Free Cold Snap by Allison Brennan Page A

“Sometimes, Elle, you have to laugh, otherwise we’d be depressed all the time.”
    “Did your people learn anything important?”
    “Maybe. Chi Sun Shipping, owned by one of Lee’s holding companies, is on a watch list for human trafficking.”
    Elle didn’t say anything.
    “Elle?”
    “That can’t be right.”
    “You’re defending him now?”
    “No! But—shouldn’t people have known? I mean, you waltz into town and six hours later you’ve connected my nemesis to trafficking in people?”
    “RCK was started by two ex-military who specialized in hostage rescue. Since then, we’ve grown to do primarily corporate and personal security, but we still have one guy who works south of the border whose primary job is finding Americans who have disappeared—and likely were kidnapped and forced to be sex slaves. So RCK keeps tabs on human trafficking and forwards information to the appropriate governments. We can’t stop it all, but we do our part.”
    “Which sounds like more than most.”
    “I work with some good people. My brother Jack is one of them.”
    “But—human trafficking. You’d think I would have heard something, sensed something.” She wasn’t sold on his information. And, truth was, Lee could have his fingers in a lot of illegal activities. Criminals like him—those with legitimate business and public ties—often had multiple illegal venues. Maybe he was running drugs in San Francisco—and running people out of Stockton. But in Patrick’s experience, it was likely connected. His legitimate business was the perfect way to launder money. And working with the teen center gave him access to throwaway kids.
    “They prey on runaways—kids no one will miss.”
    “Do you think they took Kami?” Elle’s voice turned panicky.
    “We don’t know anything—we don’t even know if what’s going on here has anything to do with his shipping company. We just need to be aware that this could be a lot worse than drug trafficking.”
    “It’s worse,” Elle mumbled.
    “Excuse me?”
    “That’s what Doreen said to me before she died. She said, ‘It’s worse than we thought.’ I didn’t know what she meant. I didn’t understand—I should have.”
    Patrick reached over and took her hand again. “You had no reason to think that Lee was trafficking in slaves when you had proof he was tied in with a local drug dealer. Let’s go to TK. It’s nearly one in the morning, we should be able to snoop around.”
    “He’ll have security, I don’t know how we’re going to get in—”
    “There is no ‘we.’ I’m going in, if I can. And I promise, I won’t trip an alarm.”
    “How can you promise that?”
    “Because I know how to bypass virtually any alarm system ever made.” He squeezed her hand, then let go and took out his cell phone. “And if I can’t, I have someone who can.”
    “And he’s just going to meet us here?”
    “No, he’ll do it remotely.” He sent Sean a text message. How late was it in Denver? Two hours ahead?
    Sean responded:
    Yes, I’m awake. We have a dead body here. At least, we think we have a dead body. There’s a lot of blood, no body. What do you need?
    Patrick blinked at the message. He decided not to ask questions.
    Can you be on call for the next thirty minutes? I might need to tap into your expertise.
    Though Patrick’s phone was secure, he didn’t want to explicitly type that he might need Sean to hack into a security system.
    Sean replied:
    I’m going to start charging RCK for my services. But since you’re Lucy’s brother, I’ll give you a freebie.
    Patrick shook his head.
    Thanks, pal, you’re all heart.
    “We’re good,” he said to Elle.
    “I don’t even want to know what that was about.”
    Patrick directed Elle to park halfway down the street from TK Clothing. He didn’t want her car to be caught on external cameras. The building was dark, except for faint security lighting, dim through the heavy mist.
    “No one’s here,” Elle