Page 113 of Caught in the Crossfire

“He didn’t,” Max answered finally. “Only information that would incriminate the Albanians. Nothing about the other side of the sale.” I blinked, keeping my face calm, but he continued. “Our best option is catching them during a sale.”

I released the breath I’d been holding.

“Do you know how the sales are happening?” Wynn asked. “Brothels? Auctions? One to one handoffs?”

Max shook his head.

Wynn crossed his arms over his chest while a shadow fell over his brow. I didn’t blame him. The idea of a person buying another person made me want to hurl and scream with rage at the same time.

“We’ll find them somehow,” I said. “We can work together to catch them. We can tackle this problem from both sides.”

Without dredging up the pain of what happened on that ship.

“What about the war in Europe?” Obi asked. “How is that affecting them here?”

Max’s posture went defensive. “We’re not going to talk about the Camorra.”

Obi’s chest puffed. “I did not ask about the Camorra specifically, did I?”

Max sighed. “Fine. The Camorra have the upper hand in Europe. Now that Orik is dead, the Head, Armir, and his two other sons have become reckless. If they continue losing, the Camorra leadership thinks they may make a jump to the States.It’s also possible they’ll send one of the sons, Arion or Ervin, to the States to handle the trafficking business here.”

Obi nodded. “We’ll keep an eye out for that. Ciel?”

“I’ve still got my facial recognition running through the airport databases. We’ll stay on it.”

“Keep us posted?” I asked, looking up to Max. “We need to know if they’re winning or losing.”

His eyes bounced around my face before he answered. “I will.”

We spent the next fifteen minutes agreeing on a plan for how to split our efforts. We’d ceasefire, and start putting our focus towards intercepting victims and figuring out how they were using the tunnels. We agreed that we’d both respond and retaliate with any Albanian attacks, but our side would handle the survivors. Willow was still the best response to helping them.

The more we spoke, the more we worked together, the more the fire lit within my chest.

With all of us combined, it was possible to push them out and keep them out.

It was possible to save the women already in their clutches.

For the first time in a decade, the leaders of the criminal underworld were putting on a united front backed by swift and violent action.

As much as it pissed me off…this truce might be exactly what we needed.

37

LEONA

Once we’d wrapped up, Max pulled his phone from his pocket, tapping a few times.

“Here.” He handed it to me. “Her number is programmed. The only thing I ask is that the two of you don’t plan to do something stupid, as per your usual MOs. She’s a lot safer where she is now. If you make some contrived effort to ‘rescue’ her, you’re only making her a bigger target.”

I took his phone and pushed from the table. The screen lit up with her contact card. “I’m going to talk to her upstairs.”

“No. Stay here, where we can all hear it.”

“Excuse you.” I raised an eyebrow. “We deserve privacy.”

My men glared at Max and presented a wave of disapproval that had me grinning. I loved the way they supported me no matter what.

“Fine. I’ll know if you snoop through it.” He gave me a stern look, one I recognized from countless scoldings and warnings during our childhood.