The Siren (28 page)

He nodded. “That’s correct. We were here on vacation, and we got turned around in the wrong neighborhood. It was there I noticed some odd behavior happening on the street. Because I’m a cop, I insisted on following two men who appeared to be transporting two underage girls.” He squeezed my hand, signaling my turn to talk.

I looked at him. “We followed them to an old building and that’s when the raid happened. Nathan and another friend of ours chased down two men who escaped through a side door.”

“There’s a report with the San Antonio police department with the details,” he added.

My hand was sweating inside his. “Anyway, I met Abigail there. We talked for a while, and I expressed an interest in a job with her ministry. She invited me to her house for a lunch meeting earlier today.”

She blinked up at me. “A business lunch at her private home?”

I smiled nervously. “Yes.”

She looked skeptical, but she gestured toward me with her pen. “Then what happened?”

“I found an invoice from a lawyer representing Larry Mendez in her office. He’s one of the men involved in the same raid where I met her. I believe she paid for his defense.”

“You just happened to find it?” she asked.

I shrank down in my seat. “I was snooping.” Her eyebrow twitched, but she didn’t comment so I continued. “After that, I heard her on the phone making arrangements to have some girls sent to Chicago. She said Rex Parker was going to be taking them.”

She was still writing down the details. “Who is Rex Parker?”

“One of the two guys my friend and I apprehended at the raid,” Nathan said.

Agent Silvers put her pen down and massaged her temples. “Abigail Smith is a very highly respected member of this community who has been very proactive in taking girls out of sex slavery, and you’re telling me you just happened to hear her detailing the specifics of an interstate sex trafficking exchange?”

I shrugged. “She thought I was in the bathroom.”

Her smile was mocking. “What exactly did she say about Chicago?”

“I heard something about someone named Marisol and that a new group of girls would be arriving with Rex Parker soon. She said they were leaving for Chicago at eleven tonight. Then she wanted to know how much money had been brought in the night before.”

Agent Silvers made a few more notes, then looked at Nathan. “Can you corroborate this story? Were you there?”

Nathan shook his head and leaned forward. “I wasn’t there, but if you search her home office, you’ll find the invoice for Larry Mendez. Also, I suspect if you dig further, you’ll find that Rex Parker and Tito Juarez were both bonded out with cash.”

She tapped the end of her pen against the desk. “You think she bonded them out of jail?”
 

Nathan turned his palm up. “It makes sense. She could kill two birds with one stone, if you ask me. Get the girls sent to Chicago and get the two of them out of the area to skip trial and not take the risk of them implicating her.”

Agent Silvers folded her hands in her lap and raised her brow with blatant skepticism. “You think she would put up possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in bond money and encourage them to go FTA?

He nodded. “If this is true, you and I both know a few hundred grand is a drop in the bucket compared to what she’s made off these girls.”
 

She sighed and returned her attention to the papers. Finally, she leaned on her elbows over the desk and stared at me. “If this is true and we do find reason to indict her, are you willing to testify against her in court?”

Hesitantly, I nodded. “Yes.”

“And you realize making a false statement is a felony criminal offense, correct?” she asked.

Nathan’s hand tightened around mine.
 

I swallowed and nodded again. “Yes. I’ll do whatever necessary to help stop her. I believe she’s a very dangerous woman who definitely isn’t the saint she has convinced everyone that she is.”

After signing the paperwork, Nathan and I were allowed to leave. I dug my nails into his arm when we got outside and pulled him close to me. “I’m not tough enough to make it in prison,” I said, just above a whisper.

He laughed and patted my arm. “You did the right thing.”

I dug my nails in deeper, causing him to wince. “She doesn’t believe me. You saw her face.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll see. They’ll take down the transport, get a search warrant for Abigail’s house, and find that invoice. This will all be over very soon, and we can go home to your normal messed up life with boy problems, superpowers, and a boring day job.”

I leaned into him. “Thanks for coming all the way down here. I do promise I’ll pay you back.”

He draped his arm around my neck and smiled down at me. “I’m starting a tab with you, Sloan. Someday I’m going to ask for a really huge favor.”

Oh boy.

“I don’t think I like being in your debt.”

His grin made my stomach flip-flop. “I like it just fine.”

* * *

The next morning, the shrill ring of the hotel phone jarred me from my sleep. The room was still dark, but light was peeking around the corners of the blackout curtains. I heard the shower running in the bathroom, and Warren wasn’t in bed beside me. I rolled over and lifted the phone off the receiver. “Hello?”

“Morning, sunshine.”

“Geez, Nathan. Do you know what time it is?”

“The FBI called.”

I sat up straight in the bed. “Oh! What did they say?”

“The Oklahoma Highway Patrol stopped the Morning Star Ministries van early this morning near Ardmore. Rex Parker and Tito Juarez were arrested on violating the terms of their bond, and seven girls were taken into custody.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Thank God. What about Abigail?”

“Silvers said they’re moving forward with the case. She’s going to try and get the search warrant for Abigail’s house and business pushed through this morning.”

“And Larry Mendez?” I asked.

“She didn’t say, but at this point, I doubt they have any substantial reason to arrest him again, but maybe they’ll dig something up during the investigation.” He yawned on the other end of the line. “I’m going back to sleep for an hour. I’ll see you downstairs for breakfast.”

I hung up the phone and swung my legs off the bed. Twisting around to the right, I felt my spine crack all the way down to my tailbone. I got up and went to the bathroom, gently knocking before pushing the door open. Steam and light spilled out into the room.
 

Warren peeked around the shower curtain. “You’re up early. Is the hotel on fire?”

I picked up my toothbrush and slathered it with paste. “Nathan woke me up. The FBI called.”

“Really?”

“Uh huh.” I brushed for a minute and spat toothpaste in the sink. “They caught Rex and Tito in Oklahoma this morning,” I said and started brushing again.

“That’s good news. Did they say when they are going after Abigail?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“What about Mendez?”

I shrugged again.

His wet head tilted to the side. “Did you sleep in my shirt last night?”

Gripping the brush with my teeth, I glanced down at the black 5.11 Tactical t-shirt and dribbled toothpaste down the front of it. I turned my wide eyes toward him.
 

He shook his head. “I was going to wear that today.”
 

“Sowwy,” I said around the toothbrush.

I rinsed out my mouth and packed up my toiletry bag. Before leaving the bathroom, I pulled the shower curtain aside just enough to stick my face in. “Kiss me,” I said. “I’m going to lie down till you get out.”

Water trickled from his face onto mine as he kissed me. Then he reached out and hooked his wet arm around my waist, pulling me into the shower.
 

I laughed and pounded my fists against his bare chest. “What are you doing?”

He pulled his t-shirt off me and tossed it out onto the bathroom floor. “Keeping you from going back to sleep. We have a plane to catch.”

After a bland continental breakfast in the hotel lobby, the three of us loaded our bags into the trunk of the rental car, and Warren headed in the direction of the airport. I looked in the back seat where Nathan was popping Skittles into his mouth.
 

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s never too early for Skittles.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Do you think they’ll be able to bust Abigail today?”

He nodded. “If they get the search warrant signed by a judge. They’ll have to find a judge at home though since it’s Sunday.”

Warren shook his head. “That’s exactly why I don’t do law enforcement. Too many rules and way too much paperwork.”

I relaxed in my seat as Warren pulled the car onto the freeway. The buildings of downtown looked small in the distance, and a light haze from the morning dew loomed over the city. I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was eight-thirty, and our flight was at eleven. The thought of curling up in my quiet bed at home was intoxicating. I could almost feel the soft bamboo sheets and smell the lavender fabric softener in my pillowcase.

Nathan’s voice snapped me out of my daze a few minutes later. “Dude, you missed your exit.”

“Crap,” Warren muttered. “I’ll have to find another exit where I can turn around. I was off in la-la land.”

I pulled my knees into my chest. “Me too,” I said, still thinking of home. “I can’t wait to get home to my bed, in my house. I think I might sleep all week long.”

“Don’t you have to go to work at some point?’ Nathan asked.

My heart sank. “Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that. I’ve almost forgotten I even have a job.”

“When do you have to go back?” Warren asked.

“I guess tomorrow. I need to save my last couple of personal days to take you to Charlotte.” I groaned. “I can just see the inbox on my office door overflowing into the hallway.” I turned toward him. “Hey, speaking of jobs…did you tell Nathan to stay in Asheville and not take the job with the FBI?”

Warren glanced in the rearview mirror at Nathan. “Do you not have the ability to keep your mouth shut?”
 

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, you did?”

He looked at me over his shoulder. “Not exactly. I just told him I would feel better if he stayed close by while I was gone.”

“What’s he going to do? Patrol my front porch like Scotland Yard?” I asked.
 

His eyes turned serious. “We haven’t had a very good track record lately, and if we’re making enemies somewhere in the spirit world, it would be a lot safer for someone who knows our secret to keep an eye on you.”

I knew he was right, and it terrified me.

“It’s fine, Sloan,” Nathan said. “I like working for the county, and I have no desire whatsoever to go through another brutal training academy. I promise I’m not missing out on anything.”

I looked back at him and scrunched my eyebrows together. “Asheville’s not that exciting. You’re going to get bored.”

“Not true,” he said. “I have you.”

“Well, don’t pin all your adventurous hopes on me. I’m taking the year off of supernatural B.S. while Warren’s gone. I need a break.” I flopped my head back against the headrest.

Warren got off the interstate and turned left, but he didn’t get on the on-ramp in the opposite direction.
 

Nathan chuckled. “Warren, man, do you need me to drive? You’re failing miserably at navigation this morning.”

“Shut up,” Warren said. “I think we can get there by going this way.”

“You’d better be sure, or we aren’t going to have time to get through security at the airport,” Nathan said.

“Let me drive, Nate.”

As we wound around the city seemingly further and further away from civilization, I was becoming very doubtful of my boyfriend’s sense of direction. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “Maybe we should turn on the GPS.”

“I know where I am,” he assured me. “We’re going the right way.”

“Okie dokie.” I turned my wide eyes toward Nathan, and he covered his mouth to squelch a laugh.
 

Warren turned the car left down a small street lined with run-down buildings, and I waved my hand in front of his face. “Where are you going?” I asked.

Before he had time to answer, a bright flash, like an explosion of light with no sound, erupted around us. About fifteen feet ahead, a man was kneeling in the remnants of the spot where the light had dissipated. Warren slammed on his brakes so as not to run him over. I screamed as the car lurched forward, throwing the three of us toward the windshield. When the seatbelt slammed into my chest and my eyes refocused, Samael was standing at our front fender.

21.

“What the hell was that?” Nathan shouted. He was rubbing his head where it had smashed into the back of Warren’s seat.

I scrambled for the handle on the car door and pushed it open. “Samael!”

He met me in two long strides and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Sloan, you are in great danger.” He gently shook me and pleaded with his captivating golden eyes. “You must leave. You must get out of here right now.”

Warren and Nathan were out of the car. “What’s going on?” Nathan asked, confused as he walked toward me. “And where the hell are we?”

Seemingly in a daze, Warren walked past the front of the car, then broke into a jog down the road away from us.
 

“Warren!” I yelled. “Where are you going?”

He didn’t even flinch in my direction.

Samael shook me again. “It’s no use. You must let him go and leave this place!”

I pushed Samael away from me. “I’m not going anywhere without him!” I took off in a sprint toward my boyfriend.

Warren rounded another corner, and when I caught up with him, he was stopped dead in his tracks.

Abigail—Kasyade—was standing in the middle of the street with her arms folded across her chest. Her long dark hair was blowing behind her, yet there was no breeze. Her face was set like stone, and her skin seemed to glow with some unnatural, radiated brilliance.

“Warren!” I shouted again, yanking on his arm with all the strength I could muster.