Finders Keepers
Cheryl sat behind her desk and tried not to clap in glee at the numbers the Russians were talking. “So you’re going to pay one hundred thousand per girl?”
“We are going to pay you one hundred thousand to see the girls you have available. Should you have candidates that meet with our approval we will give you five hundred thousand per girl. Is that acceptable or should we take our business elsewhere?”
“No that’s great I mean uh that’s acceptable. We’ll start with the buttercups, we have a group waiting to be sent to France in the auditorium but those are mostly weak girls that wont be missed.”
“остановка, you misunderstand me. For the pleasure of our money we will see all the girls, I don’t care about the French they need whores and those you can find anywhere. If they have a problem with us they are free to contact me of course.”
“No no of course it’s not a problem you may find someone worth the honor of your training among any of the girls we have available.”
“We will need to see your books the real books. My associate Vladimir is a genius with numbers and he will do the transfers but first we cover our tracks we need to be assured there is no trace of us left behind.”
When she looked ready to protest Sophie merely raised an eyebrow and she hastily agreed. They followed her to the auditorium which was locked with several locks and chains and had a “closed for construction” hanging on the door.
“We have shipments once a quarter but it would look suspicious if all the girls went missing at once so they run away or disappear a few at time. We hold them here until they are ready to ship. We throw in a few homeless girls to puff up our numbers so there are a few throw aways whose information we don’t have.”
Sophie tried to choke back her tears as she looked into the terrified faces of the girls. There were at least twenty girls all pale tear stained faces. They huddled in a corner, the braver ones scowled at them as walked past. Hardison walked straight to the office set up in back wasting no time in uploading all their files. They would find every girl who passed though this school. Nate still had friends in Interpol they would be calling them to help these girls once they had all the evidence and Darcy’s friends
“Does the founder Ms. Clearlake know of this?” Sophie asked desperately trying to keep her voice even.
“Of the deal with the French Traffickers of course it was her idea. Her husband works for the French Consulate and he was smuggling girls on a smaller scale. Janet is the brains behind Clearlake school but our deal will be just between us.”
“Of course, as long as I get what I want. I have no cares for what you do. Now Mikal will question the girls while we finalize our agreements.”
Nate walked over to the girls while Sophie distracted the principal and Hardison got his evidence to bury the bastards. “Eliot, Parker get the rest of the girls to the gym for cover. We just need this last bit of evidence and to Make sure Darcy’s friends are here after that we alert the police.” He held up his hands showing he was unarmed tried to put a friendly smile on his face.
“It’s all right I promise. We’re going to get you out of here. I need your help, first is any one injured?”
“Sarah’s sick she’s been here for a couple of weeks, she’s diabetic. We’ve been trying to do what we can but our teachers aren’t exactly helpful.”
“Ok Eliot, leave everyone with Parker see if you can find some insulin.” The girls looked at Nate like he was crazy. “I have help on the way, I promise.” He indicated the com unit in his ear “Now which of you is Jesse Sanchez and Sky well Darcy didn’t actually tell us your last name.”
The fierce brunette who had been talking raised her hand, her chin pointing towards a darker skinned girl with thick black hair that hung to her waist. “I’m supposed to tell you that Aloha means family and family means nobody gets left behind.”
“Or forgotten, Girls Darcy really did send him. I told you she would get us out of here. Did she bring my mom oh god not my uncle Chucho he will straight up kill everyone here.”
“No, She brought a different back up but look your principal thinks we’re on her side so I need you play along while we get everyone else to safety, can you do that?”
Jesse nodded huddling next to Sky. The others had called them stupid, foolish for thinking someone would save them but Jesse knew two things. One Darcy Lewis didn’t leave people behind. (Her favorite movie wasn’t Lilo and Stitch for nothing) and two her mother would fight the devil himself for her and Darcy so either way her way she was going to get rescued.
Eliot raced through the halls Meghan had told him the nurse’s office had insulin in stock. He was going to get medicine for those kids then he was going to punch in some heads before getting his girl out of the basement!
“Darcy Lou you still there darlin?”
“Yeah El, no worries listen you might have to restrain nurse Leslie. He was in the army and is stingy with the meds. They only keep the supplies on hand to impress the parents, we never get to use them. While you’re there bring the first aid kit and maybe pack some Gatorade’s he keeps stocked in his mini fridge I bet the girls are thirsty.”
“That’s a good idea sweetheart.”
“Yeah we’ll I’m just chock full of good ideas.”
Eliot knocked on the door to the nurse office, tried his best charming smile. It took one second before he realized the jig was up. This guy wasn’t just military he was special forces and he and Eliot were familiar.
“Quinn what the fuck are you doing working for a girls school?”
‘“Spencer, I had really hoped never to see you again after the last time. So figured why not take a cushy job at a girls school. I didn’t have to kill anyone, got all the Gatorade I could drink, nice scenery its almost like a vacation.”
“Yeah, you checking out the local scenery Quinn? These are high school girls! Did you know they were selling them to sex traffickers!”
“Look you know the deal, guys like us don’t ask questions. We do the job and nobody gets hurt unless they pay us extra. Did I notice girls going missing…” He shrugged “they pay me well not to notice anything.”
“Quinn, believe it not I have better things to do than fight you. I don’t have time to kick your ass today. I got a sick girl that need the insulin in the mini fridge so I’m giving you one chance to get out of here. Make your escape before this place goes down.”
“They pay me to stop these kind of things Spencer.”
Spencer lunged for him but Eliot was ready kicking the medicine cart towards him knocking him from his path it only stopped him for a second before he was up throwing an upper cut at Eliot he blocked that but not the knife appeared in Quinns hand. He jabed Eliot in the stomach. It doesn’t slow him down Darcy is counting on him to make sure all these girls get out of here alive and he’ll be damned if he disappoints her. He uses Quinn’s brief moment of celebration to run at him, flipping over the still down cart and kick him in the jaw. Quinn was fast to recover and Eliot was bleeding profusely, the knife hadn’t hit anything vital but he could bleed out if he didn’t take care of it soon. He punched him in the face using every ounce of power he had. He felt Quinns nose break into mush beneath his fist and he briefly regretted it.
“God damn it Spencer, you’re not even pulling your punches like normal. What’s going on?” Quinn held his gushing nose his voice garbled around the blood streaming from his nose.
Eliot laughed that his nemesis as Alec would not so fondly call Quinn, knew him well enough to know that something was wrong. Eliot turned off the com. Darcy didn’t need to know how much he cared for her already. He was old, wrong for her but he would do what he could to be sure she had a good life, one she deserved. ”This school is wrong but you’re right my girl is here locked in detention. And I promised her I would get her people out of here. I ain’t done much good in my life but I ain’t about to let her down.”
“Wait you got yourself tied down to a kid. Come on Eliot you know better than that. It’s nice to look but you don’t pluck the forbidden fruit.”
“I ain’t plucking anything geez it ain’t like that. This day just keeps getting better the bad guy is giving me lessons on morals. This girl is special meant for something bigger and better than me. I am damn sure going to make sure she has the chance to change the world.”
Quinn shook his head, fuck if the love bug hadn’t bitten the best hitter he had ever known. Well he knew better than to fight against a man in love they were stupid, dangerous and he didnt want to be on the wrong side of that.
“All right, Spencer I’m out! Try not to get killed. The insulin is in the back don’t be stupid you’re the only one whose presented a challenge to me in years. I hate to see you taken out by a woman.” Quinn walked away he was leaving the better man not because he had taken a shot to the kidney that may have ruptured it. Even if Eliot’s scoff said he knew otherwise.
Eliot ran with the insulin he was going to get the meds to Nate then he was getting Darcy out that fucking dark cell. She had remained silent during the fight. He knew she was worried didn’t want to distract him during the fight but he was telling the truth he had Nate and Hardison in his ears for years during fights. He learned real quick to compartmentalize. Darcy’s voice was much pleasanter he would turn back on the coms as soon as he stopped running. She didn’t need his old ass dragging her down. Maybe he was still raw from admitting the truth to Quinn. Who would have thought it would be easier to talk to your enemy than your friends.
“El, EL! Please tell me you’re ok. I’m freaking out a little, its dark and hot. I got used to the sound of your voice. I know it might be a distraction during a fight but I stayed quiet. Please please just grunt or something. So I know that you didn’t die because I know we just met but I kinda love you a little. I don’t think I could take it if something happened to you because of me.”
Darcy took a deep breath she wasn’t gong to panic he was fine he did this for a living. His muscles had muscles and no jumped up school nurse was gong to take him out. So what if without his voice in her ear all she could hear was the erratic beating of her own heart. That didn’t mean a damn thing. Maybe she didn’t do so well with the dark since the kidnapping she was almost a grown woman for goodness sake, she could handle this. She was not going to freak out. She was safe if a little uncomfortable and in an hour all the girls in the school would be safe too. She took a deep breath in and out in and out. Darcy was so busy concentrating on not freaking out she didn’t hear the door open. In fact she didn’t hear anything till the door slammed shut and the grinning face of Noah West stared at her.
“Hello Darcy…”