Free Exposed by Judith Graves

down. Maybe, but I doubted it.
    Still, he’d never be able to return to this warehouse, or screw up the lives of these kids, and that had to count for something.
    Footsteps pounded up the stairs. Too heavy to be one of the kids. Had to be one of the goons.
    A few quick steps and I hid in the closet to the left of and slightly behind Diesel’s desk. The office door creaked open. Footsteps approached. Slow and steady, circling the room. Whoever it was, he wasn’t here to hide. He was looking for someone.
    “Raven?” a low voice whispered.
    He was looking for me.
    Carefully I shifted to the far corner of the closet. I reached both hands out at shoulder height and hopped off the ground. Then, with my hands and feet braced against the wall, I began to climb, ninja style. Soon I was suspended about four feet high, clinging to the walls to keep myself aloft.
    When the closet door burst open, I was not in plain view. A man’s arm reached in, riffled through some of Diesel’s shirts and suit coats. Then the closet door slammed shut. My upper arms and quads trembled with the strain. It got harder to control my breathing.
    After a long moment of silence, the footsteps retreated. The office door creaked shut. I waited a full minute more, just to be safe, then dropped to the floor with a groan. I exited the closet—and came to a complete stop.
    Link stood in front of me, his arms folded across his chest.
    “I knew you’d be in here.” He gestured to the destruction unfolding in the bay below. “This wasn’t what I had in mind when I spoke with you yesterday.”
    “No, I suppose not.” I walked to the desk, fighting the urge to ask Link for his help. I knew he had a soft spot for me…but then, I’d thought the same thing about Diesel. None of them could be trusted.
    I turned on Diesel’s laptop and inserted a USB drive. “But you won’t stop me, because you know Diesel’s out of control. He had Supersize killed, Link. You know why, don’t you?”
    The burly man looked away.
    “It was the same with Kat, wasn’t it?” A flash of inspiration. I knew I was onto something. “She was a few months from her birthday too. We’re the first to age out in, like, forever. She didn’t screw up that night.” I let out a breath. “She let herself get caught. Prison was better than whatever Diesel had planned.” I slammed my fist on the desk. “Where did they go, Link? The other girls who aged out. The ones who got away.”
    “You don’t want to know,” Link said.
    “Are you sure? If this coup of mine doesn’t go as planned, I think I just might be staring down the very same barrel.”
    Link shook his head. “You know Diesel hates the idea of kids selling themselves on the streets. He takes them in, saves them from all that.”
    I nodded.
    “But once they’re legal, keeping them here isn’t worth the hassle. A kid can’t be charged, but once they reach sixteen, it’s all over. The smart ones, the really pretty ones like you and Kat, he saves for something special. He passes them along to a buddy of his who runs an escort service. Top-of-the-line clientele. You wouldn’t believe who he gets…”
    “Escorts.” A sour taste filled my mouth. “You mean prostitution. He sells us out.”
    Link stared at the floor.
    “Leave while you can,” I said. “The cops will be all over this place in about”—I glanced at the clock on Diesel’s laptop—“seven minutes.”
    Link backed away, into the hall. He met my gaze then, finally. Regret pulled his mouth into a tight line. Then he charged for the stairs.
    I called Jace.
    “What took you so long?” He wasn’t one for small talk.
    “I got a little held up. But we’re good to go. The USB drive is in place.”
    “Good. We need a physical backup in case there’s a cutout during the transfer.” Jace must have pulled the phone away from his ear, because things got muddy, but I heard Bentley rattling off instructions in the background, which Jace repeated to me.