Free Justice Incarnate by Regan Black

him, then the lights in the small room came up, stopping just short of too bright.
    Jaden waved at the camera in the corner and jerked her thumb at Thomas. "He's cool. We're both dead and I need a place for a day or two."
    "It'll cost," Micky's voice declared from the speaker.
    "One class," she agreed.
    "Two."
    She rolled her eyes. "Okay. But if you or your girls talk you've made an enemy."
    "Same goes," Micky replied, before an entire wall of the room slid away to reveal a warehouse full of young women packing smuggler's bags with pure, refined sugar.
    She heard Thomas–Brian–suck in his breath at the sight of such criminal activity. "Oh, relax, you've dined with worse."
    "So you've said."
    "Maybe just once in this dance of ours, you'll simply take my word."
    His furrowed brow said it all. He had no clue to the true origin of their relationship.
    Then Micky descended from his office and embraced her. Quite an unusual display from the man, and at only their second personal meeting. Jaden noticed he looked nothing like the confident, cocky smuggler she'd met earlier.
    "What's happened?"
    "Two more girls gone. This morning. The cargo dumped in the gutter."
    "Which you recovered, naturally," Brian said.
    Micky gave Brian a calculating glance. "Naturally. Who is this?" he asked Jaden.
    "Man of a thousand faces. He's–"
    "The chief," Micky snarled as recognition dawned. He turned on Jaden. "You've exposed the heart of my business to a man who can take it down with a word?"
    Put that way, maybe she should've left Brian to manage the second explosion on his own.
    "The media thinks he's dead. Take a look." She pointed over his shoulder. The monitors he had at the end of the room were running the story now. Micky strode over, punched a button for volume and paused. His head swiveled back to Brian, then toward the monitor once more. Jaden waited until he signaled them to join him upstairs.
    "Come on," she whispered to Brian. "And behave yourself."
    "I knew about him, y'know."
    "And let his business run unhindered?" she asked, climbing the stairs.
    "Unhindered doesn't mean unmonitored. He's breaking the law, but it's a stupid law."
    She felt him lean in, felt his words against her neck. She hated herself for the instant shiver of excitement. Attraction had plenty to do with it, but loving him once had doomed her forever. A woman should learn her lesson and move on.
    She stopped at the landing, just outside the office doorway and gaped at him.
    "Can you really say that?"
    "Sure. Especially now that I'm dead."
    His grin was sharp and fast. And electric.
    "Well then, dead men tell no tales," she reminded him, struggling to regain her objectivity.
    "Got it. You talk I'll observe."
    "Deal." For a second, hope bloomed again. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and common sense nipped it.
    Stepping inside, she focused on Micky. "So what's the big upset?"
    "I've lost another one. Dead this time. Used and dead and tossed back."
    "Tossed back?" Jaden and Brian asked simultaneously. Jaden scowled at Brian who acknowledged his mistake with a dip of his chin.
    Micky continued, oblivious to their subtle exchange. "Tossed back. At the back door, of all places."
    "Back door?" Jaden inquired, alone this time, though she could see Brian thinking the same.
    "The private entrance for my girls. Only they know about it. Only they have access."
    "Then someone's talked."
    "I assume so."
    "Have all the missing girls been–accounted for?" Brian asked.
    Can't fight nature, Jaden thought. Brian's nature was inquisitive, even with his narrow mind.
    "No. Three have never been heard from again."
    "Have you reported this? Given descriptions?" Brian asked.
    Jaden nudged him with an elbow. "Pretty talkative for an observer." She turned back to Micky. "But he's got a point."
    "Are you kidding? Filing a report is financial suicide for me. And I think this bastard knows it."
    "You mean your mules are targeted because you won't complain."
    Micky shot a look at