"Seriously, Noah," Ezra snorted. "Are you kidding me with that shit? Everyone knows that Captain America would beat Spiderman in any battle. What's Peter Parker got? Spiderwebs. Big, fat, hairy deal. The captain, though? That man has brass balls and the ultimate shield."

Zeke snorted. "Are we really comparing what the military did to Steve Rogers and Peter's radioactive spider bite? Come on, give it a rest. If you want to talk superheroes, let's talk Thor. Now that's a fuckin' hero."

"No, actually... that's a god. Totally different animal," Noah said.

“Okay then, if you want to stick with mutated heroes, let’s talk Bruce Banner. The Hulk is an original gangsta, baby.” Zeke grinned.

“Oh, you can’t bring the Hulk into this one.” Ezra groaned. “That’s like bringing a gun to a knife fight. He’d smash poor Spidey with one hand.”

Boomer looked over at me and shook his head. It was always like this when we were on a mission. We'd talk about anything and everything while we were en route to keep our minds busy and try to stay loose.

Noah stopped mid-conversation and held up a hand as his phone rang. He put it on speaker so that we could all hear as he answered.

"Jonah. Tell me something good, man."

"Okay… Here's what I've got. There's definitely some suspicious activity going on around the motel today. There is a group of sketchy-looking men who've positioned themselves around the lobby, according to the plant I sent in there earlier."

Noah pursed his lips thoughtfully. "And do we have eyes on Cody?"

"Affirmative. He was caught on camera being led from a van into the motel last night, along with two other omegas. I gotta tell you, bossboy—those other two omegas looked drugged. Our guy was clear-eyed and walking normally, but those other two? Something definitely has my Spidey senses tingling with them."

Ezra and Zeke both snorted at the mention of Spiderman. Noah shot them a warning glare before turning his attention back to Jonah.

"Do we have a number on the men stationed in or around that motel?"

"According to the guy who was working the desk last night, there were six men altogether—the three omegas, a driver, and two guard types. Two more muscle types showed up this morning and are currently stationed at the front and rear entrances."

Noah grunted. "Are you getting this information from your source? Or is this from satellite images and camera feeds in the area?"

"A little bit of both," Jonah admitted. "The guy who was working the desk last night was surprisingly forthcoming when my plant offered him a Benjamin for his trouble. But the neighboring cameras and the satellite images do back up his story. Cody is either staying in or being held in room number 236. Levi, I checked the blueprints. That room faces the main street, second floor, third window from the left. But back to what I was saying... according to the desk jockey, everything points to him being held there, which leads to my next tidbit of information."

Noah rolled his eyes at Jonah’s dramatics. "I'm afraid to ask, Jonah. But… tell me whatever I need to know."

We could hear Jonah's fingers tapping on his keyboard over the phone. "From what information I was able to get from the desk jockey, I'm pretty sure we’re looking at a sex trafficking ring here. He wasn't too concerned about it since—and I'm quoting here—they're just a bunch of filthy shifters anyway."

Zeke and Ezra both growled at that one, while Boomer clenched his fists. Me, on the other hand? I started double-checking my trusty Remington 700 because my baby and I had work to do now. If these fuckers were trafficking omegas, they wouldn't be leaving that motel—at least, not on my watch.

Boomer looked at the phone in Noah's hand. "Does this mean I get to blow shit up today? I brought enough firepower to take that motel down if necessary. I'm pretty sure that I can confine it to just that location, so the rest of the neighborhood would be just fine."

"I don't think that's necessary," Jonah said with a laugh. "The cops probably won't give a shit about someone getting roughed up at that fleabag no-tell motel, but a building blowing up would definitely get someone's attention."

Ezra shook his head. "Dude. Everyone’s so uptight these days. It sounds to me like that place could use a little razing. Hell, Boomer would probably be doing a service to the neighborhood beautification team. He might even get a commendation for that good deed."

Noah chuckled. "I think we'll go with Jonah's advice. Okay, Jonah—back to you. So, what I'm hearing is that I have five hostiles to remove and three omegas to get out of there in one piece. Is that about right?"

"That's exactly right," Jonah said with a laugh. "I don't have any other information for you guys, but you know the routine—hit the call button when you arrive so that we’re all on the comm line together in case I need to give you guys an alternate route out of there should you get separated. Good luck— I'll be watching from as many eyes in the sky as I can."

"Thanks, man. I'll give you a jingle when we get there—we're about seven minutes out right now." Noah ended the call.

While we all went over the final checks of our equipment, Noah spoke softly. "You know what's fucked up? Now that I have Preston, every one of these omegas makes me think of him. I mean, if we hadn't gotten to him in time—that could be my mate in this motel."

"But it's not, bossboy. We saved Preston, and we’ll get Cody and those other two guys too," Ezra said softly.

"Is your dad gonna get them hooked up with some sort of rehab or something, you think?" Boomer asked. "I hate to think of what those guys have been through, you know?"

Noah shook his head. "I can't even imagine it. But yeah, I'm pretty sure my dad is probably already three steps ahead of us on finding placements for the two omegas that are suspected to be on drugs, as well as finding some sort of safety net for Cody."

"I wonder if they'll need witness protection, or some shit. I mean, who knows what these guys have seen. Shit." A thought occurred to me. "We're gonna have to leave one of those sleazeballs alive, aren't we? I seriously doubt that a few lousy goons at some fleabag in the Bronx are the masterminds of a sex trafficking ring."

Boomer let out a long-suffering sigh. "I hate it when we have to let them live, but the man has a point, bossboy. We’re gonna have to let at least one of those fuckers live."

Noah shrugged. "If it works out, if not—we have Jonah and his buddy Pax to help us dig deeper. I'm not going to risk the omegas’ lives on the off chance that one of those goons can tell us something of use. But make sure you get their phones and wallets off them if you take them out—that will help us with our research later."

Zeke glanced back over his shoulder from where he sat shotgun while Ezra drove. "I'm just glad this isn't a fucking gang or arms deal we have to bust in on this time. These guys are probably soft and won't see us coming. If they’re just guarding property for the ring, they'll just be expecting to deal with Johns who don't want to pay up—they won't be expecting the shitstorm we’re bringing down on them."

I rubbed a hand over my chest. Heartburn was creeping up my esophagus from the stomach acid this conversation was giving me. I shook my head and looked over at Noah.

"Fuck, something just occurred to me. When Cody was taken, he was just a kid, you know? Now he's a twenty-one-year-old man. It sucks to think that his youth was stolen from him like this, bossboy. I'm probably gonna have to kill at least one of those fuckers, just sayin'."

We all bounced up in the air as our van hit a pothole. Cargo vans made to look like the cable company was in the area didn’t exactly come equipped with seatbelts. "Watch it, Ezra. Shit, I think I just dented the roof. I’m probably gonna have a concussion," Boomer complained.

"Sorry, these roads are pretty much shit. That one snuck up on me, but I wouldn't worry about any head injuries." Ezra grinned into the rearview mirror. "That Italian head of yours is much too fucking hard for a little bump to do you any damage."

We came to a red light as the motel came into view. I pointed to the auto parts store that sat across the street from the window Jonah had mentioned.

"Drop me off close to that Pep Boys shop, Ezra. I should have a clear shot into the window from their roof."

Noah followed my line of sight and nodded in approval. "We'll talk over the comms, but most likely we’ll plan to pick you up around the corner after the omegas have been retrieved."

I snapped my gun case shut. Now I'd look like your average busker planning to go play my instrument for coins on some corner if anybody bothered to give me a second glance—which I highly doubted. The one nice thing about being in the city was that nobody gave a shit about who you were or what you were doing—as long as you weren't doing it to them.

The guys dropped me off a few moments later. I went around behind the shop and located the roof access on the side of the building. Looking around to make sure nobody was actually paying attention, I scrambled up the ladder one-handed and made my way onto the roof. Three minutes later, my baby was set up on her bipod wearing her special silencer, and I was hunkered down and ready for action once I got the all-clear.