don’t know if it’s us theysuspect or if something else alarmed them. If they aren’t suspicious of Justus,they’ll get in touch, since they won’t want to let a serious buyer go, but ifwe triggered the move, we may never find them again. Sadly, it’s not the firsttime it’s happened.
“Areyou still connected on the gaming profile?” Jeremy asks, and Justus rushes backto his computer.
“Sofar.” It’s another way traffickers can communicate, using chat and messagingfrom large MMORPG games. They aren’t generally watched the way other avenuesare.
“Giveit a day and see what happens,” Landon suggests, trying to calm Justus.
“Inthe meantime, I need your help with something,” I tell him. I spend the nextfew minutes explaining what happened to Ayda and what I intend to do about it.
Justus’sgrin would chill the blood of the average man, but I’m happy to see it. “We’regoing to fuck them up,” he promises.
It’snearly four in the morning when I get home and fall into bed. Ayda’s car is inthe parking lot, but her apartment is quiet. As much as I want to bust in anddemand to know what her problem is, I’m not going to wake her. She’ll think I’ma psycho. I’m sure I’ll catch her tomorrow.
Theringing of my phone wakes me up and my sister’s perky voice greets me when Ianswer. “Derek! Hi, I got your message. Sorry, it took me a while to call back.I’ve been busy.”
“Collegekicking your ass?” I tease.
“Asusual. I found a great study group, though. And I met a guy.”
Shesounds so happy, it puts a smile on my face. “What’s the dude’s name and howfar do I have to drive to kick his ass?”
Shegiggles. “His name is Jake, and you aren’t kicking anything. He’s a real sweetguy. You’ll like him.”
“Areyou bringing him home for Christmas?”
There’sa pause before she replies, “That’s kind of what I’m calling about. I’m notcoming back for Christmas. There’s a big party here I want to go to.”
Ican’t blame her. She’s young and full of life, and there’s nothing here for heranymore. “Be careful and don’t drink anything that’s been out of your sight,” Iwarn.
