Free Kill Switch: A Vigilante Serial Killer Action Thriller (Angel of Darkness Suspense Thriller Series Book 1) by Steve N. Lee Page A

moments earlier had vanished, replaced by that gray complexion and drawn skin that she’d had when Tess had first met her.
    Blondie nodded to Elena. “She very sick. She will be well?”
    In silence, Tess grimaced.
    With a face showing absolutely no emotion, Blonde eyed Tess and then Elena again. Finally, she pointed at Cat on Tess’s phone. “She have big trouble.”
    Elena gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth.
    “So you saw her?” Tess said. “Do you know where she is now? Who took her?”
    “Bad man take. Very, very bad.”
    Gasping again, Elena covered her face with both hands as tears welled in her eyes.
    “Where?” Tess said. “Where did he take her?”

Chapter 08
     
    Blondie said, “Where I don’t know.”
    “But you know Jacek Grabowski?” asked Tess.
    “Who Jacek Grabowski?”
    “The man who took this woman.” Tess held up the photo again.
    “Is not name,” said Blondie.
    Goddamnit, they were getting fewer and fewer leads. When were they going to catch a break?
    “Do you know why he takes women?” asked Elena.
    Blondie rolled her eyes. “For candle dinner and romance.”
    “Oh, God, no.” Tears again rolled down Elena’s cheeks.
    “So how long does he usually keep them?” asked Tess.
    “How long? What you mean ‘how long’? Forever is how long. You think this rape? No, this business.”
    “What?”
    “Is business,” said Blondie. “Beautiful woman worth big money.”
    Elena squealed as if someone had poked her in the side with an ice pick.
    “Oh, Christ.” Tess rubbed her brow.
    The nightmare Tess had pictured involved either rape or murder. What the blonde was implying suggested a nightmare on a whole other level.
    While prostitution was legal, kidnapping a woman and imprisoning her in a brothel certainly wasn’t. At least now, if Tess wanted their help, the police would have to get involved.
    “You see. Can do nothing.” Blondie waved them away. “Now you know. Now you go.”
    Tess slapped her hand down on the table. “We’re not going anywhere until we get Elena’s daughter back. Will you help us?”
    Blondie studied Tess, as if deciding if she could trust her.
    Tess needed to secure her help – she was the best lead they had. “If you’re worried about your safety, I can protect you.”
    Arching an eyebrow, Blondie snickered. “You?”
    At five feet seven inches, Tess was taller than most women, but she could see how that alone would mean nothing to someone who hadn’t seen her in action. “So the police. We can go to the police.”
    Blondie leaned toward Tess. “Say me. In your country, police all good and don’t take money? Or sometime bad man do bad thing and police do nothing?”
    Tess had no comeback for cold hard fact. The only reason organized crime existed was because the crime bosses knew exactly whose palms to grease to remain untouchable.
    Blondie nodded at Tess’s silence and leaned back in her chair.
    Her voice wavering, Elena said something in Polish. Tears streamed down her cheeks,
    Blondie looked at her coldly, but said nothing.
    Tess peeled off some notes from the roll in her pocket and offered the woman two hundred zlotys. Fifty bucks seemed a fair price for a little information. “We need to find this man.”
    With a bored expression, Blondie raised an eyebrow at Tess again.
    Altogether, Tess had around six hundred zlotys and a couple of hundred dollars she always kept on her for emergencies. The haul totaling around three hundred and fifty bucks, she bundled up all the notes and held them out to the woman.
    “Here. There’s nearly two thousand zlotys. It’s yours.”
    “I sorry, but your daughter you no see again. Best you accept.”
    Without making any sound, Elena sobbed, her whole body juddering as if she was having a fit.
    Tess could drag Blondie down an alley and beat the information out of her, or she could appeal to her compassion. While both strategies worked, the results differed person to person. The secret was in