by H. L. Wegley
18
Lee braked hard as he pulled to the curb beside Granddad’s rented car.
Granddad stood in the yard looking his way. A few feet behind him, Katie had her arms around a shorter, blonde girl. Anya? This wasn’t what he expected to see.
Lee jumped from his car and headed towards the three people standing near the front door of the house. His anger surged out of control. Anya had helped the traffickers abduct Katie several weeks ago and then helped them take Jennifer. How could a teenage girl be so callous and cruel? He strode towards Anya, wondering what her neck would feel like in his hands as he wrung it.
When Lee approached the three, Granddad stepped in front of him, blocking his path and gripping his shoulders with hands like vise clamps. “Lee, no! Anya is going to help us. I think she’s been through enough already…perhaps too much.”
Lee took a calming breath and another look at Katie who was still comforting the girl he could now see had been crying. His gaze alternated between Granddad and Katie. “What’s going on here?”
“Don’t take your frustrations out on Anya. She has agreed to cooperate with the police.” Granddad released Lee’s shoulders.
“What about cooperating with us?” Lee shot Anya a searing glance.
“Lee, she has already done that. She told us that early this morning they moved Jennifer from the house to a yacht anchored somewhere on the west side of the island. We also know they plan to sell her as soon as possible.”
Lee shook his head. “That’s not much for us to go on.”
“But it’s all she knows.” Granddad drew Lee’s gaze. “I’m sure of it, because I…shall we say, got her attention. So did Katie.”
So it was OK for Granddad to use his karate on her but not for Lee to wring her neck. Wringing her neck is a little more permanent. Lee stepped towards Anya again.
Granddad pulled him back. “Anya was taken, abducted just like Katie. But no one rescued her. She was forced into a life she did not choose, forced to make choices she would never have made under normal circumstances.”
When he looked at Anya again, he no longer saw a hardened, nineteen-year-old woman. Instead she was a fifteen-year-old girl like Katie…beautiful, innocent, and unspoiled. The innocent girl quickly morphed to a young woman with tear-stained cheeks. Realizing what had happened to Anya drove a knife into his gut. He winced when the message Granddad conveyed twisted the knife.
He took a deep breath, blew it all out in a sharp blast, and patted Granddad’s shoulder. “I’m OK now.”
Lee moved towards Anya, but she cowered behind Katie.
He stopped when he recognized the deep fear in her eyes. “Anya, if you’re going to cooperate with the police to help them find Jennifer, I’m on your side. I know the FBI agent in charge, so I can plead your case with him.”
Anya slipped from behind Katie and faced him. “No matter what you or anyone else tries to do, they’ll still kill me.”
He heard the resignation in her voice. It was a voice devoid of hope, the one thing no human being can live long without. Maybe he could remedy that. “Have you heard of the Witness Protection Program?”
Anya nodded. “I’ve heard of it. But it doesn’t matter where anyone hides me. These people kill everyone who crosses them. They’ll track me down and kill me, and what they do is a lot worse than just killing people.”
Lee stepped close and laid a hand on her shoulder.
Anya flinched.
He didn’t remove his hand. “Don’t worry, Anya.” He wiped a tear from her cheek, then circled both Katie and Anya with his arms. “I can’t promise you the Witness Protection Program. Only the Department of Justice can do that. But I do know this, no one in that program has ever been lost if they stayed in it. Not even the most powerful members of the Mafia have been able to find them. If they offer you that protection, Anya, you will be safe.”
Lee stepped back from their huddle and studied Anya’s face. She still wore a wary look. Doubt filled her eyes, but he also saw a glimmer of hope. Evidently he had told her something she wanted to believe. Maybe it was a place for her to begin—to begin building hope and begin rebuilding her life. He prayed the law enforcement officers involved would help her in that process.
Lee turned to Granddad and pulled out his cell. “I think Anya’s ready. It’s time to call the police, and I’m going to start with Peterson instead of detective Ramirez. He might be a little more receptive to what I’ve got to say.”
Katie’s voice came from behind him. “You better be careful, Lee. I’ve seen you two tangle before. What’s Peterson going to think about us doing his work?”
“We’re about to find out, Katie.” Lee hit Peterson’s number on his speed dial.
“Betcha five dollars he uses his one cuss word.” Katie grinned at him.
“Actually Peterson knows two words.” Lee returned the grin. “But you don’t want to hear the second one.”
Peterson answered on the fifth ring. He must’ve been busy.
“Brandt, I’ve got a multi-organizational task force to operate. This had better be important or—”
“Peterson, we caught Anya, one of the perps.”
“You did what?” His voice crescendoed and, from experience, Lee knew this was the calm before the storm.
“Blast it, Lee! You might have disrupted a SWAT team in—”
“But I didn’t, did I?”
“Blast it all to blazes! Do I have to lock you up to keep you from interfering?”
“You know I didn’t interfere, Peterson. You told me you were coming at this investigation from another angle, so don’t you tell me—”
Peterson exhausted his meager cursing vocabulary in a two-word song played entirely in fortissimo.
Lee jerked the cell away from his head to save his eardrums.
“We could hear that clear over here,” Katie said. “Like I told you, Lee, You’d better be careful.”
Peterson’s voice dropped a few decibels. “I have half a mind to lock you up for—”
“Peterson, if you aren’t interested in what we learned from Anya, half a mind is about all you’ve got.”
“That’s it!” Peterson boomed out using his voice of authority. “You’re under arrest for—”
“Since you’re not present to arrest me, you’ll have to catch me first. Is that how you want to use your resources right now?”
Peterson muttered something incoherent, and then his end of the conversation fell silent.
Lee waited.
A deep sigh came from Peterson’s end. “I’m in my car in Maalaea. Where are you?”
“Katie, Jennifer’s grandfather, and I are with Anya at a house on the north side of Kihei. Anya wants to cooperate, and I think she’s got a lot to tell us.” Lee pled Anya’s case like he had promised and then gave the FBI agent the address of the suspects’ house.
“I’m on my way. I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes.” Peterson’s voice sounded like he had cooled down a bit. “Get in your cars and be prepared to leave if any vehicle other than a police car approaches. I’ll call Ramirez while I’m en route.”
Less volume. No more expletives. No further mention of arresting him. Those were all good signs. “We’ll wait right here unless the goons return.”
“Don’t worry about them. I just sent a patrol car to the house. It’s coming from the Piilani Village Shopping Center. You should hear a siren shortly.”
“Yeah. I hear him,” Lee replied.
When Peterson ended the call, flashing lights raced down the east end of Laumakani Loop. He closed his cell and moved beside Anya. “Don’t worry.” He gestured towards the approaching police car. “These guys are your best friends right now. They might ask a lot of questions, but they’ll also keep you safe.”
Anya’s face tilted downward. “I haven’t had a friend—haven’t deserved one—in a long time.”
Katie drew Anya’s gaze. “Maybe that’s about to change.” She gave Anya a thin-lipped smile.
“I’d like to be your friend, if you’ll let me.”
“I still think you guys are crazy.”
The patrol car pulled to the curb in front of the house and both front doors flew open.
Granddad walked out to meet the two officers approaching slowly, as if ready to pull their guns.
Katie took Anya’s hand. “I’m right beside you, girl. And when we get a chance, I’ve still got some good news to tell you.”
As Lee watched Katie, he was conflicted. He was proud of her, but until Jennifer was safely in his arms again, his heart was too sick to share its feelings.
19
On the rear deck of his yacht, Franklin James moved his chair out of the hot sun and rested his hand on the table. His fingers tapped a syncopated rhythm. He was nervous…no, concerned. Franklin James was too careful and intelligent to be nervous.
Mrs. Brandt, for practical purposes, still Miss Akihara, had been aboard his yacht for nearly two hours. The search by the authorities would only intensify. Sometime within the next twelve hours their scrutiny would probably reach his yacht.
He drew a breath and pounded a fist into the table. “Snake.”
The clomping of running feet sounded shortly before Snake’s tall, slender form rounded the starboard corner of the yacht. “Yes, Mr. James?”
“Have you seen any indications that we are under surveillance?”
“Not until a couple of minutes ago. I was just about to—”
“You should have told me immediately.” I can’t even trust my most loyal employee.
“I planned to. But when you called, I had my binoculars on them, trying to identify them.”
“Them? How many were there, and from where are they watching?” His fingers drummed the table at a furious pace.
“I think it’s two of our Iranian friends. They were dressed like tourists, in shorts and T-shirts, standing on the trail at Wailea Point watching us with binoculars.”
“How do you know they’re not tourists?”
“My high-powered binocs. And they’ve been watching us for five minutes straight, probably longer. And they look Middle Eastern.”
“You didn’t let them—”
“No, Mr. James.” Snake shook his head. “They didn’t see me watching them. I made sure I was well hidden.”
“They’re still after our cargo. Sounds like our rich customers would rather become thieves. They won’t try anything before tonight and by then”—he smiled—”our million-dollar girl will be gone. But if they don’t know that, they might still attack so we need to—”
His cell rang. “We’ll continue our discussion after this call.” He answered with an anonymous hello.
“It’s Mack. I went back to the house to do what you told me.”
“Did you take care of the girl?”
“I couldn’t even approach the place. It was surrounded by the entire MPD.”
“What about the girl?”
“They have her. I could see that much.”
“But she was never informed of our plans. How big of a problem can a teenager be?”
Mack was silent for a few moments. “We shouldn’t underestimate her. Anya is smart. Really smart. If she overheard even a few words of our plans, she would figure them out soon enough.”
James sighed. “The MPD will help in that process. We can be sure of that.” He paused. “Come on back. Forget the girl.” He ended the call.
They would have to cut their losses and be prepared to leave paradise before it turned into hades. Paradise lost? Soon. Probably very soon. But hopefully he could salvage the million dollars.
“Snake, contact our intermediary. Let the prince know he has three hours to claim his merchandise or it gets dumped into the water. And he needs to let me know, in advance, how he plans to rendezvous, or the deal is off. Don’t worry. He’ll understand why the plans are changing.”
“I’m on it, Mr. James.” Snake whirled and disappeared around the corner on the port side of the yacht.
****
Jennifer lay on the floor of the cabin drenched with her efforts to free her hands. Burning, throbbing pain radiated from both wrists bound behind her. Warm fluid made the nylon restraints sticky. Her wrists were bleeding, and still she’d made no progress with the restraints on her wrists or her ankles.
Her salty perspiration had seeped under the edge of the duct tape covering her mouth. It made her raw lips and patches of irritated skin on her cheeks sting, bringing tears to her eyes.
Unless she developed a new plan, she would never escape. With that realization, she factored risk out of the equation as she sought a new approach.
Footsteps sounded outside the window of the cabin. Was someone about to enter?
Other footsteps came from the opposite direction. When the footsteps stopped, she heard the muffled sounds of voices. Jennifer strained to understand the words.
“…forget the girl…” The voice was Cookie’s.
“The prince has three hours,” Snake’s hiss said, “then we bail.”
The voices stopped and footsteps sounded again, growing faint as the two men walked away from the door.
If they planned to sell her to the prince as they mentioned once before, she had less than three hours to escape. If the prince got his filthy hands on her, she would have to—she couldn’t let that happen. If James and his men bailed, they would kill her. Of that she was certain.
This isn’t working. Please God, show me something else to try.
20
Like a wild animal in a zoo, Lee paced back and forth on the sidewalk outside the house near Granddad and Katie. On his fifth pass, Peterson’s car rolled to a stop on Laumakani Loop. He was much later than he said. More time wasted, precious time.
Since Lee had talked with the FBI agent, more Maui police officers had arrived, including the crime-scene technicians who were conferring with Anya. Detective Ramirez had finally arrived, and he took the last available parking spot within a block of the house.
Peterson’s window was down. Lee locked gazes with him. “Good luck finding a parking place.”
After parking, Peterson sought out Ramirez. The two talked for a couple of minutes. Precious minutes.
Katie and Granddad joined Lee on the sidewalk.
When the tall FBI agent finally approached them, Lee confronted him. “Peterson, Anya told us the goons took Jennifer to some yacht before sunrise this morning. What are you doing to find it?”
Peterson stopped, hands on hips. “We have a lot of leads, Lee. And we’re pursuing the most promising ones.”
“But this lead is—
“Listen for a second, because that’s about all I’ve got right now. We think one of the leaders of the trafficking ring is on the island. If we find him, we’ll find Jennifer.”
If Peterson insisted on that approach instead of looking for a yacht, either he was holding back information or he had another agenda, one that didn’t place Jennifer’s safety as the highest priority. At that thought, Lee’s emotions became a vial of smoking nitro. “Are you sure about that? Do you realize what happens if you’re wrong?”
“All right, if it will get you to shut up.” Peterson stared sequentially at Lee, Katie and Granddad. “We’ve assembled information from the Coast Guard, our field agents, Interpol and the FBI’s intelligence group. It tells us the big boss is on the island. He is the one who would capture Jennifer to make a statement. That’s how we know.” He paused. “I can’t tell you any more than that, Lee. You’ll have to trust that we know what we’re doing.”
Lee returned Peterson’s stare. “Then you’ll have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
Peterson pulled a hand from his hip and poked his index finger into Lee’s chest. “If you pull any more stunts like you and Jennifer did at Rialto Beach, I’ll have you arrested.”
Lee knocked the tall FBI agent’s hand away. Lee was on the verge of an explosion and he really didn’t care. “The little stunt you’re referring to saved thr
ee girls’ lives and wiped out most of the trafficking ring…without any help from you and your snail-paced response.”
Katie wedged her body between the two men. “I talked with Anya, Peterson. She’s a victim, too. And the men in the organization will kill her for what she’s already told us. Is there any way you can keep her safe?”
Katie had changed the subject. She had pried the two men apart, and she had probably saved him from doing something he would’ve regretted. What was he thinking? One didn’t assault an FBI agent, especially a good man like Peterson. Lee stepped back out of his reach.
Peterson reciprocated, pulling his hands back into his own personal space. He focused on Katie. “We still have a few missing pieces to our trafficking-ring puzzle. If Anya cooperates and supplies them, maybe I can help her. But I can’t promise her Witness Protection. That’s a DOJ call made by people higher up than me. “
A Maui police officer emerged from the house leading Anya.
Peterson turned towards the officer. “I’m Special Agent Peterson, and I’d like a word with Anya.”
As Peterson talked to Anya, Lee stood nearby listening and hoping something productive would come out of their conversation.
Peterson introduced himself and skillfully opened the door for Anya to cooperate with the FBI. “Did the police tell you that you don’t have to answer any questions?”
“They explained that, but I want to answer.”
“You’ve made a wise decision, Anya. If you help us break the syndicate, I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
Anya stared into the distance as if seeing everything, yet seeing nothing. “Nobody can help me once they come after me.”
“You shouldn’t think that way. They’ve instilled a deep-seated fear in you. But these men aren’t invincible. We’ll get them. Then you’ll see that you don’t need to live in fear of them.” He paused and reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell. “But I want to ask you about some other people.”