Page 38 of Danger Close
And it probably would.
A tall guard with a crooked tooth bent down to speak to her.Ricky couldn’t hear what he said, but the way she flinched at the end of it made his fists clench.
She laughed a second later.Loudly.Too loudly.
Rehearsed.
Ricky pushed off the wall and circled wide, picking up a crate he didn’t need and moving it closer to the perimeter fence, staying within casual range of the conversation.A second guard approached the first, lighting a cigarette with a flick of a zippo and gesturing toward Sophia with his chin.
“She’s nearly ripe,” he said in Albanian, voice too casual.
Ricky stilled—just a hitch of breath, then kept walking, looping closer.The guards barely noticed him.Just another mule in a line of bodies.
“Boss says we ship her out after next week’s buyers,” the other man replied.“She’ll go high.Girl’s got that angel look.”
“Six is too young for me.Eight’s a good age,” the first guard said, puffing on his cigarette.“Enough to fake innocence.Not old enough to fight back.”
Ricky’s stomach turned.
He almost dropped the crate.Almost charged.Almost let the rage detonate.
But he couldn’t.Not yet.Not until Sophia was clear.
He set the box down carefully and turned toward them, putting on a weary, curious expression.“What’s the girl’s story?”he asked in rough Albanian, nodding toward Sophia.
One of the guards shrugged.“Some nobody’s kid.Picked up in Kosovo or Turkey or hell knows where.Smart, though.Learns fast.Pretty.”
He grinned like it was a compliment.Ricky forced a smile and walked away before he started swinging.
He turned into a storage corridor and spoke, shielding his mouth with his hand like he was scratching his jaw.
“Bateman, come in.”
Bateman’s voice came through clear.“Go ahead.”
“This place is a pipeline,” Ricky said quietly.“They’re grooming kids.I just got confirmation—Sophia’s being prepped for sale.Age six, highest bidder.There’s probably more.This is a front for child sex trafficking.”
Silence.Then—
“Copy.Understood.Adjusting extraction strategy.Stand by.”
Good.Ricky didn’t want to sneak out anymore.
He wanted to burn it all to the fucking ground.
Later.
First—he needed to talk to the girl.
He waited until the guards rotated off—until Sophia was left alone by the shaded patch of grass where she sat with a coloring book and a single broken crayon.
He crouched nearby, acting like he was checking the valve on a water drum.
“Hey,” he said, low and soft.
She didn’t look up.
“Hey,” he said again, shifting to show his face.“I’m not here to hurt you.”
