Forsaken (The Found Book 2)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Chapter Nine

  “What’s going on?” Annie left three voicemails, eight texts and tried to Skype four times before Sierra finally Skyped her back, obviously there was something Sierra didn’t want to share.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. I figured there had been an earthquake.”

  “That’s bullshit, you were ducking my calls. Spill it. You talked to Seth, and now you don’t want to tell me something. You’re my friend Sierra, I expected better.” Annie watched her red-headed friend blush. She might be a bad-ass Navy commando but her fair skinned complexion they shared always told on her. Still, Sierra tried to bluff her way through it.

  “It’s a bad situation Annie. It’s more complicated than we expected. Labado is stupid, and he’s bringing in another cartel, it’s probably going to end up in a blood bath.”

  “That’s not why you’re ducking my calls.” Sierra screwed up by returning her call via Skype, she should have called her on the phone. “Tell me about Seth, you’ve spent time with him.”

  Sierra looked at her, but Annie wasn’t going to be deterred. She waited. “He’s in a bad spot, Annie. I wouldn’t wish his position on my worst enemy. The only place he had a moment of privacy was his bathroom, they only had microphones there, no video. But everyplace else, his bedroom, his office, his study, everyplace they’ve had eyes and ears on him. He’s had to be Carson Runyon 24/7.”

  “Who’s had him under surveillance?”

  “His loving father-in-law and his former employer, Labado.”

  “I don’t believe it. Portia’s dad couldn’t possibly have cameras in the bedroom where his daughter would be intimate with her husband.”

  Sierra gave a harsh laugh. “Annie, this is one sick family. If I had to guess, this woman would put on a sex show for an entire battleship.”

  Annie shuddered at the imagery. “But this is her father.”

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter in this case. What matters is keeping an eye on Seth. Portia’s privacy be damned.”

  “That’s messed up. This is his daughter.”

  “He’s doing business with an arms dealer and a drug dealer, he is a major crook who needs to be put away for the rest of his life. I can’t prove it yet, but I think his daughter is an accomplice.” Annie’s stomach clenched. How could Seth have possibly married a criminal? It couldn’t be true, he wouldn’t have done that. He believed in the sanctity of marriage, they’d talked about it.

  “How are you going to be able to help him?”

  “We thought it was Benitez and Labado, but it’s gotten a lot more complicated. It makes me want to throw up. I’m used to the atrocities of war, but these people dress up and go to parties and mingle, and act like they are normal, when they are really sick, diseased fucks.” Annie couldn’t remember seeing Sierra so shaken up.

  “Tell me.”

  “I could deal with the gun running and the drug dealing, I really could. I went in expecting it. But they are kidnapping girls and selling them. Then there are the ones they convince to become models overseas, only they become part of this scheme.” Sierra’s eyes were bright with tears.

  “I know. Noah and Kali told me. Sierra, the whole thing is a horror show. When did Seth find out?”

  “He just found out when we had arrived. It was the first thing he wanted us to help him stop. But there are so many holes in this boat, and it is sinking fast. We’re trying to find a way to infiltrate the organization, while stopping the drugs and guns…”

  Annie tasted salt on her lips and she realized she was crying. What had her man gotten himself into?

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Brice and Nate were going to act as buyers, but they haven’t been able to do it. Apparently you have to be introduced through another buyer, and they haven’t been able to find a proper introduction. Seth found one contact for them, but Brice approached him, but he didn’t trust him enough to bring him into the buyer’s circle.” Sierra’s eyes were haunted as she paused and gave a choked laugh. “Did you hear me? I called this a buyer’s circle, like these girls and women are livestock.”

  “Oh Sierra, stop. You know you have to distance yourself from this, it’s the only way to survive the horror.” Annie wanted to shut off the computer and curl into the fetal position, and pretend the conversation never happened. However, she had to be strong for the people she cared about.

  “In the meantime, Brice and Nate are doing surveillance on the two new drug cartels in the picture, Vargas and Soto. We thought about me slipping in as one of the girls, but decided it would be best if I worked as a consultant with Carson or Seth or whatever his name is. Anyway, I’m too old, they like ‘em young.”

  “What would you have done?”

  “I would have infiltrated and found out their supply chains. Then I would have hopefully discovered how they were selling the girls, and where the next buyer’s circle was so we could nail these bastards. Nate and Brice couldn’t have found out everything, but they could have found out a lot.”

  “It sounds like helping with the cartels is pretty important, but I’m with you, we have to make the selling of the girls our first priority.” Now a picture of the young women being sold to the highest bidder was in her head, Annie couldn’t shake it. She’d known these things occurred, she wasn’t naïve. But to know it was happening under her nose was more than she could bear.

  “Honey, I don’t like the way you’re saying we. Your first priority has to be Nell.”

  “I know. But you also know for the last two months I’ve been telling all of you it was time I start pulling my weight. You have been providing our protection, and I appreciate it. Now you are involved in something that concerns another found. As a matter of fact, he is the father of my child. I think this is very much my business, don’t you?” Annie worked hard to keep her voice level and practical, when all of her instincts made her want to either plead or demand.

  “I hear what you’re saying, but this is not something you’re qualified for or frankly really able to provide any real contribution.”

  “You’re totally overlooking the obvious. And when I say overlooking, I mean it. Take a good look at me, and what do you see?” Annie waited. She watched as her friend stared at her, and finally her eyes widened.

  “Fuck,” she breathed out.

  “Exactly.”

  “You look like a teenager.”

  “Yep.”

  “But you have to stay with Nell, you can’t do field work.”

  “Shilah can stay with Nell. Sierra, I cannot stay locked up in this apartment building forever. I’m a grown woman with a PhD. I used to have a life, before the Rixitron bastards took it away from me. I vowed when I had an opportunity to do something to help you take them down, I was going to take my shot. I realize this isn’t Rixitron, but it is something I can do to help, and it’s something that needs doing. What’s more it helps one of the found. Let me do this.”

  “It’s not up to me.”

  “Who makes the decision?”

  “The lieutenant decides who goes out on assignment.”

  “Fine, I’ll talk to Noah.”

  ****

  Despite her big words to Sierra, Annie was nervous when she decided to join the daily planning session for the first time. Riley told her about them, so she knew the apartment set aside as the group gathering place for dinners and such was also where the team met for morning briefings. Annie and Shilah were never invited.

  Annie waited until a quarter after nine and knocked briefly on the door before letting herself in, grateful the door wasn’t locked. Everyone turned to look at her.

  “Hi Annie,” Noah smiled warmly. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  “Actually I wanted to join this morning’s meeting, and all of the briefings going forward,” she said looking around the room. She made sure to keep her smile calm and professional, just as she would when meeting with a room full of professors.

  “Is there an
y particular reason why you wanted to start doing that?” Cyrus Johnson asked. Where Noah’s tone had been warm, Cyrus’ sounded like he was getting ready to interrogate her. It made sense, as he was on hiatus from his job as a high ranking detective in the Atlanta police force.

  “Yes there is, I spoke to Sierra last night, and it sounds like there is something I am uniquely capable of assisting with regarding a case the she, Nate and Brice are working.”

  “And what do you think that is?” Cyrus asked, his tone even colder.

  “Mellow out dude,” Sarah Johnson said, as she elbowed her older brother. Annie laughed, and immediately winced in regret, but everybody else around the table did as well. Riley gave her a wink. With the three team members in Florida, it only left seven people in the room with her. Annie knew she was going to have an uphill battle convincing every single one of them of her plan, but she intended to start with the women and end with Noah.

  “Can I sit down?”

  “Of course,” Kali answered, and Annie smiled inwardly. She’d start with Kali. Annie sat in the empty chair opposite her, and next to Dakota (Kota) Blackthorne.

  “So what is it you think you can help with?” Cyrus asked again. He was like a dog with a bone. Sarah rolled her eyes.

  “Sierra explained there were a few things needing to be stopped, there were the initial problems with Labado and Seth’s father-in-law, but now he’s brought in two new big cartels. She said Nate and Brice are working surveillance on those groups, but it still leaves the problem with the buying and selling of the young girls.” She looked pointedly at Kali and Sarah.

  “Noah briefed us on that business of Labado’s a few days ago,” Kali said, as she rubbed her swollen abdomen, throwing a grateful look at her husband. Annie knew she and Noah were communicating psychically. Meanwhile, Sarah looked positively sick to her stomach and Cyrus moved closer to his sister and grabbed her hand where it rested on top of the conference room table.

  “Brice and Nate are still attempting to find a way in as buyers,” Kota said.

  “Sierra told me, but even if they succeed, then what about the cartel they are currently focused on?” she asked Kota, but eventually looked around to everyone in the room ending with Noah. He was rubbing the back of his neck.

  “You bring up a great point.”

  “Are you saying the girls aren’t the highest priority?” Kali asked.

  “This is one of those cases where everything is a number one priority, but Brice and Nate are already in place watching Soto and Vargas, and they’ve struck out on the human trafficking aspect.”

  Annie felt the accusation coming from Sarah and Kali in waves, as did the rest of the men in the room.

  “Noah’s right Kali. If Brice or Nate succeeded as buyers, they would have jumped right in, but they struck out, and moved on. You have to realize what they are doing will help to stop a drug war of epic proportions on American soil.”

  Sarah snatched her hand out from under her brother’s.

  “Don’t you use that cop tone on Kali, Cyrus. Why aren’t we sending someone else to try to be a buyer? Or one of your cop friends, or one of Seth’s DEA co-workers? Why aren’t we doing something?”

  “We can’t contact the DEA. Seth is convinced there is a leak within multiple teams at his level. If I contact someone from the Atlanta PD, they would immediately see the drug connection and call in the DEA, and we are back at square one. We can’t send anyone here, because we’re finally making some headway with Rixitron. Hell, we’re using every civilian in this room to help,” Cyrus sounded almost disgusted and Sarah hauled off and hit him in the shoulder.

  “Hey what was that for?”

  “For being an asshole.”

  “Thank you,” Niko Evanoff said, with a slight Russian accent.

  “You’re using civilians to assist on the Rixitron project?” Annie asked smoothly.

  “They’re not suggesting something nearly as dangerous as what you’re suggesting.” She had never been subject the penetrating gaze of Noah Kukailimoku, and it made her squirm in her seat. She could see how he made the Lieutenant Commander in the Navy at such a young age.

  “What do you mean dangerous?” Riley demanded, as he leaned forward in his chair.

  “If I’m not mistaken, Annie is going to volunteer to be one of the kidnapped girls.”

  Riley looked at her and saw the truth of Noah’s words. He slowly stood from his chair and walked around the table to her.

  “We need to go out in hall and talk,” he said in a voice laced with steel. A voice she never heard before. After all they had been through, she owed him this. She stood, and he gave a grim nod and turned toward the door. She followed.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, Riley turned to her, his arm above her, caging her between him and wall.

  “I want to forbid you to follow through with this plan. I want to guilt you by telling you how bad of a mother you are to Nell for even considering this. I want kiss you and tell you that I can’t live without you.”

  Annie reached out and brushed her hand against his chest. Unsure if she wanted to beat him or comfort him. He must have seen her conflict because he gave out a harsh laugh.

  “That’s the problem, isn’t it, you don’t know what to do with me. Well, here, I’ll help. I can’t forbid it, because it’s not my place. Of course you’ve considered Nell, and weighed the consequences. Your little girl means the world to you and you would never do something like volunteer for such a plan if you didn’t sincerely believe you could help and survive. As for my feelings, well they really don’t matter. I’ve always known your heart belongs to Seth. I’ve been talking to the team in Florida, he’s a good man caught in an unimaginably bad situation.”

  As soon as he started talking about Nell, the pain in her heart started building and when he mentioned Seth it exploded outward and she found herself in his arms sobbing.

  “I have to do this Riley,” she spoke into his T-shirt.

  “I can’t understand you. Can you calm down?” He lifted his shirt and wiped her eyes, and stroked her back.

  She took a deep breath. “I have to help.”

  “We can find another way. Someone else can do this.”

  “There is no one else. Look at me, I look like I’m nineteen. I keep imagining this happening to Nell. We can’t let this go on for even one more day. I have to do this. Are you really in love with me?”

  “Almost. I love you. You and your daughter will always hold a piece of my heart, but maybe because I knew you essentially belonged to another man, I protected myself. I never completely fell off the ledge, but I sure as hell could have. If Seth turns out to be a bastard, I’m coming after you, Annie Newman.” He dipped his head down and gave her a gentle kiss.

  “Riley…”

  “You don’t have to say it.” He smiled at her. “Let’s go back in.”

  Once Riley was on board with her plan, she found it easier to convince the rest of the men.

  “Sierra explained they’re using a modeling agency as a front to lure the young women. They sign a phony contract thinking they are going overseas to become fashion models for six months to a year, and then they’re immediately locked up and put up for sale,” Noah explained.

  “Who thinks up something like this?” Sarah asked.

  “This happens in my country,” Niko said. “We have many of our young women lured away and never seen again with this kind of trap. I never thought American women would fall for it. Our girls want better lives for themselves and want to be able send money to their families.”

  “Sometimes it’s for the same type of reasons, Niko. There are plenty of families in America who are really struggling,” Cyrus defended.

  “But you have to admit, a lot of these girls go into this with stars in their eyes. They want to become famous models or actresses,” Kali said. Cyrus nodded in agreement.

  “Sarah, you asked who thinks to have girls sign up to be models and then sell them into slavery. W
ell it would be Labado’s right hand woman, Leslie Gordon,” Noah answered. “She has been working with him for over twenty years. She must have seen what was happening as his profits were taking a nose dive with the DEA busts, and wanted to help him shore up his business. This is her brainchild.”

  “A woman is behind this?” Kali asked, aghast.

  Noah put an arm around his petite wife. “Yes, she is.”

  Kota spoke up. “I don’t like the idea of Annie doing this. But I didn’t like the idea of Kali going into the field last year either. I’ve had to learn to put my gut reaction to protect these civilian women to the side. Annie, if you feel like you can help put a stop to this horror, I’ll back you.”

  “Well I won’t, she has no place in the field. She has no training, and she doesn’t have the team she needs to back her up, because everybody in Florida is spread too thin. The very idea is crazy. It’d be like letting Sarah go.” The room went deadly quiet.

  “What did you just say, Cyrus?”

  “I’m not taking it back Sarah. There is no way I would ever allow you to do something like this. I’m not ever going to mom and dad and tell them their baby girl is dead. It’s not happening.”

  “It’s not your call to make. I will decide what chances I will, and will not, take.”

  “Yes it is. I will decide what risks you’ll take, Sarah. What’s more, I’m not allowing Annie to make such a foolhardy decision either, and Noah will back me up on this. There is no way he will allow the mother of an infant to infiltrate a group making a bunch of women into sex slaves. He’s just not going to do it.”