Page 26 of Hard Game

Damn, she’s hot.

I stretch and make a coffee, sipping it as I wonder what Tassa will dig up. No sooner has the thought crossed my mind than my phone rings, and it’s her, Tassa.

“Shit, Maddox.” She sounds devastated. “She’s on the dark web.”

I almost choke on my coffee. “Sara is?”

“Yeah. Her hair is longer, and she’s much thinner, but it’s her.”

My heart thunders in my chest. Could we really have found Sara Diess in a matter of minutes? “Great, send me the link,” I say, firing up my laptop.

“Mad…” Tassa says, her voice low. “It’s not good.”

I slow my movements and lean back in my chair, waiting for Tassa to continue.

“She’s not alive anymore.”

“How do you know that?” I demand hoarsely, praying she’s wrong. “Because she’s in a snuff movie.”

Snuff? Fuck!

“You’re sure it’s her?” I say, my heart sinking in my chest. “Like, a hundred percent? It’s barely been twenty minutes?—”

“Maddox,” Tassa interrupts me sharply. “It’s like looking at the fucking detective. It’s her.”

I swallow and sit back in my chair, fury ripping through me on behalf of the detective. So, her sister was trafficked or kidnapped and abused. Either way, I have closure for the Diess family if what Tassa says is true.

“What are you going to do with this information?” Tassa asks, reading my mind. “You don’t even know her, Maddox.”

“But she deserves to know,” I say, thinking of the detective, knowing she can only know if she sees the video. I clench my jaw. “Send me the link.”

“Are you sure? It’s pretty graphic—” Tassa begins, only for me to cut her off.

“I’m sure. Send it.”

So she does.

13

LAUREN

“You’re kidding?”

Elijah shakes his head and stares at the floor. “I wish I was, Diess.”

Another victim. This isn’t like the ring—leaving victims lying around Lockwood. Usually, people disappear and are never seen again—like my sister—and we spend years hunting the bastards down. But now? They’re fucking with us.

“Where?”

Elijah rubs the back of his neck and scowls. “In the mall parking lot.”

I gape at him. “What?”

“Do you think this is them, Diess? This isn’t like them.”

I know it isn’t, but my gut tells me I’m right. But why would a trafficking gang keep leaving bodies lying around for us to find? It doesn’t make any sense. I pull my jacket on and sigh. “Do we know anything?”

“About the Vic?” Elijah picks up his notebook and sighs, flipping through the pages until he finds what he wants. “Female. Early twenties.”

---