Page 151 of Caught in the Crossfire

“We think they’re putting together an auction.”

Leona blanched. An auction. Penny and the girls we’d taken off theRed Talonhad mentioned they were part of an auction.

“An auction means buyers,” Leona said. “That could be huge, both in the number of girls and the money they could exchange.”

We had made no progress in figuring out who was buying or in stopping them. This could change that.

“I think the Vokshi are making their move,” Max answered. “The Camorra have been pressuring them in Europe, and the Albanians are losing. This might be the Vokshi’s attempt to offload product before they disappear.”

A tremor went through Leona’s hand. I frowned, looking down at her, but she refused to meet my gaze and instead pulled her hand free and folded her arms over her chest.

“Okay. How can we help?” Leona looked to Ciel. “Do we know where or when?”

“It’s in an hour,” Max said. “We’re just not sure which tunnel systems they’re using.”

“Shit,” Leona murmured. We’d have to get movingfastif we were going to intercept and stop them.

“Not a lot of notice, Maxy,” Ryu said with a scoff.

“I only just found out,” Max bit back. “I’m doing you a courtesy if you want to be involved. I’m going after them either way.”

This could be our chance to deal a major blow. If they were trying to offload product, there would be a high number of their victims there. Buyers would be there, too. Stopping them in their tracks could cripple both sides of this fucked up equation. We could show them we would not allow this to continue.Realconsequences for those fuckers.

Wynn hovered by Ciel’s side, looking over his shoulder at the tablet. “See if there’s any activity on the cameras we put up.”

Ciel tapped something, then shook his head. “One is dead. The street corner where Lucchese dropped Vokshi.” He flipped his tablet around so we could see boxes of white snow flickering on the screen. “I checked them an hour ago, and they were fine.”

“Send me the locations,” Max said, snapping his fingers in the background. “How soon can you meet us there?”

“Twenty minutes,” Obi responded.

I swiped the phone off the island while we all started moving. “I’ll call Giulio and see how many men can meet us.”

“Keep me posted.”

He hung up before I could respond. I rolled my eyes, tucking the phone back in my pocket.

If I felt nostalgic working with Max, then working with the Shadows was like coming into my grown-up skin. Max might have been my past, but these guys were my new brothers, and it was finally starting to feel like it.

Max was a mind fuck, but these guys were home.

We were a well-oiled machine as we all armed ourselves in the weapons closet. There was ease and familiarity working with them now. The more missions we did, the more I understood how they worked together. Ciel and Obi were the brains, Wynn was the reliable jack of all trades, Ryu was the precision killer, and I was the brute force. It just felt right.

As we left the weapons closet, my eyes caught on Leona’s hands while she strapped on her two thigh holsters and her favored weapons. They were shaking. Her breathing was faster than normal. Her cheeks were pale.

I hung back while the rest of the guys headed toward the elevator and the garage.

“You okay?” I murmured once she finally got them secured.

She startled, jumping like I’d scared her. My eyebrows furrowed.

“It’s fine, Cas. I’m just excited,” she responded. Her gaze followed mine to her hands. “It’s adrenaline.”

“Are you sure?”

It didn’t seem like adrenaline. She’d been involved in plenty of missions by now, and I’d never seen her body react like this. Not even when we faced off against Max’s men on that airport tarmac in Philadelphia and I got shot right in front of her.

“I’m positive.” She brushed past me, following a laughing Ryuji as he teased a focused Ciel by poking his cheek. Cielswatted at him like he was a fly. “Let’s go. We don’t have time to waste.”