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“Door’s locked.” I don’t look at her as I hold out the cigarette. “Take this, Red.”
She does. Her fingers are cold, yet still send a zing through me as they touch.
“You’re a piece of shit, Dunkel.”
I close my hand into a fist and punch him hard in the face. He reels back into the door. I let the impact and sting absorb back into my body as his nose spurts blood.
“I said I don’t know. It’s a message. I got an email with the details. I get paid when they contact you. I’m supposed to send an email back confirming you’re going to get the list for the girl’s release.”
I grab him by his lapel and haul him up against the door. Then I let go, grab his head, and slam it into the door. He falls to the ground with a loud groan.
Leaping on him, I start pounding my fists into his head. “You motherfucking sick piece of shit. You’re talking child porn. Fifteen? I should fucking kill you.”
Scarlett doesn’t say a goddamn thing as I pummel the living shit out of him.
It’s only when the man starts to fade that she speaks.
“Malone? Malone?” Her voice comes from a distance, cutting through the buzzing in my head. “Malone! If you kill him, he can’t get that message back. We can’t save Amelia if he’s dead.”
“Fuck. Fuck!” I punch him once more for good measure. Then I get up and press the buzzer on my desk. “I need cleanup.”
Then I cross to the door and unlock it.
Smith and two bouncers appear. They take the guy between them.
“Jesus, Malone,” Smith says. “What the fuck?”
“He likes making forced homemade porn with fifteen-year-old girls.”
“Oh. And you let him live because?” he asks me, voice hardening.
I glance at Scarlett who’s still holding the cigarette. There’s not that much left, but I ease it from her fingers and finish it. “He needs to contact the kidnappers. They want the client list.”
Now he glances at Scarlett. “Does she know where it’s located?”
“She doesn’t know where it is, but she’s going to help me look. Tomorrow she’s taking the day off and we’re going to the docks. The office there.” I give her a small smile, but she doesn’t return it.
I don’t expect her to.
“She can speak for herself,” Scarlett mutters.
“Smith, Scarlett. Scarlett, Smith. Just Smith.” I motion to the bouncers. “Take him, make sure he does what he needs to do, and then set him free. A few blocks from here.”
One of them nods. “Yes, sir.”
“How long?”
“Dickwad said forty-eight hours. They’ll be in touch, so I told fuckface Dunkel that I expect that forty-eight hours to be from when they contact me. It’ll be tomorrow sometime. Until then, we’ll keep trying to find them.” Now I hold my hand out to Scarlett, aware that Smith’s watching closely, the asshole. “Let’s get you the fuck home.”
Smith mutters, “Home.”
I ignore him.
Scarlett puts her hand in mine and it’s still cold. She had an intense session, and she didn’t get the aftercare that she needed, not fully. I do actually feel bad about that. The sins of her father aren’t hers. She wasn’t even born. I’m still killing him when this is all done, though. But she deserves more in aftercare.
I rub my thumb over the back of her hand. And then I glance at Smith.
“You want me to get Orion and Mercer?”
