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"I'm searching court records," Becca told them. "Looking for links to any adult trafficking we've had come through the system.
"I'm also looking up attempted kidnappings at clubs in the area. Things that look to be a bit more than a simple date rape attempt. I've found two cases where college-aged men have come forward saying someone tried to force them into a vehicle after drugging them. In both cases, the men hadn't drunk much of their drink at the bar so the effects of the drugs were limited. They both managed to escape. They were both in the Los Angeles area and happened two weeks apart. I'm meeting with both men to find out if they might know more than is in the police reports. I've also got a friend pulling toxicology reports on both men from the nights the attempted kidnappings happened. If we can find out for sure what drugs they are using, it might give us a lead." Noam glanced at Beau. "If I give you the names, maybe you can see if anything pulls up in the hospital records you have access to?"
"Sure. In fact, give me the name of the drugs used and I'll talk to the other doctors in the emergency room and see if they recall others coming in that fit that profile. There has to be more cases, either failed attempts or missing person's reports somewhere." Beau shook his head. "We all think we are safe from this. That our knowledge protects us. This proves it doesn't. Trenton did nothing that the rest of us don't do on a regular basis."
"Other than going alone." Xander shook his head. "If I'd just gone with him."
"You couldn't have known. We've all turned down offers to go out at one point or another, and we've almost all gone out alone at one time." Matt leaned against Xander, giving him support. He knew how deep Xander's guilt ran and he hated he could do nothing to ease it. He knew how he felt. He'd been the same way when Faith had been taken. He put all the blame on himself.
"The only people to blame are the traffickers. If that's even why they took him. It could be something else completely and our minds just go to trafficking because of what we do. We need more leads. More information." Faith twisted her hair into a tight bun and secured it. "Give me something to do. I don't know what, but I need to keep busy."
Becca stood. "We need to feed these guys. We've all been working around the clock and not eating. If we are going to be any good to Trenton, we need to keep our strength up. Let's see what we have in there to cook."
Faith nodded, but stared back at the rest of the guys. "If you need anything, let me help. Don't shut me out on this. The days of protecting me are over. I can handle this."
Matt stared at his very grown daughter, wondering where the little girl had gone. The years had flown by. "I promise we won't keep anything from you." He left Xander's side and went to her. "I'm glad you're home." He kissed her cheek softly, then tried to reassure her. "We'll find him. We have to."
She smiled. "You guys found me. You can find him."
As he watched her walk off to the kitchen, he couldn't help but pray that she was right.
CHAPTER TEN
Ben was trying to keep his mind on work, but he was so angry that he found it hard to concentrate on anything. He'd met with a few other members of the team last night, and the news wasn't good. The guys running this shit-show of a sting wanted to hold off another couple of weeks before making their move. They had some intel that there was a major trafficker coming in from Spain who wanted new inventory. They wanted his identity.
That wasn't going to work for Ben. He'd seen enough. Even now, the cries of a young girl in the kid's cage was tearing his heart in two. He saw the black eyes she had and knew what had happened to her. Panda eyes were rare, but they happened when a child was sodomized violently. The damn girl couldn't be more than ten. His stomach turned sour each time he thought about her and the others who suffered like her. He could stop this. He could come in here and start shooting everyone who worked here. It would cost him his life, but he was sure he could take out enough people before he was killed that he could at least help some of them escape. He could have Trenton help lead them out.
Fuck, Trenton was another issue. He couldn't get the man off his mind. Each time he came to work, the first thing he looked for was Trenton. He was obsessing over a man he didn't even know. A man who hated him. When he'd gotten to work today, he'd found Trenton drugged and unconscious. He knew Trenton wasn't a problem, so whoever had drugged him had done it just because. All the men in the cage were drugged, so it was nothing more than the guards wanting a quiet night. It pissed him off.
He'd struggled with his feelings for Trenton over the last week. How could he feel so drawn to a man he didn't even know? As bad as he wanted to free everyone in the place, he wanted to see Trenton escape even more. It had killed him the first morning he'd come into work and Trenton hadn't been in the cage. It had been nearly two hours later that he'd been brought back down from upstairs, beaten and in pain.
Trenton had stared at him that morning, anger filling his gaze as he'd been marched back into the cage to sit until he was called upon again.
This undercover job was supposed to last no more than a month. Now he'd been here three months. He'd thought he'd go in, help get a few names, and the police would come in and shut the place down. The longer this went on, the more Ben wondered who was really running things on his end. He didn't trust his captain, and he'd never liked the chief. It went against his sworn duty to serve and protect not to shut this place down.
Now, another shipment of women and children had been ordered to be transferred to Mexico in the next week or so, and he'd heard there was another buyer from Spain. Once the captives left here, they would be lost forever. If he could stop the transfer, he needed to. He'd already allowed it to happen too many times over the last few months.
He sipped his coffee, working on a plan, wondering if it would get everyone killed or if it would save them all. He didn't care much about his own life anymore. He'd done and seen too much to care about his own soul. He just wanted to save the kids here and stop more from being brought in. It was time he did something if his commanders wouldn't.
He waited until Trenton started to wake. The drugs took forever to wear off, and he needed Trenton clear-headed to run his plan by him. He was going to have to make it look like he wanted a little alone time with Trenton if he was going to get a chance to talk to him, but he wasn't sure how to make that happen. He'd seen others take girls into the office and do them on the desk for a bit of privacy, but no matter where he went, people could see. He needed to get him into the doctor's office or somewhere they could talk alone. Taking a chance, he glanced at Wade, who was often raping women he'd pulled from the cage. "Hey, if I wanted to…" He bit his lip and tried to look embarrassed. "If I wanted to take advantage of one of them." He pointed to the men's cage, "But didn't like anyone watching, do you think I could sneak into Dr. Frank's office for ten minutes?"
Wade raised a brow. "You got so little you're ashamed to show it?" He cupped his own crotch and laughed.
"I just don't like others watching. Besides, I'm into men. I know a lot of the guys around here don't want to see that." He'd heard Wade make several homophobic comments over the months they'd been here.
"No shit. I don't need to watch you packing fudge. If you want to sneak away for a quickie, go right ahead. At least in Dr. Frank's office, you won't have to hold him down. He's got all those spots to cuff people. Hell, you could take him fifty different ways if you want to." Wade gestured to the men in the cage. "Which one you going to pick? The blond? He looks like a cock sucker if you ask me."
Ben grinned, even though he wanted to punch Wade in the mouth. "I was thinking that one that's always so quiet. I'd like to see if I can get him to scream a little. He tries to act like none of this is getting to him, but you know it is. I want to be the one to get some kind of reaction from him."
"Go for it. It's quiet today. You want to get your rocks off, have at it. I might do the same once you're done. There's that sweet redhead in the cell they brought in a few days ago. She hasn't been called upstairs yet. I bet I could be the first to give her what she really needs."
Ben knew which girl he was talking about. She had been placed in the women's cell, but the girl couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen. As much as he hated giving Wade any sign that he would approve of the rape and abuse, he had to. "You let me get mine and I'll cover while you get yours."
Wade high-fived him. "You really like the men, huh?" He shook his head and tutted like it was a major loss.
"Who knows what a man likes better than another man? You haven't had head until you've had another man's mouth around your cock." Ben stood. "I'm going to go grab him. Watch the gate for me so no one jumps me."
"Will do." Wade smiled. "Have fun."
