Ethan let his head drop to the back of the tall leather chair. He tried to define the emotions coursing through him, even as he worried that they were so big, they would swamp him. Jubilation that his son was alive, that he knew where he was, that he’d been adopted by a couple who obviously loved him.
Equally, as he clicked through the pages of this woman’s blog—looking at pictures of Charlie as he got his teeth, as he took his first steps, as he went from a bottle to a cup—he realized there was such regret. An overwhelming sadness that the moments which were supposed to have been shared with Amy—those moments with Charlie had been shared by another couple.
“Looking at these photos …” He pressed his lips together as his voice broke and tried again. “I missed … so much.”
Tears fell and he swiped at his face with one hand. With the other, he clicked on a photo of Charlie with his mouth open wide in a laugh. “He’s beautiful.”
“He looks like you. I knew we’d found him as soon as I saw him.” Kelsey’s hand was soft on his arm.
“How will they give him up? They love him so much. But I can’t let him go again.” He turned to her, his lashes black with dampness. He lifted one shoulder, let it drop. “I wouldn’t survive it.”
He pushed away from the table, walked to the window, the stir of emotions too much to contain. “What have I done?”
“This was not your fault, Ethan. You didn’t cause this.” She followed him to the window and put her arms around him, laying her cheek against his back. He let out his breath in a rush and just let himself be held.
He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it. How much he missed the comfort of another’s touch. He turned to face her, pulling her into his arms. Her head fit right into the crook of his neck. He sucked in an uneven breath.
And realized in some way his own prayers had been answered. That no matter what he might feel sometimes, he wasn’t going through this alone.
Kelsey turned her face to his. “I can’t even believe this is actually happening. Two days ago, you and I were both having a perfectly normal day.”
“And then we met Janie.” He let the smile turn up the corner of his mouth. It felt good, with so much sadness, for there to be something to smile about.
“And then we met Janie,” she repeated, as she reached a hand up to rub the shadow of a beard at his jawline. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure it out. We have to—there’s no other choice.”
“I want to storm those people’s house and go into that cute little airplane room and take my son home with me.” At the alarmed look on Kelsey’s face, he quickly stopped himself with the truth. “I know I can’t—I can’t do it to them and I can’t do it to Charlie. They’re the only family he knows. They’re his parents, not me.”
His voice broke again as he said the last. But he was over pretending that he was okay, with any of this. He wasn’t okay. He wouldn’t be until this case was over. Until they figured out what happened to every baby in that file.
“Do you think the FBI is using similar software to this to search out these families?” Kelsey’s thoughts were obviously on a similar track to his.
“Probably. Those photos are the only evidence we have that the adoption scam even happened, and the children the only connection to the crime that we have. Although, I guarantee you someone is trying to find the woman we looked for today. I can also guarantee you we’re trying harder.”
A squeal came from the living room. Kelsey’s eyes locked with his. “I’ll go.”
He stopped her with his hand. “You’ve had her all day. I don’t mind.”
“We can both go.”
Kelsey rounded the corner to the living room first and then stepped back quickly into the hall. “Look.”
Ethan stepped in front of her and peered around the corner. Nolan was sitting on the couch with his legs stretched out lengthwise. Janie sat across his lap with an iPad on her lap.
“Okay, your turn. Tickle, tickle, tickle, Elmo.” Nolan said it in a high-pitched voice. Kelsey slapped both hands over her mouth to keep the laugh from escaping.
Janie pressed the screen with her finger, and Elmo laughed. Janie squealed again, kicking her feet.
Ethan chuckled, too. Despite everything, she cracked him up. “She’s really so cute.”
“Isn’t she, though?” Kelsey walked into the room and spoke up. “Hey there, pumpkin, whatcha doing?”
“Kids love technology.” Nolan flipped his legs around and rearranged Janie to sit next to him on the couch. He looked tentatively at Ethan still leaning against the door to the living room. “Everything all right?”
Ethan didn’t move. He also didn’t lie. “No. But it is what it is. We’ll get through it.”
Ethan’s brother walked into the room, drying his hands on the apron wrapped around his waist, the expression on his face serious. “Someone just pulled up to the gate. She says her name is Viktoria. She’s looking for Ethan Clark.”
“What? How did she find us?”
“My guess is she put a GPS tracker either in the baby’s bag or somewhere on your car when she got away this morning.” Tyler reached around his back to untie the apron.
Nolan stood and handed the baby off to Kelsey. “You’re right in the middle of dinner prep for twelve people. Let me just grab my shoes from the other room.” To Kelsey, he said, “Keep the iPad for now. I downloaded a couple of those ‘make your baby a genius’ videos.”
Ethan knew that Nolan was the best at what he did. He could find anyone anywhere, break any code, set up the best security system, but as backup went …
Tyler must’ve noted his expression. He laughed. “Don’t let him fool you. Under that baggy T-shirt is a lean fighting machine. Nolan’s mother worried that he was too into computers and made him take karate class. Let’s just say he took to it.”
“Interesting. I can’t say I’m surprised. Nothing Nolan could do would really surprise me. What do you want me to do with her, assuming she wants to come in?”
“We’ll put her in one of the rooms down here. You can question her in the library. We have video surveillance in there because it’s a common area. We can record everything she says.” Tyler walked to a panel in the wall and popped it open, showing Ethan the hidden wiring and digital recording equipment.
“We should turn her over to the FBI.” He wanted to question her, but protocol demanded that he call the authorities.
“Yes, we should, and we will. But she came to you. Ask your questions … then we’ll call.” He handed Ethan the remote for the gate and the service weapon that he’d stowed for Ethan on their arrival. “Bring her in. I’ll make sure Kelsey and Janie are safely upstairs.”
Nolan reappeared beside them, a small black pack over his shoulder. “To find the tracker” was his only explanation.
Ethan and Nolan drove one of the estate’s golf carts down the long, curvy drive to the gate, Ethan still fuming a little that he had been tagged with a GPS without realizing it.
As they rounded the last curve, Ethan slowed the golf cart nearly to a stop to give Nolan time to jump out. “Watch and wait. I’ll make sure she’s not armed. After I pass you, search the car.”
“Got it.” Nolan disappeared through the trees into the woods.
Ethan kept driving. Viktoria Arsov thought she could make the rules, but she couldn’t make the rules here. Their first priority was to keep everyone safe.
At the gate, he could see a person behind the wheel of the car.
He pulled the weapon from the small of his back and stood with as much of his body behind the pillar as possible, aiming the gun at her. “Put both hands where I can see them.”
The woman behind the wheel put both hands out the window, fingers spread.
“Open the door from the outside and get out. Keep your hands visible.”
Arsov—or at least he assumed it was Arsov—reached outside the door and grabbed the handle, never letting her hands get out of his sight. Whatever she was,
she wasn’t stupid. She’d maneuvered him into doing what she wanted from the beginning.
That was about to end. “Take it slow.”
“I don’t want trouble. I just want to talk to you.” She stepped out of the car with her hands to the side.
“Leave the keys in the car, shut the door and turn slowly, all the way around.” He wanted to make sure he wasn’t putting himself at risk, and consequently everyone else on the property, when he let her in.
She was a pretty woman, with high cheekbones, a high forehead and shoulder-length dark brown hair, the exact color of the box he’d found in the hotel room. Slacks, heels and a sweater gave her the look of a professional—but a professional what?
There were no telltale bulges to signal that she was wearing a weapon, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hiding something. “Okay, walk toward the gate.”
“But my car …” Her Slavic accent was slight, but there, in the flat vowel sounds.
“Someone else will bring it in. Keep moving toward the gate, no sudden movements.”
“I guess I deserve this treatment. You have no idea whether you can trust me. Truly, I have only your best interest at heart.”
“Really? That why you ran, back at the hotel?” He looked into her eyes and saw nothing that alarmed him. Pressing the code on the remote, he opened the gate.
“I ran because once I am in police custody, I can’t control the information. If I come to you first, you know what I know. What happens next is up to you.”
People who traffic children deserve to be in jail. It was on the tip of his tongue to say, but he held the words in. They needed to know what she knew. She was the only link to what had to be a much larger organization. As sick as it made him to even think about, trafficking children might only be the tip of the iceberg.
EIGHT
Ethan halted the gate’s progress with only a small opening. “Step through, slowly.”
After she did as he said, he closed it behind them. “Walk. What’s your name?”
“Viktoria Arsov.”
“Is that your real name?”
“Yes.” At his hard look, she breathed out a frustrated sigh. “Why would I lie? What do I have to gain?”
“You control the information, remember?”
“I see why you would be suspicious.” She nodded slowly, then shrugged. “At home, I am called Vika.”
“Vika Arsov?”
She nodded, but there was enough of a hesitation that he figured the last name was an alias. It appeared that she didn’t want to lie to him, though, which was a good sign.
“I am sure you have questions.” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I will answer what you wish.”
“Later. Get in and drive.”
Viktoria sent him a startled look. “Drive?”
“I want both your hands and one of your feet occupied. And don’t worry, we have plenty of time for questions.”
It took her a few tries to get the hang of the golf cart, but within a few minutes, they were back at the main house. His brother, bless him, had sent the visiting police team—in their gear, with weapons at the ready, to line the trees. Ethan knew they were only using blanks for the purposes of their exercises, but Viktoria wouldn’t know that.
She shot a sideways glance at him. “You were expecting an invasion? I am only one small woman.”
Ethan ignored her. “Park the cart and get out.”
Viktoria sighed again. “Ethan, you should understand by now that I’m on your side.”
“I think you’re on your own side, but we’ll see.” He nudged her forward across the patio toward the French doors that led into the living room. If he could avoid a scene in the kitchen, that would be ideal. He tucked his weapon into the small of his back and opened the door for her.
In the fifteen or twenty minutes he’d been gone, the library had been cleared. His brother, or possibly Gracie, had moved the table into the center of the room.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. It was his brother, texting that they’d moved the computer to the room across the hall, where they would be watching the live feed from the surveillance cameras.
“Have a seat.” Ethan gestured to a chair at the table. “This might take a while.”
“I’ll tell you what you want to know. I didn’t come here to keep secrets.” She sat gracefully in the chair, lacing her fingers together and putting them on the table in front of her.
“Why did you come here?”
European shrug. “It’s complicated.”
“Start at the beginning. I have time.” He sat back in his chair.
“I was born in Moldova, before the Soviet Union fell. The economy of my country was dependent on the Soviets.”
“I’m not sure you have to start quite that far back.” He leaned back in his seat.
“Oh, but I do, if you want to understand.”
He nodded, shrugged a little as if to say, Whatever, I’ve got nothing but time.
“When they left, we had no infrastructure to support ourselves. There was no work. People began to starve. Parents were abandoning their children in order to go into Russia and find work. This is nothing that has gone away. It still is happening today.”
“It’s tragic, Ms. Arsov, but what does it have to do with you?” Her story moved him. How could it not? But if he showed her that emotion, she would have the upper hand. And more, she would know it.
“I was one of the economic orphans. I guess my parents figured that the state wouldn’t let children die.”
He knew that she was trying to play on his sympathy, but if she had been through what she was implying … He couldn’t fathom it. “I sense there’s a but at the end of that sentence?”
“They were wrong. Children were freezing to death in the winter. There was only a dripping pipe for bathing. Never enough to eat. The conditions were horrendous. And when the orphans turn sixteen, they are put out on the street.”
“Where they are prey for all types of predators.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Exactly. I was sixteen, looking for any kind of job that didn’t involve selling myself. Then along came a nicely dressed man who offered me a way out. All I had to do was come to the States and work. I would make more money than I could ever hope to make in my own country. I could get out from under the poverty that was suffocating my fellow countrymen.”
He knew what she was going to say next. He’d heard this before. “Let me guess. When you got here, he said that the passage was more expensive than he planned and you would have to work for him to pay your debt.”
“You are close enough. I’ve been working for this man ever since. At least he didn’t expect me to work on my back, which was the case with so many of the others. I started out doing small jobs, but little by little, I was trusted with more.”
“What is this man’s name?”
She didn’t hesitate. “You knew him as Anthony Cantori.”
From outside, they heard a cry. Viktoria’s head whipped up. “She is here?”
“Who?”
“Jane. The baby, my malyshka, my little one.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “I didn’t expect that you would have her here.”
“She is special to you.” It was a statement, not a question. He could see it on her face.
“I gave my life for her. They are going to kill me when they find me.” This statement was true, too. He would stake his life on it.
“Who is going to kill you? Cantori?”
“And the man he works for. I know this because they have tried already.”
Time for him to turn the tables, ask the questions. “They tried to kill Janie, too. That’s why we’re here. Tell me who is after her.”
“They tried to kill my malyshka?” Her hands were over her mouth, tears spilling over.
He didn’t bother answering her. “I want to know who her mother is and I want to know about the rest of the children on that SD card. How did he get them here?”
Viktoria b
linked and the emotion she’d revealed disappeared, despite the tracks of tears on her face. She looked at him slyly out of the corner of her eye. “You’re so far from an answer, you don’t even know the right questions to ask.”
He stood and leaned over the table, palms flat on the surface. “Then you better start talking—or I’ll have the baby moved to another location and you’ll never see her again.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“Try me.”
Two hours later, Kelsey heard the door to the small sitting room open and looked up from the floor where she played with Janie. Ethan stood in the door, exhausted. “I can’t get any more out of her this afternoon. We need to put her in a room. I can try again later for more details. She still knows more than she’s telling.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Tyler slid past him into the hall.
“She wants to see the baby. I promised if she cooperated that she could,” he said to Kelsey.
“I heard you. I didn’t think you’d go through with it.”
“Janie may be the only bargaining chip we have. I don’t think she’ll hurt her. No one could fake the kind of emotion she showed when she was talking about the baby.” His exhaustion showed on his face, but she didn’t care.
“That woman left Janie alone in the middle of the ocean, Ethan.” She didn’t want any part of putting the baby in the room with the woman who quite possibly could’ve killed her.
“She was on a boat where Viktoria could get to her in minutes if I didn’t show up. Did you hear that part?”
Kelsey crossed her arms. “I don’t think it matters.”
“Kelsey, this is not just about Janie, not anymore. All those children. We need to find out what happens to them. How they find the babies. Who’s behind it all. And we need Viktoria to get to those answers.” He looked as bullheaded as she felt.
“So you’re going to use the baby, just like she did.”
It was a direct hit. She could see it on his face.
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