Healing Rain (18 page)
Within thirteen minutes, Kas has elicited every last bit of information regarding the Ghost that Gavril Nikitin possesses, which isn’t much. Russo relays the slim information as Kas begins working on getting the trafficker to tell him where to find the group of girls he’s sure Nikitin has smuggled into the U.S. before they are rented out and sold to the highest bidders.
Kas momentarily rethinks pounding the man when Nikitin gives him an address, telling him the girls are there now, a number of men currently paying for their services. He steps out of the room, Jake and Frank are already calling the rest of his and Derrick’s team, informing them they are raiding the warehouse tonight.
The men meet very briefly, grabbing their gear before heading out the door. Both Kas and Derrick hate taking their teams in blindly, knowing how dangerous that is, but they can’t risk the girls well-being by waiting. Raina bursts out of the elevator as they are heading towards the door. She is breathless as she hands Kas the decrypted pattern. She takes in the men, their tense faces, gear in hand, and she realizes what’s going on. Backing out of their way, she calls to Kas, asking him to read the information on the way, worried that it may be too late for the girls at the location she just recovered, praying it’s not too late for any of them.
Raina
is
waiting
in Kas’ office when he finally returns. She sees the stress radiating off of him, and she wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest, wishing she could absorb some of his affliction herself, relieving him somehow. Kas pulls her tightly into his arms, leaning his head against hers, inhaling her sweetness, needing her redeeming innocence.
It’s a long moment before he speaks. “I called Dexter on what you found, you did good, Rain, real good.” He feels her tense in his arms, and he knows she’s worried. “Lawson had already taken the information you gave him to Dexter. Both Lawson’s and Grant’s teams are there now.”
“Any news, yet?”
Kas shakes his head regretfully.
“What about the girls Gavril told you about?”
Kas bites back his bitter fury at the scene they discovered when they arrived. The warehouse was sectioned off by filthy sheets and blankets, creating makeshift rooms for the debased men who paid to rent human bodies. He is disgusted at the atrocities they found them doing to the crying, terrified girls. He flexes his fist, sore from the crushing blow he landed against the jaw of the man who he found beating a fifteen-year-old girl because she dared to tell him no. Kas can’t taint Raina’s mind with the sickening depravity, especially not when she is still recovering from her own nightmare, “We got them.”
The teams debrief with Dexter, and Kas is getting ready to take Raina home when Lawson walks in. The look shared between he and Kas is deflating, and Kas sees the reason behind the turmoil in Lawson’s eyes when his and Grant’s teams lead the group of girls to the meeting rooms. Several in the group are pre-adolescent, and Kas feels Raina’s hand angrily trembling in his. She jumps when a blood-curdling scream splits the air as one of the young girls stumbles, and Scott, an agent on Lawson’s team, grabs her arm to keep her from falling.
Raina runs to the girl as she continues to scream, heartbreakingly flailing against the man trying to help her. Scott immediately releases her and backs away, realizing he is traumatizing her by being there. Raina reaches the girl and begins to talk with her soothingly, assuring her that no one there will hurt her. The young raven-haired girl looks stricken, completely terrified, and Raina closes their distance slowly, all the while soothing her. When she’s close enough to touch her, she shows the girl her hand, silently asking permission to help her. Raina forces herself to keep it together when the girl leans into her, sobbing. Raina holds her, whispering soothing words as Kas witnesses the heartbreaking scene. His love for Raina, her heart, sears through him as he watches his wife hold the weeping child in her arms, rocking her softly back and forth, all the while continuing to soothe her with comforting words.
Raina walks into the meeting room with the girl, continuing to hold her hand even long after the social worker arrives. She stays with her while she discloses the depravation of her time with one of Prizrak’s trafficking groups. The thirteen-year-old girl finally gives them her name, Brooke, before breaking down in heart wrenching sobs again. Brooke doesn’t want to tell them who her parents are, terrified they will hate her for what has been done to her. Tears run down her cheeks as she confesses that she disobeyed her parents and snuck out to see a boy she wasn’t allowed to see. Her words are barely comprehensible when she says that the older boy she had a crush on took her to a motel, did awful things to her, then sold her to countless men before she ended up in the Ghost’s large ring.
Raina holds Brooke, assuring her that she didn’t deserve what happened to her, she repeatedly tells her that what happened to her is not her fault. Raina stays with Brooke when Chase arrives. Her eyes search Chase’s, begging him to help her, extremely thankful he is the one talking with Brooke, knowing he will put everything he has into helping her heal.
It’s early morning when Kas and Raina make it home. Kas worriedly watches as Raina undresses, grabs a towel, quickly telling him she is going to take a shower. It’s killing him seeing her hurting like this. She barely spoke on the way home, her silence screaming her despair at what she saw and heard earlier. He drops onto the bed, troubled, as he waits on Raina.
After a few minutes, he can’t take it any longer, and he steps into the bathroom to check on her. When he hears her crying, he throws open the shower curtain, wrapping her protectively in his arms as the tears flow. The hot water continues to shower them, soaking Kas’ clothing as he holds Raina close to him, tenderly stroking her wet hair as she releases the anguish of the night in the warmth of his embrace, needing his sheltering strength desperately right now.
Kas says nothing, just continues to hold her until the water starts to turn cold. He grabs her towel and wraps it around her, picking her up in his arms, not putting her down when she tries to assure him that she’s fine, that she can walk. He carries her to the bed, holding her on his lap as he tells her how much he loves her.
“You’re going to get sick,” she sniffles, pulling the wet shirt off of him. Blinking back tears, she stares into his eyes, suddenly having an overwhelming need for him to make love to her, to erase the pervasion from her mind. She needs to feel the beauty, the purity of love shared willingly between two people so she can momentarily push away the degradation of how some take it forcefully.
Kas senses her need, lowering her gently onto the bed. His eyes never leave hers as he slowly, sweetly, makes love to her.
Raina awakens with the name, Evan Parker, weighing heavily on her mind. She snuggles closer to Kas, relishing the warmth of his body next to hers as she wonders if that is truly Prizrak’s real name. She had lost her breath when she read the name yesterday, finally decoding the infuriating pattern of encrypted words. The name isn’t of Russian origin, it’s American. They had no proof, or even evidence, that Prizrak is Russian, other than it being the Russian word for ghost, they just assumed. Raina thinks of how clever the Ghost is, and shame seeps through her at how easily she was thrown off track.
Erik had immediately began working on searching Evan Parker in the database and everything else he could think of to search for anything that would link the name to the powerful, wide spread trafficking ring. No commonalities have emerged yet. There was mention of a new sub group in the rest of what she deciphered, but not all of the data could be recovered from the badly damaged hard drive. She is grateful that it wasn’t so damaged that it kept her from discovering the place where the girls were being held.
“Hey, baby.” Kas rolls over, looking at her, worry lingering in his eyes.
Raina smiles at him, thoughts of earlier replaying in her head, loving him even more for his gentleness with her when she needed it the most. Thoughts of Brooke seize her, and she prays for healing for the traumatized child, for all of them.
They take a quick shower, stopping at one of the local bakeries for ham and cheese croissants to eat on the way. It’s 9:30 a.m. when they arrive, and Raina takes a long sip of her favorite beverage, shaken iced green tea, as she waits for the elevator doors to open, anxious to check on how Brooke and the other girls are doing.
Relieved to see Chase talking with Lawson, she gives him a quick hug, thanking him for how he handled the delicate state of Brooke, before turning to Lawson, asking how the child is doing. Chase notices Raina’s relief when Lawson tells her Brooke was reunited with her parents, but he also sees signs of apprehension. He knows Raina is worried about what Brooke had said about being afraid her parents are going to be angry with her for sneaking out. With Raina’s past, she doesn’t have the healthy reassurance that her parents aren’t going to care one bit about her disobedience right now, they are just beside themselves to have her home.
Chase’s jaw tightens when he recalls how Raina’s father had blamed her after Brian raped her, telling her that it was her fault and calling her a whore. He quickly assures her that the reunion was an extremely happy one. Lawson bumps Raina’s arm in a big brotherly manner, and Chase shoots her a quizzical glance, knowing that it is totally out of character for the gruff agent. Raina returns his gaze with a tilted smile, the look in her eyes telling him not to even ask.
Erik is diligently reading data on several thousands of Evan Parkers when she steps into his office. “How’s it going?”
He grunts his unhappy response.
Raina laughs, “I’ll help.” She plops into a seat next to him, beginning the tedious work.
Five hours later, they are nowhere closer to finding any kind of remote link of an Evan Parker to any form of human trafficking, and they are both desperately needing a break from the mind-numbing data continually flashing in front of them.
Raina stands, stretching, with her mind on Brooke and Claudia. She grabs her phone, dialing Claudia’s number, wanting to check in on her. Each call finds Claudia doing a little better, her tone being a little happier. Raina smiles as she promises to visit her again soon. Her stomach growls, and she spins Erik’s chair around, trying not to laugh at his harried expression. “I’m taking you out for lunch before you go all mental on me here.”
Raina
shuts
the
computer down, realizing that this task is going to be very time consuming with only a name to go by. Evan could be anywhere, the ring spans several states, and countries. They are concentrating on the areas around Washington D.C. first, deciding that’s as good a place as any to begin. She texts Kas, letting him know she is on her way down to his office. The beautiful city lights sparkle against the black night sky outside, and she walks towards the window, wondering how many women and children are out there right now, their bodies being bought and sold, their souls dying a little more each time.
Kas wraps his arms around her, pulling her back against him, “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
“Nothing,” she lies.
“Feel like a movie?” he asks, wanting to take her mind away from her troubling thoughts.
Raina readily agrees, needing something to distract her.
Friday evening couldn’t have arrived any sooner for Raina’s liking. She is excited about having Kas all to herself for the entire weekend. She packs his gift in her weekender bag, throwing in warm PJ’s, then immediately takes them out. A smile spreads across her face at the knowledge that she isn’t going to be using them this weekend. Kas knocks his boots off before coming in the door, his head and shoulder’s dusted with snow.
“You Ready? It’s really starting to come down out there.”
Raina jumps into his arms, kissing him passionately before heading towards the warm jeep. “C’mon already,” she calls over her shoulder, laughing when he rolls his eyes, knowing good and well she was the one holding them up.
Excitement soars through her as they pull into the drive of her cabin,
our
cabin,
she reminds herself, grinning. The cabin is beautiful, in the middle of the large snow covered field. The welcoming, serene woods provide a magical winter wonderland back drop with the branches of the trees gloved in glistening snow and ice. Kas fills his arms with groceries and their bag as Raina grabs a couple of grocery bags and quickly unlocks the door. Her skin practically tingles when she floods the room with light, her eyes resting on the large fireplace. Her mind plays delicious, wanton thoughts of what they are going to do in front of the warmth of the fire.
She starts unloading the groceries as Kas gets the fire started. The cabin has central heat and air, but they both prefer the look and feel of the flickering flames. She makes homemade pizza, being sure to add extra cheese and artichokes before plopping it in the oven. Kas slips his arms around her as she is drying her hands, “I have an idea of how to pass the time until the pizza is done.”
Raina giggles as he picks her up, tossing her on the couch before covering her mouth with his.
The snow has stopped falling, leaving behind a thick blanket of shimmering white in the rays of the morning sun. Raina snuggles against Kas. She runs her fingers across his chest, “Happy birthday.”
He slips her fingers in his, bringing her hand to his lips, brushing a soft kiss against her knuckles, “Thank you, darlin’.”
Reluctantly, they slip out of bed, ravenous after the previous night’s exertion. Raina gazes at the beautiful scenery through the large kitchen windows as they eat breakfast. Kas watches as she looks longingly at the woods, realizing just how much she misses them, “Want to go for a walk?”
Raina’s eyes light up, and Kas shakes his head, loving how she is so easily pleased. They take a long stroll through the quiet woods. Kas allows her to take the lead. Warmth spreads through him at how she excitedly takes him down the different paths, pointing out her favorite spots. He laces her slender fingers through his long, powerful ones, pulling her closely into him, “I love you, Raina Pierce.”
Her response is a heated kiss, and her fingers slip underneath his jacket and sweater, sliding up his back. She presses her body into him, deepening the kiss. Her green eyes blaze with desire when she pulls away, and Kas wishes they weren’t in the middle of freezing woods so he could strip her down, exploring every inch of her. He sees the mischievous glint in her eyes before he feels the cold shower of snow falling on top of his head from the branch she just pulled. She covers her mouth before laughing and turning to run.
“You better run,” he calls out after her, laughing as he shakes the snow out of his hair. He gives her a good head start before taking off after her, reaching her at the edge of the woods. He grabs her waist, swinging her around as she squeals. “You’re going to pay for that.”
Raina grabs a handful of snow, throwing it at him as her beautiful giggles fill the air.
“Are you asking for a fight, Mrs. Pierce?”
A snowball smacking him square in the chest proves that she is, and he lightly packs one, tossing it at her as she darts away from him.
“Can’t you do any better than that?” she taunts, biting her lower lip as she peeks at him innocently through her lashes.
“I’m going to take you down, darlin’. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Kas rebuttals, grabbing for more snow as she takes off through the field, her beautiful laughter echoing in the wind.
