CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jeremy focused on the man's face, trying his hardest not to pay attention to the kids he was abusing. He swallowed hard as bile rose in his throat. He had the sound down to drown out the children's screams. There were two girls, neither looked to be over ten years old. He had one tied up, lying on one side of the bed, the other he held down as he raped her. It was the most violent video he'd found so far, and it made him sick being unable to do anything about it.
Making sure he got screenshots of the man and facial photos of each child to save so they could try to identify them, he shut off the video, turning his focus to trying to figure out its source. If he could track the video back to a starting location, then he could hopefully find more information on the man and where he was holding the kids.
He glanced at the clock, surprised to see he'd been at it for nearly five hours. He'd heard D out in the other parts of the house organizing all the stuff that had been delivered earlier, but he hadn't seen him since he'd gotten there this morning. That was okay. He didn't blame D for not wanting to come in and see what was on the computers, and honestly, he worked better without any distractions.
It was time for a break. He had all the information he could get, which included the location the video was uploaded from. Now, he just needed to hack into the location and see what else he could find to store as evidence. If they got lucky, the kids would be at that home, and he would be able to give D the information. Not that he could act on it yet, but it would at least show D and Carter that he could do the job.
Now that he was figuring out exactly how to do everything and didn't have Carter there doing it while showing him, it was easier. The hard part was picking what videos and pictures to track. There were so many. He could spend a week doing this non-stop and not even make a dent. He never dreamed that sex trafficking and pedophilia was such a huge problem.
Making sure he'd shut everything down and put the information he'd printed off into folders before locking them away, he stretched his shoulders. He had yet to get the new chairs they'd ordered, and his back was feeling it.
As he headed down the hall to the living room, the house was silent, and for a moment he'd wondered if D had left, but then he saw the basement door open and light on. He glanced around, seeing a new, large sectional in the living room, a large TV mounted on the wall across from it. There were new lamps and even a few cool models of antique cars sitting on the fireplace mantle. He loved the way it looked.
"D?" He headed downstairs, curious what he was up to. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he paused, sucking in a shocked breath. "Holy shit."
"Like it?" D grinned from where he was hooking up some gaming system to a fucking huge TV.
"This is amazing." He stared at the far side of the room where there were a pool table and foosball. The middle of the room had a huge sectional along with several beanbags tossed against the back wall. Next to the TV was a huge entertainment center. It was empty, but Jeremy had a feeling that the stack of boxes that still sat on the floor was filled with things to go in it. "This looks amazing."
"I'm hooking stuff up now, but there's more coming over the week that we'll have to add to it. I told you, I wanted a place for us to unwind and get away from all the shit we have to deal with. This is a safe room. No work gets discussed when we're down here."
"Deal." Jeremy walked over and flopped down on the couch. "Man, I could live down here."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. That couch is comfy."
"Good thing we can't bring strangers over. I could bend someone over that pool table in a second." Jeremy smiled, remembering some of the best sex he'd ever had with his ex doing just that. Then he remembered why the guy was his ex and swallowed hard.
"Oh, fuck yeah." D set the gaming system on a shelf before standing. "The couch might be even better, but I swear if I come down here and find cum stains on anything, I'll kill someone."
"Maybe the last thing we need is anyone having sex down here. The last thing I want to hear is someone screaming out 'William' as they come," Jeremy teased.
"They won't be screaming William because I won't tell anyone that name, and you better not either. It's hard enough giving up my real name and shortening it to D."
"What is your real name? No one would tell me." Jeremy asked.
"Dyson, which is why D works so well."
"Hmm, you got lucky getting a middle name you can shorten to match your old one. They must have hated me more." Jeremy stood up, about to go over to the pool table and check it out, but D turned, coming to stand in front of him.
"You going to tell me your real name?" D asked.
"My real name is Jeremy, now."
"You know what I'm talking about. The name that matters, not the one someone else made up for you."
"My mother made up the first one."
"Which is?"
"None of your fucking business. You know it doesn't matter anymore. You're William and I'm Jeremy. We don't get a choice."
D shoved Jeremy, his hands both splayed hard against his chest. "Not William. I'll never use that name."
Jeremy fell back against the couch. He stayed there, staring up at Dyson. Not at all worried about the aggression, for one, it wasn't done in anger, and for two, he knew how to fight. If he needed to defend himself against D, he could hold his own. "Do you think you're the only one to get shitty names? Jeremy is my middle name. Fuckers put Roland as my first name."
"Still better than William." D pressed his knees against Jeremy's as he stood directly in front of him. "What's your given name? You know, the one your first girlfriend cried out when you fucked her."
