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

“Of course!” she beamed. “It’s really easy once you know the trick. I’ll show you.” Fiona carefully linked her arm through Eliza’s before leading her away toward the break room. She glanced back at me over her shoulder and threw me a sympathetic smile.

I mouthed a silent thank you, and she and Eliza headed into the break room.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Tell me what’s happened since last night.”

“Eliza’s been here since about eight,” Junior responded quietly. “At first, she was completely inconsolable. Eventually, though, she started acting strangely and kept insisting on making us meals. We even ran out and bought ingredients and an electric stove. Nelson thought that cooking was helping to distract her, so we all just went along with it.”

“I can see that,” I muttered as I glanced toward the break room. I couldn’t imagine how she must have felt when she found her father bleeding out on the floor and couldn’t find her daughter. It was no wonder she was in bad shape. “What about the kidnapper?”

“Not much to say, I’m afraid,” Junior grimaced. “Fiona’s been working herself to the bone, trying to find anything she can. Nelson is with Wallace in his office. They’re working with the local police to see if they can find any leads. Naomi called us a few hours ago. She said she convinced the Bermuda police to allow her to continue the investigation even after you assaulted the suspect. Anyway, she said that she thinks the supplier might be the one really in charge and that Davis didn’t know where Amber was. Apparently, he gave his man pretty vague instructions.”

“Great,” I snarled sarcastically. So we were potentially dealing with a rogue agent within an unstable organization.

“Have you spoken to Harry?” I asked. “How is he?”

“He’s okay,” Junior answered. “The perpetrator shot him after taking Amber. The bullet hit his lung, but the doctor said he should make a full recovery.”

“That’s good,” I sighed with relief. “Did he say anything else? He was there. He’s our best source of information.”

“He gave us a description,” Junior responded hesitantly. I could tell by his tone that there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“What is it?” I snapped.

“We told him about our suspicions,” Junior frowned. “About how she was most likely taken by a member of the child trafficking group we’re currently investigating. He didn’t take it well.”

My heart sank. I’d been afraid that Eliza might blame me for what had happened, but it had never occurred to me that Harry might. Harry had met me when I was at my lowest, getting into fights and stealing food from gas stations just to survive. Despite our turbulent first meeting, Harry had always supported me, and he was a former member of law enforcement. The fact that he might be angry with me over this left me feeling oddly betrayed.

I didn’t have time to think about that now, though. We needed to focus on finding Amber. The odds of finding a missing child dramatically decreased after the first seventy-two hours. The fact that she’d been kidnapped by a group that specialized in child kidnapping meant we had even less time.

“I’ll deal with Harry later,” I sighed. “You said Wallace was in his office? Let’s go talk to him. We need to come up with a plan.”

Junior nodded, and he, Miranda, and I headed briskly toward Wallace’s office. I knocked out of habit but didn’t bother to wait for a response before pushing the door open.

“Agent Hills,” Wallace greeted as he moved to stand up. “I’m glad you made it back safely. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I waved him off impatiently. I was getting so tired of everyone asking me that. “What do we know right now?”

“There are two leaders fighting for dominance,” Miranda chimed in. “Naomi said that Davis talked big and claimed he was the ringleader, but it sounded to her like he might have just been a figurehead. She thinks the stateside supplier is the one who’s really in charge.”

“That would make sense,” I agreed. “We’ve established that the group’s been tailing us for a while now. There’s almost no way that Davis was able to become aware of us and have someone tailing us so quickly all the way from Bermuda. It’s far more likely that it was the work of the supplier.”

“Which would mean that the supplier is the one who gave the kidnapper Amber’s location,” Junior interjected.

“We need to figure out a way to get in contact with the kidnapper,” I responded. “It sounds to me like the organization is unstable. Whoever took her is probably just a hired hand willing to work for the highest paycheck. Maybe we can make a deal with him.”

“What are you thinking?” Nelson asked.

“If there’s no loyalty or order,” I pondered aloud, “Then we might be able to convince him to turn on the organization through the use of bribery or threats. I think we should text the number. Offer him compensation in exchange for Amber’s return. If we can lure him into making a call, Fiona should be able to trace it, right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Junior nodded.

“Alright,” Wallace stated firmly. “Let’s bring Agent Gardner into the loop. Nelson, would you mind staying with Eliza while we get in communication with the kidnapper?”

“Not at all,” Nelson replied as he used his cane to push himself up out of the chair. “I’ll let Fiona know she’s needed in her office.”

He left the office and headed toward the break room, and the rest of us filed quickly out and toward Fiona’s office. I could feel my heart pounding, threatening to burst out of my chest. There was no guarantee that this plan would work, but we needed to try something. I just hoped we wouldn’t be too late.

34

Naomi

I ended the call and began to walk down the street back toward our hotel. I’d just called Wallace to give him an update on what Davis had revealed