Page 88 of The Twins

“You’re back, thank fuck.” Mitch stood and stared at me. “You okay?”

“I’m okay.” I managed a weak smile and sat at the bench, leaned my back to the wall. “Just.”

“You sort the motherfucker out?” Mitch looked at Finn and then Cillian.

“Hell yeah.” Finn’s jaw tensed, and a tendon flexed in his cheek. “And a few bonus bad guys thrown in for good measure.”

Mitch frowned, and his attention slipped to the three Romanian ladies who were being given steaming mugs of coffee by Trixie. “What was going down?”

“Human trading. We took them off the shelf. Sick fucks were running quite the business.”

Mitch rubbed his fingers over his temples. “You get any intel? We might be able to find other girls, ones who weren’t so lucky.”

“Yeah, I picked up the top dog’s phone. Bateman or something.” Jamie produced an iPhone.

“Good, I’ll get my tech guy to unlock it.”

“No need.” Jamie tapped the screen. “I thought of that. New passcode is ‘asshole.’”

Mitch chuckled. “Knew there was a reason I liked you.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Your pal, Amy, is going to be really happy to know you’re safe.”

“Gosh, poor Amy, she must have been so worried.” I pressed my hand to my chest. Amy didn’t have many people in her life, I knew how much she valued me. “I should call her.”

“No, you let Dalton check you out,” Mitch said. “I’ll drop her a message.”

“You will?” I raised my eyebrows. “You have her number?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I took it so I could stay in touch about what was going on with you.”

“Oh, okay, thanks.” As soon as I had my strength back I’d go and see her. Give her a hug and get one in return. I loved my best friend dearly.

“Hold out your arm.” Dalton was at my side with a blood pressure machine.

I presented my right arm.

“Do you want food?” Trixie asked Sorenna. “I have chicken in the fridge, bread and cheese, too.”

“Yes, please.” Sorenna placed her hands on her flat belly. “They fed us very little, said that our buyers wanted skinny girls.”

“Real men like healthy strong women,” Trixie said with a tut. “Ain’t that right, fellas?”

There was a rumble of agreement.

“That’s all good.” Dalton removed the blood pressure cuff then flashed the torch in my eyes, his face close to mine. He had deep-blue eyes with a darker blue circle around the irises.

He appeared happy with my pupils and took my pulse. After that he rummaged in a cupboard and pulled out a syringe and vial. “Can I take blood for a toxicology screen?”

“Sure.” I was grateful for all he was doing. I didn’t have the emotional energy for a hospital visit and was still thinking longingly of a shower.

“Sit, sit,” Trixie said to the girls and gestured to the large table.

Sorenna sat with her attention on the bank of screens the guys used to keep a watch over the women in Rose Cottage. “You are police?” she asked.

“I’m not.” Phil shrugged his wide shoulders and bit into a banana. “But he is.” He pointed at Mitch. “Mainly we’re just a group of blokes who hate seeing women taken advantage of.”

“This is big house,” she said. “Must be a lot of money.”

“Sure, but money is just money, women, life…that is something else.” Jamie sipped from a mug of coffee. “And what we all have in common is a very strong sense of justice.”