Marcus and Ed had been raiding locations for over a week and had come up with nothing. They returned each evening in terrible moods to tell us that yet another building had no signs of persons of interest or any human trafficking activities. Nothing on surveillance cameras, no sign of Fitzgerald, and no women being held against their will. But tonight, it was nearly midnight, and Marcus and Ed had not returned from their raid. They hadn’t called or sent any text messages either.

"This means they probably found something, right?" Hannah asked me from the doorway of the bathroom as we prepared for bed.

I shrugged. "I hope so," I told her through a mouthful of toothpaste as I brushed my teeth. I spat the toothpaste in the sink when I was done brushing and I rinsed my mouth. "It took them a whole day to raid Bernard’s place and get him to a safe house," I reminded Hannah and she nodded. We left the bathroom and climbed into bed. I pulled Hannah against my chest and held her.

"Marcus and Ed have been on edge all week," Hannah said to me. "I can feel their stress and disappointment oozing off them. It’s really uncomfortable to be around them. We’re all on edge."

"You’re right," I told her, feeling just as anxious as she sounded. "But, as the saying goes, no news is good news."

"That’s one way to look at it," Hannah said. We lay together in the dark silence of our bedroom, but neither of us was quite ready to sleep. I could tell that Hannah was still awake, wondering what was happening with Marcus and Ed during the raid. She knew that I was awake too because I was stroking her hair. It was the only thing that I wanted to do because I believed it calmed her to feel a comforting touch and having her in my arms calmed me. I didn’t have any answers to her questions, hell, I had the same questions, but there was no way that we could get any answers until Marcus and Ed arrived to tell us the news.

The next morning, Hannah, Kristin, Lori, and I were finishing up breakfast when Marcus and Ed joined us, looking scruffy and bedraggled. "You two look like s**t," I said to them.

"Thanks," Marcus said in a grumpy tone as he filled a mug with coffee before rubbing a hand over his face.

"What happened?" Lori asked them.

"Did you find anything?" Kristin asked.

"Did you two just get here?" Hannah asked them.

Ed gave them an exhausted glance. "One question at a time," he said before sipping his own coffee.

"We got here a few hours ago," Marcus told us, taking a seat next to Lori. "We relieved the police officers and went straight to the study to file our reports."

Ed propped himself up against the kitchen island. "We found a warehouse near downtown that had a group of women inside," Ed told us, "but it wasn’t being run by Fitzgerald."

"We found the guy who owns the warehouse," Marcus continued. "He runs an industrial equipment business out of the front part of the building, but he was renting the back of the warehouse out to some guy who’s not showing up in our system. Likely an alias."

"There was no rental agreement?" I asked Marcus.

Marcus shook his head. "The guy who owns the warehouse said that the man who approached him about renting out the space paid three full months of the agreed rental amount in advance and requested that payments be conducted under the table."

"Were you able to catch anyone?" Kristin asked Marcus and Ed. "A guard or a witness who saw them come and go?"

Ed shook his head. "The women were locked in a shipping container when we found them," Ed told us. "They said that they were being prepped for shipment overseas."

"There were no security cameras?" Lori asked Marcus.

"There were some installed in the front for the industrial equipment business, but not in the back," Marcus said to Lori.

"The owner didn’t give a s**t about what was going on back there in his own warehouse," Ed said, annoyed. "Turned a blind eye if he knew something illegal was going down."

"Will the owner of the warehouse go to prison?" Hannah asked them.

"Not likely," Marcus answered Hannah. "If his lawyer can prove that he had nothing to do with the actual human trafficking, then he’ll get slapped with a hefty fine and lose most of the money that he was paid for renting out the warehouse."

"What about the women?" Kristin asked them. "Are they OK?"

"We got them all to the hospital," Ed told her. "Same procedure as you went through. Once they’re cleared at the hospital, then we’ll get them into safe houses and therapy."

"Can I see them?" Kristin asked.

"That’s not a good idea," Marcus told her. "We already have them in custody and they’re getting the help that they need."

Kristin groaned in frustration. "Let me go back undercover at The Auction House," Kristin said. "I can get more information more quickly than these raids you’ve been doing."

"You know the answer to that," Marcus told her firmly.

"Hell no," Ed added. Kristin threw her hands up in frustration and then crossed her arms, sulking.

Marcus turned to me. "I’ll get one of the security staff out here to accompany you to work," Marcus told me.

"No need," I told him. "I’m working from home today. You and Ed look like you could use some rest."

"I won’t argue with that," Ed told me before finishing off his coffee.

"Fair enough," Marcus said to me before turning to Ed. "We’ll work in shifts so we can alternate and get rest before tonight’s raid. I’ll take the first shift."

Ed nodded and put his coffee mug in the sink. "See you guys in a few hours," Ed said to us before leaving the kitchen. I worked in the study most of the day and Hannah joined me, reading a book on the sofa. Marcus and Ed swapped out two shifts, each for three hours. By the time they were rested, it was time for them to leave for the night’s raid. Once the officers arrived to stand in for them as security, Marcus and Ed left for the night as they had done the previous week.

After another week of finding nothing besides the women in the warehouse, Marcus and Ed announced to us at dinner that they were switching tactics.

"We need to go back to The auction House and bid on another woman to help us," Marcus said.

Kristin scoffed in indignation. "I offered to go back undercover!" Kristin shouted at Marcus. "Why don’t you just let me do it?"

"The whole point is to get women out, not back in," Marcus said to Kristin angrily. "Why can’t you understand that?" There was an intense, emotionally charged silence as Marcus and Kristin glared at one another.

"If you keep bringing guests here, Roman will need to build more guest houses," Lori said in an attempt to lighten the mood. Marcus met Lori’s gaze and although his expression didn’t change, he visibly relaxed as they gazed at one another. The sexual tension between them was obvious, even to me, and if they didn’t address it soon it would blow up into a romantic situation that likely neither one of them was ready for.

"I’ll take you back to The Auction House," I said to Marcus. "When are we going?" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Tomorrow," Marcus answered me. "These empty raids are taking their toll. We need a break and our team of officers from the police department need a break, too."

I turned to Hannah who hadn’t remarked or protested about my impending return to The Auction House. "Are you OK with this plan?" I asked Hannah.

"I’m as OK as I can be," she told me before turning to Marcus. "Keep my husband safe," she said to him. I smiled and grasped her hand beneath the dinner table. Hannah leveled her green gaze on me.

"I want nothing more than to return home to you safe and sound," I said to her quietly.

"And I won’t stop you from going," Hannah said to me. "I just want this to be over. It’s gone on for so long. I want us to have our happily ever after."

"Me too," I said to her.

"Thank you for allowing us to borrow your husband, Hannah," Ed said to her. "We didn’t want it to come to this. Our raids haven’t turned up much of anything that we can use to tie directly back to The Auction House."

"Our only option at this point is to revisit The Auction House and get inside information from one of the women," Marcus said, "or raid the place, but since we know that they have a decent-sized staff of armed guards it’s not a good option."

"People would likely get hurt," Ed added.

"No one wants that to happen," I said to them. Hannah was right, this needed to end, and if me going back inside The Auction House and bidding for another woman would help move the investigation along safely, then I was going to play the part.