Chapter 3
Allen
I looked into the mirror and ran a hand through my tousled blonde hair, trying to see if I had accomplished not looking like a cop. I’d let my beard grow in a bit and was wearing black jeans and a fitted black T-shirt to the club tonight. I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening there though I had a bad feeling about it. Brandon was getting ready as well, and I wondered if he’d be in cop mode tonight or distracted by the women at the club.
He was a few years younger than I was and the women flocked to him. The trouble was, he forgot his role on the job occasionally and had slipped a few times. It wasn’t anything that resulted in harm, but he messed around with some women at inopportune times.
On our most recent case, he’d lost a prostitution bust when he started the undercover assignment by sleeping with one of the women in the rented hotel room. He was supposed to stop things before they got anywhere close to that. The captain had been livid, threatening to fire his ass without delay.
I got along well with Captain Patterson from the start. When he interrogated me after I was hired, I made it clear that I followed the rules. He was an asshole to a lot of the guys, but only to the ones that deserved it. I never seemed to be on his bad side, so we’d become close over the last five years.
When Brandon had fucked up, the captain and I had several long talks about it. I assured him I’d work with Brandon and keep him focused since he was otherwise a great cop. The same woman had been taken in the following week by another officer who hadn’t lost his focus, so the bust went down anyway. That helped Brandon’s situation.
The captain had listened to me with a scowl on his face. I knew that Brandon was a talented undercover officer when he was concentrating on a sting, especially when women were involved. He could be a great cop, and since Brandon was approaching thirty, I felt like he was maturing with age.
Somehow, I’d convinced the captain to keep him on, while I received a strict warning about how I was supposed to mentor him. I kept that in mind tonight as I slipped my feet into black boots, grabbed the keys to my SUV, and headed to Brandon’s apartment.
We were going to the club as customers tonight just to scout things out, knowing that we couldn’t get in with weapons and go unnoticed. This initial visit was just to report back to the captain on what we found so we could formulate a plan.
Brandon opened the door to my knock, dressed similarly to me. We wanted to blend in tonight and observe unless we needed to call for back up if things got serious. Some of these cases took a lot of research and time on our part to get solid evidence. But we always had guys ready to go as back up, just in case. Some of the women officers participated, putting themselves in risky situations to make a bust. I was proud of our police force and personally found that the good ones outweighed the bad. When there was a bad seed, Captain spared no time in dealing with the situation.
Brandon was lucky, as I reminded him often over the last week, even though he would forever be watched like a hawk. I was honest with the captain about his work as well, but Brandon considered it a second chance. He wanted to earn respect again, but it was going to take a long time.
“Ready for this?” I asked as Brandon locked his door and pocketed the keys.
“Hell, yes. I’m curious to see what’s going on at this club. This guy sounds smart to me, but after we go in, it’s over for him.” Brandon smiled confidently as we walked to my SUV.
I opened my mouth to remind him to stay focused when he quickly spoke up.
“I got the lecture, so you can spare me. I learned my lesson, Allen. She wasn’t worth it. I still can’t believe I fell for that shit,” he said while smirking and shaking his head.
“Good boy. We need to focus tonight,” I said. “You’re lucky as hell that you weren’t fired.”
“I know. That was a stupid thing to do.”
We drove into the strip and parked across the street from the club. It looked like your typical night club with a variety of people out front. The men were dressed mostly like us, and the women in their high-heels and skimpy outfits. This place seemed popular, and we shared a glance before getting out of the car. It had just a single, small entrance with a large bouncer who was looking over the crowd with a shrewd gaze.
My senses were already on alert as I looked around. Something wasn’t right about this place, and I fought to keep my face neutral as the women eyed Brandon and me with hungry gazes. This might have been my scene when I was younger but not now. I preferred meeting women in a regular bar where we could talk some, like last night.
We moved nearer to the entrance as I watched closely. They were starting to let people in, and despite all the women and their pleading, only men were sent through the front doors. What the hell? Wasn’t this a regular club? There were plenty of women, so they seemed to be comfortable here and have a need to get in there, but so far it was only men. It was men of all kinds as well, but a lot of them looked like they had money.
Brandon stepped forward with a cocky nod at the bouncer. We were allowed through the door, only to stand in another line. There, we paid the twenty-dollar cover charge to a rat-faced man and joked with him. He reached to his right, then handed us each a stick with a number and asked us if we’d been here before.
“No, but I’ve heard a lot about it,” I replied, thinking what a creep this guy was.
The man grinned and licked his thin lips.
“Raise it when you want to place a bid. It gets crazy out there so raise it high and make a racket. It’s worth it in the end,” he said.
“I can’t wait to see what the prize is,” I said, memorizing his greasy hair and beady green eyes.
“There’s a new girl tonight. She’s one of the best we’ve ever had. You boys will be in a fight for that one,” he assured us.
We now had a better idea of what was happening here. My stomach twisted as I worked to keep my pulse under control and stay in my undercover character.
“Maybe we could share her,” I suggested, nudging Brandon as he looked at me and laughed. We were naturals at jumping into a story. “It’s great to tag team a girl. What’s so special about this one?”
The man laughed. “That would be quite a memory for her first time. I mean, they all say that they’re virgins, but this one is the real deal. Look for the brunette with the highlights, hot as hell. Get your bid in, boys, you’ll never forget a night like that.”
“We do it all the time, but never with a virgin. That will be a new experience for us,” I told him as we took our numbers and moved deeper into the club.
It was set up like any other place that I’d been in, with a long bar and stage. I wondered if any bands ever played here or women danced with men on the dance floor. I thought about the outside appearance of the building and glanced around as we approached the bar.
Once we’d ordered beers and moved to a table, I glanced at Brandon. “I’m going to use the bathroom and check out the rest of the building.” He nodded and I left the beer sitting there since we weren’t going to drink them. They were just for cover. I walked through the growing crowd of rowdy guys and pushed my way into the hallway that had a women’s room and men’s room. There were a couple of other doors, but space didn’t seem big enough to be rooms for the couples after the bidding. Shit. That made this a more complicated case, since the sex happened off site, more than likely. I’d have to watch later when the auction started, and I walked back to the main room as I looked around.
Either way, this guy was going down. Selling off virgins wasn’t right. I joined Brandon back at the table as I leaned in to tell him what I’d seen. He nodded and expressed disgust as we talked about it and watched as the room filled with men. It was clear to us that this was an established event by the way they talked loudly about other nights here and the girls that they’d won. There seemed to be an excitement in the room, and I wondered if it was the new girl that everyone was buzzing about.
I had read everything about this case with Brandon. This was an underground operation that was spread through emails that got lost in the millions of others. Captain Peterson was tipped off by a customer that decided he didn’t like the scene any longer. I knew that it had been around for at least a year, if not longer, and was popular with the creeps in town.
How many women had been marched across that stage and sold for profit? How many of them ended up walking away from their buyers after the one night versus being taken into the trafficking community? How many ended up dead with no trace of being at this club? If police were known for being dirty, it was even worse with the general population.
This could be a supply of victims for serial killers in the area for all we knew.
I knew the name of the club owner, and I was going to go after him. I just needed to see what he did here before putting together a case. I stared at the table, feeling dread washing over me. There was something different about this case and this night. I had a sense that it was going to change my life, and I frowned as Brandon asked me if I was okay.
“I have a feeling about this place,” I muttered as he nodded in agreement.
The room filled with more men as the music got louder. I knew that they let in more people than allowed by law, which was going to be one more black mark against this place. I had a feeling we’d have a long list as I watched the surrounding action, wondering where they got these girls. I wondered if they are above eighteen. The idea of the girls being minors made me sick.
I’d seen a lot in my career as an undercover cop. There were some dark memories, and I pushed them aside as I help onto hope for tonight. I glanced around again, anticipation filling my veins as I waited for the event to begin. I knew that this was wrong but unsure of the strength of my convictions as I hadn’t seen anything too illegal yet.
It was coming though. I longed to drink the beer that sat untouched on the table to settle my nerves. I knew that the crowd of men were quite intoxicated, and I needed to keep a clear head.
The music faded, and I settled back in my seat as the club darkened and everyone went silent, waiting for what was going to happen next.