Page 23 of Grayson

“I mean, if you are we’ll figure something out for you but we don’t want you tripping and falling during the scenes on rough terrain.” His face burned with humiliation.

“I can assure you, I’m just fine. Care to test my strength and agility?” he said casually. Both Iggy and Kai laughed, holding up their hands.

“Not today. But maybe soon.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Which one of you assholes tripped him?” laughed Kai.

“Oh, that was me,” smirked Striker. “He needed to be deflated in a few different areas.”

“He damn sure got hard when we walked in,” said Iggy. “That man is a predator all the way and I don’t think he cares if you’re man, woman, or child.”

“We care,” said Moose. “And we found a few things. Addresses for the warehouses, an abandoned winery, two storage units, an apartment in Paris, one in Marseilles, and a part-ownership in a freighter.”

“That’s not a good. He could be moving massive amounts of people or cargo that we don’t know about,” said Romeo.

“We stop what we know first,” said Grayson. “We know that there is something in that old winery. We hit that first. Find out if we can get a drone in the area to see if there’s any activity.”

“We have one,” said U-Jin. He turned his tablet for the others to see and nodded. “Looks like two trucks and one car. I’ve only seen one guard on the outside.”

“Great, then we have no way of knowing how many on the inside,” frowned Jethro.

“Of course we do,” said U-Jin staring at him as if he’d lost his mind. “We use a form of Lidar to help us penetrate through foliage, brick, wood, almost everything.”

“Right. I forgot you guys have all the cool Batman toys,” smirked Jethro.

“Batman?” frowned U-Jin. “We are much more sophisticated than Batman.” The other men just chuckled, giving Jethro a nudge. The screen U-Jin was holding showed six figures randomly around the room. But it was the cluster of people in the corner that they worried about.

“Those are kids. Most likely in a cage,” frowned Romeo.

“We take out the outside guard, search for any others on the exterior, then go in under stealth and take out the others,” said Grayson. “Moose, Conor, Hunter, and Jennifer. You get the kids into one of those trucks and get them out of there.”

“You’re letting her come with us?” frowned Moose. He stared at the big man, then looked at Jennifer.

“If I don’t, she’ll follow anyway and get herself into trouble. If we’re there, she’s less likely to be harmed.” Jennifer smiled at him, hugging his waist.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for trusting me.”

“I do trust you, babe. But I’m telling you right now that if you do something reckless, something that endangers anyone else or yourself, you will be sent home and I will make sure to let everyone know that you are to be kept under lock and key.”

She wanted to laugh but seeing the seriousness of their expressions, she nodded.

“I understand. I won’t do anything reckless.”

“Why don’t I believe you,” smirked Grayson, taking a step toward her and brushing the hair from her face.

“I promise, Grayson. I have something to live for now. It’s going to be okay. I promise I’ll do whatever you ask.”

An hour later they arrived at the abandoned winery. Rows of once ripe, sweet vines, heavy with grapes were now just broken shrubs. They might be capable of revival but it would take someone with a lot of time and money.

The crumbling stone house in the distance looked like a haunted mansion ready for Halloween. The windows, long since devoid of glass were now just gaping dark holes in the structure.

U-Jin’s voice was soft and clear in the comms units.

“All clear on the exterior,” he said softly.

“Why is the outside guard still standing?” frowned Brunson.