Free Birds in Paradise by Dorothy McFalls

time.”
    I moved without thinking. Blakely’s gun exploded, the flash of fire blinding me, just as I slammed into Pete’s side. I let my body drop to the ground. There was no need to repeat history and take a bullet in the chest. And judging by the hole in the wall behind me, that was exactly where it would have landed if I hadn’t moved Pete’s or my own body out of the way in time.
    By the time I peeled my eyes from the wounded wall, Blakely was gone.
    Pete swore and took off running. Naturally, I followed.
    Since Blakely wasn’t nearly in the shape he used to be, we soon caught up to him. Pete brought him to the ground with an impressive flying tackle. Blakely might have been down, but he was still very dangerous as he twisted and fought Pete. His gun fired twice before I wrenched it from his grasp and managed to get one of his wrists into his own handcuffs. Pete gave me a brisk nod and then secured Blakely’s other wrist in the cuff.
    “Where are the women?” Pete demanded.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blakely growled from where he was lying with his face pressed against the asphalt.
    “He knows,” Pete said, looking up at me. He was breathing hard and his shirt was ripped. And he was towering over the villain. It was the most romantic sight I’d ever seen.
    “How long have you known about Blakely?” I asked Pete.
    “Shortly after you stormed off,” he said. “You should have stuck around. I would have told you.”
    “I don’t believe that for a second.”
    He shrugged. “You know me too well, then.” He slammed Blakely’s head against the pavement. “Where are the women?”
    “They are still alive, aren’t they?” I cried, barely able to restrain myself from attacking Blakely myself. “Tell me you haven’t let anyone hurt them.”
    “Of course they aren’t hurt. They’d be worthless damaged.” Pete paused and then frowned. “Surely, you’ve figured it all out. You wouldn’t be in the middle of this neighborhood, otherwise.”
    “Right...” I bit my lower lip as the rest of the pieces fell into place. “Of course I suspected Blakely all along,” I lied.
    But I was beginning to understand what was happening. The Vietnamese women who had been flooding the area. And where there was importing, there was usually some exporting going on, too. Even if it was human exports. The young white women would be exotic treasures in the Orient. “But I didn’t have any proof,” I said.
    “I do,” Pete said. “I dig some digging this afternoon and found the account Kevin had opened several months ago. Money has been flowing like water into that account from several banks in Vietnam. It’s over, Kevin. You might as well talk. Make everything easier for you and cooperate. Agree to testify against the men who are paying you and tell us how to find the women.”
    “They’re in a warehouse,” he said, his voice deflated with defeat. He gave an address. “I think they said they were going to ship them to Singapore the day after tomorrow. I was supposed to get them another girl before then.”
    “How could you agree to sell those women?” I asked, appalled at the thought of anyone doing something so...so...vile.
    “Selling them? Those bitches were selling themselves. I was merely cleaning up our city and putting them with a service.”
    “You were selling them into slavery!” I shouted.
    “I was earning my due,” Blakely shouted back. “I was sick of seeing everyone else benefit from a take-what-you-can world, while I was keeping my nose clean. I decided it was time to think of myself first and get some of that money that’s out there for the taking. That’s how it is. I was simply doing what I had to in order to get ahead.” He craned his neck until his eyes met mine. “You can’t say you don’t worry about money first and everything else second.”
    My stomach clenched. He was right. I’ve lied, cheated, and stolen in order to get my hands on enough money to