Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“I don’t need a doctor. You can handle it.”
He couldn’t help smiling at the stubborn note in her voice. He wasn’t going to argue with her, but a doctor was going to examine the very angry-looking laceration. “Tell me about your reservations over Jeremiah Wheating. You had a reaction the minute his name was mentioned,” Gorya said, more to distract her from what he was doing, although he did want to know why Jeremiah’s name would bother her.
The kid was a hard worker. He’d practiced shifting so much he was lightning fast now. He’d always been a good shot, almost as good as Meiling. He might be overeager for action, but that was just his youth. He could be counted on. There was no way he was anything but loyal. He’d been savagely clawed in the throat, and his voice was changed, but women seemed to find the sound of it attractive—or maybe it was his ready smile. The boy had charm.
He removed her trousers, sliding them over her hips and down her legs, careful to keep from jarring her before bending over the bed to examine the laceration closer, making certain the edges were clean. It looked nasty and deeper than he’d first thought. He was going to disinfect it and leave it for the doctor to look at. He raised his head to meet her eyes.
She sighed. “I told you I started hunting the men who raped me and then the men who raped and killed Polina. I also went after the ones who killed the others I traveled with. I started backtracking, looking for any of those who might be involved in human trafficking. It wasn’t that difficult. One name would lead to another. I didn’t want to just take out the bottom-feeders, I wanted to find out who was at the top.”
Of course she would want that. His woman was no slacker. She would set her sights high and not take her eye off the prize. He was exactly the same way.
“This is going to hurt, baby. Take a breath and let it out.”
She did as he instructed, and he didn’t hesitate or prolong the anticipation, pouring the solution over the laceration to clean out the knife wound. She gasped, clamping down on his wrist, tears leaking from her eyes, but she didn’t cry aloud.
“I’m sorry. I know that hurt. Knife wounds are notorious for infection.”
“It’s all right.”
It wasn’t, but there was little to be done about it. “Keep talking.” He sank down onto the mattress beside her, brushing back her hair with as gentle a touch as he could manage.
“I started this loose ladder, trying to figure out who was at the top. Someone had to be directing the various shipments. They were too organized. I carefully followed each man who had anything to do with trafficking and studied those around him, keeping track of names and places and where they came from. Who they associated with. Eventually, patterns began to develop.”
That was exactly what Drake Donovan had been trying to do for some time with the help of Gorya and his cousins. Jake Bannaconni, a very wealthy businessman, had been helping as well. He found it ironic that his woman was attempting to do the exact same thing he had been doing all along.
He wiped the tiny beads of sweat from her face with a cool washcloth. “How did Jeremiah figure into your ladder?”
“I was working up the ladder. My ladder became a tree with quite a few branches. I found names leading from New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio and traced them back to Borneo and then to Russia and Panama. When you said Jeremiah came from Panama, that was a major red flag.”
Gorya didn’t like the sound of her tree. Mitya’s wife’s family had been couriers, and someone had killed them for a notebook that contained damning evidence against Drake Donovan and Jake Bannaconni. Her grandfather hadn’t delivered the notebook from New Orleans to Houston. He’d hidden it from everyone. He’d been murdered before he could tell anyone he had it. Her father had been murdered as well. No one knew who wrote the notebook and sent it to Houston or where it was supposed to be delivered.
“Do you have solid evidence against the men you have on this tree or only suspicion?”
“If they are suspects, they’re posted in one color, and if I have investigated them thoroughly and know they are part of the trafficking ring, they are in another color. I have them color-coded by the rank they hold as well.”
“Do you know absolutely who is involved from New Orleans?”
She nodded. “Yes. There are three men from New Orleans. One was a plant and two are native to New Orleans. The strange thing was, I had already tracked down and investigated them when a woman contacted me through Donovan and asked me to investigate one of them for her. I was a little shocked. I found the two locals through the plant. He was the one I had been tracking down. He had been sent from Panama to Borneo to be trained with Donovan. Donovan has no idea how many of these men he’s taken on and trained for the Panama shifters.”