Heavy Traffic Read online

  “Okay, well, if that’s your choice. Your pals at the FPAA won’t even know you’re missing until tomorrow morning, earliest. You’ll be long gone from here by then. I’m gonna go make a call. See what sort of travel arrangements I can make for you. My boss might have a plan already, since he sent us after you tonight.”

  The man stood and rolled his shoulders as he headed around the end of the shelves again, and Caroline heard the door open and shut. She couldn’t see anything through the boxes of paper bathroom towels that lined the bottom shelf, but the light from the hallway flashed across the walls for a moment, and there was the murmur of voices calling to her would-be interrogator.

  Okay, time to sit up and assess the situation. The handcuffs clanked as she shifted, and her head sloshed once, hard, as she sat up but once she was upright the groggy aftereffects of the stunning powder started to clear quickly. Nope, the taser wasn’t in her pocket. So much for that hope.

  The cage seemed to be small and hastily thrown together. Maybe a large breed dog kennel? But the corners were zip-tied together in addition to the structure that was intended to keep an animal inside. Probably because animals don’t have fingers to undo them for escaping, and humans do. Humans do not, however, have scissors or claws to cut through plastic zipties.

  She turned her attention to the handcuffs. They looked like normal, regulation handcuffs for humans and she had absolutely no idea how to get out of them. They weren’t loose on her wrists so slipping out of them somehow was out of the question. She didn’t know how to pick a lock even if she had any tools, but that did start her looking around to see if there was anything useful within reach.

  She was so intent on her search that she almost didn’t notice the door whispering open again. It was the light reflecting off a five gallon bucket that caught her attention. She readied her glare and aimed it at the end of the shelves, ready to keep her silence going when a grinning face slid around the corner.

  “Lucas!” Caroline gasped. “What— how?”

  He crouched down and clicked his tongue at the padlock on the front of the cage before holding it steady to insert a tool into the keyhole.

  “I am a man of many talents, what can I say?” He kept his voice hushed as he worked. “To be honest, I can’t say much without incriminating myself, but I’ll bet that your friends at the agency will forgive me breaking and entering in this particular situation.”

  The lock popped open and after a moment the cage door swung open. Caroline knee-walked out then stood and grimaced at the handcuffs. Lucas frowned at them then reached into his pocket.

  “You have a handcuff picking tool?” She asked. “Many talents indeed.”

  Lucas laughed softly and held up a key. “Sorry to disappoint. I could pick them, but this is faster and easier. I snagged it when they put it down in the break room.”

  The handcuffs were left in the cage and they made their way to the door where Lucas listened carefully before pulling it open. He stuck his head out and glanced down the hall, then waved Caroline forward. She bit back her questions in favor of stealth and he led her through the building to another room. Again, he listened carefully at the door, and she wondered if he could actually hear anything through the wood.

  He pulled the door open and led her through before closing it behind them. They were in an office now, filing cabinets lined one wall and the other had more shelves, though they were slightly nicer and covered in books and photos and awards.

  “Hmm, this place won best business supply company in Smythe County in 2007,” Lucas said. “Must have been before these yahoos were in charge. We’re in the main warehouse store for Wyhold Shipping Supplies, for your personal information. We’re about halfway between Stonehaven and Marion, but still in Virgina.” Lucas moved to the desk and started rummaging. “I was watching the loading dock when those goons brought you in. They didn’t even bother being subtle about it, one of them just scooped you up from the back of their van and carried you over his shoulder.. At least they were relatively careful, but I’d be happy to arrange some itching powder to accidentally spill in their laundry.” He grimaced up at her.

  “How? We thought you got caught! You were in the van, with the phone, then you weren’t there at all. The middle management crook that woke me up didn’t seem to know about you. Where have you been?” It seemed like the most reasonable thing to ask first.

  “Ah, yes, well,” Lucas frowned and went back to shuffling though the desk. “I knew that your agency friends would be all over the van and the motel almost as soon as we got there. I mean, I did try to make it as easy as possible.”

  “Shakes tracked your phone easily enough. Greg and I weren’t far behind you once we had a direction to go. Shakes got a recording, too. The two guys in the van were talking about an advance sale to a vampire,” Caroline said. She tried not to smirk when Lucas flinched and nodded. Vampires had a reputation, after all.

  “Yeah,” Lucas shrugged. “Well, that’s good. More evidence for you. Against these guys and the vamp.”

  “The vamp is an undercover agent and a good friend of mine, and you’re dodging the question. What happened?”

  He sighed and sat back in the desk chair like it was his own office. “Caroline, I’m not…” he grimaced and shrugged. “I don’t especially want to come face to face with your agency friends because they’re as likely to arrest me as to arrest the traffickers. I’m sure they’ve got more than enough evidence in a file somewhere to tie me to plenty of less than legal activities, even if they don’t know my real name.”

  “You’re a thief,” she said, blinking. “Or a con man?”

  Lucas nodded. “More thief, really. Among other things.”

  “So why are you here? What is there to steal besides the people they already kidnapped?” She wanted to know. It was hard for her to see him as a ruthless villain. She’d met several of those already and he didn’t seem to fit that mold.

  “What I told you when we met was mostly the truth. A friend asked me to look into his cousin’s disappearance. Her mother is frantic,” Lucas said. He flicked the mouse to wake up the computer and started clicking through files. “I may be, mmmmm, morally flexible, but there are limits. Petty villainy is one thing, but…. Ah!”

  Lucas tapped away for a couple of minutes, muttering to himself, then grinned up at her.

  “What did you do?” She asked.

  “I sent a whole bunch of very incriminating files to your friend Shakes,” he said. “Seems that these guys have been very shady for some time. Drugs and prostitution mostly. They only graduated to attempted trafficking recently. According to these emails, someone got in touch looking for a particular sort of —” Lucas’ eyes flicked to the door. He quickly turned the screen off and slid out of the desk chair.

  “What?” Caroline started to ask, but he put a finger over her lips and grabbed her hand with his other hand.

  “One of my warning spells just triggered.” He glanced around the room and spotted another door between the bookshelves and tugged her that way. They had just pulled the door closed when she heard someone stomp into the office.

  “— the guy here. Elm figures we can kill two birds with one stone.” It was the guy who tried to interrogate her when she woke up, and the flimsy closet door wasn’t doing anything to muffle his voice. They were both trying not to bump into anything in the tiny space, since any sound would be like a neon sign, people hiding in here!

  “Yeah. I mean the logic is there, but I don’t like having a leech anywhere near me. They creep me out.” That sounded like one of the guys on Shakes’ recording.

  “Me too,” The interrogator made a sound of disgust. “And they’re hard to take out if they go crazy, from all I’ve heard. Elm is bringing almost all of the guys from the farm to make sure we’ve got enough firepower that the vamp can’t try anything. It’s not like humans in cages need that much watching.” Steps paced back and forth. “Where did I leave that damn thing?” A metal drawer opened
and closed. Then another.

  Caroline sighed and leaned her head onto Lucas’ chest. It was warm and solid and she could feel the steady beat of his heart as if he hid in closets from kidnappers regularly. Like I do. One more time and I get a free coffee with my next kidnapping! The thought almost made her giggle and she had to muffle the sound in Lucas’ shoulder.

  “What is so funny?” His whisper in her ear was almost just a breath, and she shook her head.

  “Ah hah! Got it. Let’s go get the front ready,” the interrogator said. He seemed to be the henchman in charge because the other man just grunted and two pairs of footsteps retreated, the office door closing with a loud bang.

  Lucas held her still for a few more minutes before he eased the closet door open again.

  “I’m sorry,” Caroline said with a giggle. “Really, I’m sorry. I just realized that’s the second time I’ve escaped the people who kidnapped me only to hide from them in a closet. It’s getting to be a habit.”

  Lucas raised his eyebrows and looked very amused. “I doubt either of us has been to bed since the party last night, so I feel like I’m allowed to say that this is the most interesting date I have ever been on, hands down,” he said.

  “Me too,” she grinned at him.

  “I definitely want to hear the story of that first kidnapping. Later though. Okay, time to get out of here.” Lucas took her hand again and started toward the door, but Caroline held on and tugged him to a stop. When he looked back she shook her head and he frowned.

  “I can’t go. I have to get back into that cage.”

  12

  “What?” Lucas blinked at her. “Are you nuts?”

  “Well, probably,” Caroline said. “But they’re bringing Darien and most of their goons here, which means that now’s the perfect time to go rescue the kidnapped students, wherever they are. Did you find that information in the computer?”

  Lucas nodded. “Sure, but what does that have to do with you and that cage?”

  Caroline glanced at the door and grimaced. It wasn’t her favorite idea, but it was a decent one, and once everyone finished yelling at her— again— they’d likely agree that it was a reasonable ploy.

  “I can distract them here while this farm place gets raided,” Caroline said.

  “But then you’re still here! With the kidnappers and the goons!” Lucas protested. She could hear the sincere bafflement in his voice, and the concern, and she had to smile. For a crook, he was surprisingly worried about her welfare it seemed.

  “Yes, that’s true, but you know I’m here and can tell people. You actually know where here is which is more than I can say,” Caroline pointed out. “You have to call my office. Not just Shakes, you need to call Greg.”

  Lucas turned to face her fully now and the conflict was clear in his face.

  “I don’t think that your large friend will be very well disposed towards me if I leave you here to fend for yourself. Also, you realize that he’s going to put it together, that I’m not just a grad student accidentally mixed up in this.”

  “Greg is a smart guy, yeah, but he’s also pretty fair. Whatever else you’ve done, actively helping to take down this human trafficking ring will go a long way to balance the scales,” Caroline said. “Listen, we don’t have much time. It sounds like this Elm guy is on his way here with most of their goons, and you need to be gone by then, so that you can call in the cavalry and get those kids to safety. Then, once Darien ‘buys’ me and we’re out of here, the whole team can track down and arrest these guys.” She used heavy air quotes around the word buys and considered that he might actually need to do it, to see the goods change hands as it were. As she understood it kidnapping on its own carried repercussions, but human trafficking was much more severe.

  Lucas took a deep, noisy breath in through his nose, then blew it out slowly. She was pretty sure he was mentally counting to ten, too. When he was done he looked at her.

  “I really don’t like it, Caroline,” he said. “There’s so much that can go wrong here.”

  “I understand that,” she said with a grin. “But it’s not like I’m asking you to leave me here to rot. I’ve got backup coming, even if he doesn’t know it, and you’re going to call in reinforcements. I’ll be okay.”

  He smiled at her, and though it looked a bit forced, she appreciated the effort. They stared at each other for a long, drawn-out moment before he huffed out a sigh and looked away.

  “I want it on record that I hate this idea,” he said before turning back to the door and listening carefully. “And who are you calling kids? The victims are exactly your age. Or older.”

  “Okay, old man,” Caroline said, softly. Lucas glanced over his shoulder and stuck out his tongue as he opened the door.

  They hurried back down the hall the way they came, and slipped back into the custodial storeroom.

  “I want to state again, for the record, that this is a terrible idea. What if your undercover agent gets greedy? What if he actually does bite you? I mean, some of that stuff about vampires has got to be true. And he makes these guys extra nervous.” Lucas asked. His hand on her shoulder kept her from crawling back into the cage, so she turned and looked up at him with a small smile.

  “I’ve worked with him for a while and I’ve learned a lot about vampires. Even if he does bite me, it will be fine. I promise,” Caroline said. “Look, I know this guy. I trust him. And vampires generally make people nervous. People are always afraid of what they don’t understand, but once he sees me, they’ll have a good reason for it.”

  Lucas looked completely unconvinced, but finally grimaced and let go of her shoulder. Caroline reached for the handcuffs and started snapping them loosely back onto her wrists, and Lucas reached into his pocket. He pressed his handcuff key into her hand.

  “Hang on to this,” he said before swinging the door closed and replacing the padlock. She made him memorize the FPAA switchboard phone number.

  “Make sure they connect you to Agent Greg Barnett.”

  “Greg Barnett the Big and Blond. Got it.” Lucas nodded and stood.

  “Hey, Lucas.” Caroline stopped him as he turned to leave. “Be careful, okay?”

  He glanced back over his shoulder with a cocky grin and winked, and then he was gone, slipping back into the hallway.

  Caroline shivered once she was alone in the cold room. With nothing to do but wait, her nerves started to take over. What if this really was a terrible idea? What if the vampire they were talking about wasn’t actually Darien? Could there be two vampires out there looking for a human to buy?

  She squeezed the key in her hand and felt the edges of it crease her skin. She shoved it into her pocket and hoped she didn’t lose it. Who the hell was Lucas, anyway? She trusted him, oddly. She knew that he had never flat out lied to her, but now she understood the occasional odd resonance in his voice. It was when he was telling a half-truth, or glossing over something.

  His name was Lucas, at least. Or perhaps she should say that he identified strongly enough with the name for it to be truthful enough. But what if…

  No. She couldn’t think that way, she had to stay positive. He had definitely been upset by the whole scheme, every time they figured out another step in this kidnapping plan. And something about those emails bothered him more than just the idea of snatching people and selling them like rustled livestock. Caroline wondered what was in those emails.

  Noise in the hallway drew her attention and after a moment she heard the door open again, the hallway light filtering through the cleaning supplies on the shelf. A couple of guys filed into the room and one of them headed around the shelf with a key in his hand.

  “Time to go, Nancy Drew,” he grunted. A twist of the key and the lock popped open again. He reached in and grabbed her arm and yanked her roughly out of the cage and she snarled at him. She didn’t have to pretend to be pissed off. She almost started to take him down the way Peaches taught her to in all those sparring sessions, but managed at the
last moment to keep up the pretense of helpless student. She’d have to mention that to him, though. He’d find it both encouraging that she was actually learning, and funny that she had to focus on not using her training.

  The guards pulled her through the halls and out through a set of swinging double doors, and then they were in what Caroline assumed was the main store area. The place was enormous, like most warehouse stores, with industrial shelving reaching far higher than anyone could reach to pull down boxes of… whatever all this was.

  She saw pallets of shipping boxes of all sizes as she was dragged through the space, and cases of padded envelopes and rolls of bubble wrap. Well, people had to get this stuff somewhere, she figured.

  They reached what felt like the middle of the store, a wide aisle with giant stacks of seasonal goods. Holiday packaging was flattened and shrink wrapped, ready to be bought and used at some boutique shop or local chain store. Ugh, Caroline was barely ready to think about Halloween in a month.

  She was yanked to a stop near a tower of gold and silver glittery shopping bags and packaged up in shrink wrap, and looked around. She counted a dozen guards with varying levels of firepower, and only half of them were elves, which meant the rest were probably shifters of some sort. At least four of them had what looked like semi-automatic rifles. Some, like the thug who was still gripping her arm too tightly, had a handgun of some kind tucked into his waistband under his shirt. She had bumped into him on the way done the hall and felt the hard-to-mistake lump.

  Voices echoed from further away, behind several rows of shelves, and she clamped her jaw shut to avoid saying anything. She recognized the rumble of Darien’s voice— at least she’d been right about that part of the evening— and a flash of recognition on her face could give them both away. With this many guns, even Darien would be hard pressed to make it out in one piece, let alone get them both out.