BEHIND HER SMILE

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The sky was a soft blend of purples and golds, the kind of sunset people write about in postcards, the kind that made everything look too peaceful. Too easy. But the world wasn't easy. Not my world, not anymore. I kept my hands steady on the steering wheel, eyes on the road, the hum of the engine a steady backdrop to the conversation happening next to me.

Jeremy sat in the passenger seat, his face lit by the fading sunlight, but his expression dark. He was going through the details, every name—how the trafficking network worked, how dangerous this all was. His voice was low, serious, but steady. He wasn't sugarcoating anything, which I appreciated. I didn't need soft reassurances. I needed facts. Information.

"Portland's just one of the hubs," he said, eyes scanning the road ahead like he was expecting trouble. "They've got routes running up and down the West Coast, but Portland's where they stash most of the kids before they move them. Warehouse fronts, underground clubs, private auction houses. It's bigger than you think, Al."

I didn't respond. I knew it was big. Bigger than what I could see from the outside, bigger than most people could even imagine. But now? Now it was personal.

My niece. Nine years old. I'd never even met her. I didn't even know what her favorite color was. But she was in their system now. And I was going to burn the whole thing to the ground to get her out.

Jeremy kept talking, laying out the details.

"They move them like products—fake documents, false promises. Some are sold off overseas. Some... well, they don't get that far." His voice tightened. "If they think someone's too much trouble, too likely to attract attention, they make them disappear. We don't have a lot of time."

That part sank in like a stone, cold and heavy. We weren't just up against some sleazy underground operation. We were up against professionals. People who knew how to cover their tracks, how to erase lives without leaving a trace.

"And the people running this?" I asked, keeping my voice light. Like I was casually asking about the weather.

Jeremy shifted in his seat. "It's not just one person. There's a whole network, but the top dogs? They don't get their hands dirty. They've got middlemen, enforcers, people who handle the product and the money. Tonight, we'll be dealing with one of them."

I nodded, processing that. Whoever we met tonight, they wouldn't be the ones calling the shots. But they'd know enough. They'd know where my niece was.

"Who's our contact?" I asked.

Jeremy hesitated for a second, glancing at me like he was weighing something. "A girl named Alana's going to help us," he finally said. "She's... been inside for years. Part of the trafficking ring, but she's been feeding info to people on the outside. She knows how the system works, where the cracks are."

I felt a flicker of something—was it relief? Anger? Betrayal? Alana had been in this, involved in this nightmare, even if she was helping us now. But I pushed that aside. No time for emotions. Just facts.

"And she's trustworthy?" I asked.

Jeremy nodded. "As much as anyone in this game can be. She's done a lot of good for people who can't help themselves."

I glanced at him, feeling the faintest twitch at the corner of my lips. "Like us, you mean."

He didn't smile back. "Yeah, like us."

The sun dipped lower, and with it, the light inside the car grew dim. Shadows stretched out over the dashboard, and something in me shifted. The mask I wore, the one that made me look like the warm, bright person everyone expected me to be, started to slip.