Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the suspect sneered. “I ain’t got any kids.”

“Is that right?” Miranda asked as she grabbed the suspect by the arm and yanked him up into a sitting position. He cried out in pain as the movement jostled the glass embedded in his legs.

“Watch it!” the man yelled.

“Oops, sorry,” Miranda deadpanned without a hint of sympathy in her voice. “It’s interesting that you say you don’t have any kids living in your house because we found phone records that indicate you’ve been in communication with someone who has a history of selling kids. You’re still gonna claim that you don’t know what we’re talking about?”

The suspect’s face went white as Miranda spoke.

“I’m telling you!” the man exclaimed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“So why did you jump out the window?” I asked. “If you really didn’t have anything to hide, why didn’t you answer the door?”

“Are you blind?” The man asked. “Or just stupid? You saw my setup in there. You really think I wanted a bunch of feds finding my lab?”

“Why would you assume we were feds?” I asked as I caught his slip. “I never announced who we were when I knocked. I made sure of it. Why was that the first thing that came to your mind?”

“You know what I think?” Miranda asked as she leaned down to look at the suspect. “I think our friend here saw the news and knew that we were investigating. That’s why he assumed the first strangers he saw on his porch were federal agents.” The suspect began to shake with rage as he realized Miranda had figured him out.

He attempted to lunge at Miranda, but all she had to do was step to the side, and the man fell forward onto his face.

“You’re pathetic,” she sneered with disgust. “I’m gonna go check on the kid.”

“Alright,” I nodded as she turned to walk back toward the car. I could hear sirens in the distance, so I knew that backup would be here any minute. The ambulance arrived first, and I directed the paramedics to where the suspect was still lying face-down in the backyard.

“He tried to flee when he saw us,” I explained as they began to load him into a stretcher. “He cut his leg up pretty badly trying to go out the window. There’s a little boy, too. He’s in the car right now. If he’s been living in the same house, it’s likely that he’s been breathing in the fumes from the meth production.”

“I’ll take a look at him,” one of the paramedics assured me as they finished loading the suspect onto the stretcher. She was an attractive young woman with dark, thick hair and a stern face. I led her back to the car where Miranda was sitting in the backseat with the boy. As we approached, I realized that they were passing the tablet back and forth between them.

“Oh, hey,” Miranda smiled as we reached the car. “This is Dajuan. Dajuan, this is my partner, Agent Chapman.” She spoke into the tablet’s speaker, and a moment later, a mechanical voice came out of the tablet, speaking in a language I didn’t recognize.

“Isn’t that cool?” Miranda smiled. “It’s an app that translates whatever you say into another language. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it seems to be doing the trick. That’s how I found out this little man’s name.” Dajuan smiled as Miranda ruffled his hair.

“That’s very convenient,” the paramedic nodded. “Would you mind if I used it to speak with him?”

“Oh, sure,” Miranda replied as she hopped out of the car and handed the tablet over to the other woman. The paramedic took the seat Miranda had just vacated and began to speak with Dajuan.

“What did you two talk about?” I asked as we stepped away from the car.

“How he got here,” Miranda replied. “Same story as the rest. A man went to his house and told his parents they wanted to take him to a school in the US. Next thing he knows, he’s running drugs for that scumbag.” She nodded over at where the suspect was lying in the back of the ambulance. “Poor kid says the guy kept telling him he’d help him find his mom as long as he kept making the deliveries.”

“He probably couldn’t run, either,” I frowned. “Where would he go? All alone in an unfamiliar country.”

“At least he doesn’t seem too affected,” Miranda shrugged as she looked back at the car. “Emotionally, at least. There’s no telling what kind of physical damage being inside that house did to him. I’m gonna call Wallace and tell him what we found.”

“Okay,” I nodded as she walked a few steps away to make the call. We’d probably have to wait a day or two to interview the suspect since he was injured and would need to go to the hospital first. I really hoped that Fiona had found something on the other phone number. If this suspect had been using the kid as a drug mule, I couldn’t imagine what any of the other children we hadn’t found yet might be going through.

18

Naomi

I had such a good time talking with Charlie that I almost felt disappointed when we finally landed in Kingston. He didn’t contribute much, but he seemed content to let me prattle on and laughed when he was supposed to. I couldn’t really gossip with anyone else in the office, and although Charlie didn’t reciprocate, he at least paid attention.

The Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica was sweltering hot as we stepped off the plane. Although we kept our plane in a private hangar back in Las Vegas, we still had to use the international airports of other countries in most situations. The Kingston airport was currently undergoing extensive remodeling, which included the implementation of air conditioning systems. As of that moment, however, those systems still hadn’t been installed. The lack of air conditioning mixed with the