The place was ripe with the smell of smoke and liquor, and I knew that I had to act as though I wanted a bit of both. I waved down the barman and acquired a couple of drinks—a scotch for me and a lemonade for her. She was already wobbling like a teenager in those ridiculous heels, and I didn’t want her broken ankle on my conscience.
But all sense of fun had vanished from the scenario now that we were in the club once again. I looked around as I waited to get served. No sign of Thaddeus anywhere, which gave us a chance to establish ourselves before he arrived. No doubt he’d be here—this place was his baby—and now I’d be able to surprise him with my presence instead of the other way around.
I felt a hand come down on my shoulder, and a little jolt of panic moved through my system before I turned and laid eyes on the auctioneer from the night before. He grinned at me, and then glanced over to where she was sitting. I had to admit, she looked pretty gorgeous. Her hair was falling down her back in soft waves, skin smooth and glowing even in the dim light and without makeup. The dress suited her, and she was way hotter than either of the women who’d been attempting to chat me up the last time I was in here.
“You’ve got her looking good,” he commented, his hand still on my shoulder. Despite his friendly demeanor, I could tell that he was scouting me out. There was a searching look behind his eyes, just a hint, just enough for me to know that Thaddeus probably had something to do with this little encounter.
“Yeah,” I nodded noncommittally, plastering a smile on my face. “Thanks, man.”
“How’s she treating you?” He went on. “Putting up much of a fight?”
“Uh…”
“A cop like her, you know, I feel like you’d have to really beat her down to get her into all of it,” he continued enthusiastically, and I could tell that this line of conversation was all for him—the way his eyes lit up when he spoke told me that much. Jesus, what a creep. What kind of bastard auctioned off women like this, though? How often did he ‘sample the merchandise’?
“Trade secrets,” I replied. Maybe that would be enough to shut him up and get him out of my face.
“You’re a lucky man, my friend,” he shook his head. “A lucky man.”
“Sure,” I agreed, shooting the bartender a look that I hoped told him to hurry the hell up with my drink already. I wanted out of this conversation—even being part of it made me feel dirty. The auctioneer shook his head, the grin never leaving his face.
“You still got her drugged up?” He leaned so close that I could smell his foul breath on my face. I jerked my head back without thinking on how rude that would come across, and managed to plaster a grin on my face. They needed me to think I was on their side, after all, and I couldn’t do that if I was acting too protective of her.
“Sure thing, man,” I nodded. “She probably doesn’t even know where she is right now.”
“What have you got her on? We usually keep—“ He went to continue, but as soon as I was about to pick up some information that might actually have come in handy, he fell silent. He was looking over my shoulder, and I twisted around to see what had caught his eye— of course. Thaddeus.
The smile solidified to a rictus grin on my face as he approached. He held his hand out to me, and I took it. We eyed each other for a moment before he spoke, and I could tell he was still trying to get the measure of me.
“Good to see you again,” he remarked. “I see you’ve got her in hand.”
“Did she give you trouble when you picked her up?” I asked. Maybe I could figure out where they’d gotten her from—if I could work that out, maybe we could head down there and try and intervene in another kidnapping. I didn’t want to spend a whole day lurking around this place for nothing, that was for sure. The smell of smoke and booze was already choking me, and I was dreaming about the docile, clean apartment upstairs and the warm bed I could be in right now. With her, my brain added before I had a chance to stop it. I shook the thought from my head and cocked my head at Thaddeus in faux–interest while I waited for him to answer.
“What the fuck do you think, she’s fucking a cop,” he snapped back, his tone so harsh that the auctioneer next to me jumped a little in surprise. Shit. How bad had it been that he was this thrown just by me bringing it up? The bartender arrived back, but instead of handing me my drinks, he passed a glass of whisky to Thaddeus. He shot me an apologetic look, and I managed a smile in response. He was just doing his job; if he had served me before the boss, there would have been hell to pay.
“I guess so,” I nodded, trying to keep my voice neutral. I glanced back over at Angel, and saw that a man had approached her in the time that I’d been away. At that moment, the bartender handed me my drinks, and I bowed my head to Thad and the auctioneer.
“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen,” I nodded towards Angel, and backed away quickly, putting space between us. I hated them—both of them. They had both been involved in this, and they were probably going to be out of the street tonight, picking up another hapless woman who had no idea what was in store for her. Maybe they were in the building right now. Angel had mentioned something about being held in a cell backstage before I laid eyes on her. I shivered at the thought of all those women I couldn’t see, the ones who were so close but so far away. It was an ugly image.
I arrived back at the table, and leaned casually on the chair; the man who had been talking to Angel looked me up and down and raised his eyebrows as I handed her the lemonade.
“You were here the other night,” he remarked. “Playing cards, right?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “That’s what I’ll be doing tonight, as well.”
“You should put her up as collateral,” he remarked, eyeing Angel hungrily. She was pretty much the only woman at the bar, so I wasn’t surprised that she was getting as much attention as she was, plus people seemed pretty into the fact that she was a cop.
“Think I’d let anyone else put their hands on this,” I replied, putting a protective hand on her. She didn’t pull away; it must have been a monumental effort not to, even just on instinct.
“Suit yourself.” He gave her another look, and moved away again. I took my seat next to her and she peered up at me, taking a sip of her drink.
“Are they here?”
“Who?”
“That…the boss guy, you know,” she waved her hand vaguely.
“Thaddeus is here,” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no–one was listening to us. “But he thinks you’re drugged–up right now.”
“Huh?” She wrinkled her nose up.
“They think that’s how I got you so calm, and that’s what we’re sticking too,” I told her. “Don’t get too clever. I don’t want them figuring anything out.”
“Fine,” she nodded calmly. She had probably done scarier shit than this in her line of work, though I couldn’t think of much more unnerving than having to play it cool around someone like Thaddeus.
“Did you get any information, at least?” She asked, catching the straw to her lemonade between her teeth and taking another sip.
“Nothing yet, but I’m trying,” I promised. Suddenly, there was a noise from behind me, and I turned around in my seat. The auctioneer was hustling people towards another room, and waved me over to join them. I grabbed Angel’s hand and pulled her to her feet, and she followed behind me quickly.
“What should I do?” Her voice hissed in my ear as we made it through the door.
“Just play it cool,” I replied as quietly as I could, and took my seat at the table. There were maybe a dozen men in the room, no women, and all of them gave Angel a cursory once–over as soon as she entered. She seemed to realize that there wasn’t a seat for her, and frowned for a moment before I quickly pulled her on to my lap. She perched there docilely, putting one arm loosely around my shoulders. A couple of the guys cocked eyebrows or otherwise expressed their amusement, and she tensed slightly. I could tell she didn’t like being the center of attention this way, and I couldn’t exactly blame her.
“Shall we begin?” The auctioneer asked, before laying out the house rules. It was a pretty standard game, but I felt my guard going up despite the fact that I couldn’t see anything amiss. All of this felt like a test, especially considering the fact I’d cleaned them out last time I’d played. Maybe they were making sure that I was keeping Angel in hand, or maybe this was some way for them to exert their power over me. I couldn’t tell, and that was making me nervous. I glanced around the table as the dealer dealt for the first time. There was no–one here I recognized, which was probably a good thing. It meant that no–one knew me, knew of my reputation. I grabbed my cards from the table and tossed back my drink; okay, let’s do this. Just another normal day playing cards with some fine upstanding gentlemen. No different than every other time I’d done it. I just had to keep my cool, and pray that nothing happened to give the game away.