Page 175 of Ravaged Soul

“Did you doubt me?”

Hyland’s deep chuckle echoes through my earpiece. “Not for a second.”

“Well, I was trained by the best.”

Weaving through the chaos of Tallinn’s streets—despite the arctic weather—I keep a wary eye for any tails. We knowthis capital city belongs to Nolan Madden. He runs the black market behind its beautiful architecture, taking advantage of its strategic position on the northern coastline of Estonia.

Imports and exports.

That’s a polite way of saying that Madden is finishing what his son tried to stop him from starting in the first place. All this time, we’ve been focused on hunting down Gael, but he’s just one of many heads on this snake. A single spoke in a larger wheel.

I’m going to demolish that wheel.

By tooth and nail if necessary.

All this time, we’ve assumed Nolan Madden was squirrelled away by powerful friends. Perhaps we even feared that he would re-establish operations in a new country. After all, the web of human trafficking doesn’t belong to any one country. It isn’t a regional issue.

Wherever humans go, the need to exploit and profit off their suffering follows. This is a global scourge, irrespective of who comes from where. Every nation on the planet will have an underground flesh market, and it looks like Madden has established one of his own right here.

With a crackle, Fox’s voice whispers down the line. “We’re hacking into the fibre optic connection to access the building’s electrical mainframe.”

“In English?” I sigh.

“We’ll have control of any security cameras inside soon,” Rayna answers for her colleague. “Nice job, Ember.”

“Sorry it took so long. The wires weren’t easily accessible.”

“I did see some crazy Tarzan action on a drainpipe when the drone flew over.” Rayna giggles. “Did you almost fall?”

“Ugh. Please delete that video.”

“You got it.”

“Enough back slapping.” Warner sounds unhappy, even as a disembodied voice. “Shift your ass and get back here now, Em. We don’t have long to debrief.”

“Copy that, team leader.”

“You too, Madden.”

“What? Blaine?” I blurt.

“Like I was going to let you wander around an unknown city alone.” His suave, aristocratic drawl drills into my head. “I did enjoy watching you scale that drainpipe though, sweetheart.”

“You controlling fuck. This was my task!”

“And mine is to follow you. Move faster.”

“Obsessive son of a?—”

“Careful,” he warns. “You’re supposed to be stealthy right now.”

“I’ll show you fucking stealthy when I kick your overbearing ass.”

“Sounds intriguing.” He sighs pleasurably.

It’s a challenge to swallow the barrage of indignant insults I want to hurl back. Even more challenging not to whirl around and confront the invisible shadow lurking somewhere behind me. If we’re being surveilled, I can’t blow Blaine’s cover.

“How do we know it’s the right building?” I cough to cover my question.