The detective’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t test me, Johnson. Your father’s money can’t buy your way out of everything.” With that parting jab, the detective climbed back into his vehicle and drove away.
Rex turned back to Kimo, his heart squeezing hard in his chest.
The look of betrayal radiating from her expression was almost as harsh as her whispered words, “What about Alana?”
Rex glanced over his shoulder to make certain Detective Sykes had truly left. When the man’s vehicle had moved out of sight, Rex hooked Kimo’s arm and led her inside the tour boat.
The others followed. No one said a word.
Rex pulled his camera from his pocket, opened the compartment and dropped the SD disk into Kimo’s hand. “Sykes might have the right camera, but he has the wrong disk.”
Chapter 14
Kimo curled her fingers around the disks and looked up into Rex’s eyes. The tears she’d been holding back, thinking the camera and her trade for Alana were gone, fell silently down her cheeks.
Rex gathered her into his arms.
She pressed her cheek to his chest and let the rest of the tears go. When they’d played out, she wiped her cheeks and looked up again. “How did you know to switch them?”
“Instinct? Luck?” He wiped her cheek with his thumb. “Either way, we have the right disk. Even better, the detective won’t know he has the wrong one for a while because I had my little camera recording during our dive today.”
Angel clapped a hand on Rex’s back. “Well played.”
Dev and Teller both grinned and nodded.
“So, we have the right disks,” Leilani said. “The kidnappers specifically wanted the camera and the information on it. How do they want you to deliver them?”
Kimo shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Rex’s cell phone chirped. He hurried to grab it from where he’d left it on the bench. “It’s Swede,” he said as he answered. “Hey, Swede, let me put you on speaker.” He hit the button.
Swede’s voice sounded, “Did you find it?”
Rex looked to Kimo.
“Yes,” Kimo said.
“Good deal,” Swede said. “Hawk’s on the line with us. I’ll make this as quick as I can. I know you want to get moving on the trade to get your friend back, but you need to know what you’re up against.”
Kimo’s fist tightened around the disk in her hand as she looked around the group assembled. “We’re listening.”
“I bounced around on the dark web looking for anything I could find on Marcus Holte and Lucien Vaughan. I found info on both men. Holte appeared in a number of photos of him with business partners and associates in the shipping trade, as well as attending parties hosted by guess who?”
“Lucien Vaughan,” Rex said.
“Right.” Swede continued. “The more I looked into Vaughan, the more photos I found with him and a number of very wealthy and influential people, which I’d mentioned before. I also found that he has a network of people in each of his prime locations that run interference for him to keep him out of trouble with law enforcement and other federal agencies.”
“Like the Coast Guard?” Rex asked.
“Exactly,” Swede responded. “As well as local police departments, state officials and more. Some of the sources say he drives it from top down.”
Kimo blew out a sharp breath. “Meaning he has people in high positions clearing the way for him to commit crime with impunity.”
“Did any of the sources on the dark web mention human trafficking?” Rex asked.
“Yes. Vaughan is known for staffing his yacht and his home in the States and Paris with young women from all over the world. His records show they’re all over eighteen.”
Rex frowned. “They’re not. I spoke with a Romanian girl on his yacht. She told me she was only fourteen years old.”
