Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I feel weak, like a child afraid of the dark, with just the thought of going back in there with her, but I also know so many parts of me want to be there to comfort her. I don't want anyone delving into my past, but I'm willing to step up and help with hers.
I pull in a ragged breath, knowing that I better not get into the habit of lying to myself because I bolted out of my bedroom the second I got the chance. And to think I thought I'd worked through all of this shit in therapy. I guess some people never heal.
"Meeting in ten," Shadow says from the kitchen door.
I feel like a complete asshole for not taking Brielle something to eat, but these meetings usually don't last very long. We go over the dossier for the case and then we're given assignments.
I have no idea what the woman would do if I'm sent off on this mission, and dread sinks inside of me as I walk toward the conference room. I can't make up my mind. I need some distance from her, but just thinking about not being here with her makes my head spin. The woman is really fucking me up but knowing it doesn't stop my eyes from darting down the hallway toward the room. It sure as hell doesn't stop the pull to her I feel in my chest.
I recognize Eddie "Ace" Yarrow when I spot him standing at the front of the room. The other guy standing beside him is another story.
He looks more like a criminal than anything else, so I know he has to be one of the covert operatives from ICE. We've had several meetings with Kincaid and the others about the possibility of a new chapter beginning closer to the East Coast in an effort to provide more domestic support for the fight against sex trafficking.
I take my normal seat at the conference table, putting me at the very back of the room. Although some don't like the unspoken hierarchy of the newer guys being further away from the front, I like my positioning in the room. I can see everyone. I can observe their bodies' reactions to the things they hear. I catch the looks some of them give others they're closest to.
Kincaid steps up in front of the two men just as Kid walks in and closes the conference room's double doors.
"As most of you know, this is Special Agent Eddie Yarrow with the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Kincaid begins. "They're here to explain what they've been doing to bring down some of the sex trafficking rings throughout the US. Eddie," Kincaid says, offering the floor to the man.
"You all know who I am," he says. "It feels like a lifetime ago that I sat at this table. I also know that there have probably been a lot of whispers about where I went and why someone would be insane enough to leave Cerberus. The company does a lot of good, and I'm not here to argue that point, but years ago, I saw a need that wasn’t being met. I can admit that I had a life goal of making Cerberus’s missions obsolete. I just knew in my soul that if I fought hard enough to end domestic sex trafficking, there would be no need for guys like you to run all over South America and Mexico rescuing people."
My heart beats faster in my chest as he speaks. I know the man isn't a motivational speaker, but he sure knows how to command a fucking room.
"I'm here to tell you that after twenty years of fighting the good fight, my goals have never even come close to being met. With the advance of technology, and criminals always being one step ahead of the good guys, the human trafficking industry is a bustling business that shows no signs of slowing down."
A round of murmurs makes its way around the room. We all know how bad it is, and most days it's hard not to feel like a failure even with our successes. There's always one more, always someone waiting to step up and take the place of the guys we track down. Murders have increased because the people abducted are a disposable commodity. Many are abducting women and selling them in brothels in the same fucking neighborhoods they were taken from. They end up in a pile of blood, throats slit or bullets in their heads, before the traffickers move on. It makes it impossible to catch them in the act.
The existence of companies like Cerberus could very easily be the reason so many people are dying in these third-world countries.
"We've been given permission to fight a little dirtier than most people would consider humane, but we all know the people abducting and tracking others are far from humane to their victims," Ace continues. "What we're offering isn't like Cerberus. It'll be lonely. Anyone wanting to join needs to know it will require you to do things that might make your stomach turn. It will involve a lot of immersion into groups that if you were in Brazil, you might put them down before they opened their mouths. It's dirty work. It's a lifetime of manipulation and immorality."