This time, she glanced to the mirror on the wall, watching in fascination at their coupling. Smiling, she saw him as he collapsed on top of her, both falling to the stairs.
Before they had time to catch their breath, the doorbell rang. Sherrie’s eyes grew wide as she searched in vain for her clothes.
“Babe, run upstairs. I’ll get the door.”
She obeyed and grabbed new clothes to put on. As she came down the stairs, she saw Tony holding the pizza box and her bra. Giving him a questioning look, he grinned, saying, “This was at the front door. The delivery boy noticed it and handed it to my while I got my money.”
Eyes wide, with a blush blistering her face, she exclaimed, “Oh my God. We can never order from there again!”
Kissing the top of her head while he moved toward the kitchen, “No worries, babe. I gave him a big tip.”
Groaning, she made her way into the kitchen behind him. Men!
Chapter 21
Sunday morning dawned and just as they were enjoying their coffee, Tony received a call. A security system they had installed in the home of one of Richland’s wealthiest neighborhoods had gone off, indicating an intruder. Tony and Jobe were heading there to reset the system after the police were finished.
After he left, Sherrie pulled out the art pad and began looking at the pictures again. The detail of the faces was amazing. The eyes are the mirror of my soul. Not ‘the soul’ as the quote goes, but she said, ‘my soul’. What did she mean?
The eyes of the faces were filled in with swirls of her art pen. Sort of like a script if one looked closely. Script? She hurried to the kitchen and rummaged around in her junk drawer, pulling out a magnifying glass. Hustling back to the table, she grabbed a small lamp from the end table and brought it over as well. With the extra light focused directly on the faces and the magnifying glass on the eyes, she could see…Oh my God, writing. Tiny, miniscule writing.
Grabbing a pen and notebook, she wrote out the first word she saw. Patrick. Was that the name of the boy in the picture?
Turning to the next page, she used the magnifying glass to peer into the eyes of the young girl depicted. Linda.
Excited, she moved through the art pad, finding names scripted in each of the eyes of the drawings. Not knowing what it meant, she knew she had latched onto something. Wanting to call Tony, she looked at her watch. He had only been gone an hour. I can’t disturb him now.
Flipping over to the drawings of the grocery and laundry, she marveled once again at the detail of Betina’s talent. The bricks in the buildings, the signs in the windows—as though she was looking at a photograph. Glancing at the magnifying glass lying on the table she grabbed it. Maybe there’s more script.
Not finding any, she felt her frustration return. Refusing to give up, she rubbed her eyes before bending to the task once again. Moving from the grocery store drawing to the laundry, she slowly slid the glass over the building. As the window came into view, she jumped. What had looked like circular squiggles over the windows giving them a dirty look at a quick glance were…faces.
Her heart pounded as she looked at the tiny faces peering out of the window. Not distinct features, but definitely faces.
Laying the glass down, she put her shaking hand on her mouth. What is going on in that building? Are those the faces of people being held there?
A glance at her watch again indicated that Tony would not be home for hours. Sending him a quick text, she headed out of the door. Sunday in the middle of the day would be the best time for sleuthing she thought. Daylight. No one working on a Sunday. Perfect.
Thirty minutes later she pulled into the well-lit alley behind the laundry. Her phone beeped an incoming message from Tony. He had received her message and told her under no circumstances was she to go alone.
Sitting in her car, she quickly called the Alvarez Security. When Doug answered, she immediately told him where she was.
“Girl, stay in that vehicle until one of us gets there and if anything looks weird, get the fuck out of there.”
She was just agreeing when she heard a commotion in the background. “Doug? What’s going on?”
Doug got back on the phone, saying, “Girl, there’s gonna be hell to pay. Tony just called to have us check on you, but I told him we were on our way since you’d called in first.”
Pursing her lips, she knew Tony would be mad, but she had followed his directions. I called first and I’m waiting.
Seeing Vinny pull into the alley, she got out of her car and was able to hear hear noise from inside the building that her car had muffled. Damn, I thought it would be shut down for the day. Metal stairs zig-zagged up the back of the building with a pile of crates underneath. Looking around before waving to Vinny as he parked, she quickly climbed up the crates and pulled herself up the metal ladder.
Making her way to the nearest window, she peeked in.
*
“Boss, she’s good,” Doug called out as soon as Tony and Jobe reached the agency.
The re-setting of the complicated system had taken longer than he wanted and as much as he wanted to get home, he knew he needed to check on the materials for the next install. He hurried into the surveillance room, Jobe on his heels.
“Vinny was closest, so I have already sent him and Terrance to help her.”
Tony looked at the computer screen that Doug was pointing to. The one outside of the alley of the laundry. Where Sherrie was heading up the fire stairs in the alley. With Vinny scrambling quickly behind.
“What the fuck is she doing?” he exploded.
“Vinny’s there, boss. He’s got her and Terrance is on watch too.”
Tony saw Vinny stealthily climbing the stairs and grabbing Sherrie from behind with one hand over her mouth and the other protectively around her waist. He could see Vinny speaking to her and she nodded before he let her go. Then Vinny looked into the window as well. They carefully made their way back down the stairs, where Vinny assisted her from the crates.
“I want her ass here instantly,” Tony growled into the radio connected to Vinny’s earpiece. “In your car. Get her keys and if she gives you any problems, tell her I’ll deal with her when she gets here.”
Doug looked at his boss, knowing the next part of the intel was not going to make his boss happy. “Sir, there’s more. We got a clear identification on one of the men in Quentin’s tunnels. It’s Hernando. He works for Quentin. And for the first time last night, there were some girls going from one of the outer buildings through the tunnels to the club. We think this may be how they move some of the younger girls into the club.”
*
Sherrie started to walk back toward her car when Vinny snatched the keys from her hand and tossed them to the other man coming from behind a dumpster. Before she could protest, Vinny clipped, “Terrance’ll drive your car. You’re to come with me.”
“But—”
Vinny took her arm gently, steering her toward his truck parked at the end of the alley. “Darlin’, I don’t think I’d test Tony on this.”
Pursing her lips, she looked into Terrance’s smiling face, his white teeth in contrast to his dark skin giving his handsome face even more stunning looks. Allowing Vinny to assist her up, she wisely kept quiet during the ride to the agency. All the while, steaming. I was careful. I followed his directions. I texted him first and then I called the office. I waited in my car until someone came before looking in a window. Giving an angry snort, she thought, Just let him try to pick a fight with me!
*
The yelling from Tony’s office had continued for the past ten minutes. Terrance, Doug, Jobe, Gabe and Vinny waited patiently, but when the arguing did not seem to end, Jobe looked over at the others to see if he should step in.
Before he could speak, Tony threw open the door and shouted, “Terrance. You got her bag?”
Terrance nodded and handed the large purse that was in Sherrie’s car to his boss. Tony took it and said, “Show me.” Since he had not closed his d
oor, they group outside could hear sniffles inside and papers being shuffled.
“You can’t see them without some help,” Sherrie said, wiping her tears. Tony had ripped her a new one with some of his team right outside the door. She was furious and hated crying when she was mad, thinking it made her look weak.
Tony took the art pad from her hand and walked out of the room with it. Not knowing if he wanted her to follow or not, she decided that she did not care. I know what I saw and want to see his face when I’m right.
Looking up, she realized that the group had grown; Gabe and BJ were there as well. Her face flaming, she held her head high and stormed over to the table where Tony had taken the pad. He had laid it flat against a white tabletop, with a strong light above. BJ sat at a computer station and with a few clicks had the pad projected up on one of the whiteboards on the wall. The group, intrigued, moved closer.
Determined to not give in to her tears again, she asked BJ to focus on the eyes and enlarge. He did so and the script came into focus. “I don’t know what it means other than possibly the names of the kids she was drawing.”
During the argument with Tony in his office, where he alternated between hugging her and threatening to paddle her ass, she had explained what she had discovered and why she had gone to the laundry.
Tony rubbed his hand over his face, torn between being furious at her for trying to play detective, and impressed at what she had found. He turned the pages slowly as BJ enlarged and focused on the eyes. Coming to the name Alecia, he stopped immediately, his heart rate zooming.
Sherrie looked around in confusion as the air in the room began to crackle. “What…what is it?”
BJ pulled the focus off of the eyes and the full face of the young girl filled the screen. “Goddamn,” Vinny exclaimed.
“Is there one of Elizabeth in here?” Tony asked, his voice forced.
Licking her lips nervously, she nodded as she leaned forward to flip several pages ahead. Another young girl’s face appeared on the wall. “Tony?” she asked tentatively. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
He turned his face to her but before he answered, he growled, “Get Matt and Shane.”
From the side, she saw BJ pick up his phone and make a call. After the call was placed, Tony said in a gentler voice, “Sherrie, where is the picture of the laundry?”
With now shaking fingers, she flipped through the pages until she came to the one she was looking for. Tony still had not answered her question, but she knew that he would when the time was right. Something major was happening and she wisely let it happen without pelting him with questions. She pointed to the window.
With the high illumination and magnification of BJ’s program, it was clear to see that the swirls in the window pane were actually tiny, nondescript faces peering out.
“I…I thought maybe she was trying to tell me that someone was trying to escape or get out or…I don’t know.” Her words sounded silly to her now. If there was someone there, their presence would have been seen as intrusive and Tony had been right—she would have been in danger. Tears threatened to fall and she swallowed hard several times to hold them at bay.
Tony took two steps and enveloped her in his arms. Cradling her head against his chest, he breathed her in.
Her voice caught in her throat as she tried to speak. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to help.”
Pulling her tighter into his powerful body, he kissed the top of her hair, letting his actions speak volumes. Tony saw Shane and Matt arrive with Lily and take in the scene, before moving toward Gabe and Jobe to find out what was going on.
Sherrie quickly wiped her tears and spared a glance up. Tony’s eyes were no longer angry but caramel warm again. Giving her a squeeze, he let her go and they walked over to the screen again.
“Baby, you’d better fill them in on everything you’ve told me and then we’ll let you know what’s going on.”
Sherrie told about her CASA work and Betina, starting from the first time she met her to her latest contact. She left out nothing, telling of her suspicions of Hernando, to following Betina to the bus stop, to her analyzing the art pad for clues.
When she stopped, Tony picked up the discussion as he described the cameras they had installed knowing that Sherrie would sometimes be there.
“That’s how you knew where I was?” she asked incredulously.
“Babe. Later,” he said tersely.
Pulling her lips in, she kept quiet, but knew that the conversation was only tabled for now—definitely not over.
Then he landed his bombshell and all other thoughts flew out of her head. “We’ve been looking for an Elizabeth and Alecia for the police because their grandparents came to us and asked for help. They have been missing for about three months. The grandparents admit that the girls ran away after their dad was abusive.”
Matt quickly had BJ flip through the other drawings, several he recognized. He and the others began to talk excitedly, comparing notes. Sherrie sat in the middle of the group feeling lost.
Tony felt her fear before he glanced over to see it written on her face. He had been so angry before, but only out of fear. “Babe,” he said softly in her ear. “I think you’re onto something that’s a helluva lot bigger than you bargained for.”
She turned her pale face towards his and pleaded, “Please tell me.”
Sitting at the large conference table, Matt began by bringing them up to date on their investigation into human trafficking. Stunned, Sherrie listened, each word making her feel sicker.
“I talked to you all about human trafficking earlier, but some of you weren’t there?” Matt asked.
The shocked looks from those around the table only matched the silence that greeted the detectives.
“Isn’t that where women are kidnapped and then sent to foreign countries for sex slaves?” Vinny asked.
“It’s modern slavery, but is more than just sex slavery,” Matt countered, “and it’s happening right here in Virginia. What we’re investigating is the child trafficking.”
This statement captured the attention of the group.
Shane picked up the report in front of him, reading, “It can be child sex trafficking or child labor trafficking. Children make up twenty-six percent of the trafficking in the United States and many of them are in our schools.”
“Then why can’t they get out? Get help? Tell someone?” Vinny asked.
“These victims are kept in bondage through a combination of fear, intimidation, abuse, and even psychological control.”
Lily spoke up again, “Like the children who are kidnapped and stay with their captors even when it’s physically possible for them to walk away?”
“Exactly,” Matt agreed.
“We’ve gotten some intelligence that there is a large ring here in Richland, but we’re not getting very far in finding out much. We’ve been tasked to investigate, but so far these kids have really disappeared. I know Lily was looking into the disappearance of the two girls whose grandparents contacted you. With Sherrie’s information, this may all be linked.”
“Seems they do a lot of recruitment in the schools. We’ve got a school counselor in a downtown high school that’s working with us. She’s had some suspicions and after hearing about this in a conference she went to, made contact with us.”
The group nodded, the idea of children being systematically used and abused not sitting well with any of them.
“Jesus, fuck,” Gabe exploded. “I thought getting out of the Army would be boring. At least over there I felt like I knew who the hell the enemy was. But here? Goddamnit, the depravity of some people.”
The others nodded, but it was Tony that spoke. “That’s why we do what we do. We protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
Sherrie had been quiet during the entire discussion, but could no longer hold back. “Betina. She’s the recruiter, isn’t she?”
“From what you’re telling us, it sounds like she is. But remember, she’s
a victim too,” Matt answered.
Her breath caught in her throat as she gasped out loud. “The club. Oh my God, the club. Do you think that’s what Hernando is holding over her head? If she recruits, then she stays out of the club? But the dancers and waitresses have to be over eighteen years old. I mean I know club owners can do what they want, but there’s enough adult girls who want the jobs, they’re not going to risk hiring young teens.”
Sherrie noticed the men around the table all looking at each other as they avoided looking at her. “What? What am I not getting?”
“The sex clubs will have rooms,” Tony said gently. “Rooms upstairs or in the back where underage girls…and boys…will be kept for…um…customers.” He started to take her hand but she was faster.
Jumping up, she knocked her chair over. “Oh, Jesus,” she said, clasping her hand over her mouth. “No, no,” she cried as she bolted from the table.
This time Tony was faster, wrapping his arm around her waist he picked her up and cradled her against his front. “Shhh,” he murmured against her neck.
“I thought I’d seen it all in the dives I was around and even though Charisse sold her body to whoever would buy her drugs at least she was never held captive. Oh my God.” She began to struggle to get loose, but Tony held her tight.
“Let me go!” she screamed. “I want to kick his ass! How dare he use Betina like that. She tried to escape but was described as a troubled teen and sent back to the viper’s den. Tony, let me go.”
“Not doing it, baby. You’ve got to calm down. You’re no good to her like this. That’s why we’re here. Baby, listen to me,” he said, giving her a little squeeze. “We have to get all our intel and then plan. We go in half-cocked and we lose the kids.”
She was no longer struggling but her breasts heaved with fury as he continued to hold on to her until she was under control. Nodding, she felt his arms loosen slightly, but he held her until she was steady on her feet. Turning to the group she blushed at her outburst, but Vinny just walked over and gave her a hug.
Tony: Alvarez Security Series Page 23