Page 49 of Keeping My Girl

CHAPTER28

Nicholas

ALDO ALERTS US early Saturday morning about a possible human trafficking situation not too far from here, and I make my way down into the control room. Thousands of servers line two of the walls in the back. There are several computer stations with multiple monitors, jammers, and all the other high-tech equipment and hardware that our resident hackers need to help us on our quest to hunt down the bad guys and bring them to justice.

Not that we aren’t bad guys too in our own right. We are just doing some good to help balance out some of the bad.

I go to where Aldo is seated in front of five monitors. His skin is pale and his eyes look bloodshot behind his glasses. I would tell him he needs to get out more, but we both know he has no interest in the outside world. Aldo has been a loner for as long as I’ve known him. My dad hired him when he was young, probably around the age I am now. And he’s been a real asset to the team in bringing down the seedy criminals who deal in the flesh trade while simultaneously protecting everyone staying here along with my family.

My father may have several drug rings and do his fair share of gunrunning, but he would never sell a human being for profit. That’s where he draws the line. That’s where we all draw the line. And since the bastards get away with selling young women and children more often than not, we have made it our lives’ work to stop as many of them as we can. The government certainly can’t stop them, and the police are usually being paid off to look the other way. So someone has to step up and bring these bastards down.

“What did you find?” I ask, taking a seat next to Aldo.

He runs a hand through his dark hair before he begins typing so fast I lose track of the movement of his fingers. “One of our drones caught some suspicious activity in this old, abandoned hospital. It’s supposed to be empty and guarded, but it looks like it might be holding girls until their next shipment. Perhaps whoever is doing this paid off the regular security guard to keep quiet about it.”

I stare at one of the monitors while he brings up feed from one of the drones. That’s the great thing about technology. You can have eyes everywhere and all at once. It’s crazy how the world is evolving so quickly. You just gotta try and keep up, and Aldo is always on top of the latest technological advances and gadgets.

At first, there’s just grainy footage. But with a few keystrokes, Aldo has the video enhanced and zoomed in. Some big, bald guy is dragging a couple of young women into the decrepit building with boarded up windows. When the man emerges again, he locks the door behind him and leaves in a black, nondescript van.

“I’m going to send in a drone with infrared sensors to see how many heat signatures we can pick up inside. Most of the hospital is made of thick concrete and brick, so we probably won’t get an exact number,” he explains.

“But it’s better than nothing.” And better than going in blind and risk being ambushed, I think to myself.

“Exactly,” he agrees. “We’ll know a lot more in about twenty minutes or so,” he tells me.

Just then, the door to the control room opens and in walks my father. While Aldo does his thing, I decide to fill my dad in on what’s going on.

“We’ll wait for the thermal info before we do anything,” My dad suggests after I’m done talking.

“I want to lead the team,” I tell him confidently.

He hesitates, his gray eyes pinning my own. “I don’t know if you’re in the right headspace right now, Nico. You know, with everything happening with Selina.”

“It’ll be good for me to get out and do this,” I offer.

My father considers it for several seconds before giving me the go ahead. I’ve watched him lead a hundred different teams before, and now it’s my turn. I know what is expected of me, and I know the danger that’s involved. Extraction of these women won’t be easy, by any means; and there’s a good chance that someone will end up hurt…or worse.

But the reward always outweighs the risk. We’re saving innocent lives. Nothing can surpass that.

* * *

The abandoned hospital sits on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. The beach that the hospital fronts is dead at this time of night, so we drive right over the sand and to one of the side gates with our vehicles packed full of our best men and enough firepower to take down whatever and whoever we find inside.

The fence is easily breeched; and once we’re inside, all is quiet. Everyone knows what is expected of them from this point forward. We always plan ahead for every possible situation and outcome. But no matter how hard you prepare; something is always bound to go awry. I just hope that tonight is not one of those times.

Aldo sends me a text the moment we are inside the fence. I can faintly hear the drone above us, so I know he’s searching for any potential hazards in the area as well as scanning for how many bodies are inside the hospital.

His text reads: At least eight inside.

Most of them are going to be helpless, scared women. But we won’t know how many guards are here until we get in the building.

I hold up eight fingers, signaling the number of people to everyone before I motion for us to get ready to move in. Aldo didn’t spot any motion detection cameras stationed anywhere on the property, so we have the element of surprise on our side. These fuckers won’t know what hit them until it’s too late.

I grab my Glock from behind my back and hold it steady in my right hand before we move to the back door of the main building.

Miner takes the lead, standing in front of the old, rusted door with his gun cocked. I’ve known Lance Miner since I was a teenager. He’s a huge guy, ex-military and a total bad ass. He lives for missions like this. After his sister was sold into human trafficking and murdered, he dedicated his life to protect girls just like her. That’s how he came under the employ of my father.

We became instant friends. Both of us were affected by the flesh trade when someone we loved was taken, and it changed our outlook on life. It changed us more than we let on. And tonight, he is the perfect person to lead this mission with me.

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