Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34282 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“Yeah. You didn’t get me with the door.” I grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “You don’t mind if I hang out here, do you? I promise I won’t say a word or get in the way.”
Shotgun scrubbed a hand over his face, like he was bone tired. Esther looked up from her computer and smiled at me. “Of course, you can stay. Don’t mind him. He’s cranky if he doesn’t get a solid eight hours.”
“Am not cranky.” Shotgun put his chin up stubbornly.
Esther rolled her eyes. “He’s totally cranky.”
He sighed, deflating. “Yeah. I’m cranky.”
“I know this is stressful, and you guys didn’t have to take this on, but I want you to know I appreciate it. I can’t find my sister without your help.”
“Oh, Iris!” Esther got up and came to me, hugging me fiercely. “You never have to thank us for that. Yes, it’s stressful, but it’s stressful because none of us want any of those children in danger one second longer than they need to be.”
“The longer it takes me to find them, the more likely it is they’ll be hurt.” Shotgun sounded like he was only half listening to the conversation. He was scrolling through images and camera feeds on four different monitors. It didn’t seem like he blinked as he worked.
“Just give us some time to work through this.” Esther gave me an encouraging smile. “We’ll find her and everyone else.”
I sat in a chair behind the pair and watched them work. They spoke softly to each other, Shotgun working through his task while Esther studied one electronic document after another. I squinted and leaned forward and realized she was going through adoption records.
“How did you get access to those?” I couldn’t prevent the question from popping out. Esther looked back over her shoulder and grinned. “Important people in high places. Wrath sent these to me. It’s time consuming, but we’re being careful not to leave a digital footprint.”
“So nothing comes back to you when you find these assholes.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
Shotgun snorted. “I remember a day when you’d have balked at that, doll.” He reached over and squeezed his wife’s hand.
“True. But I’ve realized over the years I’ve been here that sometimes bad things need to happen to bad people.” The smile she gave her husband was intimate and lovely. For the first time in my life, I realized what I’d been missing. Adult affection. I didn’t mean sex. But the closeness only two people who loved each other had. I was barely an adult, and only because I got a judge to say I was, but I’d lived my life like an adult since our mother died -- taking as much responsibility as I could for myself and Jerrica. I wanted a man to look at me like Shotgun looked at Esther and to stand between me and the rest of the world when I needed him to.
I sat back, remaining quiet. All day. I didn’t leave unless they left, and that was only to go to the bathroom. Someone brought them food and made sure there was plenty of coffee and soda.
We were there three days before the first break came. After that, things started moving quickly. Up to a point. It had been exactly eighty-nine days since my sister had been taken. To say I was giving in to despair was a severe understatement.
“There are kids in a warehouse on the outskirts of town next to the docks.” Shotgun gave a clipped account, sounding as angry and agitated as the last time the whole group had major information to share. “I’ve counted six kids, but there could be more. And they’re getting ready to move them. Like in the next couple of hours.” He ran his hands through his hair. Esther placed a hand on his arm and rubbed his back, like she was soothing a wounded animal. “I doubt there is any way to move in before they’re gone without risking one or all of them getting killed. We simply don’t have time to get Sting’s team all the information they need to plan the operation.”
There was a long silence before El Diablo spoke. “Do you know what their patterns are? Will they immediately pick up a new group of children?”
“Oh, yes.” Esther stepped up this time. “We know their patterns. We’ve gone back over camera feeds everywhere a camera is pointed even remotely toward that warehouse. Most were disabled or destroyed over the past six or eight months, but I found some two blocks over that happened to be pointed at a decent angle. It wasn’t perfect, but, with the help of Giovanni and some really nifty image-enhancing software, as well as the citywide access he got us, we were able to piece together their movements over the last six months. So we moved it back another six to establish patterns. That went far faster because it took them a while to disable the security without anyone making too big a fuss. They offload the children and pick up new ones on their way back to the warehouse. Exactly ninety days later, they do it all again.”