Chapter 43: Chapter forty-two

Present day

 

Just after the man left, the auction for Liz herself was called. She swallowed. She really wasn’t looking forward to getting up on stage in order to be sold, and for a moment she considered just leaving. But the guards were looking right at her; she wouldn’t make it three steps before she was tackled, bound, and dragged on stage.

No, panicking wouldn’t help anyone. She needed to be calm, detached. Like the man who had saved her life.

Easier said than done, she thought, shaking as she stepped up to the stage, he doesn’t even have proper emotions.

As she mounted the stage, while the man with the long face introduced her work and its value, she caught the eye of Detective Price and mouthed “help me” to her.

The detective gave a small nod and shifted how she was standing.

“Bidding starts at ten million,” the long-faced man said. “Do I hear ten million?”

Liz was a little offended. She was the world’s leading expert in cutting-edge prostheses and her starting price was one eighth that of a stupid chip. These people had their priorities all screwed up.

A part of her pointed out that it was ridiculous to be offended by her price when she was literally being sold into slavery, but she ignored that part as the less she focused on the reality of her situation, the more she could think clearly.

As the bidding on her heated up, she changed her mind and wished that she was valued less. The detective was outbidding everyone, but when the price rose to a hundred and fifty million, she wondered what was going to happen once she won the auction and had to pay up. For that matter, she wondered why the police hadn’t shut this down yet and where Detective Price’s backup was.

 

 

Mike was anxious to act. It had taken a few moments for news of Alesha’s distress signal to pass down the lines of cops and federal agents that waited to storm the Franciscan monastery. Their radios and cell phones were jammed, so they had to rely on runners and hand signals to communicate. It meant they took a few moments longer to get their act together than Mike would have liked; it was his partner in there after all. But, finally, everyone was in position and the agent leading Mike’s team gave the signal for them to move in.

The lead agent burst through the monastery doors, already looking for any potential threats though they weren’t at the catacombs yet.

He found what he was looking for.

No sooner had the agent entered the building than a burst of automatic fire took him in the chest. The agent went down, though his vest saved his life, and the next guy in line moved to drag him back, taking a round to the shoulder for his trouble.

“The monks are fake!” he said, practically bellowing as he pulled his comrade back one-handed. “Multiple hostiles with automatic weapons. Repeat, multiple hostiles. Automatic-fucking-weapons.”

Hand signals were hurriedly flashed in the direction of the other teams, trying to prevent them bursting in and being riddled with holes. From the sounds of gunfire that were breaking out all around them, Mike knew it was too late for that.

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What had started as a raid was rapidly turning into a siege. He would just have to hope Alesha would be okay on her own for a while.

 

 

Alesha was bidding far more money than she had to spend. Technically, she had no money at all to spend, as the Feds had only okayed putting the hundred-million into a bank account to establish her cover, not actually spending it. But, that just put her career on the line. Worse was the sixty-two million she had bid on top of that, which she didn’t have access to in any way. That fact would get her killed as soon as the Night Market realized she couldn’t pay.

But, as she looked up at Doctor Elizabeth Clark on the stage, obviously terrified and just as obviously hopeful that there was a way out of this for her, she knew it was worth the risk.

“One-hundred-sixty-two,” the long-faced man said. “Going once.”

Before he could get any further a security guard entered the room and announced, “The cops are here. Please follow me and we will get everybody out.”

What followed was a great deal of commotion, lots of yelling and hurrying through the too-small doorway while security and serving staff calmly directed the flow of people.

Alesha stayed where she was and tried to follow where Doctor Clark was being led.

Maintain visual contact, she reminded herself. You can’t lose her now.

She noticed that the man she had been bidding against, a short man with tanned skin and greying hair, hadn’t moved to leave either. Instead, he had approached the nearest security guard and was pointing at Alesha.

Oh, shit.

Next thing, guards were approaching her and asking her to please put her arms out while they conducted a search.

She considered going for her gun, but there were three of them already focussed on her. Those were terrible odds whatever way she looked at it. Better to be captured than killed.

The guards found her weapon, mic and earpiece and the jig was up. One of them produced a pair of handcuffs from somewhere and they led her away for questioning.

Alesha knew exactly what ‘questioning’ meant.

She wondered where Mike and the Feds were. She could really use some backup right then.

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