Page 52 of Whiskers on Kittens

I nodded. “Yes, you’re being paid your rate.”

“You’re aware that’s five thousand an hour, correct?”

“Per person?” I did the mental math, shrugged, and said, “That’s no problem.”

“Total,” Carrie corrected.

“Per person, total… I genuinely couldn’t care less either way right now.”

“It’s total. The return of our jewels is why it’s total.”

I nodded, as I could accept the jewels being counted as payment. “Our first target is going to be a SoHo warehouse. We acquired the address during our previous house cleaning efforts. Once you see their setup, you may guide us to other houses that require our special brand of cleaning. You’ll be moving a lot of furniture. If they own it, it’s getting cleaned up. In good news, you don’t have to worry about being too gentle with things. They’re taking care of safe landings of important goods on the other side, although I do request we be very careful with the property of any victims. We’re trying to be gentle with them. All animals we find will be relocated as well, and we will try to make sure any pets of the victims are immediately reunited.”

“That’s gentle for this business.”

“That’s because I’m not normally in this business,” I replied. “I am cleaning up part of the business, but I prefer to limit my trickery to counts of criminal mischief where everyone walks away laughing.”

Carrie considered me before she smiled. “I see. You’re willing to get your hands dirty for others. I’ll make sure the bosses know so there aren’t any unfortunate mistakes. And the offer to gain us access to the FBI?”

“That offer is genuine. Even if I don’t become an official liaison, I have contacts, and I’m willing to use them on your behalf, especially if it involves appropriate house cleaning.” I sipped my wine, leaned back in my seat, and waited for the woman to chew through the offer. “You’ll have to keep your record spotless, but as long as I’m talking to someone with a spotless record, then it’s fine. Unless it’s petty counts of criminal mischief, done while pranking someone you know. They ignore the criminal mischief counts that result in some laughs and no actual damage.”

For an active mafia group, a contact with the FBI, one that wouldn’t be trying to remove them from the scene, may as well be worth the world’s weight in gold. While the games between the group and law enforcement would continue, it would be done in a peaceful fashion—as long as the group kept the worst of the evils off the streets.

“I can work with that condition. What do you think the kittens will be used for?”

Through checking through the files, I had come to numerous conclusions, but I opted to go for the worst—and most probable—of the scenarios. “The girl will be cultivated to give her buyer the lycanthropy virus so he can live a long time, the heir of some family fortune, I suspect. She’ll end up trapped in an unwanted mating bond. Her brothers will be cultivated for use in brothels, although it would not surprise me if the girl was permitted to have limited contact with her brothers to make sure they all behave. They’ll threaten to kill the girl to keep the boys controlled, and they’ll threaten to kill the boys to keep the girl controlled. The girl will ultimately be steadfast with her captor to protect her brothers, and her brothers will end up working the brothel houses, carefully controlled to make certain they don’t lose their star performers.”

“And how old are they now?”

“They’re six.”

“They’re old enough to require less care but they’re young enough to be pliable,” Carrie noted, her tone turning icy. “Their location now?”

“Somewhere in New York City, likely Manhattan. We’re cleaning house to try to hammer down their current location. We’ve closed their ability to leave the area by air. If they take the kittens to an airport, the passports will sink their ship. They could leave by car, but I’m getting a record of all their license plates.”

“We can deal with the vehicles once we know the plates. We will handle any payments to Lucifer for the trafficking victims.”

Vehicles turned to scrap or scraped and resold wouldn’t be used to traffic more victims, so I nodded my approval of the tactic. “If I’m giving you a license plate number, it’s associated with this mobster group, so don’t feel like you have to be gentle with the traffickers. Do try to be gentle with anyone you feel may be a trafficking victim. Reformation is possible.”

“You got it. We’ll kidnap the ones we feel were trafficked. Where would you like them taken?”

I got out my phone, informed Belial I needed a collection of bags for my new friends and waited for the devil in question to appear. He did so, and unlike his previous interactions, he showed up in his natural form. I questioned his appearance, but as he had a few of the bags clutched in his tail, I took them. “Thank you.”

Carrie turned an intriguing shade of green.

Belial vanished.

I counted bags, determining he felt that five should be sufficient for their work. I set them on the table in front of my new mafia contact. “Anything you shove through here will be sent directly to the Devil to be dealt with. Trafficking victims will be cared for appropriately.” I shot off another text to Belial, asking if we could use the bags to make bodies disappear.

The confirmation amused me.

“And yes, you may use the bags to make trafficker bodies disappear. Once we’re done the work, Belial will expect to have his bags back.”

I hadn’t thought it possible, but the woman paled further. “That was Belial?”

“He is Belial, the devil associated with ruin,” I commented, and as Belial did not act for good reason, I added, “Please don’t give me any reason to suggest he deal with your group because he will. This is one game I recommend you play by the rules—all the rules, in letter and in spirit.”

I spoke with Carrie for three hours, giving her a complete analysis of the group we sought to destroy, how they operated, and how we might best help their victims and rescue the kittens. She promised she would be on the lookout for other trafficking victims and get them into good hands, likely sending them off to New Jersey to keep the NYPD in the dark about their trafficking problem.