That one bugged Gray. He wasn’t here to be toyed with, and he was in no mood to stall if it wouldn’t lead to anything. “Are you capable of helping?” he asked with a hint of impatience lacing his voice. “This is a shot in the dark for me. The way Dominic phrased himself, I was under the impression I was meeting someone…I don’t know, more experienced.”
Kellan raised his brows, mildly amused. The amusement never really left. “It sounds like you’re saying I look young.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Kellan let out a laugh and took a final puff from his cigarette. “Years make up a life about as much as the page numbers make up a book.” Then he put out his smoke and leaned forward, absently cracking his knuckles. “I’ll help you, Gray. Only because it won’t cost me anything, and Dominic and I will be square.”
Gray kept his face composed and watched Kellan pull out a pen and scribble something on a new napkin.
“Nothing happens in Philly without at least one of my mates knowing about it,” he said, sliding the napkin over to Gray. “When it comes to children and family matters, this is the guy.”
Gray eyed the address—to a fucking church—and the name of a priest. Father O’Malley?
“If he doesn’t know where Jayden is himself, he’ll know someone who does,” Kellan finished.
Nothing happens in Philly without at least one of my mates knowing about it…
That sparked a change of direction for Gray, and his mind went straight to Jackie. The boy who was still lost. Seventeen years old, stuck in hell somewhere with a perverted slave owner.
If Kellan Ford wasn’t full of shit, if he was capable of what he implied, he had to be deeply connected.
Did he know anything outside of Philadelphia?
That was the question.
He hesitated, fidgeting with the edge of the napkin. But in the end, if he could find out anything about Jackie, Gray owed it to him and himself to try.
“Does your, uh, network extend to outside of the city too?” he asked.
Kellan cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
Gray shifted in his seat and straightened a little. “Say I wanted information about a criminal network in another state…how much would that cost me?”
Oh, Darius would kill him for this. And Dominic had warned him.
“Well.” Kellan coughed into his fist, and his eyes flashed with intrigue, challenge, and more mirth. “I’m a law-abiding citizen, so I’m not sure how I would be able to help. I guess it would depend on the specifics of the request.”
Gray narrowed his eyes and realized he wouldn’t get any further if he didn’t fess up some actual truth. With details. Because Kellan didn’t know Gray. He was bound to be careful, and the last thing he’d do would be to say anything that put himself in trouble with the law.
Goddammit.
Uncertainty rose within, but he pushed the queasiness down and pressed forward. He hadn’t reached the edge yet. He could take another couple steps.
To get anywhere, though, it was time to lay it all out there. “Did you hear about the guys who were saved from human trafficking around New Year’s?”
Kellan frowned. “That thing in Florida? Yeah.”
Gray nodded once. “I was one of them.” He continued as surprise and confusion flitted across Kellan’s features. “Jonas was supposed to be one of them too. I was kidnapped last fall, but he got stuck another way. He was looking for a job and was tricked. He died when we were trying to escape.”
It was clear, for once, that Kellan didn’t know how to react. He shifted in his seat, his brows knitted together, and he reached for his smokes. Did he believe Gray?
“One of the guys who also got kidnapped is still out there somewhere,” Gray said. “His buyer took off with him before we could flee.” Warning bells went off inside of him; he had to shut the fuck up soon. Because if he’d gotten things right, Kellan belonged to his own criminal network. And Gray didn’t need a bunch of criminals giving one another a heads-up. Christ, what if this guy was friends with the people in Florida? He didn’t exactly know how these fuckers operated. “We don’t know who the guilty ones are,” he made sure to tell Kellan. “To be honest, I’m safer off never knowing. But if there’s any way to save Jackie, I will.”
He hoped that helped. He hoped mentioning that he didn’t know anything of value would keep him from being a target.
For a long moment, Kellan sat there and observed and smoked his cigarette. And he drummed his fingers against the table, indicating a restlessness or maybe questions piling up. Perhaps he was calculating risks and weighing his options.
Whatever he’d been thinking, he seemed to have made up his mind. “Either you’ve got nothing to lose, or you’re dumb as a bag of rocks, Gray. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.”