Mark

My life has been some tough shit up to now.

My dad killed himself. Rick was murdered.

Then I fell in love and almost died.

But watching Lara walk into that place dressed like a hooker is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Joshua and I back away, trusting she’ll get through the door without any problems. We can’t risk the doorman—a job that once was mine—seeing us and knowing she isn’t supposed to be there.

With my guts ripped out of me, trailing down the street behind her, I let her go, to enter that fucking orgy and blend in, to find Molly, and to find a way to open the back door.

I force my feet to move, to follow Joshua to the space behind the building where we’ll search for the door. Only, once we get there, it’s cold, wet, and four doors line the wall. All of them are covered in burglar bars, and we have no idea which leads to where we need to be.

“Fuck!” I shout, spinning in place and shoving my hands in my hair.

“Keep it down,” Joshua hisses. “We’ll know which one when she opens it.”

He pulls a beanie out of nowhere and puts it over his silver hair. The black hoodie covers his slim body, but he’s still dressed in those gray slacks.

“I can’t take much more of this.” I start to pace.

My gun is in the holster at my side, and I go to each door, pulling on them one by one to be sure they’re locked. They’re all bolted.

Be safe, Lara.

She’s done this before. She and Molly were doing this when our paths crossed in Canada. She’s put herself in harm’s way more times than I care to know.

All of that was supposed to end when I put that ring on her finger.

“Fuck,” I grumble again.

We’ve been out here in this cold-assed alley for coming up on thirty minutes. I feel like a fucking amateur. She went in there, and we have no plan for getting her out. We let her walk in that lion’s den with no phone, no weapon of any kind. I’m going to have to fight that doorman to get to her.

He’s probably twice as tall as me and three times as wide.

We’re counting the minutes. I’m mentally revving up my muscles, pumping up my adrenaline to face the guy, when I see something that stops my heart. Reaching out, I slam my hand against Joshua’s chest, pulling him against the brick wall beside me, shoving him down a ways so we’re hidden by the large blue dumpster.

“What—”

My hand clamps over his mouth, stopping his speech.

Heavy footsteps stop at one of the four burglar-bar covered doors, and I keep my head down, waiting as Gavin fights with the deadbolt, giving us the answer we’ve been waiting for.

“Motherfucking piece of goddamned motherfucking shit,” he growls until the lock turns with a loud squeak.

I hope my body covering Josh’s is commonplace enough in this locale for Gavin not to care. So far, he’s unaffected. I’m just another daddy claiming a twink to him.

Joshua’s eyes are round as he looks past my shoulder, watching the man disappear through the doorway. We both hold our breath, and I won’t lie. I’m praying.

God, please make him forget to lock that door.

In all the history of breaks we’ve never gotten, please let us get this one lucky break…

The door slams, and I wait a moment before pushing off Josh and running to the entrance.

“Yes!” I open the heavy metal outer door.

“Wait.” Josh grabs my arm. “What’s the plan?”

“Get in there and get them out.” I grasp the bronze-colored knob of the wooden door… and it’s locked. “God dammit,” I growl.

It’s an obstacle, but not nearly as much as those iron bars.

“Stand back,” I say.

Joshua moves away, and I reach out to brace my body with the burglar door and the doorjamb. I take a deep breath, ready to throw all my weight behind my leg against this door when everything changes.

A sharp pop! of gunfire sounds from the other side. Screams, crashes, and noises like furniture breaking erupt from the other side of the door. The knob turns, and I look to Joshua. We both are thrown behind the reinforced black outer door as the one I was about to kick in flies open.

Gavin charges past us without even looking, leaving the door open behind him. It takes us a second to get from behind the fucking barred door, but two half-naked women run out behind him, eyes wild and arms covering their tits.

They push past me, knocking me off balance.

“Shit!” I yell, turning to Joshua. “Call 911, report a shooting at this address. Now!”

Joshua’s on his phone, and I’m about to head inside to find Lara when a streak of silver hair slams into me. I grab her arms, and our eyes lock.

“Molly!”

Her blue eyes are wild, fierce and determined. “Let me go!”

“Where’s Lara?”

Her brow furrows, and she shakes her head. “She’s supposed to be with you. Let me go—he’s getting away!”

I move her to the side, pushing her in the direction of our friend. “Joshua, keep an eye on her.” Then I’m running down the hall, taking the short flight of stairs at the bottom.

Just as I round the corner, I’m body-slammed by the woman I’ve been panicking over for the last half hour.

“Mark!” Lara grabs my arms. Joshua’s gray blazer is over her body, but she’s still in her costume. “We’ve got to hurry! Gavin, Molly—”

“I saw them. Gavin got away, but I left Molly with Joshua.”

We hurry up the steps and then the hall. Lara leans heavily on my arm, trying not to fall as she runs in needle-thin heels.

Outside, the entire alley is empty.

It’s quiet and damp, like we’ve stepped into another world.

“What…” I look all around. “Where did they go?”

“Where is she?” Lara’s voice is a gasp. “We’ve got to find her. She’s determined to finish this.”

The noise of sirens growing louder tells me we don’t have time to figure it out in this location. Cops will be flooding into this place in less than two minutes, and the last thing we need is for Lara to be implicated in an underground sex-trafficking ring. She’s dressed for the part, and it would take too long to explain.

“Come on.” I pull Lara to me, and we run down the alley, searching for another passage to the street. Digging in my jacket pocket, I pull out her phone. “Text Joshua. See if he’ll respond.”

I stop when we round a corner, and she rips off the pink wig followed quickly by the stocking cap over her dark hair. They fall to the ground, and her dark hair spills in waves around her shoulders. Still, her face is garishly made up, and she’s only wearing panties under that blazer.

“I need to get some clothes,” she says.

Looking back over my shoulder, I realize we left the plastic bag with her jeans and sweater in the alley behind the dumpster.

“That place is swarming with cops by now.”

“Good. I hope they arrest every one of those men.” Her jaw is tight. “I only wish they knew everything.”

“Hang on.” We step into the alley again, and I pull off my jacket and my shirt. Handing them to her, I pull off my white tank and hold it out as she hands me back my clothes. “At least you’ll have a shirt.”

“Panties and your undershirt.” She shakes her head. “Thigh high fishnets and stilettos. I still look like a hooker.”

“First souvenir shop we pass, I’ll grab you a Seattle sweatshirt.” We’re still breathless, making our way up the sidewalk toward Joshua’s apartment. Lara leans heavily on my arm, doing her best to stay upright in those shoes.

“Joshua hasn’t texted me back,” she says, looking at her phone.

“What do you think?”

“We could go to Montage…” Her blue eyes meet mine, and I nod.

“Here.”

We step into a small drugstore, and Lara opts for black leggings and flip flops instead of a sweatshirt. It’s not ideal, but we’re moving faster now.

Two more blocks, two corners, another street, and we reach the club. It’s lit up like a rave, and music blares from inside every time the door opens. A crowd of club kids congregates on the street and into the alley like every other night. The scent of pot is thick around them, and as far as they know, nothing happens outside these four corners. It reminds me of theater life in New Orleans.

“I know where he is,” she says, darting out ahead of me.

I lunge behind her, grabbing her arm. “Stop. You can’t charge in there. We don’t know if he’s armed—”

“Molly is in there!” Her blue eyes are wide.

“Let me go first.”

We go to the door, I show my ID, but Lara’s is in the black hoodie she gave to Joshua. Exchanging a glance, I’m not sure what to do.

The doorman doesn’t even hesitate. “No ID, no entry.”

“Joshua has it—it’s in my wallet in his pocket,” she says, clasping her hands like she’s begging the guy. “You’re his uncle, right? I’m Lara… Molly’s sister.”

He does a double take, brow furrowed. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Are Joshua and Molly inside? I could go and find them—”

Lara cuts me off with a glare. I know she doesn’t want me to go without her. Still, we’re running out of time.

“They just ran in.” Another group of people crowds up behind us, and the guy waves us in. “Hurry up and come back as soon as you have it. Don’t make me come looking for you.”

I doubt he’ll leave this spot, but Lara thanks him. I give him a twenty for the cover charge, and we pull the door open. Electric guitar chords blast us in the face, and we push inside, making our way to the center, around to the staircase leading to the small booth overlooking the dance floor.

“Think he’s up there?” I’m right in Lara’s ear doing my best not to blast her eardrum.

Still, she pulls back and rubs her ear. “It’s so loud!”

We both look up, and I see a flash of light behind the closed blinds. Our eyes meet, and we run to the steps. A velvet rope is stretched across the bottom, but we push it aside. A male voice shouts behind us as we run up to Gavin’s office, and I’m digging in my pocket for my badge. It’s no good here. I’m out of district, but they don’t know that.

Catching Lara’s shoulder, I hold her behind me as I reach for the door handle, crouching as I push it open and run inside. It’s a small space, but it still takes me a second to register what’s happening on the other side of the door.

Joshua is on the floor, his head bleeding. Gavin’s back is to me, and against the wall, lifted by one of his meaty fists is Molly. Her face is purple, and her eyes are closed. He’s strangling her, and from the looks of it, she’s almost gone.

“NO!”

It’s the last thing I hear before another sharp pop!

Blood splatters against the wall in a flash, like someone threw a balloon full of red paint.

Gavin’s body flies forward as his grip on Molly releases.

I dash forward to catch her falling body, dropping to my knees and holding her up as she gasps for breath.

I look over my shoulder, and Lara stands with her arm still raised.

Molly’s small pink gun is in her hand.