Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Gatlinburg is the perfect place for an operation like this. Every neighbor for at least a mile is temporary, giving the men and women who will work here a sort of cover. The people vacationing at the next house will assume that the people here are also vacationing, and their vacation will end before they can even bother being suspicious.
This area of East Tennessee sees millions and millions of tourists each year, making it a mecca for crime. A lot of people travel here to visit the shops and national forest, and because they want to get a little closer to nature. But there are also people who come for more nefarious reasons.
The trees and winding roads give a lot of privacy, and there are those types that feed their deviances while on vacation, as if the crimes against humanity that they commit don't count.
And where there's a demand, there will always be a supplier, even if that supply comes at the cost of human suffering.
Gatlinburg isn't the only place that has seen an influx of sex trafficking. Any place with a large flow of people will pull in sex traffickers. Why travel all over, looking for customers, when you can set up shop in a place that brings them to you? It's why any large event draws these people in, and it's been suspected that even large tours with rock stars or even celebrities pull in sex trafficking rings. There's nothing like an abundance of money that makes people think they can do whatever they want. Don't even get me started on what the people in Hollywood think they're entitled to. The same goes for professional athletes and any other group of people who are overpaid in the entertainment industry.
I close my eyes, blowing out a long, slow breath. I don't need my head running crazy with all the things I can't change. I need to keep my focus where I can make a difference.
"It's been a while."
I turn around and face Hemlock as he walks closer.
"I have a lot going on," I tell him, and it's not really a lie. ICE keeps me pretty busy. "I just wanted to swing by and let you know that Lark—I mean Elliot Price—will be here later this week. He's going to swing in and get his room in order before he heads to Ashville for a job."
"Kincaid briefed me on him," Hemlock says, but not in a tone that implies he thinks I wasted my time by coming here. The man really isn't the type to hold grudges. He doesn't have the emotional capacity for that.
It's what makes it so surprising that he fell in love with Zara. I look over the man's shoulder at the woman, giving her a quick smile when she walks toward us with a cup of coffee in each hand.
I thank her when she hands me mine and watch as Hemlock does something I've never seen him do. When he looks at her, the man fucking smiles as if he knows me, but I can't recall another moment when I've seen his face. I don't see smiling as a weakness. It can be a great tool while on the job and, of course, laughter isn't new to me, but for this man to grin at her, tells me just how far he's fallen.
The man is completely smitten and more than likely willing to kill to protect her. There was a moment, not long ago, when I thought he'd put a bullet right between my eyes if I tried to interfere with what he was doing in regard to her. The man was out of his mind with sleep deprivation. Add in the fact that he'd just been stabbed, and he wasn't in his right mind. However, I don't think the ending would've been any different from what it is right now.
I feel the need to warn her, to tell her just how dangerous he is for her. Not him personally, but the kind of life he'll be living and what that could mean for her. Even if no harm comes to her physically, this life has the ability to change people. She's a kind woman, and it'll be impossible to keep all the soft, sweet edges she came into the house with. She'll see things and hear stories of what other people are capable of doing to others, and it will taint her and cause irreparable damage. She'll harden once she sees just how life is behind the curtain. It has the ability to leave you feeling jaded and having a certain level of hatred for the world. Especially when every endeavor to make it better only causes fragmented sections of bad society to break off and continue to grow, like a cancer spreading. Sometimes I wonder if we're just making things worse.