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  3

  Hannah

  Hugs and kisses, laughter and happiness. These were all the things that I watched going on around me as I stood in the parking lot, waiting to see if my dad emerged from the crowd somewhere, letting me know he’d been there all along. Just then, my cell phone lit up with his picture on the screen.

  “Daddy! I’m in the East parking lot. Where are you?” I asked, not even bothering to say hello first.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I got stuck at work and couldn’t make it. I’m so crushed right now. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me,” he replied, sounding as though he was trying to fight back tears.

  When I hadn’t seen him before the ceremony, I knew there was a chance that work would be the reason. As a world renowned neurologist who is highly respected in his field, his attention is always being pulled in a million directions.

  Of course, there was also a chance that he got caught up in one of the high stakes poker games that he seemed to be playing more and more. I was always curious about the games, but he never wanted to give much information other than the games were underground and not exactly legal, whatever that meant. I had no idea what could be illegal about a card game, especially in Vegas, but I never pushed because, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really my business.

  “It’s okay,” I lied. “They’re going to have DVD’s available for purchase. Of course there were plenty of people recording it themselves, so I’m sure it’ll be all over YouTube in the next couple of days.”

  “I know you don’t really mean that it’s okay, but I appreciate you saying it anyway. Are you hungry?”

  “Yes, I am starving. It’s been a long day and nerves may have gotten the better of me so I haven’t eaten anything all day.”

  “How about I make things up to you and take you to dinner?”

  “Only if I can pick the restaurant,” I joked.

  “That’s fine, as long as it’s Italian,” he jabbed back, already knowing what I was going to say.

  “How about we meet at Scarpetta in the Cosmopolitan in an hour? That’ll give me time to say goodbye to a few people and get changed.”

  “All right, pumpkin. I’ll see you then.”

  My dad was already at the restaurant when I arrived, standing up from the table as I approached.

  “Hannah, you look beautiful as always,” he told me as he wrapped his arms around me. For a minute, I thought he was going to lift me up off the ground and spin me around like he used to do when I was a little girl.

  “Thank you, daddy,” I said, my cheeks getting red when I realized how loudly he’d stated his compliment. I never did well when eyes were on me, and it felt as though every eye in the restaurant was looking in my direction.

  “You said you were starving on the phone so I hope you don’t mind that I went ahead and ordered for us.”

  “Not at all, thank you.”

  Normally, someone ordering for me in a restaurant would have annoyed me, but my dad knows me so well that he would know exactly what I would have ordered for myself anyway.

  When the waiter brought the food, my point was proven. He’d ordered me the Sicilian-spiced duck breast with preserved orange, root vegetables, and caramelized endive. I also eyeballed his dish of seared sea scallops with sunchokes and roasted porcini mushrooms.

  “Would you like a taste?” he asked after seeing me checking out his plate.

  “Maybe just a bite,” I replied, as he took a scallop and put it onto my plate.

  As we ate our dinner, I could tell that my dad wasn’t being his normal jubilant self. Instead of laughing, joking, and carrying on, he seemed distracted. He was sweating profusely and kept looking around.

  “Dad, are you okay?” I asked.

  “I’m fine, why do you ask?”

  “Well, you keep looking at the doors. Are you expecting someone?”

  “No, sorry, just a little distracted. Anyway, you don’t need to worry about me. I want to say one more time how sorry I am that I missed your graduation.”

  “Dad, it’s fine. It’s not like it’s a once in a lifetime thing or anything like that,” I responded with a wink.

  “Okay smart ass, I just feel bad.”

  “Really, it’s okay. I understand how your job is.”

  “Okay, but I promise I’m going to try to make it up to you. I’ve got some exciting news that I want to share with you.”

  “Wait! Before you tell me anything, I got some news this morning! You know the marketing company I’ve been interning at for the last two years? They called me and offered me a full-time position!”

  “That’s amazing! What are you going to be doing?”

  “I’m going to be the Junior Social Media Associate with a track to Social Media Manager.”

  “Wow, so that’s quite the big opportunity for you, isn’t it?”

  “It really is. It’s huge! Nobody ever gets their own accounts right out of the gate, but everyone has been so happy with me as an intern. They told me they notice how I always go above and beyond for them, so they have no doubt I’ll do it for clients as well.”

  “That is fantastic news, Hannah! I’m so proud of you. When does your position start? Not in the next week I hope or my surprise will be all for nothing.”

  “They’re going to go ahead and put me on the payroll, but I won’t actually be starting for about a month. They have all the summer interns coming in next week so things will be hectic around there for a bit.”

  “Good! Now, let me tell you about my surprise! You and I are going on a trip to celebrate your graduation!”

  “Oh! It’s been so long since I’ve been on a vacation. Where are we going?”

  “The Maldives.”

  “The Maldives? I’m not sure I’m familiar with The Maldives.”

  “You’re going to love it! Your mother and I went together once before you were born. It’s a group of islands in South Asia. It’s right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It’s beautiful! Unless you aren’t interested in a week on the beach?”

  “A week on the beach? I can be packed in an hour!”

  “Well, actually, we’re going to leave tomorrow morning.”

  “Tomorrow morning? That’s fast.”

  “Yeah, it’s kind of an urgent trip.”

  “Daddy, what’s going on? You’re acting really weird tonight.”

  “Listen sweetie, I’m just going to be honest with you. When we go on the trip, you’re the only one of us who has a round trip ticket.”

  “What? I don’t understand.”

  “You’re going to be coming back alone. I’ll be staying behind.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t do that. You have your career. People depend on you. You can’t just uproot your life. This is some kind of joke, right?”

  “Oh sweet, sweet Hannah. I never wanted you to find out about any of this. You already know that I love to play poker. What you don’t realize is that it turned into a problem.”

  “A problem? What kind of problem, daddy?”

  “A big one. I started betting on sports. Every time I lost, I made bigger bets to make up the difference. It just brought me deeper and deeper into a hole and now I owe some people a pretty decent amount of money. It’s better if I just disappear.”

  “That’s ridiculous. You make good money. Can’t you just set up some kind of payment plan?”

  “These people do not accept payment plans, Hannah.”

  “Well, I’ll be working too and making decent money. Maybe I can help.”

  “Hannah, stop, this isn’t anything that can be helped. I owe just over $2 million and they want it now.”

  Around this time was when I noticed him really starting to sweat. He kept looking towards the front of the restaurant, obviously seeing something that I couldn’t see.

  “Is this something we can talk about? How about we take the trip and discuss it on the flight over?” I asked, genuinely becoming concerned.

 
“We may be able to do that, but right now, why don’t we just head for home? I’m not feeling so good all of a sudden.”

  He left his credit card on the table before jumping up and heading towards the door. The fact that he was leaving his card behind told me he was serious about disappearing and not coming back.

  I jumped up and followed my dad out of the restaurant, determined to get more information about this gambling debt so I could try to find some way out of it for him. If it was a few grand, I could help easily, but a couple million?

  What the hell was he going to do?

  4

  Hannah

  “Dad, wait up. Why are you in such a hurry?” I asked as I caught up to him in the parking lot.

  “No reason in particular,” he said, obviously lying through his teeth. “It’s just that if we’re leaving tomorrow, I’ve got a lot of stuff to take care of.”

  “All right, well how do you want to do this? Do you want me to pick you up and ride to the airport together?”

  “No, just meet me at the airport at 5:30 in the morning. Our flight leaves at 6:30.”

  Suddenly, two large men wearing full length coats and leather gloves appeared from the darkness as though they emerged out of thin air.

  “The airport, huh?” the biggest of the two asked. “Where exactly are you headed, Robert?”

  “Oh, Roman, hey,” my father answered, his eyes wide. His face had lost all color and he looked like he had just seen a ghost. “My daughter here just graduated from college and we’re going on a little trip to celebrate.”

  “You’re going on a trip? I can only assume that you have Axel’s money then?”

  “Daddy, who is this guy?” I asked, not liking the tone he was using with my father.

  “Hannah, stay out of this. This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Yes, Hannah. Why don’t you just stay out of this?”

  I could feel my face turning red. Who did this guy think he was? He didn’t even know me so he had no right talking to me the way he did. Still, something told me it would be best if I just kept my mouth shut, so that’s what I decided to do. If my dad was in trouble, I didn’t want to do anything to make it worse.

  “We’re just taking a short trip to celebrate her graduation and then we’ll be back. I was planning on settling up with Axel once we get back,” my father continued.

  “Well, that sounds nice and all, but you’re already a month late and we think that Axel has been more than patient with you.”

  “He has, and I appreciate it more than you know. I promise it’ll be taken care of as soon as we get back.”

  “Robert, I’m going to need you to come with us. We’re going to take a ride.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We need to have a discussion, get in,” the man ordered as he opened the back door of the SUV parked behind my father’s car. My dad shook his head, looked down at the ground and slid into the backseat without saying a word. “You too,” the man said.

  Through the shock of the news and everything that was happening, it took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me. “Me too? What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re coming with us as well. Get in.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. As a matter of fact, I’m calling the police right now!” I said loudly, pulling my cell phone out of my purse. Almost immediately, the man knocked the phone from my hand, sending it flying across the parking lot.

  “Believe me when I say you don’t want to do that. If you ever want to see your father again, you’ll get in and come with us.”

  I tried to read his eyes to find out how serious he was, but I couldn’t. They were cold and empty. It was almost as if they were lifeless, which scared the hell out of me. I knew that if I allowed them to drive off with my father, I’d have no idea where they took him. At least if I went with them, I could attempt to be the voice of reason if things started going south.

  Against my better judgement, I slid into the seat next to my father and the man pushed himself into the seat as well. It was obvious that he was going to keep a close watch on us.

  “I’m going to figure out a way to get you out of this mess,” I whispered into my dad’s ear.

  “Hannah, you should never have gotten in the car with me.”

  “That’s enough out of you two,” the man said. “What I need from you right now is silence and attention. We need to make some decisions before we get to the casino. The choices you make right now will directly impact how smoothly the rest of this night goes.”

  “What is it you want?” my father asked. “I already told you I’d settle up next week.”

  “Robert, you know how this shit works. You know there is no way we’re going to let you leave the country while you owe this much money. Do you think we’re fucking stupid?”

  “No, but this is a celebration for my daughter.”

  Without blinking an eye, the man reached across me and backhanded my dad right across the face.

  “Hey!” I yelled out, but he gave me a look that said I needed to shut my mouth or I may be next.

  “Robert, you’re not fucking leaving. We both know you’d never be heard from again. We are settling this tonight. Now, the question is, do you have the cash to settle up?”

  “No,” my dad said, sounding more defeated than I’d ever heard before.

  “So how do you suggest we handle this?”

  “I don’t know. Just let me talk to Axel and I’m sure he and I can work something out.”

  “Well, the time to work something out with Axel has come and gone. That’s why we’re here. We have come to enforce the debt. We were given three options and since you just told us you don’t have the cash to settle up, so that leaves us with two, and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like either one of them.”

  “Please, we don’t have to do this! Just let me talk to Axel. I’ve known him for years.”

  “Do you think this was our decision? These orders are direct from Axel, so I’m going to need you to make a decision right now.”

  “What are the options?”

  “Option number one is we take you out into the desert and come back without you. Your body will never be found and your daughter can pay off your debt with that fancy life insurance policy that she’s the beneficiary of.”

  “And the other option?”

  “The other option is that your daughter comes with us tonight. If you choose to go that route, we will drop you off at the casino, you get to live, and your debt will be forgiven.”

  “I’ll do it,” I blurted out. It didn’t matter what their plan was for me. Whatever it was had to be better than my father being murdered.

  “This isn’t your decision, sweetheart,” the man said with a ton of cockiness in his voice. “Robert, your daughter has offered to come with us to settle your debt. Are you in agreement with this?”

  My father nodded his head in agreement without saying a word.

  “Wow, you are one fucked up human being,” the man said to my father, leading me to wonder what he meant by that exactly. “You do understand what this means, correct?”

  Once again, my dad nodded in agreement.

  The SUV pulled up in front of The Bellagio and my dad was ordered out. He looked over at me, but couldn’t look me in the eyes. He exited the vehicle without saying another word and made his way inside the casino.

  “I want you to watch what happens next,” the man said to me with far too much pleasure in his voice.

  I was expecting my dad to rush inside and try to find some help or at least alert someone to what was going on. Instead, I watched as he went to the cashier and traded cash for chips. He was going to gamble.

  Before I could say anything, a hood was placed over my head and all I could see was darkness. The tires squealed as the SUV sped off from the casino towards an undisclosed location.

  I don’t know how long we were driving or even in what direction we were headed, but we eventually stopped. The
way the car doors echoed when they slammed shut suggested that we were in some sort of parking garage. I was led down some stairs and into a musty smelling room. I was definitely in a basement.

  Once the hood was removed from my head, I saw that I was in a room with nine other women, each of them looking frightened and unsure of what was going to happen to them.

  “We’ll get some food and water for all of you shortly,” a voice from the door yelled. “Until then, just sit tight. The auction is just a couple days away.”

  The auction? What in the hell was about to happen to me?

  5

  Reed

  Things had been quiet for a while. If there was one thing in the world that I hated, it was sitting around waiting for something to happen. This was especially true in a city like Vegas. There’s always so much hustle and bustle and I was stuck sitting around on my ass as I waited for the people I was watching to make their next move.

  I was enjoying shots of Fireball and was about to turn in for the night when an anonymous text message popped up on my burner phone. The text, which showed it came from 9999 contained only the link to a .onion web address.

  If I would have clicked directly on the link, it would have simply taken me to an error page. Instead, I had to connect to the dark web, the part of the internet known for its notorious nature.

  In order to access the information, I had to switch to a virtual private network in order to hide my location and identity, load up a special browser specifically designed for the dark web, as well as several other security measures that were necessary to ensure that my connection to the feds remained private.

  This wasn’t the first text message of this type that I’d received and I was sure it wasn’t going to be the last. Still, I was disgusted each and every time I went to take a look at the latest advertisement.

  BLACK DEATH AUCTION

  Friday Night 11pm