I look over my shoulder to catch John shaking his head. “Not yet, Kid. I’m still working on it.”
“I’m not a kid,” Torque grumbles.
“Hey, I told you let me handle it,” I say as I place a hand on Torque’s arm. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Yeah, whatever. You’re forgetting about her. We’ve done nothing in over a year, and he’s been useless for a whole five months.”
John’s chest presses against my back as he closes the distance to get closer to Torque. “Kid, if this was easy, I would have found her by now. I’m doing everything I can. It would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t have to cover your tracks, while you leave a messy ass trail.”
Torque’s cheeks turn red and his mouth pops open. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. You have no idea who I am, kid. Don’t test me, today is not the day.”
“Fuck you,” Torques snaps then storms off.
I spin around and glare at John. “He’s just a kid. Did you have to talk to him like that?” I hiss.
He covers his face with both hands and exhales. Dragging them down and away, he grits his teeth and steps around me. I turn and grab his arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To talk to the kid. Go get ready.”
I narrow my eyes at him, taking in the stress on his face. “Leave him. Give him some time to calm down. I’ll meet you out front.”
He searches my eyes for a moment before he nods. He reaches out as if he’s going to lift his hand to touch my face, but he drops the hand as fast as he raises it. I watch as he turns and walks out, looking lost. Something I never thought I’d be able to say about John.
I knit my brows as I try to figure out what could have him so unhinged. John is always so unfazed. When I told him about how they tortured us, he listened without saying a word or showing a reaction, although I know he was boiling inside. The more I get to know him the more I learn to read him.
“Whose ass am I going to have to beat?” I say to myself as I narrow my gaze on his back.
John
“Fuck,” I growl as I pace in from of the training dorms.
I was already pissed off when I arrived. Having that kid throw in my face that I haven’t been able to deliver on the only thing Roni has ever asked me for gets so far under my skin, it feels like my flesh will burn off. Trying to find out what happened to her friend has proven to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I never fail at a mission and yet, I can’t find this girl, and if I’m honest it’s because I’ve been so fucking distracted for the last five months.
“Hey, what’s up?” Felix answers his phone.
He sounds exhausted. I know he has a huge workload and shit going on of his own. Which is why I haven’t pulled him into this for help. That stops here though.
“I need a favor. I’m sending you a file. I need you to try to find this girl. I’ve hit wall after wall. Something isn’t right about the entire thing,” I say in frustration.
“Who is she?”
“She was a captive in that trafficking ring. Roni says she told them her name was Natasha.”
“I’m assuming you found out that’s not her name,” he says.
“Not at all. I started with that name and the trip she told Roni she’d been on with her family, in North Korea. Never found a Natasha.
“But here’s the thing… it’s all fishy. The entire thing looks like one of your jobs. You know, if you were hiding someone or their trail,” I bite out.
Felix releases a long whistle. “No moving forward or back,” he says distractedly. I know he’s looking through the file I sent him. “I’ll get on it. See what I can dig up, but this girl looks like a ghost. Should I look into the assholes that got away?”
I tighten my jaw. “I did a little of that. As much as I can for now. The team that hit the warehouse found three guys with bullets in their heads and four of the girls the same way. None of the girls fit our girl’s description. We’re not supposed to bring that shit back on our heads, so we need to be