She took in the sight of Deputy Vega. He was a good-looking guy but also seemed intense. It looked like the sight of the victim, and her being fifteen, affected him. Definitely looked like he had military experience, and she was pretty sure that all the deputies in town did. She hated to admit the attraction she felt when he placed his palm against her back and escorted her from the room. Dark brown hair, dark beard, brown eyes that definitely could make a criminal comply when ordered to. She felt such a vibe from him it was crazy and different. She’d been around military men most of her life, and many flirted with her, used their charms to get her to pay attention to them, but none of them brought on these types of sensations. Who was he and how come she never bumped into him before?
Right now, they were discussing the case, but she thought about the teen and about what she had gone through. She was going to need some serious counseling. Lilly wondered about the circumstances of her abduction and also about her family, if she had any and if they were looking for her. She would find out from the sheriff.
“Miss Hayes, I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Agent Lent Ledkin approached.
“Of course, Agent Ledkin, what would you like to know?”
“Your credentials to begin with. I will need all your contact information, where you live and work. The sheriff said that you’re a social worker and therapist. How long have you been doing that?” he asked, looking her over and inhaling like he liked her smell. She answered his questions and then discussed confidentiality with her and the importance of getting the correct translation from the victim and to him.
“I understand, Agent Ledkin. I’m happy to assist in any way I can, and I’m also interested in assisting this victim any way I can, including getting contact to her family or loved ones.”
He squinted at her. “That won’t be an option until we get everything we need from her and also have a way of determining that her family wasn’t involved in any manner.”
“I understand you have your procedures. I suppose we can ask the young woman when she awakens again,” Lilly said to him.
“Of course. We want her to know that she is safe here and that we will do our best to find the ones responsible for her abduction.”
The hospital room door opened.
“She’s awake and asking for Lilly,” the nurse said and gave a smile toward Lilly.
Lilly started to head that way when the agent stopped her by pressing close. “We need information on the men who took her, a town, a state, some details.”
“I understand, Agent Ledkin, but do remember that she’s sacred and in a foreign country. Making her feel safe will encourage her to trust you.”
He nodded and followed her into the room.
Lilly glanced at Brian. “You’re doing great,” he said to her, and she smiled then headed to the bed.
She began to talk to the young woman, Azra, and again, Brian took position close to her. Lilly introduced who the men were, what their positions were, and how they were going to help her. As she spoke to Azra, she explained to the men.
“She says she was at the town market when she and a friend were approached by two men in their twenties. She says they were American.”
They all looked shocked.
“American? Is she sure?” Agent Ledkin asked. Lilly asked her again, and Azra nodded her head.
“Her sister’s friend, who was eighteen, was with her, and the men flirted with her, and they accepted having lunch and showing them some of the places in town with good food. The next thing she remembers is feeling funny as she ate and drank at a side table at an outdoor café.”
“They drugged her,” Caden said, and Lilly nodded. She continued to speak to Azra in Turkish, and with every detail Azra became more and more upset. She was beaten, and her sister’s friend was taken someplace else.
Before Ledkin or Caden could ask Lilly what to ask next, Lilly was steps ahead of them, not even translating to the men around them until she had the full information.
Lilly turned to look at them. “How many vehicles did you say were involved in the accident? How many men in the van driving, and what about the truck in front?”
“There were two other vehicles on the scene. Those two people were not badly injured, but their vehicles were in a ditch on the side of the road. The box truck and van collided,” Brian told her.
“Something isn’t right,” Lilly said to them and held onto Azra’s hand. Azra looked upset and tired once again. She leaned back. She spoke to Lilly, who nodded and spoke back, telling her that she wasn’t going to leave her, and that the men would protect her.
Azra looked at the men and then at Brian. Brian gave her a smile. “What is she saying, Lilly?” Brian asked, with his hand on Lilly’s shoulder.
She tilted up toward him. “She’s afraid. I said that you all would protect her, but her eyes keep going to you.”
“I was there at the accident. I remained by her side. She was in and out of consciousness.”
“What are you saying doesn’t make sense?” Caden asked Lilly. She looked at him.
“From what Azra is describing, it seems when they traveled from location to location there was an additional vehicle following or leading, and sometimes they would transfer some of the women from one truck or van to another.”
“There wasn’t another vehicle, though. No van or truck,” the sheriff stated.
“That you know of. If it was there, then maybe as the accident happened, they took off,” Agent Ledkin stated.
“Or, what if the truck in front was the transfer vehicle?” he suggested.
“Wouldn’t there be more than one person in the truck? Why would they transport to a single driver? It wouldn’t be smart with what they were hauling and delivering,” Lilly said before they could say anything.
“What are you thinking, Lilly?” the sheriff asked her.
“We’ve had cases of human trafficking through certain gangs throughout the states. A few women coming through the shelter, as well as in the facility I worked out a while ago, single or with babies, were victims of that type of crime. Taken at a young age, trained to submit and serve.”
“She’s from Cyprus or Turkey. How the hell could this not be some international smuggling thing?” Ledkin asked with attitude, looking her over like she hadn’t a clue. Little did he know what she had experience in.
“I’m not saying that it couldn’t be, just from what she is indicating, from the fact that she was brought here, hasn’t been raped, was beaten, and was being transported with other women, could indicate this being something different.”
“Different how?” Texas Ranger Frank Burns asked her.
Lilly thought about it a moment. “The other women in the van, were they from Cyprus? Were they foreigners?”
“No. At least we don’t think so. The medical examiner along with investigators from the state police are currently trying to identify them. We haven’t gotten any concrete information as of yet,” Caden told her.
She turned to Azra and spoke to her in Turkish asking what her last name was. If she had family and how she could contact them for her. When her eyes glanced the other way and then closed, Lilly got a bad feeling in her gut. Azra was going to lie. The rolling of her eyes was an indicator, something Lilly knew how to read from her training as an agent.
“What did you ask her?” Lent Ledkin asked her.
“Just if she knew if any of the other women were from other countries or from hers.” But now Azra kept her eyes closed, and Lilly wondered if she was pretending to sleep.
Chapter 3
“Listen, I won’t be able to hold out from Caden much longer about what’s really going on here. What’s the important text about that you sent? What did you find out about that woman who was interpreting for the victim?” Agent Ledkin asked his boss over the phone.
“Lillian Hayes was in the Army, involved in a specialized elite group for something I can’t touch.”
“What the fuck do you mean you ca
n’t touch?”
“I mean top secret, password needed, and above our means. She’s definitely a lot more than you thought.”
“Fuck. How long has she lived in this town?”
“Over a year. She’s clean. She was involved with the local police department on a few court cases of domestic violence but nothing illegal or wrong on her part. She’s got to be one of the good guys. Just your luck to have her in that town where this shit went down.”
“You’re telling me. How am I supposed to keep this under wraps?”
“Just try to for a bit longer. I’ll have a new interpreter there by the a.m., then you can get rid of Lillian Hayes and have the girl remain there until we can figure out where to put her for safe keeping. The interpreter can tell her that her father knows where she is, and we will be doing our best to get her back to him when it’s safe. By now, Ezekiel knows his men screwed up. We find his location and the threat will be eliminated. It’s obvious that Azra was supposed to be taken on that road, transported from the van to the truck. What went wrong?”
“Someone else got in the middle of the transfer. Now there are state police, the local sheriff, and Texas Rangers involved because this shit went down near their town,” Ledkin replied.
“We didn’t cause that. Metra knows.”
“You’ve spoken to him again since I left to get here?”
“He needs to know that we’re doing the best we can. Using his connections in the U.S. government to handle more of a domestic situation could get us all in a lot of trouble. We’re allowing those rangers, state police, and the sheriff’s department to believe this is some kind of international human trafficking thing. They’ll be busy thinking that, meanwhile it’s not.”
“I have to tell you, that woman Lillian said something like she has knowledge of both international and domestic human trafficking and how things go down. She mentioned feeling like there was something wrong with the story. Thankfully, Azra didn’t say who her family or father is. As soon as Azra saw me being introduced as CIA, she knew to keep quiet.”
“That poor girl has gone through hell, but we need to get her out of that town and stop those locals involvement, or this could blow up in our faces.”
“Well then, do your thing. Get me that interpreter, and then get me a plan of action to transport Azra out of here.”
Agent Lent Ledkin ended the call and exhaled. He felt badly for keeping information from Caden. He was a good man, Frank was, too, and actually the sheriff was pretty cool. Metra Arso was a diplomat, a multi-billionaire and businessman for the military and government in Turkey. His deals with the American government gained him many friends, including Lent’s boss, Henry York. Henry had a lot of pull and was also a man who handled diplomatic affairs for the government. Being such good friends with Metra, who would travel in and out of the United States for business and pleasure, brought him into a bit of trouble. Metra did some business with a man named Ezekiel Grey, a corrupt and dangerous businessman who dealt with anything underground, illegal, and profitable. Including prostitution and sex slaves. When Metra realized and tried to pull out of a deal, Ezekiel made his threats and tried forcing his hand.
Metra figured he could stay in Turkey, ignore Ezekiel’s threats, and move on, but then he got the call that his youngest daughter, Azra, was taken, along with his oldest daughter’s friend, Maya. She was still missing. Now Ledkin needed to figure out how to hide Azra, who caused the accident to stop the transfer that seemed to be taking place, and how was he going to do all of this and keep the truth hidden from Caden and his friends?
It was a fucking mess, and he was getting involved deeper and deeper with this. This town, these men were military and resourceful. This whole fucking mess could blow up in his face. He exhaled and thought about Lillian. So, she was retired military and had a top secret file? She was definitely drop dead gorgeous. Every man was looking at her. Kind of made sticking around here not look so bad. He chuckled. The faster he got out of here and out of this nightmare, the better.
“Where the hell is she? How the fuck could you just leave?” Ezekiel asked Melba over the phone.
“I didn’t have a choice. Those fucking assholes you got to drive the van and do the transfer were trying to evade the box truck and in doing so they collided on the road, hit the other cars, and got themselves all killed. The local police in that country town have the girl in the hospital.”
“Why would they evade the exchange?” Ezekiel asked.
“Maybe what you were afraid of happening actually did happen. Someone took your idea and double-crossed you.”
Ezekiel rubbed his jaw and clenched his teeth. It couldn’t be. There was no way that one of his associates would go behind his back to screw this deal up for him. Ezekiel was going to threaten to rape the girl and kill her, sell her to the black market if her father didn’t stick to the business deal and give Ezekiel a million dollars. His plan to force the man into a contract where Ezekiel would use Metra’s connections in the government here in the United States and abroad was going to expand his company. No red tape, and free passes with no security checks on products or what was being shipped in containers. It was perfect. As he thought about that, he realized who could have been ballsy enough to interfere.
“I wonder if Camiere decided to get in on this action somehow. He’s been away for the last three weeks. I’ll need to be careful investigating this, and it could mean additional trouble, but damn it, if he did, he’s a fucking dead man.”
“Ezekiel, he isn’t someone you want to be enemies with. Not only can he destroy this deal but think about the other resources he has. The military ones we use on a regular basis to transport things.”
“Fuck, you’re right. I can’t go making accusations, but I could ask him for assistance. Perhaps his ultimate agenda is to make money and have me begging to be a part of his plan.”
“You don’t beg.”
“He should know that, but if he did intervene and cause this fuck up then his plan isn’t going accordingly, either. Neither of us have the bargaining tool. The girl. Without her, we got nothing. Plus, by bringing attention to this girl, the authorities are on the hunt now. We need to throw them off our scent or this could really combust.”
“I’ll see who is around her at the hospital in that town and when we’ll have the opportunity to grab her. We’ll use foreign guys. Really throw off the dumb locals and make them think this is some international investigation.”
“But we have to hope it doesn’t bring more questions to our front door. Keep me posted before you make a move.” Ezekiel ended the call.
This was turning into a complete mess. With all these branches of law enforcement investigating it could lead to his business dealings and the prostitution ring. Maybe when they tried to talk to the girl and they learned she was from Cyprus they would think too large, like international smuggling. It could work to their advantage. Except that Metra Arso was a big shot. He had friends in the American government, and he did deals with them. He could break down and tell them it was Ezekiel who abducted his daughter to try and force his hand. How was he going to avoid going under? How would he make sure that he wasn’t caught?
He thought about Camiere. Maybe in order to cover his bases, he should make it so that the investigators looked at Camiere and not Ezekiel. He wasn’t going to lose everything over this. It was supposed to be an easy grab. Take her, demand money, get aid, run the business, and continue to make money. Camiere just fucked it all up and could destroy them both. Asshole.
Chapter 4
“I’m not coming,” Mary told Lilly over the phone.
Their Soldier Girl Page 5