Page 108 of Bad Medicine
“Leverage?” I questioned, laughing at her gall. “You think you know anything that we can’t figure out on our own?” She scowled, but said nothing. “We’re offering you the chance to get out ahead of this, Amber. The chance to make yourself useful for once in your miserable life.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared down at her. “Just tell us where the exchanges are made, and we’ll never have to look at each other again.”
“And you’ll just let me go? Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Enzo repeated, throwing me a glare. I had been right; Francesca wasn’t happy about me offering Amber a deal, and that meant that Enzo wasn’t happy about it either. But they could both just get the fuck over it; I did what I had to do, and that was all there was to it. “But, you’ll never set foot in Nevada again. You get the fuck outta my town, Amber, and I’ll forget I ever knew you.”
She honestly looked saddened by that, as though she was still holding out hope that he’d pick her, even with a pregnant wife at home.
On some level, I got it; no one liked rejection. But a person also had to know when to cash out their chips and step away from the table, and Amber didn’t seem to have figured that part out quite yet.
“Fine,” she said, her whole body seeming to deflate with her concession. “I’ll tell you, but I want the fake ID I was promised.” When Enzo nodded, she added, “And I want to pick my new name. I won’t let Lexi choose something awful for me out of spite.”
Lexi fuckin’ would have, too.
“You’ll get it. Now, the exchange? What do you know?”
With another dramatic sigh, Amber twirled a finger in her hair and dropped onto the hard folding chair, the only seat in the room.
“He uses buses.”
Enzo and I shared a look.
“Buses?” he questioned.
“Yeah, you know?” Crossing her legs, her feet still stuffed into her sky-high shoes, even after all this time down in The Shed, Amber attempted to look thoughtful. “Like, the kind that the tourists go on when they want to see the sights? He’s got a bus that goes around to all the hotels, picking up hisguests.” Amber snickered when she said it, like the trafficking of human beings was a fuckin’ joke to her or some shit.
This woman was the fuckin’ worst.
“And these people, they just get on the bus for him?” I asked.
“Well, it’s not like aboringbus. It’s a party bus. There’re lights and music and a even a pole. Like, for dancing.”
Enzo and I exchanged a look, one that meant we were both thinking the same thing: how could someone be stupid enough to just get on a random bus?
But, having seen how people tended to behave when they were on vacation in this town, I guessed we shouldn’t really be surprised.
“I mean, he’s got people who arrange it, you know? Like, he gives them jobs and they make sure the people are where they’re supposed to be. There’re these codes he gives out, QR codes or whatever. And they tell people which hotel the bus will be stopping at for pick-up that night.”
“Tell us about the bus.”
“All I know is the bus says ‘Death Valley Tours’ on the front.” She laughed again, and I was seriously reconsidering letting Lexi have her way with that new ID.
“What does he do with them once they’re on the bus?” Enzo asked, trying to keep Amber focused on the task at hand. “How does he get them out of the country.”
“I don’t know, Enzo,” she snapped.
“You spent several months living with the man, Amber. How could you not know anything?”
“I mean,”—she licked her lips, trying for sexy—“when we were together, we didn’t do much talking, you know?”
I made a gagging noise, and Amber shot me a glare.
“Eat a dick, Rocco.”
“I wouldn’t want to put you out of work, Amber.”
“Enough, children,” Enzo barked, leaving Amber and I giving each other dirty looks. “Amber, are you certain there’s nothing else? No other information you have that could tell me where he was sending people once they were on that bus?”
“Well...” She drew the word out, bouncing her foot as she scrunched up her face in thought. “There was one phone call I remember. Gregor had been speaking in Russian or whatever, so I didn’t get any of it, but I do remember one part, because he switched to English for it, and it stuck out, right?”
