“Jeremy?” she whispered.
“Marybeth? Is that you?”
She spoke a little louder this time. “It’s me. I’m in the bathroom with the shower on.”
“Okay. I can hear you now.”
“Christy wasn’t in his trunk.”
“Alvarez’s?”
“Yes.”
“What about Mitch’s?”
“I don’t know.” She grimaced.
“You couldn’t get into his trunk?”
“I didn’t get the chance. Alvarez was in the garage when I went out there.”
“He’s not there anymore, right?”
“No. He left with me.”
“Well go back out there and check.”
“I don’t think I can pull off another trip to the garage. That about did me under.”
“Christy’s been gone for over three hours now. We need to find her soon if we hope to save her. Please. I’d do it myself or send someone, but that would take hours. Time we don’t have.”
Marybeth knew about the ticking time bomb when it came to kidnapping victims. They had less than two days to not only locate her, but to get to her and save her.
“I don’t know if I can, Jeremy.” She felt sick, depleted.
“Please try, Marybeth. I believe in you.”
Somehow she felt that belief inside her, like he’d somehow transmitted it through the phone. She grabbed hold of that feeling. “Okay. I’ll try, but no promises.”
“Great. We’ll wait for your call.”
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose. She could do this for Christy. She could. She turned off the shower and came out. She charged down the stairs before she lost her nerve. She prayed she wouldn’t run into Alvarez. She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle that again. He truly scared her now. She figured the faster she did this little errand, the less likely it would be that she would run into him.
The guard’s car and the senator’s car still stood next to each other. Only then did she remember the guard was somewhere. She had no idea if he was with the senator or out and about on the grounds, but there was no turning back now. Shaking, she passed the senator’s car and eyed the guard’s car. She looked around the space, listening intently. There was no sound. No movement. She was alone.
She tapped on the trunk. “Christy?” There was no answer. She tapped a bit harder. Still, no answer. What had she expected, she chided herself. If Christy was inside, she’d be knocked out at the most and gagged in the least. Christy would not be answering her. And what if she was inside, what then? How would she get her out and to safety? She hadn’t thought this through at all. She was a terrible rescuer.
She tried the driver’s door. It opened. A flood of heat rushed through her, anxiety hitting hard. She glanced around the space. No sound. No movement. She searched the console for some button that would trigger the trunk. At long last, she found it and pushed.
She shut the driver’s door quietly, pushing it gently but firmly with her hands until it gave a small click. She rushed to the back and peered inside. She didn’t shut her eyes this time. Christy wasn’t there. And while she had wished Christy was in there, it also filled her with relief that she wasn’t dead inside. If Christy had been, it would have been Marybeth’s fault. The trunk was full of cardboard file boxes and a whole bunch of weapons.
What was in those files? She angled her body so that she would be able to see the door to the garage from where she stood. She had to get another look at the files. Her insides quaked as she opened the nearest box and pulled out a file.
Inside the files were picture of girls and information about them. They looked like employee files. Grabbing her sixth file, she heard something at the garage door. Her hand shook as she shuffled the papers back into place and wedged the file back into the box. She carefully pushed the trunk closed even though blood thundered through her veins. She moved away from the guard’s car as quickly as she could.
The door opened, revealing Mitch Abernathy, Alvarez’s guard. His hands full of files. He eyed her. “Just, um, looking for something,” she mumbled, cursing herself inwardly. Couldn’t she come up with anything better? He walked past, her insides a total mess as he did. He didn’t reply.
She wished at that moment that she had Christy’s photographic memory and ran upstairs to write the details of what she’d found. Jeremy needed to know about this. It might have nothing to do with Christy, but then again, who knew. She needed to talk to Jeremy, but she couldn’t risk talking about it all inside the house.
She got a sudden flash of inspiration and grabbed a blanket, binoculars, her notepad, and a pen. She’d play as though she were going outside to stargaze. When she got to the front door, she realized she could hear the senator talking. He wasn’t in his office any longer. She moved carefully into the living room and through the other side, near the back door. Sure enough, the senator was standing in the hall with Mitch.
“It’s gone?”
Another guard was there. He was short and stocky, with a black baseball cap on and a goatee. She’d missed his approach. She’d never seen him before. “No,” he said. “It’s getting loaded right now. Last one on. First one off.”
“Good,” Alvarez said. “It’s always a relief when we get one of these shipments sent off. It never gets easier. All the files were scanned, right?”
“All but the new one you have.”
“Good. Get rid of them. As always, they no longer exist.”
Feet shuffled, so Marybeth rushed back down the hall on tip toes and put her hand on the elaborate front door handle, just as she felt the two guards enter the front foyer. She chose to ignore them—pretend they weren’t there. She began to hum and disappeared out the door. Her heart pounded hard on her ribs, her breath ragged as she spread out the blanket onto the grass, feeling their eyes on her. After sitting down, she pulled out binoculars. Using her notebook, her flashlight, and pen, she documented everything she’d heard, taking breaks to look up to the sky and pretend she was stargazing. She waited and waited, unsure if she was still being watched. She started to shiver and decided it was time.
He picked up, sounding completely alert.
“It’s Marybeth.”
“Hold on.”
After a few clicks, he came back on. “You’re on speaker. Halluis and Ace are also here.”
“Okay. I don’t know what he’s doing, but there’s so much I have to tell you.”
“Start at the beginning.”
Chapter 15
MARYBETH
“Did you get a good look at any of those pictures in the files, Marybeth?” Jeremy asked after hearing everything about the files.
“Yes.” Three or four pictures flashed in her mind.
“Ace, why not send her those pictures of the missing girls from earlier? She can look through and tell us if any of the girls are ones she saw in a file.”
“Okay.” The file came to her phone and she opened it with a password Ace gave her.
“You only saw the photos for a second or two, right?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes.”
“I want you to position yourself in the same way you were above the files and imagine you are flipping through them as you view these pictures. It will help with recall.” She did as Jeremy suggested. It took three photos and then she found one of the girls she’d seen. “Number three.” She kept going and stopped on the fifth girl, then the seventh, and eighth, and fifteenth, and finally, the seventeenth. None of the others looked familiar.
“You’re sure?” Jeremy asked. “Those six girls were in those files in the trunk?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” There was no doubt. Her chest burned with surety.
“All those girls,” Halluis said. “Have gone missing in the last two months and all of them went out on a date with Senator Alvarez within a week of disappearing. Their pictures were on Bradley Durham’s phone. This is what he had on him. It wasn’t about adultery at all.”
“Bu
t why?” Marybeth couldn’t wrap her head around it.
“He must be trafficking these girls,” Ace said, disgust in his voice. “This is a familiar pattern. One that is repeated with traffickers all over.”
“He’s not going to traffic Christy,” Jeremy thundered.
Ace continued. “Those files are perfect for sending out to human traffickers.” He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “If he has Christy and ordered his men to burn the files and says they don’t exist anymore, the girls are already bought and the shipment is sent.”
Marybeth felt faint. This wasn’t happening. It was all her fault.
“And that means,” Halluis said, “We have less than 48 hours to find her or we never will.”
“Hey!” Ace said, his voice sounded harsh, indignant. “Have some faith in the girl. Christy isn’t your normal, everyday captive. She’s a trained spy. One of the very best there is. I think that lends an extension to the time we have.”
Marybeth could imagine the terror this must have brought to Jeremy. The terror he must have been feeling hearing that. The terror that explained his silence.
“We’ll find her,” Jeremy finally whispered. And as if that woke him, he spoke boldly now. “They’ve never had the full wrath of Division coming down on them.” Marybeth could hear some shuffling, and then Jeremy said, “I don’t care what you have to do, Marybeth. You get in that office and find that file. Maybe it lists her destination. Even a little bit of information from a file could be invaluable. We need to know where he is taking her. Ace, send her Christy’s app profile.”
A moment later, Christy’s disguised photo appeared on her phone. Her hair was so dark brown it was almost black. Her eyes were green. Otherwise, she looked like herself. A lump formed in Marybeth’s throat. What was happening to her friend now? A small echo of Jeremy’s fervor rose in her. “I’ll get it.
Ace and Halluis shared their numbers with Marybeth before hanging up. She made her way quickly to the back of the house and went straight for the office windows, a laser focus on her task. It was the only way she could function, knowing what she knew. As she rounded the corner, she peeked into the windows. The senator stood with an open file in his hand, and he was talking on the phone. No guards were in his room with him. She could hear muffled voices and moved a bit closer to the windows, hoping to hear what was being said.
“No,” Alvarez said. “I’m telling you this girl is perfect. Everything you want. And I’ve just acquired her consent. I’ll send you all the details, but here’s the gist of it. She’s a beauty. Long, black, thick hair. Green eyes. Skin of porcelain. Not a blemish on her. She comes from a great family—wealthy, smart, and talented group of people. I’m telling you, she’s perfect. Yes. She will love her. I’ll send you the file.” He closed the file and set it on his desk. “She should be ready for you next Monday. I know. If you choose. Until later. Goodbye.”
He picked up the folder and put it on a scanner and then took a jump drive out of the scanner and shredded the file. That was Christy he’d been describing.
Even though she basically knew the senator had Christy, this was incontrovertible evidence that he did. Pain surged in her belly. She closed her eyes as if that would make it all go away.
She’d have to wait until the senator went to bed. She went back around to the front of the house and sat on her blankets, this time looking at the house. Through the many windows, she would easily be able to see him go up to his room. It took half an hour, but he finally did go upstairs. His wife always left a side lamp on for him. When it went out, she felt it safe to enter the house and disable the alarm. She did so and texted: Disarmed.
Ace messaged back, Take a picture of the alarm panel.
She did and sent it, her heart racing the whole time.
Ace had her do a series of codes into the keypad and then texted, Now everything is dead, not just the normal entry points.
She thought she’d already disarmed it, but she hadn’t. That was not easy. In training, she’d done a lot of reading about alarm systems and had done some practical work, but for the most part, she was taught to work within the bounds given her. Meaning, no manipulation of alarms.
Now, go to the windows. Let’s get you inside.
Her stomach roiled and she thought her heart might jump out of her chest, but she did as he asked.
He had her go get a few tools from the garage and use them to pry one of the window out. The window was heavy and it took all her strength to slowly lower it to the ground. She barely fit through the space it left in the wall. Using her phone light, she scanned the room, first turning on the computer and then going through Alvarez’s files and desk drawers. She checked the things that the Division team told her to check and was careful not to leave any trace that she’d been there. She got a little sour when they asked her to check each surface for hidden panels, trap doors, and fake bottoms in the desk drawers for the fourth time.
“I already did that three times,” she said. “Nothing has changed.” She went through each and every file in his file cabinet and even flipped through all the books. She found nothing. Feeling defeated, three hours later, she climbed out of the window after wiping down everything and putting the window back in place—which was really hard to do alone and took a good chunk of time. She then re-armed the alarm system. Once back out front in her little spot, she called them.
“What now?”
“We’re working on that, Marybeth,” Ace said. “Halluis is getting intel from Division as we speak.”
She heard Jeremy bellow in the background of the call, “Where? Where did he take her?”
“They found his personal guard.” Halluis’ voice cracked as he spoke.
“Mitch?” Marybeth asked, fire raging in her gut. She swallowed hard. She hadn’t even realized he’d left.
“There were no files in the trunk or anywhere in the car. No surprise there,” Halluis said, moving the phone away from his lips.
“What did he say?” Jeremy growled. “What did they get out of him?”
“They’re not going to interrogate him,” Halluis said. “They’re only following him.”
“I don’t think so,” Jeremy said.
Marybeth heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back. Fire burst out in her gut. They needed to interrogate him, didn’t they?
“Let me go, Ace,” Jeremy growled. “Halluis, get out of my way.”
Her heart thudded. Were they going to fight?
“No,” Ace said, huffing. “You’re too close to this, and you’re not thinking right. Sit down and I’ll tell you about the plan.”
“No,” Jeremy said, menace filling his words. “Let me tell you the plan. Mitch knows where Christy is, and we’re going to make him tell us.”
Marybeth heard a scuffle and she couldn’t help but stand and pace out on the lawn.
Jeremy called out, “Let me go!”
“No,” Halluis said through hard breaths. “We’ll find her, but not by breaking legs or torturing anyone. You know how these trafficking organizations work. At the first sign of trouble, they get rid of their assets faster than anyone can blink. They’d kill all of them if they thought someone was on to them.”
Marybeth was clear across the lawn before she realized it. She glanced around. No one she could see was around. She sighed, thinking she was lucky she hadn’t been spotted. She needed to be more careful, especially when things got heated with the team.
The struggle and shuffling finally came to an end. The truth of the words must’ve sunk into Jeremy’s soul because he broke. He sobbed. “I didn’t protect her. I should have gotten another listening device in that room when the other went dead. I was there and had no idea. This is my fault.”
Marybeth felt indecent listening to his sobs, his wails. Tears streamed down her cheeks at hearing his despair. She wanted to yell out that it was her fault, not his, but she couldn’t, not with the large baseball that seemed to be lodged within her throat. So she held on, listening and
waiting for Jeremy to gain his composure as she tried to get control of herself.
She wasn’t sure how long she waited for someone to speak, but when he did, it was Ace. She brushed at her tears.
“What we know.”
Marybeth could imagine Ace writing the information on a big board for the three of them to see, his strong, tanned hands moving effortlessly across the board, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his tattoos. She scribbled onto her pad of paper as he talked.
“Christy was taken while at the hotel after the bug quit working. Alvarez and at least one guard, Mitch, was there when it happened. Twenty girls from across the U.S. that the senator dated in the last three months on his travels have gone missing. The senator has files on all of these girls, most likely on a jump drive. The files start as paper files and are shredded after they are scanned into the computer and moved to a jump drive. The girls are sold in some way.
“He has Christy somewhere and intends to sell her. He believes he has already found the perfect buyer. He estimates delivery of Christy happening next Monday. The senator considers these girls erased along with the fire he uses to burn them. Such protocol is standard for slavers selling workers as well as sex slaves. Under normal circumstances, forty-eight hours is the lost time, or the time when the captive is considered out of reach of authorities. Normally. But in this case, we can’t consider it our lost time. There are too many extenuating circumstances.”
Halluis spoke next. “I wish we knew what he was planning on selling these girls for. Did he say anything that gave you a clue, Marybeth?”
“No, but it seems like the buyers put in an order for a particular look in a girl. I could be wrong, but that’s what it sounded like.”
“That doesn’t tell us much. The buyers could be using them for just about anything,” Halluis said.
Marybeth wondered what Jeremy was thinking. He’d been quiet for a long time.
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