Desperate Measures (14 page)

making a mistake that it kept me on my guard. It was hard to appear even slightly relaxed.”

“Well, you didn‟t give me many clues about that anxiety. You acted so naturally that at

times I wondered if we were imagining there was something more to you and the other two.”

Connal shook his head, but he was smiling so she knew he wasn‟t too upset by the memory.

“You didn‟t make it easy for us. You were always pressing and questioning.” She relaxed

a little and walked over to the table.

It was set, with glasses and plates waiting, but there was no food there. Connal joined her,

but only long enough to take her hand and lead her over to the couch. She took a seat, but did

send him a questioning look.

“I wanted to get some of the serious talking out of the way before we eat. Our food will

be brought to us a little later.” He shrugged. “We do have a lot to discuss.”

He was right about that. There were some serious things they needed to discuss and

maybe it would be easier to do first. He was undoubtedly concerned about the search for his

crewmate although that still surprised her a little. She didn‟t expect it of a man in the alpha

position. Her memories of the alpha in her mother‟s pack were of a cold, unfeeling man whose

only motivation was for himself and the control of everyone in his domain.

“All right, serious talk first so maybe we can enjoy our meal. Do you have a specific

subject you want to discuss first?” She relaxed into her seat.

“Tricia first. What are you looking for in your searches? You said it wasn‟t as simple as

putting in something like brown hair or green eyes.” Connal sat down next to her, but angled his

body so that he was able to look at her easily.

“No, they don‟t use anything that obvious. One time we found the clues in ads for used

furniture. A blue couch for sale as well as a deep brown chair. The order of the words is switched

sometimes. Hair color first, eye color second at times.” She leaned back against the cushions and

crossed her legs.

“Tell me more about that.” His eyes locked on her and he simply waited.

“Sometimes they‟ll mention something like full. That usually means full-figured. There

are a couple of other abbreviations that we discovered as we searched. Supple is used for lithe,

slim. Usually they put in the context of „fabric or surface is supple‟. Something that would suit

the purpose.” She grimaced. It became harder to find the information every time.

“How did you ever find these boards?” He put an arm on the back of the couch and his

fingers lightly played with the ends of her hair.

“It wasn‟t easy. The first time we encountered this type of kidnapping we were lost.” She

shook her head. “The local enforcement tipped us to the fact that it wasn‟t just some kidnap for

hire. It took months to get the first lead and then we had to find a few people who were involved

in that kind of trade.”

“How did you do that? If they were that obvious, the local enforcers would have already

caught them.” Connal‟s eyes narrowed and she heard a little doubt creep into his voice.

“During that time, we‟d made some friends and contacts at the local precincts. They gave

us a few suggestions about who was suspected of being involved. You‟re right there was no solid

proof, but they had certain groups whose activities made them more likely. We began with them.

Most of them had nothing to do with it.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing

heartbeat. She could remember those days. The simple memory sent a rush of the almost

consuming hopelessness and helplessness that had dogged their thoughts. They‟d been desperate

for any information and every lead seemed to go nowhere.

“But there were a few that seemed to have a connection?” His head tilted.

“A few, but they weren‟t directly connected. The people who we first investigated were

just associates. It took us a while to get to those with real knowledge. It was a long process.

When we did find them, we did what we had to do.” She uncrossed her legs and turned to face

him a little more.

“What did you have to do?” He frowned.

She couldn‟t quite decide what expression was in his eyes. He wasn‟t only curious and it

wasn‟t disapproval. Maybe it was a little of both. She didn‟t know what his “anything” was. For

her, it had been just that. It didn‟t matter what she had to do to find the information needed to

free her friend.

“A little undercover work dealing with people who made my skin crawl, a few

well-placed listening devices and some time breaking into the private information. After that, we

just kept at it until we had the facts we needed,” she said as she traced patterns on the cushion

between them

“You learned all the information from those first people?” He took her hand in his and

gave it a squeeze.

“No, those people led us to others and we learned from them too.” She sighed. At that

point, they still hadn‟t been sure where they‟d find valuable information and it had taken a little

while to hit upon the boards, but when they‟d discovered them, the investigation had opened up.

“How is it that these people don‟t know that you get onto their boards and use the

information there?” His finger brushed over her knuckles.

She wasn‟t sure if that action was meant to soothe her or just because he wanted to hold

her hand. Not that she minded the contact. Talking about that time brought up some hard

memories and some even more difficult feelings. She still felt guilty over how long it had taken

to find Lori. Even knowing they‟d all done their best, she couldn‟t help thinking about what she

could have done differently that would have changed things.

“They take all the security measures possible, but no site is a hundred percent safe and

the only ones they absolutely want to keep out of there are the authorities. So they keep their

profile low. We make sure they can‟t trace us back to it.” She didn‟t want to sound like it was

very easy. It wasn‟t, but half the reason those sites were so hard to find was that the members

wanted the privacy of anonymity.

“So how do you find the people who actually buy the women?” He sounded doubtful.

“Once we find the ads on those boards, it‟s all about the money. We trace it from the

seller to the buyer. They don‟t transfer it from one bank to another, but the accounts lead us to

the person behind it. We‟re hoping that there won‟t have been a lot of victims with the same

looks as Tricia.” Raine exhaled heavily. “You did get that information, didn‟t you?”

“It‟s being compiled.” He nodded. “You‟re using programs to break their security. Why

won‟t they have those boards protected against it? Most programs like that are widely used.”

“Not the ones we use. The programs we use were designed and kept up to date by

Deanne. She‟s amazing with that kind of thing. It‟s not really my area of expertise, but all of us

have had to learn to at least troubleshoot it.” She shook her head. That kind of work gave her a

headache on most days. She‟d much rather be doing something active.

“Now I feel I understand a little more about what you‟re going to be doing. You must

have been almost out of your mind with worry when you were searching for your friend. You

had no one you could turn to for help.” He shook his head.

She stared up at him. He‟d surprised her. She really hadn‟t expected that level of empathy

from him. He really wasn‟t living down to her image of alphas and that scared her. He wasn‟t

cold or distant. The man seemed to genuinely care about the people in his pack. She already was

pulled to him and liked him. She didn‟t want to have any of the other barriers lifted between

them.

First, because she was half afraid that if she started to believe that there was a chance for

them that he‟d turn out to be as bad as the others. It would be almost as bad if he wasn‟t. She

didn‟t want to change her life. She wasn‟t even sure that what was between them was more than

sexual. If she took the chance of revealing herself and found out he was like all other men in

power, it would be too late. He‟d come after her with a vengeance. And that tied in with her

second reason. The man was aggressive in building his pack. She didn‟t want him chasing her

just because he‟d discovered she was
Feiral
. It was contradictory, but if he came after her she didn‟t want it to be because he felt she needed to be protected or because he wanted to add her to

his pack.

“We weren‟t as subtle or as even-tempered with the people we met as we normally would

be.” She shrugged. That had been putting it mildly. They hadn‟t gone beyond what they normally

considered moral. It hadn‟t been because of any great amount of control on their part. No, they‟d

just been lucky that the situations hadn‟t gotten out of hand.

“No one would be. Now that we‟ve managed to talk through most of the immediate

matters, I‟ll call down and have them bring our meal. We can talk some more after we eat.

Maybe you have some questions of your own.” He rose from the couch.

She did have some questions. He was right. A break would do them both good. She

wanted a little distance from the memories and emotions that had risen during their discussion.

She hadn‟t really thought about some of that stuff in a long time. Pushing it away and focusing

on something else was easier.

The conversation during the meal was light and about nothing pressing. It provided a

buffer between the heavy subject that had occupied them before and what she hoped was

something more invigorating than unnerving. By the time they‟d finished eating, she‟d relaxed

enough to think of a few important questions of her own about the situation with Tricia.

She took her glass with her as she walked back over to the couch. He followed and slid

onto the cushion beside her. She could tell he was calmer. She wasn‟t as tense now either. Just

getting past the initial awkwardness had done more than she‟d expected, but there were a few

questions to be asked before they got to more than casual touches. She already felt the urge to get

closer to him. Since they were alone in a room and there weren‟t likely to be any convenient

interruptions, it wouldn‟t be long before any thought of questions went right out of her mind in

favor of renewing her acquaintance with his gorgeous body.

His arm slipped naturally over her shoulders. She resisted the urge to lean into him, but

did put her hand over his other hand where it rested on his thigh. She wanted to let him know

that she wouldn‟t be backing away from the building desire between them, but at the same time

keep him at a little distance.

“I have a few questions of my own now. The man you think arranged for one of your

females to be captured, did you catch him or even see him here?” She looked into his brown

eyes, but it wasn‟t to try to catch him in a lie. When she was looking into those depths, she could

almost believe that there was some kind of connection between them.

“We haven‟t seen him and no, we can‟t be really sure that he was behind it. He‟s just

caused so much trouble that it‟s not a big leap to think that he‟d find a way to cause more.” He

grimaced. “He‟s hired assassins so this wouldn‟t be a stretch for him.”

“Do you have an image of him that we could use? Do you know how he‟d be traveling?

Is he connected enough to use a private shuttle or is he going the commercial route?” She tilted

her head. Hiring assassins was definitely over the nuisance level where she‟d first placed him.

“The few times we‟ve been able to track him, he was traveling as someone‟s guest on a

commercial cruiser. He likes the luxury treatment and he‟s not above lying and tricking others.”

Connal‟s voice deepened and she could see the disapproval on his face.

“All right, we‟ll try to find out if he‟s even on the planet. If he is, there‟s only a few spots

where he could have met someone associated with those groups. If we can find out where that

happened, it could help narrow down the search after we‟ve found the particular ad or ads that

might have been focused on her.” She actually hoped the man wasn‟t on the planet. Finding he

was here could split their focus or lead them in a wrong direction. Time wasn‟t something they

could afford to waste.

“Why is he angry enough to send assassins after you and for you to suspect him of having

a hand in this?” She tilted her head.

“He‟s young, but he‟s hot-headed and feels that he has the right to lead this group of

Feiral
. He challenged me and lost. He left the pack, but he‟s been trying to get rid of the people he feels are in his way. It‟s not only me.” Connal‟s eyes hardened. “He didn‟t start with sending

assassins. At first, he tried sabotaging some of our trade contracts. I think he hoped that some of

the others would lose faith in me and take his side of the issue, but when that didn‟t work, he

started sending people at us.”

“A dangerous man.” She was a little surprised at how openly he was talking about his

pack with her. He knew she‟d been aware that he was a shifter, but she‟d really expected him to

be more guarded about the things that went on within his pack. She‟d thought she‟d have to

badger and pry to get even basic details.

“He‟ll be stopped. If we find out for certain that he‟s behind this and that he‟s still on the

planet, he‟ll be stopped soon.” He sounded very certain.