Page 81 of The Vigilant

It didn’t completely calm me, but it did take the edge off the worry that this message was a decoy. A trap.

“What’s that address?”

“Warehouse belonging to a known Wah Ching shell company,” Rob replied, her eyes flicking between us.

“So, the Triad is involved in this.” I murmured aloud, mentally tracing through everything we knew.

Yes, Kang was involved. He was handing out the invites for the cam site and brought Mara to the White Pearl, but his involvement didn’t mean that the Wah Ching was part of this arrangement.

“Why would they be involved? Kang isn’t even one of theirs,” Tynan muttered.

It didn’t make sense. Kang was loosely tied to the gang—an uninitiated member—which meant if this was Kang’s side venture, the Wah Ching wouldn’t step in to back him. But if the Wah Ching was involved at a higher level, neither would they rope in an uninitiated member to this degree.

“We’re missing something.”

“Maybe hired help?” Creed offered. “If Carson is running a trafficking scheme from this site, he would need people to facilitate the kidnapping and sale. Hired muscle.”

“Would the Wah Ching do that?” I looked to Tynan.

“For the right price, I’m sure they’d do anything.”

“Plus, we don’t know if Carson has dealt with the gang in the past. He might have connections there he’s relying on, or maybe he’s providing them with some kind of cut from the sales.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Did you get Mara’s location with the message?” I asked, though it was no surprise when she shook her head no, running her thumb along the inside of the chain around her neck.

“I’ll head into the city and take a look at the warehouse,” Creed said. “And then I’m going to get back on Carson. I still think he’s our best lead since Kang up and disappeared.” The excessively large man started to back out of the room.

“Creed.” Tynan called to him, causing him to stop and turn. “As soon as you have something…” He didn’t need to finish for Creed to hear the full instruction.

Creed dipped his chin and then excused himself from the room.

“I’ve got a few other leads to check in with. I’ll stop back later.” Robyn took her cell back and pushed it into her pocket, stopping next to Tynan and placing her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t overdo it.”

Something surged inside me at her words. Something unexpectedly protective—no, not protective. Possessive. Like he was mine to look after, not hers.

I stiffened, feeling my teeth dip through the skin of my cheek and draw blood. I looked back to Tynan, but instead of his attention being on Robyn, he was only watching me. Watching my reactions.

I balled my arms tighter over my chest, feeling more naked in that stare than if I’d been stripped down to nothing but my skin and metal and ink.

“Excuse me,” I muttered and practically chased after Robyn to catch up, Tynan’s thunderous stare following me until it couldn’t.

I reached the hallway just as the older brother—Harmon—arrived to check on Tynan. I murmured a greeting to him as he headed in the direction that I’d fled and then called out, “Robyn.”

She stopped and faced me, pain lancing her hard expression. “I’m sorry about Mara.” Her composure fractured even further, like a split in a beam of wood. “If I’d known—had any idea thatthis involved Carson or Shazad…I never would’ve gotten her involved.”

“I know.” As angry as I was that Mara had willingly gotten involved in such a dangerous scheme, it wasn’t Robyn’s fault. At least not more than it was mine.

“This is my fight, and I’ll…” She trailed off, biting her lip and shaking her head like the anger inside her was too much for words. “I’ll get her back.”

“We’ll get her back,” I corrected firmly.

A shadow of a smile tugged at her lips, her eyes holding mine as she’d stayed quiet for an extra second. There were many times over the last three days that I’d felt Robyn sizing me up, but this was the first time she gave any indication of what she was thinking.

“She admired you,” Robyn said, her eyes holding mine. “Mara.”

“For what? Being the poster child of felonious female rage?” I scoffed, not wanting admiration. Especially for asking for something we both knew would send Tynan over the edge.

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