With my mind made up, I grabbed my burner phone and hit reply to the text message that had been sent to me about the auction.

Thank you for the invite. H3L74 confirming my participation.

H3L74 is the personal identification number that has been assigned to me and it is required for anything I do with the organization. Without it, I’d never even be allowed in the door. Hell, if I would have replied without my identification number in the message, my number would be removed from receiving the notifications.

About a half hour later, I received a reply to my text message.

The event will be held at 953 E Sahara Ave. Come to the back and go down the stairs. You will be vetted at the door. We reserve the right to turn away anyone for any reason. Law enforcement officials will be dealt with appropriately. Payment is due when the winning bid is announced. No exceptions. All sales are final. Be on time as no one will be admitted once bidding has started.

Once again, the reply rubbed me the wrong way. These are human beings being auctioned and the message makes them sound no more important than a shirt on sale at the mall. The thought made my stomach turn.

If it were up to me, I would track down the people behind these auctions, lock them in a room and give them my own form of justice, but it would never be that easy. There was a reason that you almost never saw the people responsible face to face. Even at the auctions, the people in charge are smart enough to keep themselves at a distance.

* * *

I made one final call to Victor at the FBI to see if I could persuade him to do the right thing before I took matters into my own hands, but he shut me down, just like I thought he would. I didn’t think it would work and the call was more about me covering my own ass than anything. If I got caught with this girl, I wanted to ensure I had a trail where I was trying to do things by the law.

With the authorities completely against helping out, I got myself ready and made my way to the auction. I was surprised to see that the address led to a pretty nondescript strip mall area, with the address being a swingers club.

As instructed, I pulled my car to the rear of the building. The parking lot was nearly pitch black and the cars that were parked around me were ominous, with windows tinted so dark, you wouldn’t be able to see inside even if you put your nose to the glass.

I descended the stairs and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Suddenly, I got the feeling that I was being watched and that feeling was confirmed when a voice came out of the small box wired next to the door.

“Who are you?”

“H3L74,” I replied.

“When you hear a buzz, pull the handle and come inside. Pull the door closed as soon as you’re inside.”

I stood there for close to 30-seconds before I heard the sound and opened the door. I found myself in a small lobby with four extremely large men staring at me. To say that they would intimidate the average person would be an understatement. I am not the average person, but I still had to play it cool.

“Any cell phones, video cameras, or weapons?” the large black man asked me while his buddies stood behind him with their arms crossed.

“No, I don’t have anything like that.”

“I’m going to have to pat you down before you head inside.”

“That’s fine,” I told him, even though he wasn’t bothering to wait for my permission.

As he frisked me, it occurred to me that he was a little too good at it and that’s when the realization hit me. The man had a law enforcement background. He was either currently an officer or had been one in the past. I hoped that he was a bad cop that had been kicked off the force because if that wasn’t the case, the people behind this organization would be nearly untouchable.

“What’s this?” he asked, pulling a pen from my pocket.

“That’s just my ink pen.”

“I’m gonna hold onto it. No documenting materials of any kind allowed inside.”

“That’s fine. I wasn’t trying to document anything. I just always carry a pen.”

He didn’t even acknowledge me, he just turned to the others and told them I was clear. One of the other men turned to a pin pad on the next set of doors and punched in a code while the remaining men blocked my view.

“Rules are posted inside,” he said as he opened the door and motioned me through. “You’ll be in room 3.”

Once inside, there was a line of doors with numbers to the side of them. The doors to rooms 1 and 2 were closed as I walked past them, but the remaining doors were open. I found the one with the number 3 beside it and walked in.

Inside was a small table with a computer and a laminated sheet of paper that included the rules of the auction.

I did as instructed and then went back to see what the rest of the rules were.

I checked my watch and saw that there was still nearly 20-minutes before the auction was set to begin. Still, I thought it was better to be safe than sorry so I turned on the computer and logged in. The screen flickered to life and the monitor showed a green background with black letters that said: Welcome. The auction will begin soon.

As soon as the clock hit 11:00pm, the screen on the computer changed to a bidding page and the light in the room turned off. At the same time, a light flickered and I could suddenly see the room on the other side of the mirror. There were 10 chairs facing the mirror.

One by one, each girl was brought out through a door at the rear of the room. The girls were frightened, looking around at one another as though they were trying to communicate through looks since I’m certain they were told not to utter a word.

It wasn’t until the other nine girls were seated that they brought out Hannah. She was obviously the main attraction for the evening. She was led around the room in a circle, her handler showing her off like she was part of the Westminster Dog Show instead of a fucking human being.

When she got to my mirror, she stopped and I could have sworn she was looking me directly into my eyes. The look on her face was that of helplessness. I knew it was crazy. There was no way she could see me from there, but at that moment, I felt that she and I had a connection. If there was any doubt in my mind, it had been erased. I knew what I had to do