behind him, barely keeping them both on their feet. Dylan knew he'd hurt his brother because his own hand hurt like a sonofabitch.
"You asshole! You sent her in knowing there was a chance this would happen? Knowing we'd lose our connection to her?" He lunged forward to put his hands around his brother's neck but was held back by Mitchell's arms keeping him back.
"That's it. You're out of control. You need to remember we're not the enemy here, junior," Lukus said calmly.
"The hell you're not! I could have had her to the California-Arizona border by now!"
Lukus's voice was low in his ear. "And then what? Look over your shoulder every day for the rest of your lives? She had to give the journal back. You know it. Davenport was never gonna let her leave with it."
"We could have mailed the fucking book to him." A wave of nausea hit Dylan. "We sent her in there. We're responsible for her. I'm responsible for her." His vision blurred as emotional tears threatened to flow.
The hell if I'm gonna cry like a pussy. I need to stay strong to get her out of there.
Cameron's voice interrupted them, defusing the situation. "Hello? Can we get back to work? Now that I know there was a link between Davenport and Hannah's father, I was able to do some cross-referencing of their known contacts. You guys aren't gonna like this, but I think I know what the private party is all about. It looks like the only perps who managed to get out of the hot water a few years ago when the shit hit the fan were several high-powered sheiks and businessmen from the Middle East and Eastern Bloc countries that didn't have extradition. My guess is that the raids shut down their market for young flesh and Jake was all too happy to fill the void with his own auctions. I sure as hell hope it isn't underage victims. Adults are bad enough."
The men in the room were silent; unsure what to do with this new information. It made sense that the event they were talking about could be an auction. All this time, he'd been tracking a real-life human trafficker. Never had Dylan wished more that he'd just killed Jake Davenport when he'd had the chance. He'd have been doing the world a fucking favor.
I won't make that mistake again. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life behind bars. Killing the bastard will happen the next time our paths cross.
He heard Lukus on the phone behind him. Apparently, his boss felt exactly the same way. He was shouting into the phone at his contact at the FBI. "I had you guys on high alert. I told you things were gonna move fast. You need to get your asses over here or we won't wait." He quieted while someone on the other end screamed at him loudly enough that Dylan could hear the muffled yelling through the cell phone. He couldn't hear the words, but he had a pretty good idea of the gist when Lukus retorted, "Thirty minutes. You have thirty minutes to get your asses to our rendezvous, or my team and I are going in without you." He waited again before replying. "Then I guess you'd better hang up and haul ass."
Lukus ended the call, but immediately made another. Whoever he was talking to at the other end of the line picked up fast.
"Hey, it's going down. You're at the loft, right?" He waited before adding, "And Aiden is there, too?" More silence. "Good. Call Ethan. Have him close the club until further notice. Don't let the girls out of your sight. I'm not gonna relax until Davenport is in a body bag. And Markus... watch your back."
When Lukus had hung up, Dylan couldn't help but dish him shit. "So your women are tucked away safe and sound with armed guards thousands of miles away from here, but you'll send my woman into the lion's den without any protection? What a fucking hypocrite you are."
Lukus stepped up to look him in the eye. Dylan could see his genuine concern for Hannah in his eyes, and remembered that Lukus Mitchell wasn't his enemy. "Since when is Hannah Martine your woman?"
Dylan didn't hesitate. "Since right now."
The men squared off. Lukus looked conflicted before finally answering. "We wait thirty minutes. If the FBI can't get their shit together by then, we'll go in. Let's get our bulletproof gear on and